3rd Week of Lent 2022 - Tuesday - Forgiveness and Inner Healing

The somber days of Lent provide us with an opportunity to do some serious soul-searching: examination of our conscience, reflection on our vices and virtues and habits and attitudes, with the hopes of identifying any obstacles in our hearts which keep us from imitating Our Lord and growing in holiness.

I always encourage folks to give up television, movies, video games, and diversionary use of the internet during Lent, these things which often occupy a lot more of our time than we think.  And once they’re gone, we have a little bit more time to think about our lives, our relationships.  We strip away some of those external distractions, and when we do that, our interior lives can begin to grow.

I think many people are resistant to give up these external distractions, because their interior lives are not all that pleasant.  Many of us can carry around some serious interior burdens in the form of resentment and bitterness over past hurts—old wounds which have gone unhealed for many years.

So Lent provides an opportunity to bring those wounds to the healer—to Jesus, the medicus vitae—the doctor of life.

In the Gospel today, Jesus teaches the most important remedy for the healing of our wounded souls and wounded relationships: forgiveness.  Through Jesus’ passion and death, God has forgiven us—our wounded relationship with God is healed.  And we are called to practice that same forgiveness towards others.  Just as there is not a single sin God will not forgive, so too there isn’t a single sin that we are not called to forgive.

Jesus says to forgive not just seven times, but seven times seven.

In the Hebrew tradition the number seven is a sacred number and refers to the limitless holiness of God.  When Jesus commands his disciples to forgive “seventy times seven” times, it is to say that his disciples are to have no limit in their own forgiveness.  

It is difficult to forgive those who betray us—who offend, who harm us with their words and actions.  To forgive them sometimes feels like we are giving them a free pass.  Forgiving once, is sometimes hard enough, when we are hurt, there is that part of us that says, “I don’t want to talk to them, I don’t want to see them, I don’t want to be near them, I don’t even want to think about them.”  A Christian must never say, “I will never forgive you.”  

For Christ came to heal the wounds of sin and division—our division from God, and the division we continue to create between ourselves.  

So we need to be constantly about the work of forgiveness.  If upon self-examination you detect any anger or any hurt, now is the time to let it go.  And if the Holy Spirit is urging you to seek the forgiveness of a family member or neighbor you may have offended, go, do your best to be reconciled, to make peace, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the season of Lent may bring the most hardened hearts to repentance, bring healing to wounded hearts, and bring purification of sin and selfishness to all people.

For those preparing for baptism and the Easter sacraments, that they may continue to conform themselves to Christ through fervent prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

That we may generously respond to all those in need: the sick, the suffering, the homeless, the imprisoned, and victims of war and violence. 

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy. Through Christ our Lord.

2nd Week of Lent 2022 - Friday - Rejection of God

 

In both first reading and Gospel today we hear of rejection.  In the first reading, Joseph’s brothers rejected him and plotted to kill him.  In the Gospel, in the parable of the wicked tenants we hear how the tenant farmers reject, seize and kill, not only the vineyard owners servants, but also his son.

Jesus refers to himself as the cornerstone which will be rejected.  He too will be seized and killed by those who reject him.

The tale of rejection goes back to the beginning when Adam and Eve rejected God’s command, thereby rejecting His plan for them and for mankind.  By rejecting God they forfeited paradise. The sinner rejects God’s truth and God’s plan; he pretends that his life belongs to him for his own purposes.   

Sometimes the teachings of the Church are found difficult—they infringe on our sinful habits and attachments—and so they are rejected.  They are difficult so often because we have hardened our hearts against them. Yet, as G.K. Chesterton said, “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.”  

Many so-called Cafeteria Catholics belief the faith is like a buffet line, they can take what they like and reject the rest. But once you begin rejecting Church doctrine, where does it stop? Why does the current generation reject the Church almost outright? Perhaps we need to look no further than what their parents and grandparents rejected a generation ago. Cafeteria Catholicism in one generation, leads often to the total rejection of the faith in the next. Their parents never made them eat their vegetables because they initially found them bitter, and now they don’t eat vegetables at all.

In the first reading, Joseph’s brothers reject him because of envy—he was an obstacle to their happiness. Today, many people reject the faith for the same reason. They envy. They covet. They envy yuppies, movies stars, star athletes, power brokers, and so they reject the faith which tells them that these are false idols and empty pursuits. No wonder why they become so exhausted, they’ve become fixated on chasing an illusion—the illusion that something other than God can bring rest to their restless souls.

