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.

Wednesday – Third Week of Lent

The high priest rose and addressed him, “Have you no answer? What are these men testifying against you?” But Jesus was silent. Then the high priest said to him, “I order you to tell us under oath before the living God whether you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” Jesus said in reply, “You have said so. But I tell you: From now on you will see ‘the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power’ and ‘coming on the clouds of heaven.’”(Mt. 26:62:64)

One time Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter stepped forward and said, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Now, ten chapters later, the high priest puts Jesus under oath and asks if he is “the Messiah, the Son of God.”

Jesus who stand bound and powerless before the highest authority of his people, knows that the cross is the path to fulfillment ("seated at the right hand of God”,) and that though now under judgment, he will come back as judge of all (“on the clouds of heaven.”)

This may well be the moment when Jesus, as a human being, fully realized that death was hours away. He didn’t blink. He trusted that God would bring life out of death.

If I just found out that tomorrow I would die, what would my thoughts be? My feelings? What would I say right now to the Lord?

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

March 15, 2007

Forgiveness

Everyone thinks forgiveness is a lovely idea until they have something to forgive. ~C. S. Lewis

Louis Smedes, author of several books on forgiveness, notes that we do not forgive simply because we are supposed to forgive. We forgive because we need to be healed.

Forgiveness is said to have three stages. I don’t deny what the person did not do nor do I pretend it wasn’t wrong. But . . .

1. Instead of identifying the person totally with whatever they did to hurt me, I begin to see them as a person like me – imperfect, but still someone God loves.

2. I give up my “right” to get even. Vengeful thoughts don’t make the other person suffer. They hurt me. So I just plain rinse my mind of those kinds of thoughts.

3. I stand next to the Lord and together with him look at the other person. For sure, Jesus wants good things to happen to them. So, with the Lord’s help (and some struggle,) I begin to look at the other person the way the Lord does.

Think of someone you find hard to forgive. Forgiveness can’t always be accomplished in one sitting . . . . . . or one day. But you might be able to do it by Easter. Today is the halfway mark between Ash Wednesday and Easter.

Thursday – Third Week of Lent

Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has blasphemed! What further need have we of witnesses? You have now heard the blasphemy; what is your opinion?” They said in reply, “He deserves to die! Then they spat in his face and struck him, while some slapped him saying, “Prophesy for us, Messiah; who is it that struck you?”(Mt. 26:65:68)

During Jesus’ ministry, there were failed attempts by the religious leaders to trip him up in speech. Now they’ve got him. Jesus just incriminated himself by claiming prerogatives that belong only to God.

The rest of the Sanhedrin agrees, and a death sentence is rendered.

It’s done today in just about every sector, and not by extremists but by the regular folk. For example, studies show that “in your face” rudeness is rampant in the U. S. workplace.

But it’s also present in homes, and in parishes. When there is disagreement on a parish or school issue, righteous rudeness easily erupts.

To be on the receiving end of insulting taunts, to be heckled, is an awful thing. Yet, Jesus took it in silence.

To be on the giving end is worse. It is the deliberate torture of another human being, and it poisons our soul.

We’ve all got excuses to justify it. But they fly in the face of everything Jesus taught . . . . . . and everything Jesus did.

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

March 16, 2007

Meat on Friday?

In 1966 Pope Paul VI declared that abstinence from meat on Fridays was no longer universally binding. Each national conference of bishops could decide whether or not this was to be a Church law in their country.

Cardinal John Dearden was then president of the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. A delegation from the fish industry came to see him, asking that the restriction not be lifted in the United States. It would they said, bring them to ruin. In the end, the U. S. bishops voted to lift the ban on meat on Friday (except Fridays in Lent.)

Little did anyone know that a number of converging factors would make this not a bane but a boon for the U. S. fish industry. Why? Because:

• Fish was no longer seen negatively as a penitential food, mostly restricted to Fridays.

• It was about that time that, because of cholesterol concerns, fish was recommended as part of a healthy diet.

• Airlines introduced daily delivery systems of fresh fish to all parts of the country. No longer was a meatless meal limited to macaroni and cheese, fish sticks, canned salmon. Fish was now a treat – red snapper, Dover sole, white fish, Alaskan king crab, and grilled or smoked salmon.

