Pre-Lent through Easter Prayer and Reflections -- 2007

That’s what you will be asked to give from now until Easter. Each 24 hours day has 240 “six minute” packages. During Lent one of these will be given to the Lord.

Once you get into it you’ll find this practice to be peaceful, even something to look forward to. You’ll also find that it helps to make your day go a bit better. Prayer does that.

Focus on the Scripture test. God may take you down a path different from the written reflection that is provided. Don’t worry about that. God speaks to us through the Sacred Word. Stay with the Scripture and the thoughts that come. This is a traditional form of prayer.

The first post for each day has a variety of quotes, suggestions, information, timely thoughts. Treat it like a buffet table from which you can take what you like. (If pressed for time, go directly to the second post for that day and spend your time with that.)

We won’t start reading the Passion until Ash Wednesday, when Lent actually begins. But we’ll start the six minute program on Sunday, February 18 (the Sunday before Ash Wednesday), which will give us three days to get ready for Lent.

Saturday – Fourth Week of Lent

While Pilate was still seated on the bench, his wife sent him a message, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man. I suffered much in a dream today because of him. (Mt. 27:19)

Now, toward the end of the Gospel, comes another dream. Pilate is seated on the judge’s bench, and is about to render a life or death verdict. His wife sends a message to him reporting a dream about Jesus, and tells him to have nothing to do with this “righteous man.”

This dream fails. Jesus will die a terrible death.

Sooner of later we will die. Just as a child cannot stay in the womb forever, we cannot stay within the universe forever. It’s only one stage of our existence, and a comparatively short one at that.

Natural disasters and terrorist attacks jolt us into a deep and eerie awareness of how fragile this passing stage of human life really is. Yet we believe that human life – not only “spirit-life” but human life—has a God-given destiny beyond death. We also believe that creation has a God-given destiny beyond history.

How can we hold on to such hope when we are surrounded by so much violence and death?

Only by faith – not faith in an abstract God, but faith in Jesus Christ, who said so many times in the gospels, “Do not be afraid,” and whose last words in Matthew’s Gospel were, “I am with you all days, even to the end of the age.”

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

March 25, 2007

The Missing Gospel

A strange thing happened to this story of Jesus and the adulteress on its way to becoming part of John’s Gospel.

For nearly a thousand years, there are no comments on It by Greek writers – because it was missing from the early manuscripts in the East. In the West, it was missing from some early manuscripts, but was included in others.

Because it was taken out of the Gospel (and then reinserted as a later date, (it’s not certain where it belongs in the Gospel.) Some scholars feel that it should be at a different place in John’s account. Others say that it doesn’t even belong in John’s Gospel, but was originally part of Luke’s, and should be placed just before his account of the treachery of Judas. Some of the early manuscripts actually have it there.

Wherever it belongs, this much is clear.” The story is part of the early tradition about Jesus.

Sunday – Fifth Week of Lent

There is something in the Church that makes us drift toward severity, away from softness. When dealing one to one with people, individuals in the Church tend to be very compassionate. But when the Church acts as a body, the results tend to be severe.

It is a “corporate severity.” The posture we take as a Church toward the world, toward our own people – the image we present – it seems to tend toward corporate severity rather than softness. It’s like a prevailing wind always moving us in that direction.

This is not unique to the Church, but seems true of any organization. Think about our country’s immigration laws. Which way has the drift been? Away from softness (“Give me your tied, your poor, your huddled masses yeaning to breathe free.") and toward severity. On a smaller scale, think of neighborhood organizations or block clubs. They start out with the intention of joining together in a common effort to build a pleasant and happy community – and then they become stricter and stricter.

John XXIII brought a fresh wind to the Church that moved us in the other direction. Ask anyone what they think of “Good Pope John” and the image clearly comes through. It was a fresh emphasis on mercy and love. But sometimes we’re not sure how to handle this new breeze, and our tendency is to stifle it.

