Tag Archives: Lent

Ronald Knox was an Anglican Priest who became Catholic in 1917.  He helped G K Chesterton discern his decision to become Catholic a few years later.  Father Knox was not as well-known as Chesterton but left an imprint on the Church just as important as Chesterton’s. 

In one of his sermons on the Eucharist, Father Knox made this observation: throughout two thousand years of history, Christians, both whole churches and individual believers, have consistently been able to ignore many of Jesus’ key commandments and invitations.  We have either been too weak to follow his counsels or we have rationalized them away somehow. 

Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser said “And so, to a large extent, we have exempted ourselves from the demand to love our enemies, to turn the other cheek when attacked, to forgive 70 times 7, to leave our gift at the altar and first go and seek reconciliation with our brother before we worship, to place justice on the same level as worship, to see mercy as more important than dogma, to not commit adultery, to not steal, to not call someone a fool, to not tell lies, to not give in to jealousy.  We have, in virtually every one of these areas, individually and collectively, a history of infidelity and rationalization.” 

The Children of Israel also had a problem with keeping the Commandments that God gave Moses on the mountain.  By the time Moses came down the mountain, they were worshiping a golden calf instead of the God who delivered them from slavery in Egypt.  Time and time again they turned away from God and worshiped the gods of the nations around them.  It seems that our nature is such that we can easily make excuses or rationalize our sins away, so we don’t feel any guilt. 

Father Rolheiser continues: “But we have, for the most part, been faithful and consistent throughout all the years to one of Jesus’ commands: to celebrate the Eucharist, to meet together in every circumstance and share his word and break bread and drink wine in his memory.” 

Jesus became angry with the way the temple was being used as a marketplace rather than a place of worship.  The reason that I became Catholic is because of the reverence that Catholics hold for the Sanctuary.  Most Evangelical churches talk and chat in the Sanctuary the same as outside the church.  This bothered me but I didn’t realize the bigger distinction that makes Catholics different.  As I studied to become Catholic, I realized that it is the Eucharist that is what sets Catholics apart from other religions. 

We celebrate the Eucharist at every mass.  This is where we get our strength to follow Christ each day.  It is in receiving his Body and Blood in the Eucharist that helps us to go out into the world to share his love with everyone we meet. 

During our Lenten journey, as we examine our hearts and motives, it is important for us to not only look at the Ten Commandments that God gave us but to look deeper at the teachings Jesus gave us to love one another as he loves us.  Father Rolheiser mentions leaving our gift at the altar and going to a person to seek reconciliation before offering our sacrifice to God. 

When Jesus talked about this in the Book of Matthew, he said “Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”  

Notice that Jesus didn’t say that you have something against someone, that is easier to control, but that you know that someone is angry or upset with you.  Then you should go and reconcile with that person and then come and offer your sacrifice. 

This is one of the hard lessons that Jesus taught about loving others as he loves us.  Being sensitive to others is difficult for all of us.  We are so busy taking care of ourselves and our family that we don’t notice the pain we may have caused to others by our carelessness or impatience with others. 

It may be something that we did or said that we didn’t realize upset that person at the time.  It may even be something that we don’t think should bother anyone.  But it did and we must take the first step as Disciples of Christ to correct it by going to the person and seeking reconciliation. 

At the start of mass, we always ask for God’s forgiveness for the times we have failed to obey the Commandments or to love as he loves us.  We do this to prepare our hearts to receive him in the Holy Sacrifice of the Eucharist.  During this Lenton Season, let us take it one step further and resolve the hurt, even if we don’t know the specific issue or didn’t mean to offend, it is enough to know that someone is upset with us that we should seek to make it right. 

All of us are Children of God.  Our body is the Temple of God.  Jesus speaks to us today, he wants to drive out the sin in our hearts the same as he drove out the money changers from the Temple two thousand years ago. 

Each day during Lent I listen to the Franciscan Short Way of the Cross by the choir and students of Thomas Aquinas College to remind me that Lent is a time of preparation.  The Fourteenth Station is: Jesus is taken down from the cross; When I receive you into my heart in Holy Communion, make it a fit abiding place for your adorable Body. 

As we prepare to receive the Body and Blood of Jesus into our hearts and lives, let us resolve to reconcile ourselves with others and with Christ.  Help us Lord to stop making excuses and rationalizing our sinful behavior so we may be a fit and abiding place for your Body. 

Earlier in this first chapter of Mark we learn that John proclaimed: “One mightier than I is coming after me.  I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals.  I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the holy Spirit.”  After John the Baptist was arrested, Jesus began his earthly ministry.  It seems that Jesus knew that John’s ministry is over and his must begin. 