And we’ve all done this to some extent. Which is why Lent is so important. The prayer, fasting, almsgiving of Lent helps us to do penance for those not when I have forgotten that I am not the vineyard owner, but merely a tenant. Where I have rejected God’s call to holiness out of envy, arrogance, and self-centeredness. 

Help us to repent of our sins Lord, and to return to you with our whole hearts, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That our Lenten observances will bring about profound renewal in our parish and in our lives and relationships.

That God will rescue all those who live at a distance from him because of self-absorption or sin.

That all families will recommit themselves to fervent prayer this Lent so as to grow in greater love and holiness.  

That this Lent we will be faithful to fasting and to all the ways that the Lord sanctifies us.  

For generous giving for the needs of the poor, the hungry, the homeless, those who are sick, unemployed, victims of natural disaster, terrorism, war, and violence, the grieving and those most in need.  

For all those who have died, for all the poor souls in purgatory…

Mercifully hear, O Lord, the prayers of your Church and turn with compassion to the hearts that bow before you, that those you make sharers in your divine mystery may always benefit from your assistance.

2nd Week of Lent 2022 - Wednesday - Sacrificial Love and the Lenten Program

 Three times during Matthew’s Gospel, the Lord tells of his forthcoming Passion and Death 

The first foretelling of his Passion immediately follow’s Peter’s Confession that the Jesus is the Messiah, Son of the living God. 

The second foretelling comes after the Lord’s transfiguration and the healing of the demon possessed boy.

The third foretelling, which we heard today, precedes the request for James and John to sit at the right hand of Jesus in the heavenly kingdom.

In each of these three cases there is some revelation—some insight into Jesus’ identity, along with the news of his Passion. He truly is the Son of the Living God, as Peter asserts. He is glorious divinity as is seen on the mount of transfiguration and the one to overthrow the powers of the devil as he does when he descends the mountain. And he is the one to sit on the throne of heaven, as James and John’s mother rightly claims.

But Jesus shows that divinity is not about power, wealth, and fame, it is about love—self-sacrificial love. God loves us enough to take on the our humanity, and to suffer—to be handed over to the Gentiles, to be mocked and scourged and crucified. It is by willingly embracing sacrificial love that demons are cast out, that death is destroyed. Sacrificial love is sanctifying love—divinizing love. By it we are redeemed and made holy in the eyes of God. 

Catholics show such great devotion to the crucifix of our Lord, placing it in all of our churches, school classrooms, and homes because by it we are reminded of the source of our salvation and also the life we’ve been chosen to lead.

We are to love God with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength, and that love is not a matter of lip service or a sentiment an emotion, but allows Jesus to teach us the way of self-sacrificial love, to fill us with his spirit of self-sacrificial love.

Lent is such an important season in the life of the Church for one because we contemplate the depths and God’s love for us in all that Jesus suffered, but also because the Lenten program of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving conditions us to embrace and practice that same form of love. Fasting conditions us to sacrifice the things we enjoy to achieve a higher good. Almsgiving as well, forms us in that practice of looking to the needs of others and sacrificing our goods for their good. And prayer, places us at the font of love, it contemplates love, drinks deeply of love, that we may have the courage and fortitude to practice love, to become love for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

That our Lenten observances will bring about profound renewal in our parish and in our lives and relationships.

That God will rescue all those who live at a distance from him because of self-absorption or sin, that this evening’s diocesan wide celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation will bring about a return of many hearts to communion with God. 

That all families will recommit themselves to fervent prayer this Lent so as to grow in greater love and holiness.  

That this Lent we will be faithful to fasting and to all the ways that the Lord sanctifies us.  We pray to the Lord.

For generous giving for the needs of the poor, the hungry, the homeless, those who are sick, unemployed, victims of natural disaster, terrorism, war, and violence, the grieving and those most in need.  

For all those who have died, for all the poor souls in purgatory…

Mercifully hear, O Lord, the prayers of your Church and turn with compassion to the hearts that bow before you, that those you make sharers in your divine mystery may always benefit from your assistance.

2nd Week of Lent 2022 - Tuesday - They preach but they do not practice

 This morning, in his Lenten reflection, Bishop Malesic recalled the words of Pope St. Paul VI from his famous exhortation on evangelization, evangelii nuntiandi. Pope Paul said, “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses."

In the Gospel, the Lord criticizes the Pharisees: they were good teachers, but terrible witnesses. So the Lord tells his disciples “Do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice.”

