Fourth Sunday of Lent - 2022

The Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year C, gives us the beautiful parable of the "Prodigal Son". Prodigality is a word that indicates over the top expressions of one's favour; extravagant and lavished. It is the father's prodigality of forgiving love that inspires the title of this parable. It might also be known as, The Parable of “The Wayward Son” or “The Parable of the Prodigal Father” or the Parable of the “Indignant Elder Brother”.          Let us look at the three central figures of Jesus’ parable.          First, the Younger Son – clearly, he has no appreciation or understanding of his father’s love for him. He is in love with himself.   "Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.' So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living.          A famine breaks out – he is in desperate condition – finally decides to return home – hoping he might get a servant’s job and thus save himself - he fashions a job application he thinks his father might accept and heads home. "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands."          In theological terms we might call this “Imperfect Contrition”. “I’m sorry so I can save myself”.          Second, we look at the father – perhaps he has been going every day to the edge of his property, in hopes of seeing his son’s return – and this day he does see him – a retched, miserable mess – coming up the road.          With extreme Prodigality he lavishes his son with unconditional love – the day no doubt that the son realizes his father’s true love for him.          Now we look at the older son – a son to make a father proud – but he too does not understand that the father loves him. For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends.          He fails to understand what his inheritance is all about – that it too has been given to him by a loving father.          And he fails to see the younger son as his brother; But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!         Might we not see a similarity with some of today’s older, faithful, practicing Catholics, complaining about Pope Francis and his Year of Mercy – his insistence on our need to extend forgiveness to the wayward in today’s Church? Then the father said to him, "Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.' "          So here are three models to whom we might compare ourselves – who am I most like? Here is a link to an earlier Post on this parable;  + + + LINK + + +

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Third Sunday of Lent - 2022

REPENT  In this Sunday’s gospel we hear Jesus issuing a rather sobering warning. "If you do not repent, you will all perish as they did."  Indeed, Lent is a time to get serious about the condition of our spiritual lives - while we still have time. While the Covid pandemic has created havoc with our efforts to attend church, things are now beginning to normalize and our churches are accessible once again. + + + + + + +  Dr. Brant Pitre has an excellent video on today's gospel reading. The LINK.

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Second Sunday of Lent - 2022

Each Lent in the Liturgy of the Word for the Second Sunday the Gospel gives us the account of Jesus' Transfiguration.  "Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem." Here we can say that Peter, John and James are having a "mystical experience". Mystical implies something other worldly - something beyond that which the human senses or intellect are capable of knowing on their own. We are spiritual beings but by God's design we are clothed in a physical body, in a physical world subject to all the laws of nature. But God, when it is his plan to do so, can draw our spirit beyond its physical confines to experience realities that are happening now within the spiritual world. When and how this happens is the subject of the Church's mystical theology. The great mystics of the Middle Ages, John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila and St. Ignatius of Loyola and others have taught us much from their mystical experiences. They talk about the experience of visions but they suggest that visions are on a lower scale of importance than other deeper and more profound experiences that God wishes to give us. In the graphic above, the two persons in the picture we could say are having mystical experiences during Mass. One is looking up, seeing a vision not unlike that of Peter, John and James - truly awe inspiring. The other has eyes closed as the Spirit takes her heart into a deep union of loving embrace filling her soul with a peace that no creature could ever produce. At Mass the celebrant holds up the chalice and host and announces, "Behold the Lamb of God". Our natural eyes see just that, a chalice and a host, but the priest's words reveal a deeper picture. A vision of Jesus at this moment would be truly edifying, but even more profound can be the experience of our hearts being drawn up into a deep union with Jesus.  What brings us to the dinner table in our homes, is it not hunger? But there is an other hunger that is at work in each person put there by God's design, a hunger no worldly thing can satisfy. Identifying this hunger and seeking its satisfaction defines the very purpose of the spiritual life. Coming to Mass is an expressions of one having a truly religious life. Having a moving experience of the presence of the Lord within the Mass is a result of one having a truly spiritual life.  Those who come the the Table of the Lord "hungry" will have their fill.

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First Sunday of Lent - 2022

Each year the gospel for the First Sunday of Lent is the account of Jesus' 40 days and 40 nights of prayer and fasting in the wilderness. It is Matthew, Mark and Luke who record this event, each with a slightly different telling. Mark simple recounts the event without any details of the temptations. At once the Spirit drove him out 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. Mk 1:12 Here we note that it is the Spirit who is orchestrating this event. It is a contest of influence between Satan and the Spirit. Who's council will Jesus follow. We think back to the book of Job, where a similar contest between Satan and God is allowed to happen to Job, to test his fidelity to God. Satan is allowed to test Job with a series of crisis inflicted on him. Job remains faithful to God. St. Ignatius, in his "Rules for the Discernment" offers further insight into this dynamic of the testing of one's fidelity to God. First, Satan tries to prevent this faith from ever coming alive in a person. Failing this, Satan creates confusion sounding like the voice of the Good Spirit. The Fourth Rule: It is proper to the evil Angel, who forms himself under the appearance of an angel of light, to enter with the devout soul and go out with himself: that is to say, to bring good and holy thoughts, conformable to such just soul, and then little by little he aims at coming out drawing the soul to his covert deceits and perverse intentions. How then does one know how to make the correct decisions in order to remain faithful to God? A starting point is following the rules, the directives handed down by sound and tested teaching. This was what guide Israel - the law of Moses - the 613 commandments recorded in Talmud - the negative commandments numbering 365, (thou shalt not) and the positive commandments numbering 248, (thou shalt).  But in the gospels, Jesus demonstrates that fidelity to the law is only the beginning. In Luke 10:25 we have the account of an expert in the law, trying to test Jesus. And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus responded with the story of the Good Samaritan, how a the Samaritan man helped the man who was injured by thieves, while a temple priest and a Levite, going up to the Temple for service, passed him by, because the rules of the law prevented them from coming in contact with blood and then serving in the temple.  When the rich man asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus responded by directing him to the commandments. But when the man said the commandments he already follows, Jesus responded; “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” Luke 18:18 We do not save ourselves, God's Mercy saves us. What we must do is "... come and follow me." We must have a firm, committed and personal relationship with Jesus - a real and dynamic spiritual life.  This spiritual relationship implies listening, learning to hear, to recognize the Voice of the Spirit guiding us through each day - helping us to discern, out of the many voices coming at us, which is the voice of the Spirit. These days of Lent are meant to be an "intensive care", for our mind and heart.  "Speak Lord, your servant is listening."

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