However, many Catholics still do adhere to the abstinence from meat on Friday. That practice, in fact, is still approved by the Vatican.

Friday – Third Week of Lent

Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. One of the maids came over to him and said, “You too were with Jesus the Galilean.” But he denied it in front of everyone, saying, “I do not know what you are talking about!”

As he went out to the gate, another girl saw him and said to those who were there, “This man was with Jesus the Nazorean.” Again he denied it with an oath. “I do not know the man!”

A little later the bystanders came over and said to Peter, “Surely you too are one of them; even your speech gives you away.” At that he began to curse and to swear, “I do not know the man.” (Mt. 26:69:74)

Peter is in the courtyard just outside the room where Jesus is being tried. While Jesus, placed under oath, is declaring that he is the Messiah, the Son of God, Peter, who made that very profession of faith ten chapters earlier, is volunteering an oath that he does not even know Jesus.

The third denial includes not only and oath, but a curse. It may be that Peter cursed Jesus (people sometimes had to curse their own "god” to prove their allegiance to the Roman gods.) It seems almost unthinkable. But no sin in unthinkable.

There but for the grace of God, go I. And sometimes there, despite the grace of God, go I.

When it comes to sin, there’s no sense wallowing in self-misery – which can be an excuse to keep on sinning. Realism needs to kick in. We’re sinners. We can’t achieve goodness wholly on our own, which means we can’t be holy on our own. Let go. Let God.

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

March 17, 2007

Irish Saints

Today is the Memorial of St. Patrick.

While Patrick is perhaps the most well-known Irish saint, he is not the only one. Among Ireland’s saints are:

• St. Aidan: This seventh century missionary founded a monastery that became a learning center of Celtic Christianity for northern England. Memorial: August 31.

• St. Brigid: The daughter of a slave and a chieftan, she founded the first convent in Ireland. She is the patron of Irish women. Memorial: February 1

• St. Columban: supposedly Columban was so handsome that he was advised that if he truly wanted to live as an ascetic, he would have to go to a region where women were less seductive and attractive – someplace like Ireland. Memorial: November 23.

• St. Columkille: This popular Irish saint is credited with bringing Catholicism to Scotland. Memorial: June 9.

• St. Kieran: Called one of Ireland’s 12 apostles, Kieran founded an Irish monastery. Memorial: September 9.

Saturday – Third Week of Lent

And immediately a cock crowed. Then Peter remembered the word that Jesus had spoken: “Before the cock crows you will deny me three times.” He went out and began to weep bitterly. (Mt. 26:75)

Peter will not be mentioned again in Matthew’s Gospel. He is last seen weeping.

Earlier in the Gospel Jesus said, “Whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.” But be careful not to isolate statements like that and stand them alone. Jesus also talked about God’s mercy toward sinners.

When the Pharisee complained that Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners, Jesus responded: “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick dol . . .I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

So it is with Peter. He had clearly “denied Jesus before others,” but when he realized what he had done, he repents, trusting in the Lord’s forgiveness.

The story of Peter’s denials reminds us that we are all vulnerable to sin – more than we may know. It also encourages us. Peter’s tears of repentance stand in sharp contrast to the despair of Judas, which Matthew will describe in a few verses.

Given the choice between repentance and despair, always choose repentance.

Forgiveness is there for the asking? Have you gone to the Sacrament of Reconciliation this Lent?

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

March 18, 2007

Catholic Relief Services Collection

More than 60 years ago, the U. S. Bishops’ Overseas appeal was established. Each year on the fourth Sunday in Lent, this appeal is held to support agencies, such as Catholic Relief Services, that fund works of famine relief, development and peace. In 2005, the collections was renamed the Catholic Relief Services Collection.

* * * * * *

Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.

In 1964, Martin Luther King, Jr., was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in civil rights.

A strong proponent of non-violence, the Baptist minister had been inspired by the life and teaching of Mahatma Gandhi in India, whose life he had studied while attending Crozier Theological Seminary from 1948-1951.