This reminds me of my favorite part of the ordination rite for deacons. Kneeling in front of the Bishop, the newly ordained is charged: “Receive the book of the Gospels whose herald you have become. Believe what you read. Teach what you believe. And practice what you teach.”

The ordained cannot just be preachers of the word. They must be doers of the word, as St. James would say. In fact, St. James gives that instruction to all Christians: do not just be hearers of the word, but doers of the word. In the words of Pope Paul, don’t just be teachers, but witnesses. “Preach always, sometimes use words”

This teaching is most manifest in the life of Our Lord. The Christ didn’t just preach self-sacrificial love, he manifests self-sacrificial love, taking upon himself unspeakable suffering in his Passion and Death for our salvation. 

Lent is certainly an opportunity for the church to move beyond lip service. “Show your repentance” says John the Baptist. We show our repentance not just by lip service, not just with words, words, words, but through concrete, physical, visible works of penance: prayer, fasting, almsgiving, works of charity.

Words and teaching are important. Our words and teachings must always be consistent with those of Christ, with the Apostolic Faith. but Pope Paul concludes, “It is therefore primarily by her conduct and by her life that the Church will evangelize the world, in other words, by her living witness of fidelity to the Lord Jesus- the witness of poverty and detachment, of freedom in the face of the powers of this world, in short, the witness of sanctity.”

May our faith be seen in our witness, may our repentance be seen in our good works, may our love be seen in our actions, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

That the season of Lent may bring the most hardened hearts to repentance and bring to all people purification of sin and selfishness.

For those preparing for baptism and the Easter sacraments, that they may continue to conform themselves to Christ through fervent prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

That we may generously respond to all those in need: the sick, the suffering, the homeless, the imprisoned, and victims of violence. And for all victims of the coronavirus and their families. And for the Church in China and all places where the Gospel is silenced.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy. Through Christ our Lord.

2nd Week of Lent 2022 - Monday - The depths of mercy

Both the reading from Daniel and the Gospel speak of God’s mercy.  “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful,” the Lord instructs in today’s Gospel.

How has God been merciful toward us? “He has loved us even when we were sinners” writes St. Paul to the Romans. Lent invites us to meditate upon God’s mercy upon us. It follows that we will come to a deeper understanding of God’s mercy when we come to understand the depths of our sinfulness.

When I consider how vile my sins are, I’ll also come to understand how good God is for forgiving me. When I consider how much I’ve lost due to falling into sin, I’ll also come to understand how much has been given back to me by God through his mercy. In a sense, the depths of our wretchedness also reveals the depths of God’s love because God’s love reaches the depths of our wretchedness.

Now, many people don’t like to think about their sins. They don’t like to confront how rude they’ve been, how impatient, how cowardly, how undisciplined, how morally weak. They avoid any sort of real examination of their actions and attitudes.

This is one reason why people stray from religion or avoid religion. They don’t want the reminders of their failings. They don’t want to hear about the goodness of Jesus, the goodness of the saints. Because these stories expose their own lack of goodness. They certainly don’t want to hear about the commandments or moral teachings of the church which serve as an objective criteria for their actions to be judged. 

But, the Christian is taught to humbly admit his sins, to measure his actions against the perfect goodness of Jesus. And to willingly do so. And yes, it is uncomfortable discovering how far we’ve fallen. But this is also to discover how much we are loved. And this consciousness of one’s sinfulness becomes a powerful foundation for the Christian life. For the one who is deeply aware of the mercy he has received from God, will in turn show mercy towards others.  Those who give little reflect little on what they’ve been given. Those who give much, have reflected much on what they’ve received.

We have been loved even when we were sinners, and so we are impelled into the world to do the same. We feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, not because they are worthy of our love, but because we have been loved when were unworthy by God.

St. Francis de Sales once said, “the measure of love is to love without measure”.  God has loved us without measure. May we extend that same measure of love to others, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

That the season of Lent may bring the most hardened hearts to repentance and bring to all people purification of sin and selfishness.

For those preparing for baptism and the Easter sacraments, that they may continue to conform themselves to Christ through fervent prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

That we may generously respond to all those in need: the sick, the suffering, the homeless, the imprisoned, and victims of violence. And for all victims of the coronavirus and their families. And for the Church in China and all places where the Gospel is silenced.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy. Through Christ our Lord.

