lent – Page 9 – Communio

Boston College Catholic students choose Gandhi over Catholic mystics for Lent

Lenten
observances are varied: you can fast, pray the Way of the Cross, do charitable
acts, give alms, spend time in contemplative prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, do
lectio divina, pray the rosary, and the like. The possibilities are limitless. You might know, Catholics have a lot in their own
mystical tradition to deepen a relationship with the Blessed Trinity. And some real good stuff, too. So much so, that a Catholic doesn’t have to stray far from orthodox Christianity for prayer.

Doubtful,
however, is the spending any kind of energy on “Gandhi, Peace and Nonviolence” an acceptable alternative for Catholics. Especially when knowledge of the Catholic tradition is relatively low, even among theology students. But that is what the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry’s Lenten
focus was today. The idea is OK. Wait. It was pretty mediocre. Why not reflect upon peace and nonviolence
using music and select readings? At a Catholic school of theology and ministry
where students are paying tuition in order to be trained to be better Catholics, superb lay Catholic
leaders and teachers, and perhaps even priests, Gandhi just doesn’t fit during
Lent.

I wonder if anyone at a Jesuit school of theology and ministry ever
thought of focusing on one of the great spiritual fathers and mothers of the Church –Augustine, Ephrem, Aquinas,
Bonaventure, Lawrence of Brindisi, Hilary of Poiters, Loyola, Gertrude, Tauler,
Marguerite d’Oingt, Catherine of Siena, Giussani, Lubich, Benedict XVI– for Lenten
prayer and readings? Then, I have to wonder if Gandhi is BC’s type of Catholic and the list above are too obscure for mainline believers. Are these people too Catholic? Perhaps Gandhi is the new patron
saint of the liberal-blue hairs and they haven’t told the rest of the Church yet? Curious to know what Sister Quinn was
thinking.

This is not only a question of Catholic identity at a supposed Catholic institution of higher education, but a question of formation for the proclamation of the Kingdom of God. It is a question of helping each other know their destiny in Jesus Christ.

Transfiguration Sunday

Thou wast transfigured on the mountain, O Christ, our God, showing to Thy disciples Thy glory as each one could endure. Shine forth Thou on us, who are sinners all, Thy light ever-unending. Through the prayers of the Theotokos, Light-Bestower, glory to Thee.

The focus of today is not our self-initiated transfiguration but on our attentive listening to Christ and our worthy approach of the altar to be transfigured by the Risen Christ present in the Eucharist.

Can we approach the Transfigured Christ and allow him to change us?

Can Lent help restore joy?

Lent is perplexing to so many. Just look at the confusion on so many people’s faces as they approach the priest giving ashes. They come to church to begin something but I sense many people have not a clue what to do, why and to what end. For example: ask the “average Catholic” what it means to pray, fast and give alms. Duck, you may get a robust answer, but you may get something that is way underwhelming, even moralist and abstract. Most answers you garner will say not be too consistent with Scripture and the Liturgy; moreover, it will have nothing to do with one’s humanity. Let’s deal with fasting. In today‘s reading from the Prophet Isaiah (58:1-9) we hear from God about what he expects of fasting:

Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

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Lent’s a time to be converted because we need a new heart

At the ancient
Roman Basilica of Santa Sabina known today as the mother church of the Order of
Preachers, the Pope began Lent with the reception of ashes. The imposition of ashes is not ritualistic sign without meaning: we put ashes on our heads not in contradiction of the Gospel chosen for that day but as a way to remind ourselves that an outward sign conveys an inward reality. He first began the Lenten prayer at the
Benedictine Church of Sant’Anselmo (just down the street from Santa Sabina).
There he gathered with the monks, priests, bishops , cardinals and laity for a
visit to the Blessed Sacrament, brief service of prayer and a procession to
Santa Sabina where Holy Mass was celebrated. Yes, the pope walks the streets of Rome, but in a limited way. It is a gesture full of beauty. This is ancient way for the Roman
Pontiff to lead the Church into a season of penance and preparation for the
sacred Triduum. The Holy Father’s homily is below.

We begin today the
liturgical season of Lent with the thought-provoking rite of the imposition of
ashes, through which we wish to take on the commitment to convert our hearts to
the horizons of grace. In general, in common opinion, this time runs the risk
of being marked by sadness, by the darkness of life. Instead, it is a precious
gift of God; it is an intense time full of meanings in the journey of the
Church; it is the itinerary to the Lord’s Easter. The biblical readings of
today’s celebration give us indications to live this spiritual experience
fully.