The three verses before today’s Gospel reading tells us about Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River, the heavens opening and the Spirit descending as a dove upon Jesus.  The Father speaks saying “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” 

Then in today’s Gospel “The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert, and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan.”  This Spirit so beautifully described as a white dove descending upon Jesus as a sign of his Father’s approval now drives Jesus into the desert to be tempted by Satan doesn’t seem like the same Spirit at all. 

Why would the Spirit drive Jesus into the desert alone to be tempted by Satan.  Peter Kreeft tells us “He was lead there by the Holy Spirit to toughen up his humanity, so to speak, like basic training in the Army; to prepare for his three years of spiritual warfare in his public ministry, which would culminate in his Passion and Death and Resurrection.  He prepared for this for the first thirty years of his life, the silent years, but especially during these forty days.” 

Peter Kreeft tells us “He fasted for forty days not only from food but also from human friendship, which is even more basic than food.  ….  Animals and angels are both good and important – in fact more important than we usually think – but even good friends above and below us are not human friends.  We are neither animals nor angels.  Animals have no spiritual souls, and angels have no mortal bodies.” 

I could not imagine what that must have been like for Jesus.  While Jesus was Divine, he was also Human.  To be alone without any other person to pray for him, to encourage and comfort him in his temptations would be devastating and make Jesus more susceptible to yielding to the temptations that Satan would present to him. 

Because Jesus was tempted by Satan in this manner, he can understand the temptations that we endure from Satan in our lives.  The major difference is that Jesus was alone without any other contact with people.  This is the first time that Jesus is abandoned and alone during his life on this earth.  The second time is during his Passion and Crucifixion when everyone abandoned him. 

We are blessed to have our family, our Church (which is our Family in Christ), and friends to pray for us, comfort, encourage and help us on our journey of life.  Jesus had no one.  Only wild beasts who wanted to devour him, angels and demons. 

There is nothing that we must endure that our Lord has not already endured in this world.  Sometimes our temptations seem so overwhelming that we can barely go on.  Jesus has been there and understands, he offers help in our trials and temptations. 

We can find comfort knowing that Jesus endured much more than we are going through.  He stands ready to help if we only ask him. 

In our busy lives it’s easy to forget that we too have angels and saints walking with us and ready to help us.  We believe that angels and saints are all around us, walking with us, protecting us, guiding us and giving us strength the same as the angels ministered to Jesus. 

When Jesus stared his ministry he said: “Repent, and believe in the gospel.”  These are the same words we heard on Ash Wednesday when ashes were used to make the sign of the cross on our foreheads. 

What is the Gospel message that Jesus taught?  Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength; and love your neighbor as yourself.  This means keeping the Commandments given to us by Moses from God the Father.  It means living the New Commandment that Jesus gave us; Love others as much as we love ourselves. 

Loving others like we love ourselves is extremely hard for us.  Our ego gets in the way.  We are the only one who is important to us, sometimes even more important our family or God.  Our ego, our False Self is more important than anything else in the world.  It drives us to work longer hours to obtain more promotions at work, to make more money than our neighbors, and to live in the adoration of others wishing to be like us. 

Jesus said “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”  This Gospel was to love God by obeying his Commandments and to love our neighbor as ourselves.  This means really caring about others; the lonely neighbor down the street who seems grouchy all the time, the family struggling to have food on the table to eat, the family being discriminated against because of their race, culture, religion, or marriage partner.  It means respecting each human being as a Child of God. 

It’s not about writing a check to give to a charity that helps others; it’s spending personal time listening to those who are struggling talk about their struggles, helping the neighbor with yard work who is unable to do it, and spending time fasting and praying for all of them as well as writing a check to a charity that helps them. 

During his forty days in the desert, Jesus fasted and prayed.  Jesus helps us the same as the angels ministered to him, but we must be receptive and let him into our hearts. 

Jesus said “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”  What is that Gospel?  Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength; and love your neighbor as yourself. 

Do my actions show others that I really believe in the Gospel that Jesus taught? 

Today’s Gospel opens with a line that seems disconnected.  It really goes at the end of the previous chapter but is good for us to note. 

7:53  “Then each went to his own house,
8:1    while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

Jesus knew that his power came from the Father.  That’s why he was constantly slipping away from the crowds, and even with his Disciples, to pray.  In a few short days, Jesus will repeat this sequence.  After the Institution of the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper, Jesus goes to the Mount of Olives, as was his custom, with his Disciples to pray. 

