Mary’s journey
Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord
Gospel: Luke 1:26-38
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032525.cfm
Today is the solemnity of the annunciation of the Lord. This day is exactly nine months before Christmas. It’s the day of Jesus’s incarnation. God became man around the same time of the year that he died. Some followers in the early church believe it was the same day, March 25th. This day is recognized both as the incarnation and death of Jesus.
It was also the day that Jesus received his name and the day that his mother, Mary, found out about him and his purpose. Gabriel lets her know that she is to bear a son and that she is to name him Jesus, or Yeshua in Hebrew. Yeshua means “God saves.” His name predicts his mission. Gabriel goes on to explain that he will be great and called the Son of the Most High. He will be holy. He will be a bringer of salvation. Gabriel’s speech goes on from there to speak of his kingdom and reign. It is very clear that it’s an earthly reign in that he’ll have the throne of David and will rule over the house of Jacob, or Israel, forever.
Mary was humble and had a simple life. While her ancestors were rulers and kings, she was not. But, she was devout in her faith. The concept of Jesus ruling must have been a shock to her. Similar to the story of David, Jesus was to come from humble beginnings as well. Gabriel concludes by saying, “Nothing is impossible for God.” For Mary, it’s at this moment that she learns that she will have a son, he will be a miracle virgin birth, he will be holy, and he will rule over Israel forever. That’s a lot for someone to process.
She lived her life alongside Jesus as his mother. Each of those days, she lived fully and faithfully in the mystery. She did not know what the next day would bring, but she was there to witness the revelation of the divine that had grown in her womb. She raised him with Joseph. She took care of him in his time of need. She was present for his ministry. After thirty-three years since the annunciation, she was at Golgotha witnessing her baby boy process to the cross to be crucified.
Mary, the mother of God, remained with him through it all. She is the mother of Jesus, the bringer of our salvation.
Hometown prophets
Monday of the Third Week of Lent
Gospel: Luke 4:24-30
https://bible.usccb.org/ybible/readings/032425.cfm
In a recent interview, a politician spoke about the hierarchy of love and said that one should take care of one’s family first, then one’s community, then one’s nation, and then the broader world. We can all agree that a family shouldn’t neglect a sick member when the rest are healthy. A family shouldn’t disregard a struggling member to celebrate the successes of another. A family shouldn’t stop looking for a lost member because they have each other. A family shouldn’t team-up to mistreat one of its members.
For Jesus and other prophets, they believed that their family and community were greater than just those they grew-up with or those within their vicinity. For them, family and community were universal. They were driven to witness to a broader audience who were in more need than the community they found themselves born into. Jesus talks about how Elijah was called to a widow in Sidon, a Samaritan city, and Elisha was called to cleanse lepers in a foreign city. Their message went beyond just the Jewish people and was focused on those that hadn’t heard the message; those that were in need of the message and ready to receive it. Their goal was not one group thriving over another but how all can thrive together.
Jesus worked to elevate those on the fringe of society, the outcasts, and those overlooked by his community. He focused on the foreigner, the condemned, the sick, and the unclean. The Nazarenes wanted Jesus to focus strictly on them, to be loyal to them above all else, to elevate them above all others. He was blessed with certain gifts, why wasn’t he going to use them to make the people of Nazareth great?
For Jesus there isn’t a need to have losers to have winners. For Jesus, there’s no one unchosen, if all are chosen. His message was to let outcasts know that they were chosen as well, not through assimilation, but through already-existent love. With a lot of society today making it about choices between groups, we much remember the message of Jesus. We are all part of one family. Caring for Palestinians isn’t antisemitic. Caring for immigrants isn’t unamerican. Saying black lives matter, isn’t saying others aren’t. God’s love is unconditional, not hierarchical and without borders. Let’s start living like it and act the same.
Repentance for the Kingdom
Third Sunday of Lent
Gospel: Luke 13:1-9
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032325-YearC.cfm
On the surface, today’s gospel is about personal repentance. We don’t know what will happen so we must repent and always be at the ready. Our eternal soul is more sacred than our temporal body. Our life could be taken at any time. Therefore, we must always be ready.
Jesus might be sharing something deeper than this. What if Jesus is talking about the kingdom of God? The kingdom is fully established when all are with God bearing good fruit; when we all take care of each other. Our world is not fully in the kingdom yet, and it certainly wasn’t in Jesus’s time. At the beginning of today’s gospel, Jesus references two events: one where lives were lost by government sanctioned murder and one where lives were lost by vaulty architecture.
