2nd Week of Lent 2018 - Tuesday - Imitating the Lord's humility

When St. Augustine was asked to name the three most important virtues, he gave an interesting answer. The first he said is “humility”, the second he said is “humility”, and third he said is “humility”

Our Lord stressed humility, telling us that we must become humble like little children or we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. After exposing the pride of the Pharisees, in the Gospel today, he teaches, “Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, but whoever humbles himself shall be exalted."

The Lord didn’t simply teach humility, he lived humility. The divine Word, emptied Himself and was born a human babe in a poor stable at Bethlehem. As a baby, he was a Refugee in Egypt. He lived in the obscure village of Nazareth. He had the menial job of a carpenter. During His public ministry, Jesus had nowhere to lay His head. Paul writes to the Philippians, “He humbled Himself even to death on a cross, the death of a slave.”

St. Francis of Assisi said: “Every day, Jesus humbles Himself just as He did when He came from His heavenly throne into the Virgin's womb; everyday He comes to us and lets us see Him in abjection, when He descends from the bosom of the Father into the hands of the priest at the altar. He shows Himself to us in this sacred bread just as He once appeared to His apostles in real flesh.”

The Lenten journey is one of humility.  We began Lent sprinkling our foreheads with ashes while hearing the words, “Remember man, you are dust, and to dust you will return.”  If our Lenten observances of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are to help conform us to Christ, they certainly will help us grow in humility.

We are to give alms without the blowing of trumpets, pray behind closed doors, and fast without show. We are to shun the spotlight, turn away from seats of honor, and take up the washbasin to wash the dirty feet of our neighbor, and to do so without hope of earthly repayment or notoriety. We are to broken, shared, and poured out like ordinary bread and ordinary wine.

As the Lenten Eucharistic preface states: the Father wills that our self-denial should give Him thanks, humble our earthly pride, contribute to the feeding of the poor, and so help us imitate Him in his kindness.”

May this Lent help us grow in humility, by decreasing our instincts of self-aggrandizement and self-promotion, that we might truly learn to love and serve others for their own sake, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That our Lenten prayer, fasting, and almsgiving may humble our earthly pride and bring about conversion and renewal within the Church.

For all those preparing to enter into Christ through the saving waters of Baptism and those preparing for full initiation this Easter, may these final Lenten weeks bring about purification from sin and enlightenment in the ways of holiness.

For those who have fallen away from the Church, who have become separated through error and sin, for those who reject the teachings of Christ, for their conversion and the conversion of all hearts.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or illness: may they experience the healing graces of Christ.

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.

2nd Week of Lent 2018 - Monday - Lent is a season of Hope

Over in the Academy last week, I was talking about the theological and cardinal virtues. Alongside the western wall here at St. Clare, the theological virtues, faith hope and love, and the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude, are depicted symbolically in our stained glass windows.

I’d like to speak this morning about the virtue of hope. Hope is depicted so often in Christian symbology as an anchor, as it is here, on one of our stained glass windows. The anchor was an early Christian symbol commonly found in the Roman catacombs as a symbol of the hope we have in the promises of Christ. Imagine you are a first century Christian taking refuge in the catacombs: three of your close friends have just been thrown to the lions or burned at the stake, or crucified and set ablaze as torches at one of Emperor Nero's garden parties. The anchor is a symbol that amidst the storms and uncertainties and suffering, Christ is our anchor, Christ is our hope.

Letter to the Hebrews speaks of hope as an anchor: "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure."

Hope helps us to remain anchored in the truth, anchored in reality. Lent is a season of Hope. The ashes of Ash Wednesday remind us of the all too real reality of suffering and death, the result of sin, but it is a day of hope, the ashes are placed on the head in the sign of the cross, an expression of our hope to be saved from sin and purified from sin through Lent.

Yesterday’s Gospel, for the second Sunday of Lent, is filled with hope. Jesus’ glory was revealed in dazzling display on the Mount of Transfiguration. This was to give his disciples hope, that though he would suffer and die, the cross was not the defeat of God, but God’s defeat of sin and death.
I thought of this image of the anchor of hope today, in light of our readings today, in which we find Daniel confessing his sins and the sins of Israel to the Father in the first reading, and which speak of the Father’s forgiveness and our need to forgive in the Gospel.