Continue reading Lent’s a time to be converted because we need a new heart

Beginning today, will Lent change my life?

Yesterday’s Scripture reading at Mass from Tobit was a great entry into the great season of Lent: blinded for four years, Tobit’s whole life changed. His lent, as it were, provided him the graced-filled opportunity to make some necessary changes in his relationship with God and other, not mention he softened his demeanor. In time, God heals his physical and spiritual blindness. If you get a chance, read the Book of Tobit. One has to ask, to what am I blinded to and how do I want God to heal me.

In his audience today the Pope recalled for us that “The Fathers of the Church teach that these three pious exercises are closely related: indeed, Saint Augustine calls fasting and almsgiving the “wings of prayer,” since they prepare our hearts to take flight and seek the things of heaven, where Christ has prepared a place for us.”

For those who believe in Christ and follow his path, the “Christian life is a ‘road’ to be travelled, it consists not so much of a law to be observed, but in meeting, welcoming and following Christ”. We meet the Lord Jesus “in the light and joy of the resurrection, the victory of life, love and good, then we too have to take up the cross of everyday life.”

Lent begins today, “let us accept Christ’s invitation to follow him more closely, renew our commitment to conversion and prayer, and look forward to celebrating the Resurrection in joy and newness of life.”

At the end of the lenten 40 days, how do I want to be different from who I am today? In what concrete ways will I allow prayer, fasting and almsgiving to be tools for my own education in the faith as Christ proposes to me? Will I have a renewed understanding of the Cross and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ that totally changes my life?

Fast and abstinence for Ash Wednesday

The Church’s norms for the Lenten Fast and Abstinence us is as follows:

Catholics between the ages of 18 and 59 who are in good health are bound by the obligation to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

Catholics between the ages of 14 and older must abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and all Fridays of Lent.

Fasting means partaking of only one full meal. Two smaller meals, sufficient to maintain strength, may be taken according to one’s needs, but together not equal another full meal. Eating between meals is not permitted, but liquids, including juices and milk may be taken between meals.

Abstinence prohibits the use of meat, but not of eggs, milk products or condiments made from animal fat.

“While preserving their value, eternal penitential practices are never an end in themselves, but an aid to inner penitence, which consists of freeing the heart from the grip of sin with the help of grace, to direct it toward the love of God and our brothers and sisters” (John Paul II).

For an article on the point of fasting, see read it here.

“Spy” Wednesday

The Church as often called today “spy Wednesday” because of the betrayal of Christ one hears made by Judas. The name Judas is forever linked with the concept of betrayal. In Dante’s Inferno (Canto XXXIV) we see Judas in the lowest circle of Hell being eternally consumed by a three-faced winged devil. Imagine the affective hurt of being betrayed by a friend!

The Church prays

O God, who willed Your Son to undergo on our behalf the gibbet of the Cross so that You might drive away from us the power of the enemy, grant to us Your servants, that we may obtain the grace of the resurrection.

Palm Sunday 2010

Lent is not completed on our own initiative

We know by experience that we have not sufficient strength
in ourselves to bring to a successful completion our chief Lenten duty, which
is to die fully to sin in order to live fully in the risen Christ. But Christ
himself, before leaving his own, prayed to his Father to preserve them from
evil and from the evil one, from the seductions of the world and the attacks of
Satan. He taught them to ask, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from
evil.

Obviously he did not intend that his disciples be spared every kind of
temptation and danger, for this would be impossible in this life; besides, God
himself permits it to test our virtue, but he wanted to assure them sufficient
strength to resist. The evil from which he desired to free them was sin, the
only real disaster, because it separates us from God.

Divine Intimacy

Father
Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, OCD

Covering statues, images & crucifixes in Passiontide

My friend George asked me the other day about the
tradition of covering the statues, images and crucifixes (sacred images) -but
not the Stations of the Cross–before Holy Week. He told me that the nuns told
him that the Church covered sacred items because Christ went into hiding before
his arrest. Well, that’s true but incomplete. The tradition of veiling finds
its source in John 8:46-59 where the Jews attempt to stone Jesus because of his
claims of being the Son of God, but he hides from view. As point of comparison,
you will notice in Mark’s gospel our focus is on the Lord’s crucifixion because
it is there that we learn the true identity of Jesus as being man and divine.
The covering of sacred images, therefore, is to illustrate the increasing
tension we find ourselves in the Liturgy as we move toward of the Lord’s own
Paschal Mystery. The veiling actually reinforces the verifiable fact of the
Incarnation.

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