Sheep and Goats, Monday, First Week of Lent

Jesus tells his disciples in today's Gospel: "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.'"

This is a powerful Gospel as Jesus makes it quite clear that "whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me."

We are called to help others and we need to do these corporal works of mercy now so that we may be sheep on the right and not goats at the time of judgment. Lent is a time of conversion so let us begin today!

First Sunday of Lent and Spring Break

I will be driving to Gainesville on Wednesday to spend three nights in the Cenacle there to see my spiritual director and begin Lent with some days of prayer. It seems the best way to spend my Spring break this year; actually, because my international on-line Program in Spirituality Studies never gets a Spring break, I have not really taken one for years. Now it seems good to do so and give myself a break from the computer. My entries will be scheduled ahead until I return on March 9th. I shall keep all my readers in prayer and hope you enjoy the Spring photos and the quotes!

Here is Charles de Foucauld's prayer which I love even if it is for strong souls:
Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you; I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures. I wish no more than this, O Lord.
Into your hands I commend my soul; I offer it to you with all the love of my heart, for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands without reserve, and with boundless confidence, for you are my Father.

I did prepare Sunday last Thursday, but here are the other readings: Genesis 9:8-19) and 1 Peter 3:18-22. The first reading has God renewing the covenant with Noah.
In the second reading, Peter tells us that Christ suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God.

Let us let ourselves be led to God by Christ!

Saturday after Ash Wednesday

Luke's Gospel tells us how Jesus called Levi who was sitting at the customs post. Jesus simply said, "Follow me." And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him.
That is extraordinary but many have done the same. They are attentive to hear the call and leave all to follow the one who loves them.
Levi gave a great banquet for Jesus in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with him. Of course, the Pharisees and the scribes complained to his disciples and asked, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus said to them in reply, "Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners."

Jesus continues to call us and we are free to answer his call or not as he never forces anyone to follow him. Still, as the Good Shepherd, he is out there seeking the strayed and lost.

Today is the last day of February. Tomorrow is the First Sunday of Lent. The Psalm response is "Teach me your way, O lord, that I may walk in your truth."

Springtime

I am going to show some Springtime photos during these first days of Lent. Some have been longing for Spring after a long, cold winter.

The first verse of the hymn for this Friday morning prayer is
"The glory of these forty days
We celebrate with songs of praise;
For Christ, by whom all things were made,
Himself has fasted and has prayed."

In the Gospel today the disciples of John approach Jesus and ask, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast?" Jesus answers them, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast."

We fast in order to seek Jesus and to prepare ourselves to follow him; Jesus wants us to do good to others. Today's prayer over the gifts asks that "through this Lenten Eucharist may we grow in you love and service and become an acceptable offering to you."
May we all grow in love and service during these days of Lent; these are days of preparing to follow Jesus in his way of the Cross and so enter into his joy- let us not forget that the Passion, Death, and Resurrection are not to be separated for this is the Paschal Mystery!

I read in the little Black Book this morning that Jesus was not very careful of his choice of companions at the dinner; not only the Pharisees criticize him, but also the followers of John the Baptist! Jesus had a human heart and none of us like to be the object of critical talk; Jesus does not seem to let it bother him and goes on being himself, open to all, loving and forgiving. A good lesson for me!

Preparing for Sunday

Every Sunday is special, but each of the forty days of Lent have special readings, too. Let us look at a quote from Thursday's readings before we move to Sunday.

In the first reading from Deuteronomy (30:15-20), Moses said to the people: "Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom...Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, by loving the Lord, you God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him." How am I choosing life?

PREPARATION for March 1, First Sunday in Lent

It is also the beginning of Spring break at St. Thomas University so I will be posting short entries prepared ahead of time as I will be away that week.