Our reality is grim because of our sin, by what we’ve done and what we’ve left undone. For us to bring about the kingdom, we must fully repent and change our ways. We must actively strive to make God’s kingdom a reality. We must strive to not only redeem ourselves, but redeem our culture and our world. Repentance goes beyond us individually, it goes for all of us collectively. Complete redemption only occurs when it occurs for all. This was Christ’s goal and should be the goal for us as followers continuing the mission.
The parable of the fig tree is about the kingdom as well. Our world is the fruitless tree that has the potential to bear fruit (become the kingdom). The potential is there, but how we are collectively living is not producing fruit at all. In the parable, we are the gardener. Regardless of how helpless the world may seem, we are to keep faith that it always has potential. The world may deserve to be cut down because of how we have neglected it; that’s why we are called to save it. The arc of history is the kingdom of God. We are called to bring it to fruition.
Draw near
Saturday of the Second Week of Lent
Gospel: Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032225.cfm
Today’s gospel starts with one group drawing near, and another group complaining. I imagine an audience of outcasts finally finding someone who is not one of them accepting them. Jesus didn't just welcome them, he celebrated their presence. They loved it. They liked Jesus so much that they were brought close to him. They leaned in to listen to what he had to say, but the religious leaders didn’t like this so much.
In the world, there is only so much material to go around. Some of us will have and some will have not. Some of us will be good stewards of these materials and others will squander them off. Some of us will be winners and some of us have to be losers for the others to win. The winners eat the best food, wear the best clothes, garner attention, have material wealth, and are loved and accepted by all. Losers don’t have such things. They didn’t earn it and surely don’t deserve it. The winners are evidently better or they wouldn’t be winners. This is what Jesus observed about perspectives around him and is the stage he sets for his story. The Pharisees saw themselves as winners and the tax collectors and sinners as losers. There were the chosen people and the unchosen. There were the clean and the unclean; the holy and unholy. You were either for or against God; devout or undevout.
In the parable, the father gives the inheritance to both brothers. The older brother stays with the father and continues to grow what he has according to the family’s trade. The younger brother wastes his on self-gratification. The older brother has a significant reason to be angry at the end of the story. Not only did his brother blow his inheritance, his father is now using part of his inheritance in celebration of his scrupulous younger brother. What has he done to earn that? The younger brother squandered his share away, why should he be entitled to any part of his older brother’s portion? It wasn’t if he came upon bad luck, he blew it. He deserves what his behavior has earned, less than nothing.
But in this parable, Jesus is showing that the tax collectors and the sinners are also children of God. Like a good parent, God is going to celebrate the return of his children. The Pharisees, the tax collectors, and the sinners are all siblings. Like siblings there may be times when they are competitive, but deep down, they should want what’s truly best for one another. There is not a separation between the chosen and the unchosen; all are chosen. God’s love isn’t earned, it’s unconditional.
But it is quite the challenge, when you see the celebration of others who you think deserve suffering for their behaviors, but weren’t their behaviors suffering enough? Choosing the righteous path is its own reward. May we remember the words of the father as if they are from God, “'My child, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your sibling was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found." May we recognize that God is with us always and may we be ready to celebrate with our brothers and sisters upon their return. May we see each other as God sees us.
Prophetic voice
Friday of the Second Week of Lent
Gospel: Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032125.cfm
Prophetic voices within a tradition have a tendency to initially be rejected before they become the new tradition. Prophetic voices are means of change. These voices, inspired by God, help to right the way of humanity’s relationship with God. We have a tendency to falter, not just as individuals, but as communities. Within humanity, it is easy for individuals to rise up, organize, and lead. Once these individuals are in respected positions, they can fall trap to the evils of power and greed. Religious institutions are not immune to this. The Old Testament is full of stories about these abuses of power. In the New Testament too, we see Jesus’s conflict with the Pharisees and their abuse of power.
When we reflect on the actions of prophets like with some Catholic saints and reformers like Martin Luther, they don’t tend to be received well by the ruling class. Prophets voices challenge the status quo when power dynamics are not kept in check.