King was impressed with how Gandhi’s non-violent social protest through fasts and marches was able to life the oppressed India from under British domination. The young minister wondered to himself, “Could that also work in the United States?”

From February 2 through March 10, 1959, Dr. King and his wife Coretta went to India as guests of Prime Minister Nehri to study Gandhi’s philosophy and techniques of non-violence.

* * * * * *

On this day in 1922 Gandhi was sentenced to six years imprisonment for civil disobedience.

Sunday – Fourth Week of Lent

The Prodigal Son

The Prodigal son is a parable of imperfection, a parable of which none of the pieces fit perfectly.

Look at the younger son. Why did he come home? Because he was out of money. He had no one to help him, and he could eat better in his father’s house. His motives were mixed – it isn’t a piece that perfectly falls into place.

Then there’s the elder son. He pouts outside, angry and hurt because his father didn’t appreciate him. It doesn’t quite fit perfectly in the story of reconciliation.

Then there is the father. He should have shown appreciation to his older son. It’s too bad that it took a crisis for him to tell the elder son how much he appreciated him. Those words should have been spoken much sooner and many times. The father was not perfect.

Jesus is telling us a great deal about real life. In real life, the pieces never fit together perfectly. We are more than willing to forgive other people if and when everything falls together smoothly . . . if they fully realize what the problem was and accept it . . . if the others around me could accept it all without misunderstanding. Then there could be reconciliation. But things don’t fit together that way. They are like this parable.

Jesus tells us that things will never be all together until the kingdom. Meanwhile, we have to put up with a lot of things that are not as they should be.

What this parable says is that God loves us and forgives us even when things are not all together – our motives are mixed, we overlook many things, we are unappreciative. Yet God accepts us and can deal with that for now.

What God asks is that we, in our turn, be willing to deal with people in the same way.

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

March 19, 2007

Feast of St. Joseph

Since we all must die, we should cherish a special devotion to St. Joseph, that he may obtain for us a happy death.
~St. Aphonsus Liguori

St. Joseph is known as the patron of a happy death because artists frequently depicted Mary and Jesus as being by Joseph’s side when he died. But nowhere in the Bible is his death ever described.

In the 17th century, a European plague led to the popularization of the image of Joseph as someone who died a “good death” because of his closeness to Jesus. To further encourage the importance of closeness to Jesus, theologians such as St. Robert Bellarmine wrote books on “dying well.” St. Alphonsus Liguori also wrote on Joseph as a patron of a happy death.

Monday – Fourth Week of Lent

When it was morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. They bound him, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate, the governor. (Mt. 27:1-2)

It is now early morning on Friday.

We can note two “firsts” here:
1. For the first time in Matthew’s account, Jesus is bound. He is now treated as a convicted criminal and led away to Pilate.
2. This is the first mention of Pilate’s name in Matthew’s Gospel.

The phrase, “They . . . handed him over to Pilate” is an ominous one. The prediction Jesus made earlier in Matthew’s Gospel has come true: “The Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and hand him over to the Gentiles. . . ”

Judas started the “handing overs.” They will end when Pilate hands Jesus over to be crucified.

“To hand over” is the root meaning of “tradition.” It is also the root meaning of “traitor.” What I “hand on” – consciously or unconsciously – to my friends, my children, to anyone who might be influenced by what I do, can be good . . . or it can be not so good.

Whether I know it or not, I “hand on” light or darkness to anyone who is part of my life on a given day.

How have I done lately?

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

March 20, 2007

Gospel of Judas

The apocryphal Gospel of Judas suggests that Judas was Jesus’ truest disciple. His betrayal, the document suggests, was part of an elaborate scheme in which Jesus asked Judas to betray him.

Its timeline begins a few days before Passover and ends with Judas handing Jesus over to the scribes.

The 26-page document was discovered in Egypt in the late 1970s.

* * * * * *

About 180 A.D., Irenaeus (who was one of the fathers of the early Church) called the Gospel of Judas “fictitious history." It was never considered to be a canonical Gospel on the par with Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

* * * * * *

Apocryphal gospels are the more than 100 ancient writing about Jesus which the Catholic Church does not include in the New Testament.