After spending the night in prayer, Jesus goes about his mission on earth, preaching the Good News about the Kingdom of God.  Jesus was teaching a crowd of people when the Pharisees barge in and place this woman in front of Jesus and the crowd. 

Think about the woman caught in the act of adultery.  The Pharisees dragged her out of the hiding place where the two were seeing each other.  The woman had to be filled with fear because everyone in that time knew the punishment for adultery – DEATH. 

Sister Joyce Zimmerman writes: “The scribes and Pharisees brought an adulterous woman to Jesus and “made her stand in the middle.”  In their self-righteousness they wished to make an example of her as a grave sinner deserving of death.” 

The scribes and Pharisees really don’t care about the woman or compliance with Mosaic Law.  They just want to trap Jesus.  

John Pilch writes: “There is a tradition that about the year thirty the Romans took away from the Sanhedrin the right of capital punishment.  This is why they could not put Jesus to death.”  (That gives a lot of insight into Good Friday.  The Romans had to crucify Jesus because Capital Punishment was taken away from the Sanhedrin.  JLS) 

“The trap is a dilemma. If Jesus urges that the woman be released, he clearly violates the Mosaic Law and proves himself to be an irreligious person. He is certainly no prophet. If he orders that she be stoned, he is in trouble with the Romans, who have taken this right away from the Judeans.” 

But Jesus outsmarts them.  John Pilch tells us “He buys time for himself by doodling on the ground, a common custom among Mediterranean peasants when distraught.” 

When Jesus is slow to respond, the scribes and Pharisees relentlessly continue to demand a response from him. 

At this point, Jesus straightens up and said, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 

Again, Jesus continues to write on the ground.  All the Gospel tells us is that Jesus wrote on the ground, but wouldn’t it be interesting to know what Jesus wrote?  Did he write:

Liar

Thief

Self-Righteous

Hypocrite

Critical

Pride

Love

Peace

Joy

Happiness

Family

Or was Jesus just drawing circles and designs on the ground?  We don’t know.  But whether it was what he was writing on the ground or what he said to them, they all left one by one. 

Lent is a time of reflection, self-examination, and action.  It is a time to examine the sin within our hearts and seek God’s forgiveness. 

Sister Joyce makes an important observation: “The woman, however, remained with Jesus.  Our own work during Lent is like that of the adulterous woman: truthfully face our sinfulness and faithfully remain with Jesus.  Though we sin, Jesus only wishes new life for us.” 

HOPE!  Jesus gives us HOPE!  New Life despite our sins.  During this time of Lent, we fast and pray.  We sometimes forget that the fasting is not just to comply with Church teaching but to spend additional time in prayer, reflecting on our sinfulness and seeking God’s forgiveness. 

Jesus calls each of us today, just like he did the scribes and Pharisees in the Gospel, to inspect our hearts for sin and motives. 

Back when I was young, way back in my early twenties, I had a mentor who had various sayings.  The one that stood out to me he most was “We criticize in others the things we subconsciously dislike about ourselves.”  Over the years I’ve found the truth in the saying.  It doesn’t seem possible, but it is accurate. 

Every time I have critical thoughts toward someone, I remember the saying and examine my own thoughts and actions for the times I do the same or similar thing.  

The public controversy surrounding our government leaders who proclaim to be Devout Catholic and yet push for abortion seems to give the wrong message to the world about our Church.  But it is not mine to judge, that is up to God alone.  In the teaching of the Scriptures and my mentor’s saying, I do my best to remember my own sinfulness, the times that I have miserably failed, and to pray for all Americans, our leaders and myself included, that we will return to God. 

It is so much easier to be critical than to pray for myself and others.  It is easy to be zealous like the scribes and Pharisees that the law was broken.  But this is the wrong approach.  Jesus was always kind and forgiving.  We must be that way too. 

After Jesus finished writing on the ground, he stood up and looked at the woman and said “Woman, where are they?  Has no one condemned you?”  She replied, “No one, sir.”  Then Jesus said.  “Neither do I condemn you. Go, [and] from now on do not sin any more.” 

The forgiving Jesus does not condemn us either.  Now the hard part begins.  After we examine ourselves, and find need of Jesus’ forgiveness, Jesus says to us: ”Go, and from now on, do not sin anymore.” 

So, we start back at the beginning of the Gospel, time to slip away from our busy lives and pray.  Time to spend alone with God, seeking forgiveness and healing.  Time asking God to help us in our daily struggles to resist sin and follow Jesus. 