We all are vulnerable to the abuses of power when we wield it and receive it. Once certain levels of power are gained by a person, they are compelled to do what it takes to maintain it. To stand-up to power can lead to rejection, separation from one’s community, becoming a victim of violence, and numerous other atrocities. Most of the prophets in the Old Testament feared for their lives at the hands of those they were asked to witness to.
Jesus was and is a prophetic voice. He is the rock and foundation that his followers and their followers would build upon. He is the cornerstone of the faith to come. That said, he was rejected by the builders of his tradition, the religious leaders of his day. The kingdom that Jesus wants to build goes beyond any earthly institution. This kingdom is given to those who produce its fruits. People that produce God’s fruits will be included. Jesus didn’t focus on a new institution, but on people. He wants people to be the kingdom through building the kingdom. The kingdom is not bound to titles or hierarchies of power but is created through serving one another through love.
With power there is domination and subjugation. God’s kingdom is not built on such things. God’s kingdom is built on mutually sharing the load. God’s kingdom is for those who produce its fruits, not those who seek to consume them. May we always seek to serve rather than to be served. Let the rock that has been rejected become our cornerstone.
God’s helps
Thursday of the Second Week of Lent
Gospel: Luke 16:19-31
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032025.cfm
At the end of today’s gospel, Jesus says that if the rich man’s family didn’t listen to Moses (the law) or the prophets, nothing will convince them. Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees. They were focused on following the law for the law’s sake, not the deeper spirit behind it. Their strict interpretation of the law would have aligned more with the rich man. Their interpretation of the law was to avoid the unclean, and Lazarus was unclean. The Pharisees would have also recognized that the rich man had received glory from God for God had rewarded him with wealth. Whereas, Lazarus was in a horrible state because of something he must have done or because someone in his family must have greatly sinned.
In the story, Jesus specifically calls the suffering man Lazarus. The name Lazarus means “God has helped” or “God’s help.” The Pharisees would have picked up on this and recognized the juxtaposition at the beginning of the story. In life, it didn’t appear that God was helping Lazarus, but God did try to comfort Lazarus. Lazarus was in the position of receiving aid from the rich man. The rich man had the resources that Lazarus needed or at least the resources to improve his situation, but he did not share them. As Jesus’s story explains, the dogs even tried to comfort Lazarus but not the rich man. The opportunity was with the rich man to act on behalf of God for Lazarus and he chose not to.
For Jesus, the message from the law and the prophets is simply to love God and love your neighbor as yourself. That can be broken down into a long list of rules, but its source goes beyond any set of rules. God’s law of love transcends how we can break that down into rules to live by. The rules do not transcend the source. If the rules cause you to go against the source, then they are not serving their intended purpose.
Today’s gospel is a parable, not a literal story about heaven and hell. Lazarus was in a position of need in his life. What he needed was right there with the rich man. Instead of seeing his possessions as belonging to God and him needing to steward them, he enjoyed them as his own. God’s creation is enough for all of us, but we don’t treat it as such. It’s only enough for us if we share it. If we treat creation as God intended, there is plenty for all. God’s kingdom could be fully here today if we all lived like it. It’s not about a reward of heaven but striving to make heaven through how we live and treat one another. When we see suffering in the world, it’s a reminder that there is work to be done and God is calling us to do it.
Essence formed by experience
Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Gospel: Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24a
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031925.cfm
If Jesus was only fully God and not fully human, it wouldn’t have mattered who his parents were as his actions would have been ultimately divine regardless of the circumstances. To think of Jesus as being fully human, there was a need to have the right parents, or the right community raising him. We know that as human beings, we are developed by both nature and nurture. It’s not just what’s in our essence, but how that essence is formed through experience. The community we are raised in and the experiences we have help mold and shape our essence to make us who we are. We are dynamic and refined overtime through our experience. We are a combination of our nature, our nurture, and the choices we make in our free agency. Regardless of our nature and our nurture, we always have the right to choose otherwise.
The community raising us makes a significant difference in our formation. Jesus was no exception to this. Given the purpose of his mission and the person he was going to become required a certain nature and nurture coming together. In today’s gospel we learn about Joseph. We learn that he was a righteous man who was unwilling to expose his fiancee to shame. He was devout and compassionate. He was principled in how he lived, but he wasn’t going to use those principles to tear others down, even one he assumed cheated on him. He was humble and lived with honor.