In the closing scene of today’s Gospel passage, everyone had departed and Jesus was left standing alone with the adulterous woman. It is a magnificent scene, described beautifully by St. Augustine with the words: “And two were left . . . . one filled with misery, and the one filled with mercy.”

There is a lot of misery out there, and it desperately needs a merciful Church.

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

March 26, 2007

Feast of the Annunciation – The Conception of Jesus

If asked to give the date of the feast of the conception of Jesus, most people would probably say that they didn’t know there was such a feast. (Actually, it’s a Solemnity!) If told that it was on March 25, they might say that this is the feast of Mary’s Annunciation . . . and then realize that what is being announced is the conception of Jesus.

Actually, the official name of the March 25 feast is “The Annunciation of the Lord.” It is primarily a feast of Jesus, but, obviously, Mary is very much part of it. This illustrates the principle that true devotion to Mary always focuses her relationship to the Lord.

There is evidence that the feast was celebrated as far back as the seventh century. Since December 25 had become the date of the celebration of Christ’s birth in most parts of the world, the feast of his conception was placed exactly nine months earlier.

* * * * * * *

Since the feast of the Annunciation can’t replace a Sunday of Lent, this year it is celebrated on Monday, March 26.

Monday – Fifth Week of Lent

The chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas but to destroy Jesus. The governor said to them in reply, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” They answered, “Barabbas!” Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus called Messiah?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” But he said, “Why? What evil has he done?” They only shouted the loud, “Let him be crucified!” Mt. 27:20-23

We have here another echo of the Infancy Narrative. There the angel told Joseph to take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt because “Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.” Now the religious leaders persuade the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to destroy Jesus.

Matthew dramatized the choice Jesus and Barabbas both stand before the crowd and Pilate asks a clear and direct question: “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?”

As the chosen people were about to enter the promised land, Moses, who was about to die, gave a long farewell address. He ended by placing before the people a stark choice: “I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life . . . by loving the Lord your God.”

The people in the crowd in today’s passage face the same choice. Pilate sets Jesus and Barabbas before them and asks: “Which of the two do you want?” They chose Barabbas.

Each day there are situations large and small when this same choice is placed before me: Shall I do what is life – giving or death – dealing? Shall I build up or tear down?

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

March 27, 2007

Pope Benedict XVI, Ash Wednesday, 2007

May Lent be for every Christian a renewed experience of God’s love given to us in Christ, a love that each day we, in turn, must “regive” to our neighbour, especially to the one who suffers most and is in need.

Only in this way will we be able to participate fully in the joy of Easter. May Mary, Mother of Beautiful Love, guide us in this Lenten journey, a journey of authentic conversion to the love of Christ. I wish you, dear brothers and sisters, a fruitful Lenten journey, imparting with affection to all of you, a special Apostolic Blessing.

Tuesday – Fifth Week of Lent

When Pilate saw that he was not succeeding at all, but that a riot was breaking out instead, he took water and washed his hands in the sight of the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. Look to it yourselves.” And the whole people said in reply, “His blood be upon us and upon our children.” Then he released Barabbas to the them, but after he had Jesus scourged, he handed him over to be crucified. Mt. 27:24-26

Pilate washes his hands. Once again we have the haunting trail of innocent blood. Pilate is trying to wash away his own responsibility.

Pilate’s words to the crowd – “Look to it yourselves.” – echoes what the chief priests and elders said to Judas, “Look to it yourself.” It’s the old story of trying to avoid personal responsibility for something we know down deep isn’t right.

Trying to rationalize guilt away is useless. We go nowhere, and this guilt still haunts us.

Some of the wrong things we do are not entirely our own fault. But they are partly our fault. There’s no point in identifying the guilt of others if we do not flat out acknowledge our own.

Remember the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector? The tax collector “stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast and prayed: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’”

There’s not a one of us who can’t say that sentence with utter honesty. So say it. Then, sit in silence, and listen to the Lord’s response.