The Virtue of Hope is discovered between two vices: the vice of despair and the vice of presumption. Despair claims that my sin is so great, God will never forgive me. Presumption claims that it doesn’t matter what I do, I am assured of salvation, so I don’t have to make any attempt to amend my life.

True Christian Hope is rooted in the truth, that Yes, God is full of grace, mercy and forgiveness for the sinner, but as sinners, like Daniel, we are called to confess our sins, and show mercy and forgiveness, as the Lord teaches in the Gospel. “For if you do not forgive, the Father will not forgive you.”

May our Lenten practices help us to grow in authentic Christian hope which leads us to acknowledge and confess our sins, amend our life, forgive others and lead others to the fountain of God’s mercy, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That those despairing of God’s mercy and those presumptuous of God’s mercy may come to know and practice authentic Christian Hope.

That those preparing for baptism and full Christian initiation at Easter may be strengthened in Faith, Hope, and Love through the Church’s prayer and witness.

For the Holy Father’s prayer intention for the month of February, that those who have material, political or spiritual power may resist any lure of corruption. We pray to the Lord.

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

2nd Sunday of Lent 2018 - Desert & Mountaintop

Last week, the Lenten liturgy presented us with the Gospel of Jesus' temptations in the desert; we reflect this week on the extraordinary event of the Transfiguration. Pope Benedict once commented, that these two episodes serve as “pillars on which to build the entire structure of Lent until Easter, and indeed, the entire structure of Christian life.”

On one hand, Jesus’ struggle in the desert, shows us how Jesus shares in our humanity, even in our human temptations. He hungered as we hungered, he thirsted as we thirst, and he was tempted, as we are tempted.

Now, his temptations were on a bit different scale than ours. We are not tempted to turn stones into bread, or to use divine power to become a sort of world ruler, like Jesus. But we are tempted according to our situation in life. A 5 year old is tempted to do what he knows is wrong, stealing the toy from his sibling, obstinately refusing the wishes of his parents. A 15 year-old is tempted with 15-year old sins. Spouses and parents are tempted with sins against the patience and kindness and faithfulness for spouse and children which should rule over their hearts. Politicians are tempted to misuse their power and influence for selfish reasons.

But the Lord’s temptations were real, just like ours: to misuse the power, the time, the goods, we have for selfish means. And this struggle against temptation is the great struggle of the Christian life.
But the Lord was prepared for his desert temptations because, over those 40 days, he had fasted and prayed. And so the Lord sets the model for us, his human brothers and sisters, he sets the pattern for our own Lenten journey. We too are to fast from earthly pleasures—snacks, desserts, entertainment, rich food and drink—in order to remember that “man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”

Some people think that they don’t have to fast during Lent, they’ll just perform extra acts of charity. But that is not consistent with our Catholic Tradition, the scriptures, the prayers, the writings of the saints and the Popes, or the example of Our Lord Himself, who Himself fasted, and taught that his disciples would have to fast, as well. Lenten fasting helps us to deepen our hunger for the “true food”, which is doing the will of God.

The first sin of the human race involved food and grasping for power that didn’t belong to us. And so, If Adam disobeyed the Lord’s command, that he should not eat the forbidden fruit, the believer, through Lenten fasting, submits himself humbly to God. And that humility is a bedrock basic attitude for the Christian life.

So, the Lord going out into the desert, to fast and pray and face his temptations serves as the first pillar of Lent.

The second pillar is the Transfiguration atop Mt. Tabor, which we read every year on the Second Sunday of Lent.

The Mountain Top in scripture is always the place of divine encounter. It is where faithfulness is exercised and God is revealed. On Mount Moriah, Abraham showed his faith, and God revealed that he did not desire human sacrifice, he desires something greater, the total surrender of our hearts. Abraham was to be the father of the holy nation of Israel, a people who offered their whole hearts in surrender to God’s will, God’s plan.

So too, Moses encounters God on Mount Sinai. Moses, who faithfully led the Israelites in their exodus from Egyptian slavery to the promised land, encounters God, who reveals his law, his commandments, that his people may refrain from evil and sin, which are another form of slavery. God desires that his people be free not just from physical slavery, but spiritual slavery as well.