Our lives are so busy, even for retired people, that finding time to pray becomes difficult.  Are we willing to spend time in prayer?  Or does soccer practice take precedence?  Is the TV show more important?  Am I too tired at bedtime to pray?  Lord Jesus, forgive us for the times we fail. 

Which is more important to us: seeking God’s forgiveness and help to resist temptation or the need to get things done? 

We sometimes forget that we live in a world where evil exists, we forget that we are in a spiritual war with Satan and all the evil spirits in the world. 

Just prior to today’s Gospel, Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River.  “After all the people had been baptized and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” 

In Jesus’ time, the wilderness was a place where evil lived.  John Pilch wrote:

“Now when the voice from heaven identified Jesus at his baptism as “You are my Beloved Son, with you I am well pleased” (Lk 3:22), all the spirits heard this compliment. 

Every Mediterranean native knows what must and will happen next in Jesus’ life. Spirits will test him to determine whether the compliment is indeed true, and just in case it might be true, the spirits will try to make Jesus do something displeasing to God.

It is no surprise, then, that the very next scene in Jesus’ life that Luke presents is “the temptation.”

How real was Jesus’ temptation? 

We sometimes believe that it was easy for Jesus to resist the temptation of Satan because he was God.  If that were true, then Jesus died in vain.  Jesus came to earth like each of us.  Jesus knew his Father’s will and sought to follow it.  Jesus’ love for God his Father was greater than the things of this world.  This gives us hope that we too can overcome the temptations that haunt us. 

In Food for the Soul, Peter Kreeft wrote:

“The three temptations of Christ correspond to the three sources of all our temptations too: the world (social approval from our pagan culture), the flesh (our fallen human nature’s weakness), and the devil himself (his desire to get us to worship him as our lord and to obey his will rather than God’s).  We are at war, like it or not.  Life is a spiritual warfare.” 

Our culture trains and prepares us to control everything.  We are successful if we climb the corporate ladder.  That takes skill and finesse.  It is the temptation for social approval which I, like many others, sought to get ahead. 

In the spiritual battle, we are weak because of our fallen human nature.  It is easy to be tricked by Satan into worshiping the enticements of this world because it is fun and brings instant gratification.  But it is not a permanent happiness, and it does not bring the peace that only Jesus can give us. 

The Gospel ends with “When the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him for a time.”  It was clearly not over for Jesus.  The devil would come back to tempt Jesus again and again just like the devil and the evil spirits tempt us again and again. 

Three times the devil tempts Jesus with the enticements of this world.  Three times Jesus rebukes the devil with scripture.  Notice how the devil also uses scripture “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written ….”  Jesus uses scripture to rebuke Satan again. 

As John Pilch told us, whenever we are on a high place, the devil will attack us just like he did with Jesus.  This is true whether it is a high moment in our physical life or our spiritual life.  The devil wants to bring us down so that we will succumb to his temptations and serve him instead of God. 

We all get temptations.  How do we resist them?  The steps that Jesus took to resist the devil are prayer, fasting, and scripture. 

Prayer is a part of our daily lives just like it was for Jesus.  A priest I know encouraged parishioners to pray at least an hour a day.  But you say, “That’s a lot of time that I don’t have.”  You’re right.  Our lives are so busy and filled with work, family, church, and activities that it’s hard to find ten minutes let alone an hour.  I pray Morning and Evening prayer each day.  I’m retired and I still find that I need to pray Morning prayer before I leave the bedroom or before I know it, it’s noon and I didn’t pray Morning prayer.  During this Lent, let us sacrifice five minutes a day to spend in prayer. 

We usually don’t think of fasting except during Lent, when we place an extra emphasis on fasting.  That doesn’t mean that we can’t fast throughout the year.  This is especially true when we have a special need such as peace in the Ukraine, healing for a family member or guidance on a major life decision. 

Reading the Bible needs to be part of our daily routine just like prayer.  Even when the devil quoted scripture to Jesus, he knew the scriptures well enough that he was able to reply with scripture.  If Satan used scripture with Jesus, do we think that he will not use scriptures on us to justify what we are thinking of doing?  We must know the scriptures well enough to keep us secure in our faith.  This Lent is a good time to start reading at least one chapter or five minutes of our Bible each day. 

Jesus overcomes the devil by refusing to accept the temptations the devil presents to him.  Prayer, fasting and scripture will help us resist the devil too.  Are we willing to turn the TV off a few minutes early in the evening to pray before we go to bed?  Or is the show we like to watch more important? 