One of my theology professors said that if we wanted to understand the theology of a feast, we should look at the Preface for that feast. The Preface sums up the theology. Lent has three special Lenten Prefaces and a special Preface for each Sunday!
In the Preface for the First Sunday of Lent we are told: "His fast of forty days makes this a holy season of self-denial. By rejecting the devil's temptations he has taught us to rid ourselves of the hidden corruption of evil and so to share his paschal meal in purity of heart, until we come to its fulfillment in the promised land of heaven."
We are given the reason for this season of self-denial. We have also been given the example of how we are to reject the temptations to comfort, material goods, esteem, and power.

The Gospel account from Mark (1:12-15) is very brief but very important; the Apostles only knew about Jesus spending forty days in the desert and being tempted because Jesus must have wanted them to know and told them as they were not there.
"The Spirit drove Jesus into the desert, and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan. He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to him." That is all Mark tells us. Jesus was driven by the Spirit, a compelling invitation to go spend those forty days in a deserted place, a desert, and he was tempted.
Mark then tells us in today's Gospel: After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God. 'This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.'" Those forty days in the desert prepared Jesus to go out and preach that the kingdom of God is now and that we are to "Repent and believe in the gospel."

Here is a hymn for this season:
Forty days and forty nights
Thou wast fasting in the wild;
Forty days and forty nights
Tempted, and yet undefiled.

Shall not we thy sorrow share
And from earthly joys abstain,
Fasting with unceasing prayer,
Glad with thee to suffer pain?

And if Satan, vexing sore,
Flesh or spirit should assail.
Thou, his Vanquisher before,
Grant that we man not faint nor fail!

Keep, O keep us, Savior dear,
Ever constant by thy side;
That with thee we may appear
At the eternal Eastertide.

Ash Wednesday

God longs for us to return to him with our whole heart. The first reading is from the Prophet Joel (2:12-18) and begins, "Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting and weeping, and mourning. Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God. For gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment...."

Psalm 51 has the refrain: "Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned."

We ask God in this Psalm to have mercy on us, to wash away our guilt and cleanse us of our sins for "I acknowledge my offense, and my sin is before me always; against you only have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight." And then comes the verse I love:
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me."

We then ask to have back the "joy of your salvation" - and this leads us to the Second Reading from Paul's second letter to the Corinthians (5:20-6:2) where we are called ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us.
If we are to call others to be reconciled with God, we must first make sure that we are reconciled. Jesus tells us in the Gospel to take care that no one sees us do good deeds, give alms, pray and fast because "your Father who sees in secret will repay you." That phrase is repeated three times in the Gospel (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18). So we begin Lent knowing what is pleasing to the Lord and we ask him to help us during the next forty days to stay with him and to realize that the sign of the cross on our foreheads today is to keep us faithful as well as humble. The verse before the Gospel is one to use frequently: "Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory! If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts."

If we are serious about following the Lord in Lent, we will share in his joy at Easter! What is the Lord asking of me this Lent?

Shrove Tuesday

Mardi Gras is the celebration that is held on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. Some places have not only parades and costumes, but special food such as pancakes or crepes. In New Orleans the "King" cakes are famous. It is a way be aware of the season of Lent that begins tomorrow, Ash Wednesday. Lent used to be a forty-day fast, but now the Church asks Catholics to fast only on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday; in the United States Catholics also abstain from meat on all the Fridays of Lent.

When I was a Freshman in college a group of us decided to go to New Orleans for Mardi Gras week end. We took the bus and rode all night. I had my Aunt Jo meet me at the bus station with her husband, Bob, who was a Colonel in the Army and stationed there after the war. They both had interesting lives and had toured Europe where Bob was in charge of ordering supplies for the army's PX stores; they had also been stationed on an island in the Pacific where my Aunt Jo was one of the few wives to join her husband and the conditions were so primitive that a visiting General said that the officers whose wives had been out there with them were to take advantage of the supply boats that went back and forth from Japan to get a bit of rest and relaxation with their wives. Anyway, I had a marvelous week end and met with my college friends for the parades where we were invited to ride in a truck; I went to one of the balls as my uncle had a special invitation; the others stayed at our school in New Orleans called the Rosary. I went over there, too, to see one of my favorite nuns. We decided not to go back by bus but take the train overnight to St. Louis. We were able to get a drawing room on the train by pooling our money. On the way to the station, my aunt and uncle stopped to get me a "Poor Boy" to eat on the train and my aunt pressed a couple of dollars into my hand just before I boarded. I found the others crowded into the drawing room and starving. No one had even a penny left! They devoured my sandwich and spent my money for chips and we spent the night reliving our experiences. When we arrived at Union Station in St. Louis early on Ash Wednesday, we piled into a cab and asked the driver to wait while we went in to borrow money from the nuns to pay our fare. The Father of one of my friends who was a bank executive never got over the fact that we did not ask him to wire us money but came home without a cent. It was an adventure and I still remember some things vividly and so am sharing them with you today. It was my first visit to New Orleans and I saw so many interesting places; when I went back to teach there as a young religious, we were cloistered and so I could not go out to see anything so I was grateful for that Mardi Gras trip!