Elijah, too, with whom Jesus converses during His Transfiguration also encountered God on a mountain. On Mt. Carmel, the faithful prophet Elijah confronted the priests of the false Canaanite god Baal, who did demand child-sacrifice by the way. Through faithful Elijah, God reveals he is the One True God, and the futility of the false religions.

So, now Jesus and his closest disciples ascend Mount Tabor. And we see that same pattern again. Jesus, shows himself to be the faithful Son of his Father, willing to undergo suffering, crucifixion, and death. Then God’s glory is revealed. Jesus becomes transfigured, the dazzling glory of his divinity shines forth, and the voice of the Father speaks from heaven, “This is my beloved Son.”

If in the Desert Jesus showed his share in our humanity, on Mount Tabor he shows that through Him, Humanity will share in His divinity. That the cross is not the defeat of God, but rather the royal road of heaven for man; that our sufferings and the fortitude we exert in resisting temptation, when united to Christ leads to life.

So, the Lord’s white garment on Tabor prefigures the robe of his glorious resurrection, as well as the white garment of the baptized. For through baptism, we receive the white garment of the saved; we are united to Christ in his saving death, and are promised that we will rise with Him, in glorious resurrection.

Two pillars of the Lenten season: Desert and Mountaintop. In Lent, we are to be desert travelers with Jesus, fasting with him, turning away from creature comforts and earthly pleasures, to strip away the non-essentials that we may trust all the more in God. And in Lent, we are to be fellow mountain climbers with Christ, seeking the face of God and the will of God in our Lenten prayer, strengthening our Hope in Christ’s promise of resurrection and an eternal Easter.

So every day, we must climb the mountain of prayer. As we heard on Ash Wedneday, each day we are to go to a secluded place, shut the door, and listening to the Word of God. Our prayer will sustain us as we carry our crosses and encounter our hardships and face our temptations, our prayer will bring us the sweetness of God in the bitter times of life, the refreshment of God in the arid times of life, the peace of God in the chaotic times of life. Pope St. Leo the Great said, “when it comes to obeying the commandments or enduring adversity, the words uttered by the Father should always echo in our ears: This is my Son, the beloved, in whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.”

After facing temptation once again in the Garden of Gethsemene, on Good Friday, Jesus, the faithful son, climbs the final mountain, mount Calvary. God’s divine love, God’s love for us sinners, is fully revealed on that mountain, the mount of the cross. May His Divine Life, that radical aversion to sin, that burning desire to do the will of the Father, fill our hearts and lives as well, for the glory of god and salvation of souls.

1st Week of Lent 2018 - Friday - Repentance is a matter of Life and Death

Lent is a powerful call to repentance, and repentance is a matter of life and death. As we heard from the prophet Ezekiel this morning: "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."

Recalling the story of Adam and Eve, we recognize the spiritual death, the separation of God, which sin brings between God and man. Sin, which says, I’m going to choose another path, a path separate from the ways of God.

We certainly offer up our Lenten penances, our sacrifices—we pray for the conversion of those trapped in cycles of mortal sin, those who have so corrupted their moral compass that the course of their life is leading them to eternal separation from God.

But notice, Ezekiel says, that the wicked man must turn from “all” the sins he committed. Each of us has an obligation to strive to be free from “all” of our sins: mortal and venial sins. We should not be content with habitual or sporadic venial sins in our life.

St. Augustine remarks that those who want to walk in the love of God and in his mercy cannot be content with ridding themselves simply of grave and mortal sins. “Even less grave sins” Augustine said, “if they are ignored, proliferate and produce death.”

The good news is, the Lord is ready to forgive us. The Lord does not grow as tired of forgiving us our venial sins as we do of confessing them. It’s when we stop confessing them, when we stop seeking to overcome them through God’s grace, that they will fester and “proliferate” as Augustine says.

“Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.” This sounds like an impossibly high standard. And it is, humanly impossible. But it is not impossible for God to lead us in the ways of surpassing holiness. It is up to us, with the help of grace, to identity those sin, to repent of them, and to surrender to the grace that gives us strength to amend our life.