Are we willing to sit at our desk for lunch and read a chapter or two of the Bible?  Or will we go out with coworkers to have more fun and be part of the group? 

Are we willing to sacrifice a few minutes each day to improve our spiritual life with prayer, fasting and scripture knowledge? 

The parable of the Prodigal Son is the wonderful story of a father’s love for his child.  A young and rambunctious child asks for the Father’s inheritance.  In a small town where everyone knew everyone else, word would travel about his act of disrespect.  This act would bring shame on the family, but the youngest son just wants to enjoy life.  After losing everything, the young man comes to his senses and returns home to become a hired servant but at least a fed, clothed and housed person who could live a better life than he was living feeding hogs. 

When the father sees the young son he thought he had lost forever coming, he acts out of love and rushes to him and accepts him back as a son.  This is more than the son was hoping for even though he knew that he would not get an inheritance when his father died. 

When the brother, who was out working hard in the fields, comes into the house in the evening, he hears music, dancing and smells the meat cooking.  He asks one of the servants what is happening and learns that his youngest brother has returned home, and his father butchered the fattened calf.  A fattened calf would feed over a hundred people so the he knew the father was inviting the whole town.  What would the town people say?  What a disgrace to be talked about like that. 

The older brother is angry and refuses to come into the house.  This act of defiance hurts the father as much as losing his youngest son when the youngest took his inheritance and left home for a foreign land.  The wonderful part of this parable is that the father has the same compassion for the eldest son that the father has for the Prodigal Son. 

The father comes out and pleads with his oldest son, tries to reason with him but the oldest son will have nothing to do with the celebration.  He is resentful that the father is celebrating and accepting his no-good brother back as a son.  It would be bad enough to accept him as a servant after the shame his younger brother brought upon the family but to accept him back as a son was unforgivable! 

The older brother throws it back in his father’s face the terrible life that his no-good brother lived and how good a life he lived.  He always obeyed his father and worked hard in the fields to increase the value of his father and his land.  Not that he had ever asked for a feast with his friends in the past, but now it becomes important to him in his jealousy of his brother and he throws it up to his father. 

We often hear homilies about the father’s great love to accept the Prodigal Son back as his son, but we seldom address the older brother.  It is doubtful that many of us are like the youngest son; for one thing, it is even rarer to receive an inheritance early today than it was back then.  And most of us have not spent our lives living off our parents when we were in our twenties, thirties or forties. 

We consider ourselves good Christians; maybe even cradle Catholics who have attended mass all our lives, we always followed the rules and helped others.  We consider ourselves better than those who live a shameful life injecting drugs and living a life of prostitution or stealing to pay for the drugs they so desperately need, just like the Prodigal Son.  We may even look down on those people who live like that, just like the Pharisees and scribes that Jesus was addressing in this parable. 

We live in our own little world in the United States that is unlike the reality that the rest of the world lives in today and throughout history.  We would not consider ourselves wealthy in our society in the United States today, but we are wealthy beyond belief to most of the world.  Indeed, God has blessed us as a nation and that is evidenced by the throngs of immigrants trying to enter our country to live in a land of plenty. 

Our society and social media teach us that these immigrants are bad people.  Yes, a few of them probably are bad, but the majority only want safety for their family with food and shelter for them.  They want the same freedoms we have that they could never obtain in the countries where they were born.  How do we feel about the immigrant?  Do we consider them “Those people”?  The term “Those people” usually refers to someone we look down on as less than us. 

Do we feel that the immigrants trying to enter our country are individual people, families with spouses and children, trying to find a better life?  Do we wish they would go home, or do we pray that they will be able to enter our country and find the life they only dream of for their family? 

How do we feel about drug addicts?  Do we wish the addict would disappear from the street corner where we see them?  Or do we pray that they find the help they need to be able to quit the drugs that are destroying them?  Would we welcome them if they came to our church and sat next to us for mass in their tattered and torn clothing? 

The father loved both of his sons.  He accepted the wayward son who shamed the family and the son who resented his father’s love for the wayward son.  Which son are we?  Have we squandered the opportunities that came our way?  Or do we act like the older brother; resentful that our father cares for the sinner who disobeys God’s law and the law and order of the land? 

As we continue our Lenten Journey, let us examine our hearts and conscience to honestly determine how we really look at others.  Which son are we?  Are we like the son who sinned in public view where all could see?  Or are we like the son who followed the rules but sinned in our hearts?  It really doesn’t matter.  God loves both us the same.  Let us prayerfully ask God for his love and mercy to consume us with forgiveness for our sins and compassion for others.