I did not know about the pancake tradition but asked my community last night and one said it was to use up the flour before Lent! I suspect that there is more than that to the tradition, but I had not heard of it until I went to look up an image for Shrove Tuesday and found many pictures with stacks of pancakes and plates of crepes!
Not a very spiritual reflection today, but tomorrow begins an important season of self-denial and Mardi Gras is one way of preparing ourselves for the Lenten season!

St. Polycarp

Polycarp was bishop of Smyrna in 107, a leader of the early Christians and a disciple of the apostle John. He was also a friend of Ignatius of Antioch. Polycarp, like Ignatius, was martyred for his faith when he was eighty-six years old. He is one of the Fathers of the Church.

Today's Gospel has Jesus coming down from the mountain with Peter, James, and John. They found the other disciples with a large crowd and much commotion. They ran to Jesus who asked what they were arguing about and someone from the crowd told him: "Teacher, I have brought to you my son possessed by a mute spirit....I have asked your disciples to drive it out, but they were unable to do so."

Jesus said to them: "O faithless generation, how long will I be with you? How long will I endure you? Bring him to me." To make a long Gospel short, I am skipping to the end when Jesus took the boy by the hand, raised him and he stood up. The disciples asked him in private, "Why could we not drive the spirit out? He said to them, "This kind can only come out through prayer."

I think that we need a great deal of prayer and faith to help others today. Let us ask Jesus to increase our faith and to help us to be people of prayer.

Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

In this picture Jesus has cured the paralytic and told him to take up his mat and walk; he first forgave him his sins. I reflected on this Gospel on Thursday in "Preparing for Sunday" but have another thought to share today: "Paralysis is seen as a real physical condition in today's Gospel. It is also an image of the cumulative power of our sinful choices to ensnare us and hold us back from walking freely in the way of Christ."(Magnificat,(Vol.10 #13 p.311)
Today I want to look at the sinful choices in my own life. I do not really desire to do this, but need to do it. With the psalmist I cry our, "Lord, heal my soul, for I have sinned against you."

Paul tells us in the reading from 2 Corinthians 1:18-22 that we have been "given the Spirit in our hearts." And Isaiah, in the first reading of today's liturgy: "Thus says the Lord: Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; see, I am doing something new! The Lord is always doing something new and surprises me. But the Lord says, "The people I formed for myself, that they might announce my praise. Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob, for you grew weary of me, O Israel. You burdened me with your sins, and wearied me with your crimes. It is I, I, who wipe out, for my own sake, your offenses; your sins I remember no more."
That reading calls for our reflection. We were formed to praise God, but we "grew weary" of the Lord who has called us into existence and given us life; we have not responded well but have burdened him with our sins, yet he forgives us. The Lord is merciful.