We see these traits in Jesus as well. Jesus stayed true to his purpose, his principles, and his devotion. He met people where they were at and treated them with compassion and mercy. He didn’t hold their past sins against them, but focused on how they could be transformed. You can see Joseph in the practices of Jesus, because Joseph helped form Jesus into the person he would become.
May we choose to do the good as Joseph did and help mold those around us to the glory of God.
Truth beyond recognition
Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent
Gospel: Matthew 23:1-12
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031825.cfm
It’s easy for us today to dismiss the good in a person for their sins or behaviors. There is a lot of hypocrisy. We are all guilty of it. We are not fully who we are in our highest moments or in our lowest moments. We may know the right thing to do, but not fully live it. We put on blinders when it comes to ourselves and are quick to dismiss the good in others when their behaviors don’t live up to that good. But truth transcends the shortcomings of the speaker.
In today’s gospel, Jesus emphasizes that truth is truth. Listen and be mindful of the good that others speak, but don’t follow their misguided behavior. We shouldn’t dismiss their good because of their misguided behavior. Deep down, we all know the good better than we live it. We all need to be mindful of how we are not living it. Jesus explains ways in which religious and spiritual people can slip up in their practice. He highlights:
Preaching without practicing
Burdening others while not being willing to contribute
Pursuing recognition
Seeking positions of honor
Desiring grand titles
He also provides a means to avoid these temptations. Instead of seeking greatness, be a servant to others. Your greatness is determined by how you serve others. Instead of seeking to be exalted, humble yourself. It is in humbling yourself that you will be exalted. Jesus isn’t saying this in a cause and effect way. If you focus on humble service, the exaltation and recognition becomes meaningless. In fact, you’ll be able to see that you are already exalted and recognized as a child of God. When focusing on doing what is right, the act itself is the reward. It is not about exaltation or recognition; it is about what you do in service to God and others.
Judgement free zone
Monday of the Second Week of Lent
Gospel: Luke 6:36-38
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031725.cfm
Jesus calls us to put into the world what we want to get out of it. If you bring anger, you will experience anger in return. If you bring hate, you will find hate. There are actions that are harmonious and others that are discordant, both of which lead to an identical response.
Jesus tells us to stop the discordant actions of judgement and condemnation. These actions are adversarial and are returned with more adversarial actions. As with discordant actions, harmonious actions work the same way. Forgiveness and generosity will be reciprocated with more forgiveness and generosity.
While this cause and effect can happen to us directly (and it often does), it also ripples out to innocent bystanders. When we are condemned and judged, it makes us more prone to condemn and judge others regardless if they were involved. Similarly, when we experience kindness from others, it makes us more prone to show kindness to the next person we encounter. Even if we don’t experience the reciprocation of kindness directly, the fact that we put it out in the world, is leading to more kindness.
As this gospel starts, we are called to be merciful as God is merciful. We are to see this paradigm for what it is and respond with mercy. As we encounter judgement and condemnation, we should double-down on forgiveness and generosity. We have it within us to be the needed change in the world, that is why we are here. Absorb the hate and respond with love and you will help the world grow in love.
Fulfilment of tradition
Sunday of the Second Week of Lent
Gospel: Luke 9:28b-36
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031625.cfm
Jesus and three of his disciples went up a mountain to pray. Throughout Old Testament scripture, people connected with God on top of mountains. It was where God gave Moses the law. It was on top of a mountain where Elijah went to hide and reconnect with God. God came to Elijah in a whisper after he had encountered great winds, fire, and earthquakes. Ultimately, both Moses and Elijah received direction from God on top of mountains. Moses is associated with the law and Elijah is one of the prophets. The law was the foundation to the Jewish faith and covenant to God and the prophets were sent to help guide people back to God.
So here the disciples were with Jesus on top of a mountain praying. The disciples fell asleep. They were not prepared or aware of what was about to come. They were awoken to a transformed Jesus speaking with Moses and Elijah about what he is to accomplish when he goes to Jerusalem. This visit was bringing together key moments in Jewish history in one place: Moses as the foundation of the law, Elijah as the continued revelation of the prophets, and Jesus as the Messiah who is the fulfillment of God’s work through them. Together they discuss what is about to come. You have the ancient past, the past, and the present talking about the future. Moses and Elijah are getting to share in the moment as the disciples bear witness.
