On the BrinK of the Holy

As I write this message, we find ourselves in the last full week of the Lenten Season. The celebration of Holy Week 2009 begins with the liturgies of Palm or Passion Sunday this coming weekend. It has been the tradition that Palm Sunday initiates us into the holiest of octaves-the eight days of Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday. We begin this holy observance of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ with the blessing of palm branches that recall his triumphal entry into the holy city of Jerusalem. We are all joyfully implored to an intense, lively and prayerful Holy Week. This week is a week like none other, which commemorates the activities surrounding the Christ-event.

Some thoughts as Holy Week draws near…

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released a sobering study. Among many items in the study, this was very significant for us here: No religion in America has seen more members lapse than the Catholic Church. While Roman Catholicism remains the largest religious denomination in the USA, roughly 10% of all Americans are ex-Catholics. Perhaps Holy Week might be a time to return to the Church!

Psychiatrist Gerard May writes,“After twenty years of listening to the yearnings of people’s hearts, I’m convinced that all human beings have an inborn desire of God whether they are consciously religious or not, this desire for God is our deepest longing and our most precious treasure. It gives us meaning. Some of them have repressed this desire, burying it beneath so many other interests that we are completely unaware of it. Or we may experience it in different ways—as a longing for wholeness, fulfillment, and completion. Regardless of how we describe it, it is a longing for love. It is a hunger for love, to be loved, and to move closer to the source of love.”

There is a Lenten song which summarizes these thoughts:

Marked by ashes, we have come,We, the world so troublesome,We, the members: Christ, our sum.Now we pray by day and night,Keep the fast to clear our sight,Share our goods to set things right.

Happy last week of Lent! .May you and I arrive at Easter, converted, changed and transformed.

Fasting to Feasting

As we continue our journey of Lent this week, we pray that God may enlighten us to see some of the vanities we hold as necessities. We fast to call to mind the greater hunger and thirst we have for what matters in life; good relationships rather than material possessions. We give alms in order to aid those whose hunger and thirst that they can be can be satisfied with our assistance. May this last stretch of the Lenten Season be one of true repentance and sincere hearts that return to God.

Fasting to Feasting
Lent is a time for fasting but also a season for joyous feasting!During Lent, the Church calls on us to fast from certain things and feast on others.For example:

Fast from judging others...feast on Christ dwelling in them.Fast from emphasis on differences...feast on the unity of life.Fast from apparent darkness...feast on the reality of light.Fast from thoughts of illness...feast on God's healing power.Fast from words that pollute...feast on phrases that purify.Fast from discontent...feast on gratitude.Fast from anger...feast on patience.Fast from pessimism...feast on optimism.Fast from worry...feast on divine order.Fast from complaining...feast on appreciation.Fast from negatives...feast on affirmatives.Fast from unrelenting pressures...feast on unceasing prayer.Fast from hostility...feast on nonresistance.Fast from bitterness...feast on forgiveness.Fast from self concern...feast on compassion for others.Fast from personal anxiety...feast on eternal truth.Fast from discouragement...feast on hope.Fast from facts that depress...feast on truths that up lift.Fast from lethargy...feast on enthusiasm.Fast from suspicion...feast on truth.Fast from thoughts that weaken...feast on promises that inspire.Fast from shadows of sorrow...feast on sunlight of serenity.Fast from idle gossip...feast on purposeful silence.

Missing the Mark

As we look around the world, we know that there is something not quite right. There seems to be an anger that grows deeper between and among nations, cultures, races, religions and individuals. There seems to be an increasing amount of violence and inhumane actions — the “Old West” as a synonym for violent acts still describes all too much of America and every nation on earth. With weapons of mass destruction widely available, man’s inhumanity to man is overwhelming in its evil possibilities.

As we look into our spiritual mirrors, we notice there is something not quite right with ourselves. We want peace, but often there is not peace of mind. We have so much, but we seem to enjoy so little. We have our moments, but happiness or joy seems so fleeting. We seem to focus on the secondary rather than the primary. In our quiet moments, we wonder what our mission is, whether God really is what we believe God to be, whether our decisions make any difference, whether our sacrifices really do pay off, whether we are fooling ourselves, and are we really who we say we are?

Yet, as we look around, the world is full of awe and grandeur. People are really good at heart, and love does dwell in the hearts of the overwhelming number of people we know. There is something very right about us and about life, for we have loved and the special people we know have made us feel loved.

Lent is that special time provided by the Church for us to get serious about our interior life and how we express it in our daily actions. Lent makes no sense if everything is right and okay. Lent rests on the assumption that all of us detect the need to correct, change, improve because not all is right or as it should be.

May I suggest that Lent’s premise is that we may be “missing the mark.” That is a definition of sin — “missing the mark.” Therefore, we have to make things right. This will require us to enter into Lent as a process for returning home, as it were, to God, to our roots and to the path of discipleship of Jesus. “Missing the Mark” means I need to “Return to God.”

Returning to God means:
— Coming face to face with the Creator

— Making every effort to live, to love, to serve, to give and to forgive in a manner that is consonant with that image

— Surrendering our false and distorted image of God

— Welcoming God’s involvement in every part of our lives

— Going back to our sacred stories, becoming acquainted again with our roots

— Looking at the Gospels with a new sobering study— Allowing ourselves to be led by the Spirit, as Jesus was

In conclusion, let us look at this statement that offers a synthesis of our Lenten observance:
“Through this holy season of returning to God, to our story, to our roots, to Christ and to the Gospel, we will also have ample opportunity to return to one another. If we have become distant or estranged or if we have simply lost touch with someone whom God has given as gift in our life, now is the time for returning. If we have not said those words or done those things that assure the other that he/she is loved, and valued and appreciated, now is the time. Only God knows whether you or I will have another such opportunity to do so.”