Besides the Gospel of Judas, these include the Lost Letter of St. Paul, the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Philip, the Gospel of Peter, the Gospel of Truth and the Acts of Pilate.

Tuesday – Fourth Week of Lent

Then Judas, his betrayer, seeing that Jesus had been condemned, deeply regretted what he had done. He returned the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, “I have sinned in betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? Look to it yourself.” Flinging the money into the Temple he departed and went off and hanged himself. (Mt. 27:3-5)

The story of Judas going back to the chief priests and flinging the 30 pieces of silver into the Temple is told in three verses, and only by Matthew, but it is one of the best known stories in all the Gospels.

It is a sad story. Judas wants to undo his crime. But his co-conspirators are interested in getting Jesus, not getting justice.

The truth is, no sin can be undone/. It can only be forgiven. And getting it forgiven is not difficult. “The Lord is kind and merciful.”

Sometimes we break our necks trying to undo sin. We try denying it, erasing it from our minds, finding others who will tell us there was nothing wrong with what we did, blaming it on someone else, rationalizing it, and running away from it. But sin cannot be undone. It can only be forgiven.

We have to look sin squarely in the eye. We have to bring it to the Lord and ask forgiveness. And if we have wronged someone else we have to try to set things right. God’s grace from the Sacrament of Reconciliation can take us through it all.

Peter faced his sin squarely, cried, was forgiven, and became one of the greatest saints. Judas tried to undo his sin, was unsuccessful, and killed himself.

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

March 21, 2007

St. Matthew Passion

What many music critics have called “the great Passion” refers to the St. Matthew Passion written by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was first performed either on Good Friday, April 11, 1727 or Good Friday in 1729. Bach later revised it in 1736. Felix Mendelssohn introduced the Passion to a larger audience when he performed the composition in 1829.

Its timeline begins a few days before Passover and ends with Judas handing Jesus over to the scribes.

* * * * * *

Bach also wrote St. John Passion in 1724 and St. Mark Passion in 1731.

* * * * * *

In 1995, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion was featured as the opening and closing music for the Robert DeNiro film, Casino.

* * * * * *

Bach’s youngest son, Johann Christian Bach converted to Catholicism from the Lutheran Church.

* * * * * *

Bach was born on this date in 1685.

Wednesday – Fourth Week of Lent

The chief priest gathered up the money, but said, “it is not lawful to deposit this in the Temple treasury, for it is the price of blood.” After consultation, they used it to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners. That is why that field even today is calling the Field of Blood.
Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the value of a man with a price on his head, a price set by some of the Israelites, and they paid it out for the potter’s field just as the Lord had commanded me.” (Mt. 27:6-10)

Here begins the haunting trail of innocent blood.

Judas tried to get rid of his guilt by throwing the “blood money” into the Temple. But the blood was still on his hands.

The chief priests and elders try to get ride of it by using it to buy a burial ground for the poor. But the blood was still on their hands.

Pilate will try to get rid of it by taking water, washing his hands, and saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood.” But the blood will still be on his hands.

Trying to get rid of the blood of Jesus is futile. His blood is on all of us, for we are all sinners. What we need to do is acknowledge our sinfulness and let this blood do what it is meant to do. Wash away our sins.

It was for all of us that Jesus died. It was for Judas, for the chief priests and elders, for Pilate, for the people who said, “His blood be upon us and upon our children.”

It was for me that he died.

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

March 22, 2007

Passion Plays

From early times, Mystery Plays or Miracle Plays re-enacted scriptural events (and events in a saint’s life) as a way of teaching the truths of the faith. Some of these were elaborate productions, requiring three days’ performance.

The form best known today is the Passion Play which depicts the death and resurrection of Jesus. The most famous is performed at Oberammergau, a Bavarian village about 60 miles southwest of Munich.

Because of an outbreak of the bubonic plague in the 17th century, the people of Oberammergau prayed to be spared and vowed that the whole community would every ten years, stage a massive production that would present the story of Christ’s death and resurrection to the world. The town was spared from the plague, and the tradition of the Oberammergau Passion Play was born. It first performance was in 1634,

The play is performed on an open stage with seating for nearly 5,000 spectators. Members of the huge cast (there are 1,700 parts) must be Oberammergau natives, or have lived there for ten years.