Peter tries to get Moses and Elijah to stay, but their time has already been served. Their work was still with them and still part of them through Jesus, the fulfillment of their tradition. Then God speaks, “This is my chosen Son; listen to him.” As the people were to follow the law and the prophets, Jesus is the one to follow now; heed his words and take on his practices.
We too now are part of this tradition and carry the work of our ancestors with us if we recognize it or not. Let us not fall asleep, but stay awake for the glories that God is to show us. May we see the stage that was set throughout history for us to receive our call. We are all connected throughout history. May we do what we can in our own time to set the stage for those to come after us. As with Moses, Elijah, Jesus, and the disciples, we are called to lay down the foundation for and bring forth the kingdom of God. May we respond to our call as they did in the way that God uniquely calls us.
Habits of love
Saturday of the First Week of Lent
Gospel: Matthew 5:43-48
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031525.cfm
A theme that keeps coming up during the gospels this lent is how Jesus is calling us to imitate God. In today’s gospel, Jesus emphasized that God treats all equally. The sun shines and the rain falls equally on the bad and the good and the just and the unjust. Jesus says that this fair and equal treatment of others is perfection.
The concept of vengeance has no place. Neither does only showing kindness to those who have not crossed you. Jesus calls us to love our enemies and want what is best for them. Sin and mistreatment of others is a sickness that we must cure ourselves from and assist others with as well. We don’t love our enemies because of their scorn and mistreatment, we love them because we know that they have the divine spark within them needing to be activated and habitualized. At our core, we are all created in the image and likeness of God.
God wants all of us in God’s kingdom. That means all of us; even our enemies and those who have sinned against us. Everyone has the opportunity for reconciliation. We are all more than our actions in one moment, but our actions can be symptoms of our present state. The pattern and habits shown by our actions reflect what and who we are at our core. We all have the divine spark and we all have the ability to shy away from it. We always have the capacity to change for the good. God is in us always wanting to come alive and transform us for the better. In loving our enemies, we recognize that aptitude in others as we recognize it in ourselves as well. God is never done with us. We must work for, pray for, and hope for the salvation of all as Jesus has shown us.
Law of reconciliation
Friday of the First Week of Lent
Gospel: Matthew 5:20-26
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031425.cfm
As of late, it doesn’t take much to see people tearing each other down. As we have increased our ability to share information, you would think we’d become more understanding of each other and our differences of opinion. A friend of mine recently commented that never in their life have they experienced a time where current events are so polarizing that it’s as if it was multiple different events. It’s as if we are different groups wearing different glasses through which we see the world. Instead of celebrating our differences and learning from each other, we resort to arguing and dismissing the views of the other.
In the movie “Conclave” there is a sermon that states “certainty” is a great sin. Faith requires both a sense of certainty and doubt. If we have a sense of full certainty, we lose tolerance of different beliefs and viewpoints. It is in our doubt where we are open to reconciliation. When we live in a state of certainty, we are prone to judge others.
In today’s gospel, Jesus challenges us to think more deeply about the law, not just in our behavior and actions, but in settling disputes with others. Reconciliation goes beyond forgiveness of sins, it extends to reconciling with others regardless of if we sinned or not. In the end, we may decide to go our separate ways, but it is always good for us to clear the air and gain understanding of where the other person is coming from and to share our understanding of where we are coming from. We can live civilly with one another when we disagree. To follow Jesus is to seek reconciliation and to challenge ourselves beyond the law to become more loving. It’s not about following the rules, it’s about being transformed in love.
Divine agency
Thursday of the First Week of Lent
Gospel: Matthew 7:7-12
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031325.cfm
This passage led to a lot of frustration for me growing up. Given the way I understood it, I was left very frustrated; God wants to help you, you’re just not doing it right. What I heard was that I need to ask harder, knock harder, and seek harder in prayer. God would answer anything as long as we came to God fully in the right way with the right intent. Yet the more I prayed, I didn’t seem to get direct answers to my prayers or it could be a hit or miss. The evidence wasn’t there either on what made one prayer get answered and another one not. That said, over time it has now become part of my prayer practice through a prayer known as the Efficacious Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a prayer that was regularly practiced by St. Pio of Pietrelcina. It wasn’t until reading and reflecting on today’s gospel that I was able to recognize why it changed.