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2nd Sunday of Lent 2022 - On mountains and Masses

Throughout Scripture, mountains are special places of faith, prayer, and encounter with God. Abram climbed Mt. Moriah with his son Isaac for sacrifice. Moses encountered the glory of God after climbing Mt. Sinai. God spoke to Elijah in a gentle whisper on Mt. Horeb. After his victory over the false prophets of Baal, the prophet Elijah withdrew to Mt. Carmel to pray. The Temple was built on top of Mt. Zion in Jerusalem. And on top of Mt. Tabor, as we heard on the Gospel today, the apostles beheld the Lord in Transfigured glory and heard about his forthcoming exodus to the cross, which took place on another mountain, Mt. Calvary. 

People of all ages have felt drawn to mountains. Mountains, so close to the heavens, are places of clarity. They offer a different perspective—helping us to see more than we can when we’re immersed in so many things on the ground. St. Francis of Assisi withdrew to Mount La Verna for prayer and there received the holy stigmata. As a young priest, Pope St. John Paul liked to lead mountain retreats and go skiing. 

Coming to Mass is a lot like climbing a holy mountain; if you have young children, it might even require similar amount of energy. We climb to the altar of God inside of a church building—in order to offer our most sacred act of worship, the Eucharist, to commune with God, to receive some clarity for our lives, and breathe a breath of the Spirit’s fresh air that we can’t get sitting on our living room couch. 

There are many parallels between the celebration of Mass, and our Gospel today on top of Mount Tabor. The Gospel began with a procession up a mountain, Peter, James, John, and Our Lord processing upon the mountain. So too, Mass begins with a procession up towards the altar.

Sometimes non-practicing Catholics will say that they don’t need to go to Mass in order to pray: they can pray anywhere.  That’s true.  But, one, you can’t fulfill your Sunday obligation by just praying anywhere, and two, we see Jesus in the Gospel leading his disciples to special places to pray: a mountain, a secluded place, the upper room where he celebrated the last supper, and the cross—the mountain of Calvary where the Lord offered the most perfect sacrifice to the Father, himself.

Having reached the top of the Mountain, the Lord became transfigured in dazzling white. On that mountain, his disciples saw the Lord clearly. This certainly reminds us of how at Mass, the Eucharist is held up for all to see. At the transfiguration, of course,  the Lord’s face and clothes change in appearance—his divinity is undeniable. At Mass, on the other hand, bread and wine don’t change in appearance. Rather, they change on the supernatural level—bread and wine are changed into the body and blood, soul and divinity of Christ, a change we recognize not by sight, but by faith.

Next to the transfigured Lord appeared Moses and Elijah. The presence of these Old Testaments figures reveal that Jesus is the fulfillment of the salvation foreshadowed by the Law and the Prophets. We read almost every week from either the law or the prophets at Mass and we see scenes from the prophets and the books of Moses in our stained glass windows and our Church ceiling.

Next, the Lord speaks with Moses and Elijah about his Exodus. And at this Peter exclaims it is good that we are here. What part of the mass does this remind you of? The homily of course! The priest speaks and everyone says, it is good that we are here…right. But there is a parallel with the homily here, isn’t there. Jesus gives explanation about his mission, just as in the homily drawing from Old Testament and New, the priest gives explanation about our Christian mission, the Christian life. 

St. Luke tells us that the Lord spoke about his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem. And here’s the reason we read the story of the Transfiguration on the 2nd Sunday of Lent each year. We are given this reminder, from the Lord’s own lips, that though he must tread the road of the cross, he goes there to accomplish our salvation. And the story will not end there. He goes to the cross for you and may, so that we may experience the glory that he revealed on Mt. Tabor. 

And we need this reminder, don’t we? Because our crosses are heavy and entail great suffering. Our toils often so overwhelming that we can loose sight of the promises God makes to us.

In the proceeding passage in St. Luke’s Gospel, the passage immediately preceding the story of the transfiguration, the Lord says, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily.” And you might think, why should I? Why should I endure the suffering that the Christian life entails. Why should I practice fasting when there’s so much good and delicious food and drink. Why should I practice prayer when there’s so many entertaining shows? Why should I give my hard-earned wealth to the poor? Why should I risk professional advancement by publicly practicing my Catholic faith? On top of the Mountain of Transfiguration the Lord answers a question raised on the mountain of Calvary. Because the cross leads to transfigured and resurrected glory. 

Backs bent over by the weight of their crosses will be straightened. Wounds caused by nails in our flesh and the laceration of the whip will be healed. Wounded hearts, pierced with swords of sorrow will be made new and filled with joy.