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

March 28, 2007

Jesus as King

Jesus came to establish the reign of God, but he was not a king in the way people popularly expected:

• As part of their coronation, kings were anointed with precious oil. Just before Jesus was greeted in Jerusalem with the palm branches, he was anointed by Mary, Martha’s sister, at a banquet. When Judas objected that it was a waste of expensive oil, Jesus said that it was an anointing in preparation for his imminent burial.

• Instead of entering Jerusalem among much regalia and trumpet blowing, Jesus entered riding a lowly ass.

• The only crown Jesus would have on his head would be a crown of thorns.

• Instead of being seated on a throne, Jesus was nailed to a cross.

• Instead of a royal robe, Jesus would be cloaked in mockeries.

• Instead of a crowd shouting “Long live the king!” Jesus would hear the crowd shout, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

Wednesday – Fifth Week of Lent

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus inside the praetorium and gather the whole cohort around him. They stripped off his clothes and threw a scarlet military cloak about him. Weaving a crown out of thorns, they place it on his head and a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews” They spat upon him and took the reed and kept striking him on the head.

And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the cloak, dressed him in his own clothes, and led him off to crucify him. . Mt. 27:27-31

Between Pilate’s death sentence and the soldiers’ mockery, something else happened that only gets passing reference in all four Gospels. The scouring. The evangelist all mention the scourging, but not a one of them describes it. Too awful for words.

A scourging was much different from a whipping, which was a disciplinary punishment. Scourging was a barbaric first step in executing a criminal. It was done with a metal barbed whip, designed to rip the victim’s flesh and bones, and inflict wounds from which they would never recover.

It was after the scourging that the whole cohort (i.e.600 soldiers) gathered round Jesus and made fun of him. No need to tie him up. There wasn’t a thing he could do. He was helpless. And they taunted him, spat on him, hit him.

Our meditation on the Passion of Jesus isn’t meant to be repulsive. Just realistic.

He loved us that much. He loves me that much. He’d do anything for me.

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

March 29, 2007

The Knights of Columbus

At a time of much anti-Catholic sentiment in the United States they were a small group of men who wanted to defend their family, country and faith.

On October 2, 1881, a 29 year old priest named Michael McGivney brought them together in the basement of St. Mary Parish in New Haven, Connecticut.

The group became the Knights of Columbus, named in honor of Christopher Columbus who brought the Catholic faith to the New World and who was a national hero at that time.

Among its charitable endeavors was a life insurance program for widows and orphans of deceased members.

* * * * * *

On this day in 1882, the Knights of Columbus were chartered as a Catholic organization for men.

Thursday – Fifth Week of Lent

As they were going out, they met a Cyrenian named Simon; this man they pressed into service to carry the cross.

And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of the Skill,) they gave Jesus wine to drink mixed with gall. But when he had tasted it, he refused to drink. Mt. 27:32-34

If we had only the Gospels, we would know very little about crucifixion. The Gospel writers don’t talk about it. For example, Matthew describes the tortuous walk to Calvary in just one sentence.

Other sources, however, give us descriptions. From these we conclude that the soldiers led Jesus on a sig-zagged route through the city streets to make an example of him. They also used the whip along the way.

Carrying the cross was not part of Simon of Cyrene’s plans that day. He was just a passer-by, on his way to something else. He was forced to carry the cross of Jesus, who was apparently too week from the scourging to carry it himself.

We’ve all had to do that more than once. Carry a cross we weren’t planning to carry.

Looking bach on this, say five years later, how did Simon feel about carrying the cross? What would he say about it? Put yourself in Simon’s shoes. Maybe this will help me with my crosses.

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

March 30, 2007

The Stigmata

“Stigmata” refers to the wounds of the Passion of Christ which are reproduced on a person’s body.

“Stigma” is a Greek word meaning “mark” – particularly the mark of a branding iron on an animal or slave. The plural is “stigmata.”

In early Christianity, devotions surrounding the Passion of Christ emphasized his triumph over evil. In medieval times, devotions began to focus more and more on his sufferings. And it was in medieval times that cases of the stigmata began to appear with some regularity.