This gospel is less about prayer and more about action and agency. God uses all means within creation to connect with us which means we too are God agents in the world. God had blessed us with so many gifts by creating us in God’s image and likeness. We have the divine spark within us that is always ready and able to answer when someone asks, to show when someone is seeking, and to open the door when someone knocks. When we are in such need as well, it is good to turn to God in prayer, but God also wants us to turn to the divine spark in others and in ourselves. We are called to fill the needs of the world with what God has given us and the world is here to fill the needs that go beyond us. The struggle we experience is two fold:
We don’t ask, seek, or knock.
We don’t answer, find, or open.
God’s economy works if we participate in it. What makes this so evident in this gospel is how it ends. Jesus at first describes how much more giving God is beyond a parent, but then he concludes by saying, "Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the law and the prophets." This is the golden rule, the sentence after goes on further to say that it is the law and the prophets. God is calling us to agency. It’s not just the rule, it is the prophetic voice. It is what will make God’s kingdom a reality. Not only must we ask, seek and knock, we must answer, find, and open for those who come to us.
Let us be grateful for how God has been shown to us through the aid of others and may we return the same.
Labor frustration
Wednesday of the First Week of Lent
Gospel: Luke 11:29-32
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031225.cfm
Jesus is frustrated in today’s scripture. The work he is doing to share the gospel to the people doesn’t seem to be getting through. He references the stories about Solomon and Jonah to express his annoyance.
In the story of Jonah (Jonah 3), Jonah was called by God to witness to the Ninevites that if they don’t change their ways, they’d be overthrown. The Ninevites were gentile. This story of Ninevites shows an example of God in the Old Testament going beyond the Jewish people to care for the salvation of others. When Jonah shared his message with them, the Ninevites repented and changed their ways. Even the Ninevite king followed suit. The sign of Jonah mentioned in today’s gospel was of conversion. He had a message to share to an unlikely group of people and they changed their ways. He didn’t perform miracles; he merely shared God’s news.
In the Solomon story that Jesus references, the queen of the South traveled to meet with him and seek his guidance (1 King 10:1-10). They gave gifts to each other and Solomon gave her answers and clarity to questions she had. She tells Solomon:
“The report I heard in my country about your deeds and your wisdom is true. I did not believe the report until I came and saw with my own eyes that not even half had been told to me. Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report I heard. Happy are your servants, happy these ministers of yours, who stand before you always and listen to your wisdom. Blessed be the LORD, your God, who has been pleased to place you on the throne of Israel. In his enduring love for Israel, the LORD has made you king to carry out judgment and justice.”
She too was a gentile like the Ninevites. She saw not just the greatness of Solomon and how he treated his people, but the greatness of his God.
When Jesus talks about the Queen of the South and the Ninevites, he’s saying that those unexpected to listen to God’s news will actually listen and follow the teachings. Whereas those that were expected to listen would not and would be left behind. He wanted his tribe of people to receive the good news along with gentiles and those considered sinners and on the margins.
How often this can happen to us too! We can seek certain fruits from our labor and not receive it. We can seek to help others and not be received how we want to be received. We can be surprised by those who actually listen, change, and follow. They may not be who we originally thought. Our labor is in our control (Jonah) and so is our integrity (Solomon); how others respond is not. We must always hope for our continued conversion and the continued conversion of others. May we experience the fruit of our labor and find peace when we do not. May we too, like the Ninevites and the Queen of the South, be open to changing our ways when we receive the news of God.
Prayer
Tuesday of the First Week of Lent
Gospel: Matthew 6:7-15
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031125.cfm
Prayer is for us, it’s not for God. If God knows what we need before we ask, why do we need to pray? There are lots of different methods and ways to pray. Even though Jesus teaches us how to pray in today’s gospel, this isn’t the only way he prayed. In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prays so long that he put his disciples to sleep. In this prayer in the garden, he struggles with accepting his fate. He knows what needs to happen, but he asks God for a way out. He shared his emotions with God and God responded by giving him strength.
On the cross, Jesus had several prayers. In the gospel of John and Mark, Jesus exclaims on the cross, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” In Luke, Jesus prays, “Forgive them for they know not what they do.” and “Into your hands I commit my spirit.” Jesus turned to God with raw emotions, honest and genuine.
There are a lot of other places in the gospel when it references Jesus praying. The “Lord’s Prayer” only appears in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. In today’s gospel, Jesus instructs us to not babble or to use many words when we pray, but we know Jesus used a lot of words in his prayer in the garden. His advice to us is to not be performative in our prayer practice or use a lot of words to try to persuade God.