Lent is a desert experience in which we separate ourselves from the things that hinder our growth in grace, and it is also a time of new spiritual life, as we open ourselves to God’s mercy and life-giving grace, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For the whole Christian people, that in this sacred Lenten season, they may be more abundantly nourished by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

For the whole world, that in lasting tranquility and peace our days may truly become the acceptable time of grace and salvation.

For sinners and those who neglect right religion, that in this time of reconciliation they may return wholeheartedly to Christ.

For ourselves, that God may at last stir up in our hearts aversion for our sins and conviction for the Gospel.

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.

February 22 2018 - Chair of Peter - Unity and Peace and Enkindling the Fire of Charity

Just over a week into the Lenten of season, white vestments are donned, the Gloria is sung, as we celebrate the Feast of the Chair of Peter. Since its earliest days, the Roman Church has especially commemorated the authority of the Petrine office—that the successor of St. Peter continues a ministry of the utmost importance to the Church of Christ.

The Opening Prayer spoke of how God protects us from the tempests, the storms of the world, by founding the Church on the rock of Peter’s confession of faith. The successors of Peter, the Popes, throughout the century have helped the Church maintain faithfulness to the authentic Gospel, through heresies, schisms, the rise of false religions, atheistic ideologies. The faithfulness of the Pope to the Word of God will enable the Church to outlast every earthly enemy—individual, nation, or rival religion. In fact, he leads to the Church in driving back the darkness, driving back the errors, beating back and knocking down the gates and ramparts of hell.

This feast falling during the season of Lent is significant. Much of our attention throughout Lent is interior: am I fasting enough, am I praying enough, am I giving enough. Yet a universal feast, such as this, causes us to look for help outside ourselves. We have had some of the holiest Popes in Church history just this last century.

We do well to reflect on the words and example of St. Pius X, Venerable Pius XII, St. John XXIII, Blessed Paul VI, St. John Paul II. Personally, this Lent I am reading through a series of meditation from the writings of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI who always offers such a clear and penetrating insight for me.

The current Holy Father, Pope Francis, offered a beautiful reflection for the beginning of Lent. He reflected upon the great Poet Dante’s depiction of the lowest ring of hell, with Satan and Judas Iscariot encased in the coldest ice, in frozen and loveless isolation. Pope Francis invites the Church to consider how, this Lent, we might rekindle the fire of charity that has perhaps grown cold in us, how we may become more aware of the signs that love for God, love for the Church, love for the poor, love for family, has perhaps begun to cool.

The teaching of Peter, the structure and doctrine of the Church, the sacraments, exist that we may know unity and peace with God and with one another.

May our Lenten observances and our celebration of this great feast help us to experience the unity and peace, the freedom from sin, the fire of charity that our good and gracious God desires for each one of us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For the Successor of St. Peter, our Holy Father, that he be strong in his mission and strengthen the whole Church in faith.

For all bishops, that they grow in union with Peter, share the zeal of Paul, and lead us by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

For those preparing for baptism and the Easter sacraments, that they may continue to conform themselves to Christ through Faith taught by St. Peter and his successors.

For the conversion of all people to Christ, for those who reject the Faith, for those who have fallen away from the Church, for those who mock and persecute Christians, for hardened and unrepentant sinners, we pray to the Lord.

For the sick and the dying, the poor and the oppressed, and all victims of war, violence, and the selfishness of their fellow man, that they may experience the peace and presence of Christ, we pray to the Lord.

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

Father, We rejoice in the call to belong to the Church, to believe in the Gospel, and to be united with the successors of your Apostles. Answer our prayers and increase our fidelity to the Gospel. Through Christ our Lord.

1st Week of Lent 2018 - Tuesday - Interiorizing the Word

When tempted by the devil to forego his desert fasting, Our Lord responded, “It is written, 'man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God'".
And really, the temptation wasn’t simply to break his fast. The devil was tempting Jesus to turn away from the difficult road that the Father willed for His Son.

Here Jesus reminds us of one of the Christian life’s most important lessons: that God’s priorities are more important than our own, that our physical needs are not our greatest needs. The Word of God is more essential than bread.