That’s why we climb the mountain to come to Mass every week. For one, because it is here, where God begins to heal our wounds, now, giving us glimpses and foreshadowings of heaven, to give us fortitude for carrying our earthly crosses. And two, because it is here at Mass, that our daily crosses are joined to Christ’s on the altar of sacrifice, and we are given the heavenly food, that gives us strength for the journey, to walk the royal road of the cross that leads to the resurrection.

If you think the Mass is just about checking a box so that God has to let you into heaven, boy, is that missing the big picture! The Mass is Mt. Sinai, where we receive the Lord’s commandments. The Mass is Mt Moriah, where we prepare the sacrifice of what we hold dear out of faithfulness to the Lord. The Mass is Mt. Horeb where we hear the Lord’s voice, not in fire and earthquakes, but in tiny whispers. The Mass is Mt Carmel where we retreat from earthly business to contemplate the Lord’s presence. The Mass is Mt. Zion where we enter the temple of the Lord for divine worship. The Mass is Mt. Tabor where we get a glimpse of Transfigured glory. And the Mass is Mt. Calvary, where the Lord goes to accomplish the work of our salvation.

The Lord has led us to this holy mountain, thanks be to God. And with Peter we say, it is good that we are here. For in our Eucharistic celebration, the Lord wishes to give us a glimpse, through faith, of heaven, and feed us with the food that strengthens us for the entire Christian life, that the crosses of our life, may not crush us, but lead to resurrection, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

1st Week of Lent 2022 - Friday - Turn away, turn toward, turn with

 

Conversion is often thought of as a three-fold process. The first stage is aversion, turning away from the things that are not of God. The second is adversion, turning toward the things of God. The third is conversion, turning with the Lord, living one’s life with the Lord.

When the Lord in the Gospel says that the righteousness that God wants for us must surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees, he was saying that more is necessary than that first stage. The pharisees focused on aversion, turning away, from the things that were considered unclean in the Law of Moses.

They turned away from unclean food, those rendered unclean through disease, and foreigners, considered unclean for being non-Jewish. 

So to, for Christians, we must follow that first stage of conversion, too. We must turn away from what our faith tells us is unclean. Unclean speech, unclean use of money, unclean use of our sexuality, unclean use of our eyes and ears. 

But Christian righteousness must surpass just that first stage of aversion to sin and uncleanness. We must turn toward the things of God. We learn about the teachings of Jesus. We read the Scriptures. We learn about the lives of the saints. We learn to distinguish between the foolishness and errors of the world, with the timeless wisdom of God. But still, this level keeps the things of God at a bit of a distance. Like going to Catholic School for 12 years, knowing what the Church teaches, but never integrating it. We mustn’t just learn about the things of God, we must integrate them into our lives. 

And that’s the third stage of true, authentic conversion: having turned away from sin, and toward the things of God, we integrate them into our lives. Not only do we turn toward the Church, we enter in. We engage in divine worship and authentic prayer, meditation, and contemplation. We don’t just learn about the commandments, we abide by them. We practice fasting willingly, recognizing it’s powerful spiritual value. We don’t just read the scriptures, we allow their wisdom to shape our lives, our behaviors, and attitudes. We don’t just learn about the saints, we begin practicing actual acts of sanctity. 

And the Lord says, “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.” The Kingdom of Heaven begins in this life. Walking with God, living with God, allowing the life of God to animate us, that begins now. And if heaven doesn’t begin for you in this earthly life, you won’t have a share in it once you shed this mortal coil.

600 years before the birth of Jesus, Ezekiel even foretells this in our first reading today: “If the wicked man turns away from all the sins he committed, if he keeps all my statutes and does what is right and just, he shall surely live, he shall not die.”

May Lent help us to turn away from sin, turn toward the things of God, help us to do what is right, what is of surpassing righteousness, the holiness of Christ in whom we are to live, and move, and have our being, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For “an immediate end to the hostilities in Ukraine, for a restoration of peace and for the safety of all Ukrainian citizens. And for the Ukrainian community in Northeast Ohio, that their friends and family members in their beloved homeland be kept out of harm’s way.”

During these 40 days for Life, we pray for the unborn and for a change in laws, policies, and attitudes which devalue the sanctity of life.

That the season of Lent may bring the most hardened hearts to repentance and bring to all people purification of sin and selfishness.

For those preparing for baptism and the Easter sacraments, that they may continue to conform themselves to Christ through fervent prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

That we may generously respond to all those in need: the sick, the suffering, the homeless, the imprisoned, and victims of violence. And for all victims of the coronavirus and their families. And for the Church in China and all places where the Gospel is silenced.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy. Through Christ our Lord.