The stigmata appear in various forms. Sometimes they are blood blisters, other times some form of wound. There are even “invisible stigmata’ – intense pains localized in the places where Jesus suffered wounds. Sometimes these gradually develop into visible stigmata.

The location of the wounds on the body varies too. – hands. Feet. Head, side, shoulder or back.

Are stigmata miraculous, or are they the result of purely natural cause – induced by intense concentration on the Passion? The Church has been cautious in attributing stigmata to supernatural cause, and never passes judgment on their authenticity.

* * * * * *

The first saint known to have the stigmata was St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226). Other saints who are said to have had the stigmata are Gemma Galgani, Catherine of Siena, John of the God and St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio).

We’re a week away from Good Friday.

Friday – Fifth Week of Lent

After the soldiers had crucified him, they divided his garments by casting lots. Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. Mt. 27:35-36

Crucifixion was the most shameful and painful forms of execution. None of the Gospel writers describe it. Matthew, for example, looks the other way and then says, “After they had crucified him.”

That’s it. Five words. Nothing about throwing him on the ground, stretching his arms on the cross-beam and holding his down as they drove in the nails. Nothing about hoisting the cross-beam, to the stake already fixed in the ground, his body writhing as they did it. Nothing about wrestling his feet in place and then nailing them to the bottom of the stake. Nothing about the screams of pain.

It is too awful to tell, which is why not one of the four evangelists tells it.

In a way, we’ve gotten used to the crucifixion. Gotten over it. It ‘s been nearly 2000 years. It’s like a terrible famine in some far off place in the world. We get used to seeing the pictures of children with distended stomachs, and before long it loses its impact.

That is why we have Lent. To “keep watch” over this nearly incomprehensible act of love.

What did the soldiers think about as they “sat down and kept watch over him there”? Today’s quiet time with the Lord could be spent sitting next to them and keeping watch for a few minutes.

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

March 31, 2007

Knute Rockne

Born March 4, 1888, in Norway, Knute Rockne came to the United States at age five.

In high school he ran track and played football for a brief time, but didn’t graduate. After working for several years, he decided at age 22 to take the entrance exam for the University of Notre Dame and was accepted.

In 1819, he entered Notre Dame and by his sophomore year was a starter for the football team.

Upon his graduation in 1914, Rockne had considered going to medical school until Notre Dame offered him a job as graduate assistant in chemistry. Rockne accepted, but only on the condition that he could help coach the football team. He became head coach in 1918.

As coach, Rockne led the Fighting Irish to six national championships. His lifetime winning percentage was .881.

The 43 year old Rockne died in a plane crash on this day in 1933. He was en route to Los Angeles to help with the production of the movie, “The Spirit of Notre Dame.”

* * * * *

On this day in 1981, President Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinkley. Reagan had played George Gipp, “the Gipper” in the 1940 movie, “Knute Rockne” was actually at Gipps’s bedside to hear the famous, “Win one for the Gipper.”

Saturday – Fifth Week of Lent

And they placed over his head the written charge against him: This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.

Two criminals were crucified with him, one on his right and the other on his left. Mt. 27:37-38

All four Gospels agree that the official charge posted against Jesus was this supposed claim to be “King of the Jews” – which made him a potential threat.

There are many ironies here. First, “king” is a title Jesus refused, probably because it was so open to misunderstanding.

Second, from a Christian perspective, the charge is correct. We honor “Christ the King,” though he is not the kind of king Pilate had in mind.

Third, they are executing Jesus to put an end to his supposed kingship . . . . . and Jesus becomes a king precisely through his death.

Now, that’s my kind of king!

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

April 1, 2007

The Sailor’s Reward

In 38 A.D., Emperor Caligula brought to Rome a red granite obelisk from Egypt, which was place in a piazza inside what is now Vatican City.

When St. Peter’s Basilica was built, the 85 foot obelisk was moved about 825 feet to its present location in St. Peter’s Square in 1586. IUt took nearly 900 men and more than 50 horses to make the move.