Our Lenten fasting, fasting from chocolate, or video games, or social media, or snacking certainly helps us to build up self-discipline towards these earthly pleasures. Yet, more essential our fasting reminds us that we don’t need these things to survive, and we certainly don’t need them to thrive spiritually.

Jesus responded to the devil’s temptation by quoting a passage from Deuteronomy. Throughout the Gospels Jesus quotes directly from the Old Testament about 80 times, and the logic of the former scriptures permeates his teachings. Jesus overcame temptation by drawing upon the truth, the words of the Scriptures.

And as we prayed on the first Sunday of Lent, his “forty long days” in the desert set “the pattern of our own Lenten observance.” The word of God is meant to permeate our Lent, and our life. Pope Benedict wrote, “In the trials of life and in every temptation, the secret of victory lies in listening to the word of truth and rejecting with determination falsehood and evil.”

Our reading from Isaiah, speaks of how God’s word is meant to permeate us like the rain permeates the soil and makes the soil fertile.

So, if we are to be able to draw on the word of God in times of temptation, if the word of God is meant to fertilize our souls to bear new life, we must expose ourselves to it, we must meditate on it, we must take it into our hearts and let it live there. Many people can quote baseball statistics, movie lines, or a catchy new song, but barely a line from scripture.

Daily throughout Lent, we do well to sit down with the scriptures open upon our laps, to speak the words allowed, to allow them to echo in our minds and hearts.

Again to quote Pope Benedict, “It is therefore urgently necessary in these forty days to listen anew to the gospel, the word of the Lord, the word of truth, so that in every Christian, in every one of us, the understanding of the truth given to him…may be strengthened, so that we may live it and witness to it. Lent encourages us to let the word of God penetrate our life and thus to know the fundamental truth: who we are, where we come from, where we must go, which road to take in life.”

May our Lenten fasting clear out and make room for the prayerful encounter and interiorization of the word of God in us, that we might live it out in lives of Christian purity and charity, 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 and bring purification from 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 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.

1st Week of Lent 2018 - Monday - Compunction and Conversion

After receiving our Ashes on Ash Wednesday, and after receiving Holy Communion, the priest extended his hands over the congregation and prayed, “Pour out a spirit of compunction, O God, on those who bow before your majesty…” The readings and prayers of the first half of Lent are aimed at arousing in us the spirit--the disposition of compunction. What is compunction?

Compunction is a knowledge of our sinfulness, sorrow for our sins, repentance, the desire for God’s mercy, the desire for deeper conversion.

Compunction comes from the latin “compungere”, to severely prick, as with a needle or a thorn. So the readings, the prayers, the time spent in prayerful reflection, during Lent “severely prick” our consciences, to lead us to repentance and amendment of our lives.

The Old Testament reading today was from the book of Leviticus. From the base of Mt. Sinai, Moses expands upon the 10 commandments with hundreds of laws that were to help Israel to become the chosen race, the royal priesthood, the holy nation set apart, who would live righteously, charitably, and in right worship.

The Levitical law spells out how Israel was to relate to God and how the people of God should relate to one another. Reading through these laws should bring us to compunction: “Have I stolen, have I defrauded another, have I acted dishonestly in rendering judgment.”  If, I have, it is a good thing to be brought to sorrow for failing to be as holy as God calls us to be.

Likewise, the reading from Matthew’s Gospel should help us examine our conscience.  In the parable of the Great Judgment, the Lord teaches that what we fail to do for the least of his people, the poorest, the most downtrodden, we fail to do for him. And there are eternal consequences for our failure to be charitable and merciful.

So we take very seriously this call to examine our lives—have I cared for those in need—the hungry, the naked, those in prison, the stranger, as I should?

If we are honest, the answer is probably no.  Many of us have never visited a prisoner or given more than a token offering to the starving. Even the sick we've visited have been relatives and friends and not the least of the brethren. And that should prick our consciences a bit, a lead us to consider ways the Lord is calling us to grow in charity

Compunction leads to conversion. And conversion, as Pope Benedict wrote, “opens the heart to God’s infinite goodness.”

May our Lenten journey continue to bring us purification from our sins, enlightenment in the ways of goodness, and conformity to the self-sacrifice of Christ 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 and bring purification from 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 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.