The play lasts a whole day, with a three-hour break for lunch. The play is performed five times a week, running for several months. The most recent production took place May 22 to October 8, 2000.

* * * * * *

Josef Meier first performed the Passion Play in the United States in 1932. In 1939, his company settled in South Dakota’s Black Hills where the play is performed each summer.

Thursday – Fourth Week of Lent

Now Jesus stood before the governor, and he questioned him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You say so.” And when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he made no answer. Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many things they are testifying against you?” But he did not answer him one word, so that the governor was greatly amazed. (Mt. 27:11-14)

Pilate asks, “Are you the king of the Jews?” The last time we heard this phrase was when the Magi arrived in Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews?” Then Herod tried unsuccessfully to hill him. Now Pilate will try unsuccessfully not to kill him.

Jesus responds, “You say so.” His answer is affirmative, but he does not take responsibility for everything Pilate has in mind. For Jesus, “king” has religious connotations – “Messiah.” For Pilate it is political.

The chief priests bring accusations against Jesus. Recall that in the previous scene they heard Judas confess that he had betrayed innocent blood – which makes their accusations all the more hypocritical.

Then Jesus is silent. In Matthew, except for his cry to God on the cross, the last words Jesus speaks before he dies are: “You say so.”

Sometimes we think that before we die we’ll straighten out every misunderstanding about us. As though that mattered. What really matters is the truth about ourselves that each of us will see after we die. All will be clear. And that’s all that really matters.

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

March 23, 2007

’Jesus’ Barabbas

In some of the early manuscripts of Matthew’s Gospel the name of this criminal is Jesus Barabbas. Most other manuscripts do not have this, which is why, some editors of the New Testament omit it and others put it in brackets.

It is hard to say whether this name was added by a copyist to the early manuscripts, or whether it was originally there and subsequently deleted by a copyist. Scripture scholars are divided on this, but some note that, because giving the name “Jesus” to a notorious sinner seems blasphemous, it would be more likely that a copyist deleted it rather than a copyist added it.

* * * * * *

All four gospels agree that at the time of Jesus’ trial the Romans had in custody a prisoner named Barabbas. Luke says he was imprisoned for rioting and murder.

Barabbas makes a brief appearance during the trial of Jesus, and other than that nothing is known about him.

One gets the impression from the Gospel accounts that he was popular. Perhaps people identified with him as someone who stood against the Romans who occupied their land.

Barabbas serves to illustrate the truth of what is taking place. Jesus is innocent. Barabbas is guilty. What is taking place is the clear choice of evil over good.

Friday – Fourth Week of Lent

Now on the occasion of the feast the governor was accustomed to release to the crowd one prisoner whom they wished. And at that time they had a notorious prisoner called [Jesus] Barabbas. So when they had assembled, Pilate said to them, “Which one do you want me to release to you, [Jesus} Barabbas or Jesus called Messiah?” For he knew that it was out of envy that they had handed him over. (Mt. 27:15-18)

The name “Barabbas” is an Aramaic word that literally means “son of the father.” Pilate will face him off against Jesus and unwittingly set up the question: Which one is the true “son of the father?”

Which one do you want? Jesus Barabbas, who is famous here in the big city? Or Jesus the Christ, who is from somewhere up north? The people will choose Barabbas.

This raises a question. I am a Christian, a disciple of the Lord. How seriously have I chosen Jesus? Is it more or less implicit, sort of an understanding, a not-so-thoroughly examined assumption that I was born into? Or is it an explicit, determined, resolute decision that anchors my day-to-day life?

Lent is meant to be decisions time – to make one, if I haven’t, and renew one if I have.

How clear is my choice to follow the Lord? How clear is it to me? How clear is it to Him?

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

March 24, 2007

Archbishop Romero

A bishop will die, but the Church of God, which is the people, will never die. ~ Archbishop Romero

On this date 27 years ago, Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador, was shot and killed while saying Mass.

Archbishop Romero had incurred the wrath of the military because of his outspokenness about how his people, especially the poor, were being victimized and killed by government death squads.

No one was ever tried or convicted of his murder.

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