To ensure everyone’s concentration during this dangerous endeavor, Pope Sixtus V ordered complete silence, under penalty of death. But a sailor, observing the operation, suddenly noticed the cables heating up under the enormous strain. : Water on the ropes,” he called in warning, and the workers quickly dampened down the cables.

By daring to break the pope’s orders, the sailor saved the obelisk. The grateful Sixtus gave him his choice of rewards. The sailor asked that from then on the palm leaves used in the basilica on Palm Sunday be supplied from his hometown of Bordighera (some say specifically from his family farm as long as his family owned it.)

The holiest week of the year begins today. But the world doesn’t stop. Everything goes on – the regular TV programs, the regular work schedule. So, if I want this to be a “Holy Week” what do I do? I decide.

Palm Sunday

Arriving in Jerusalem

In today’s Gospel passage from John, Jesus arrives is Jerusalem just after he had raised Lazarus from the dead in Bethany, about two miles away.

Word soon spread. At long last, here was someone with the kind of power the people needed to lead their country to its glory days once again – a king who could re-establish the kingdom of Israel.

But the people misunderstood the Lazarus miracle. It was a sign of Jesus’ power over death. Jesus didn’t come to keep bringing people back to life on this side of death. Jesus came to take us through death to the other side to a glorious, transformed human life.

And notice; as the people began saluting Jesus as king, he deliberately finds a donkey and sits upon it. Jesus makes it clear that he will be a different kind of king.

Shortly after his entry into Jerusalem, the crowning work of Jesus would take place: The Last Supper, the Washing of Feet, the arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, the condemnation, Crucifixion, Death . . . . . and His Glorious Resurrection and Ascension.

I enter Holy Week, saying that I will follow this king. I know what kind of a king he is – a king who will lead me if necessary through suffering, and one day certainly through death. I know that following this king is the path to life.

When I hold my palm branches, I say that I’m willing to follow this king. I’m willing to be loving, forgiving . . . . . to respond to evil with goodness. I’m willing to take the cross as my logo because Jesus showed us in his living, dying, and rising, that he is the way, the truth and the life.

We don’t casually pick up these palms. We don’t lightly place them in our hands. We do so knowing to what we are committing ourselves.

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

April 2, 2007

”If growing old, with its inevitable conditions is accepted serenely in the light of faith, it can become an invaluable opportunity for better comprehending the Mystery of the Cross, which gives full sense to human existence.”

~Message of John Paul II for Lent 2005
He died on this date in 2005.

* * * * *

Good Friday is four days away.

Monday of Holy Week

Those passing by reviled him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, if you are the Son of God, and come down from the cross!

Likewise the chief priest with the scribes and elders mocked him and said, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. So he is the king of Israel! Let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now if he wants him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”

The criminals who were crucified with him also kept abusing him in the same way. Mt. 27:39-44

The taunts of the passers-by. (If you are the Son of God . . .come down from the cross”) echo the words of the devil tempting Jesus in the desert (“if you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.”)

Demanding that God meet our criteria of what God should be like takes us nowhere. For example, “If you are a good God, how come innocent people suffer so much?”

The problem of evil will never be solved this side of death. Humans have tried since the beginning of time and we’re no closer to a solution than when we started. Jesus did it right. He trusted in God in spite of evil.

So, we do the only thing that makes sense. We look at the cross. Then we do what Jesus did on the cross. We place ourselves entirely in God’s hands.

Now, that’s my kind of king!

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

April 3, 2007

Passover

One of the most popular songs of Seder during the Jewish Passover is Dayenu: “That would have been enough.”

Its 15 stanzas list 15 samples of God’s goodness in leading the Chosen People out of slavery in Egypt, in the miracles which allowed them to reach the Promised Land, and the five moments in which God continues to shower goodness on the Jewish people today.

In each case, each stanza is followed by the chorus of Dayenu, reminding all that if God had stopped at that one goodness alone, “that would have been enough.”

Passover begins today

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.