St. Peter Damian

Peter was raised by his brother, Damian, a priest in Ravenna, after their parents died. In gratitude, Peter called himself Peter Damian; he became a hermit monk in 1035. He was chosen as abbot in 1043 and appointed Cardinal bishop of Ostia in 1057. He was a zealous reformer of the clergy. Later he received permission from the Pope to return to the monastery.
The Gospel today is one of my favorite, the Transfiguration of Jesus. Mark tells us how Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. "And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus."
Imagine the impression this made on the three chosen Apostles who witnessed this. Peter wants to stay there and even blurts out, "Rabbi, it is good that we are here! Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
Mark tells us that he hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified. I suspect "awed" would be the better word, but they really were terrified.
"Then, a cloud came casting a shadow over them; then from the cloud came a voice, 'This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.'" The voice of the Father comes from the cloud as it did at the Baptism of Jesus. The Father is not only affirming that Jesus is his beloved Son, but telling us to listen to him.
I often think that this phrase is one that calls us to pray without words but with a listening heart. This was a special moment for both Jesus and for the three invited to be with him to witness his moment of transfiguration. It is a moment that will strengthen them for the suffering and death that is to follow.
The Gospel tells us that "Suddenly, looking around, the disciples no longer saw anyone but Jesus alone with them."
Jesus is always with us; let us listen to him today!
At a homily on Thursday, we were asked by Jesus to say who each of us thought he was for us: "But you, who do you say that I am?" The priest suggested several answers but what stayed with me was, "You are Jesus, the one who is always with me; you are within me, loving me."

Jesus teaches me and the crowd

In yesterday's Gospel (not reflected on here because of preparation for Sunday), Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" And then he asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter replied, "You are the Christ." Jesus then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer, be rejected, be killed, and then rise after three days.
In today's Gospel, Jesus says to both the crowd (including me) and the disciples: "Who ever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." Jesus is still saying this to us. It is perhaps not what we want to hear, but it is part of following Jesus to carry one's cross and practice self-denial. Jesus continues by asking us a question that changed the life of at least one saint, "What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?"

Jesus came that we may have life and have it abundantly. When we follow Jesus we are not carrying a cross alone. What is my cross? Am I able to carry it with joy? I wonder if joy is in proportion sometimes to my capacity to deny myself and live only for Jesus? I am convinced that Jesus wants us to be joyful, but that does not mean self-indulgence. I am trying to get ready for Lent which is less than a week away!

Preparing for Sunday

We are preparing for the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time. It seems to me that it would be good to list the readings here for those who do not have them and want to look ahead of time: First Reading:Isaiah 43: 18-19,21-22, 24b-25; Second Reading: Corinthians 1:18-22; Gospel: Mark 2:1-12.
As I believe the Word of God is so powerful in the Gospel each day, let us begin with the story of Jesus curing the paralytic. Jesus has returned to Capernaum and it "became known that he was at home." So many gathered that there was no room for them, not even around the door. So, since they were not able to get near Jesus, four men who were carrying a paralytic climbed to the roof, opened a hole and let the man down on the mat he was lying on. "When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, 'Child, your sins are forgiven."

Jesus goes to the heart of the matter. What is important is that this paralytic has his sins forgiven. The Scribes who were present immediately begin to accuse Jesus of blaspheming because only God can forgive sins. Jesus knew what they were thinking and said, "Why are you thinking such things in your hearts? Which is easier to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise, pick up your mat and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth"- he said to the paralytic, "I say to you, rise, pick up your mat and go home." He rose, picked up his mat at once, and went away in the sight of everyone. They were all astounded and glorified God saying, "We have never seen anything like this."

Sometimes, when I read this, I am the paralytic. My friends carry me to Jesus. Jesus then says to me, "Your sins are forgiven." And I know this is true; I feel cleansed, full of new joy and energy. It is easy to believe that Jesus can forgive sins because I have this experience every time I receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I believe that Jesus waits for us to come to ask forgiveness, but here is a case where he freely announces the forgiveness without the paralytic saying anything aloud; Jesus sees the desires of our hearts. He is also aware of the desires of the friends that brought the paralytic to Jesus and did not let the crowd stop them from getting access to Jesus. Sometimes, I am the friends. I carry one in need to Jesus.

The other readings are also worth considering and I will reflect on them on Sunday. The response for Psalm 41 is "Lord, heal my soul, for I have sinned against you."