Prayer is not a means of bartering with God or changing God’s mind. Prayer is a means of bringing us to God. It helps tap us into the bigger picture we may not see right now and realigns us to who we truly are beyond our false notions and interpretations. God doesn’t want your staged social media post, he was you. In prayer, we become honest with ourselves about our suffering, our gratitude, our needs, and our wants. God works more directly with us when we are truly exposed. We connect better with God when we turn off our noise and stop hiding.
In my Sunday school class (we call it Youth Faith Formation), we start everyday with prayer. We follow a simple guide of reading the gospel, thinking through what we are grateful for, and then identifying what we hope to see in the world. We define it as scripture, gratitude, and intentions. As you journey through Lent, try to take on this way of prayer. Do it alone or even with close loved ones. Go beyond what you think you should be saying and what you actually think. What are you truly grateful for? What do you want to see in the world? Come to God with these things and see what comes back.
Inheritance
Monday of the First Week of Lent
Gospel: Matthew 25:31-46
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031025.cfm
The Ten Commandments are a set of rules about what you shouldn’t do. To do what they say to not do, you are committing a sin of commission. A sin of commission is taking on an action that you know you shouldn’t do. A sin of commission is actively doing something wrong, whereas a sin of omission is not taking an action that you know is right.
Jesus’s guidance focuses on what you should do and less on what you shouldn’t do. His teaching is about taking the right action. In the golden rule, he calls us to do unto others. In today’s gospel, his parable takes a similar stance. It’s action oriented. He states that those who give food to the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick, and visit the prisoner will inherit the Kingdom of God and those that do not act in this way will not.
While on the surface it sounds like a sin of omission, for Jesus it is deeper. To inherit something from someone, you must be related to that person. Specifically, you are a child to that person. To not inherit, you are of no relation. It’s not about what you should or shouldn’t do, but who and what you are. The act of caring for others is to be a child of God. It’s not just caring, it’s acting upon that care. God’s glory is found in caring for those in need. As we are all children of God, it’s about time we start living according to that birthright.
Temptation & Prayer
First Sunday of Lent
Gospel: Luke 4:1-13
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030925.cfm
There are parallels between the Lord’s Prayer and the temptations Jesus experienced in today’s gospel. We like to look at Jesus as being fully divine, but like us, Jesus learned from his experiences and observations. While being God, he was human and was on a journey to God. Like with us, God was revealed through his experience with scripture, others, and the world. The temptations Jesus experienced point to how he would teach us to pray.
Temptation 1: Immediate Needs
Setting: Jesus was hungry after 40 days of fasting.
Devil: If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.
Jesus: It is written, One does not live on bread alone.
Lord’s Prayer: Give us this day our daily bread.
How much do we stress about our immediate needs and desires? Jesus reminds us to go beyond such worry. Yes, our true needs must be taken care of for us to live, but our true needs go beyond what we perceive as needs. We have two issues:
The things that we perceive as our needs, that aren’t.
The things that we don’t perceive that are our needs, that are.
In the Lord’s Prayer, we are asking God to take care of these daily needs. We are asking God to take care of us. Part of the care is helping us discern what our true needs are, lest we become tempted.
Temptation 2: Power and Control
Setting: The devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant.
Devil: I shall give to you all this power and glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I may give it to whomever I wish. All this will be yours, if you worship me.
Jesus: It is written: “You shall worship the Lord, your God, and him alone shall you serve.”
Lord’s Prayer: Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name.
We all have a desire for control. We have a desire to acquire things, bond with others, create our world, and defend/protect our ability to do these things. These desires are not bad in themselves, but at times, these desires can take over us. These desires can turn into us seeking power and glory.
In the Lord’s prayer, we remind ourselves where the true power and glory lie. We can’t compete with God. To seek power and glory is a vain action. In recognizing that true power and glory is with God, we free ourselves from such endeavors and temptations.
Temptation 3: Testing God
Setting: Then he led him to Jerusalem, made him stand on the wall of the temple.
Devil: If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written: “He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you, and: With their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.”
Jesus: It also says, “You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.”
Lord’s Prayer: Thy kingdom come, they will be done on earth as it is in heaven… Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
When we lack responsibility or avoid doing what we know we should be doing, we are testing to see if God will take care of us. It’s as if we’re inflicting suffering upon ourselves to see if God will take care of us. We also say prayers that we’ll change our ways if only God does or gives us something. This too is a method of testing God. We seek validation from God in the midst of suffering and can take God for granted in good times. God loves us regardless.
When we ask for God’s will to be done, we put the trust back in God. There is no need for us to test.
Concluding Moment
Setting: When the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him for a time.
Lord’s Prayer: Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
We will fall short, but God will forgive us. Let us be mindful to do the same with others.
Celebrating our progress
Saturday After Ash Wednesday
Gospel: Luke 5:27-32
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030825.cfm
Redemption is always possible with God. We always have the ability to choose to follow Christ. This choice, while being a point in time, is also a journey. In the story of Levi, he made a commitment to follow Jesus. That was a moment in time, but his journey didn’t end there. It’s not a one-time decision, but a willingness to be open to God’s ongoing work with us and in us. Sometimes the commitment to being changed by God can be easy, and at other times, it can seem unbearable or impossible. In this instance for Levi, it left him driven to celebrate and share with those within his community.
While this was an amazing thing, those who were respected by society as faithful saw Levi and Jesus’s behavior as debauchery. Our revelatory divine experiences and our response to it may not always be seen by others for what it is. This judgment can cause us to backslide and slip. We are all so fragile!
While we may have our own experiences of being victims of such judgment, we may be guilty of unnecessarily judging the progress of others and causing them to backslide as well. We all have the potential to be condemners and victims. It’s easy for us to do given the juxtaposition of confidence and vulnerability we find in revelation.
Regardless of where we are in our journey, God is with us. When we backslide, God is there. With each step forward, no matter how far away it may seem, God is there. As more distance is revealed and our worldview is transformed, God is there. In the midst of our progress, even when there’s judgment from others, God is with us celebrating our progress.
Everything in its own time
Friday After Ash Wednesday
Gospel: Matthew 9:14-15
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030725.cfm
We are all at different points in our journeys. Some of us are in a place for celebration and others are in a place of mourning. As we go through different phases in life, we may find different moments with increased contemplation and other moments of increased action. Our practices can go from leading to supporting or from silence to speaking. At times, we may be generous with our time and, at other times, too time-constrained.
We shouldn’t compare ourselves to the practices of others. We can learn from others and apply what has worked for them to ourselves, but we must also be aware that we may be in a different phase requiring a different practice for the time being.
Finding the right routine for where you are right now and keeping yourself open to what God is calling you to in the moment. We should not condemn ourselves for not mourning at a celebration as we should not condemn ourselves for not celebrating during a time of mourning. That said, we must bear in mind that others' timing may be different than ours. To each in their own time and ours in our time. We must respect and meet others where they are while being aware of where we are. It is through this difference and acceptance that we grow.
It takes all of us to make the kingdom of God. God wants all of us to be part of it with all of our unique traits and phases. We all have a role and that role will change over time. God’s kingdom is a system intended to work with all of us in it: be it a time of fasting for me and a time of celebration for you. May we build and participate in this kingdom together.
No profit in losing one’s self
Thursday After Ash Wednesday
Gospel: Luke 9:22-25
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030625.cfm
In first reading this passage, it’s easy to take it to mean that Jesus is calling us to self-denial, but in taking a deeper look, he’s actually calling us to self fullness. We can often see self-gratification as self-fulfillment, but that’s not the case. Self-gratification leads to the need for more gratification. In seeking material worth, such as power, money, and personal pleasure, we are escaping our real and true purpose.
The material-drive blinds us to who we and others are. We become a slave to ends that are not God, that are not love. We can easily see others as a means to an end versus being created in the image of God and needing our love and care. We measure ourselves to the successes we perceive others to have and lose sight of the beauty we are in God. This all becomes clear at the conclusion of this gospel when Jesus says, “What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?”
God wants us to live true and full lives; ones that are not seeking that which is not eternal. Taking up our cross is to directly face the struggles of life and not seek to escape them. Let the journey bring fulfillment. There is a freedom found when we stop worrying about how we measure up. Life is not a competition or a fight. God doesn’t want us to fight with or run away from life, but to live, to live life to its fullness. Take up the cross, free yourself from worldly needs, find yourself, and live fully in God.