Easter Sunday

On Good Friday, I left you with a choice to remain in the tomb of death of your past or to choose to live a new life of promise and hope that Jesus holds out to us on this Easter Sunday morning? As for me, I have chosen life not death, as St. Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans, “…death does not have the final say, oh death where is your sting?”
When last we gathered, we were at the foot of the cross, a death that Jesus freely chose to follow his Fathers Will to save us and through his faithfulness has brought us the possibility of renewed hope, joy, and knowing that in following Jesus’ path, we know that death does not win. His self-sacrifice was his offering on our part to His Father Will that we might all have new life.

What proof do we have that Jesus really rose from death to new life? The empty tomb, the burial cloth rolled up in the corner, these are not definitive signs, anecdotal evidence at best. Where is the proof?

Right here in front of me, YOU are the proof of Christ’s Resurrection otherwise you won’t be here, would you? Your presences like our ancestors all the way back to that empty grave are the real live witnesses of His resurrection. You are the living proof, there is no need for any further material evidence. In the words of St. Augustine, “for those who do not believe, no proof will ever be enough, and for those who believe no further proof is needed.”

I don’t know about you but it’s been quite a journey for me through Lent and Holy Week to get to this glorious Easter morning. I learned something new about myself this year and because of it I made some progress in my life journey back to the Lord. I was faced through certain circumstances to take a deep look into my trust in the Lord. Entering into the dessert of Lent, I found out that my trust in the Lord wasn’t nearly as strong and solid as I had believed it was. I was brought to my knees many times over these forty days asking myself even and over, why don’t I trust the Lord completely? I spent a lot of time going over my life and seeing so very often how Jesus picked me up in the deepest darkest moments of my life and brought me to new heights that I never dreamed possible or oven probable. And I came to admit that growing in my absolute trust of the Lord has become the most important goal in my life from this point onward.

I challenged us to stay in the tomb or our past or to take the risk on Jesus, not lose hope and ultimately to find new life and Resurrection. I pray you too have found something new in your life and that today is your Resurrection day, the first day of the rest of your life. A new beginning filled with new dreams and renewed hope for yourself, your families and for all our brothers and sisters around the world. Jesus’ death on the cross was not the end but rather the beginning of his glorified life as the Risen Son of God. Darkness has given way to the bright dawn of a new day with joy and laughter in our hearts and on our lips.

I do realize that for some of us, this day has not yet reached new life for you might be still suffering painful losses and hope seems dim and not bright. I’m here to tell you not to give up, your new day is coming, Jesus didn’t die to leave you in pain and suffering but to show you the way out of your darkness. It’s for us who are experiencing new life to turn to those around us who are still in pain of the death of a loved one, the loss of their job, foreclosure on their homes, and don’t yet see the bright hope of Easter. It’s up to us to show them that they are not alone in this dark moment of their lives that we are here to help them, to wash their feet as Jesus taught us on Holy Thursday night.

All is not lost or hopeless, it’s up to us who have walked that same journey and found new hope and new life to share it with our brothers and sisters so that they too one day will rejoice as we rejoice today.

Have you stopped to ask yourself, why did you come here today? What does this Easter Sunday morning mean to you? For some it means I have no other place to turn for help; for others perhaps a decision to give Jesus and the church another chance to prove to themselves that God isn’t dead; any yet for many others the joy of knowing that my faith has been strengthened and renewed; I am full of hope and joy that life is worth living, and hope for a better tomorrow is alive in the Resurrection of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. Through the promise he made to us, that in dying with Christ, we will also be raised to new and everlasting life. Today is our Resurrection Day. Let us Rejoice and shout Hosanna, Hosanna, again louder, let us ring the bells of heaven with our shouts of Hosanna!

Good Friday

GOOD FRIDAY (a) 4.21.2011
Here we are at the foot of the cross, the cross on which hung our Savior. The Romans used the cross as a means of torture, humiliation, and death for insurrectionists, traders to Cesar, and anyone they deemed unsuited to live. Since Jews were not allowed to put anyone to death, they used the Romans to do their dirty work for them – to have Jesus, the insurrectionists and usurper of their authority and power over the people – to be put to death. Cowards to say the least.

But here we are some 2,000 years later and we are still shouting, “crucify him, crucify him!” It makes me wonder, if we had been there would we have really been a part of that crowd shouting to crucify Jesus? If I were to ask each one of you, you would most likely say, certainly not me. But then isn’t that what Judas said to Jesus last night at their supper table.

We like to think of ourselves as having grown in our faith and practices as having moved way past that fateful dark night. Any yet, here we are. Why have you come out today? What were you hoping to see, what were you hoping would happen, that somehow this year would be different than all the other years you have been coming here on this Good Friday? Why do we even call it, “Good Friday?” What’s good about it, an innocent man is hung to die on the most grusom of torture instruments, and for what reason, what did he do wrong to deserve this horrible death?

NOTHING, he did nothing to deserve this death. But then why did he do it? Why did he go through with it? He could have so easily chosen a different path and not caused all this suffering to himself, his mother, and his dearest friends. Then why do it? He did it for us, to prove to us that suffering and death is not the end, they are a part of life and the gate way to new and eternal life. It was to show us how to live a better life, a life of service and the washing of the feet of our follow human beings as was celebrated in last night’s service. Jesus showed us the way to eternal life is through selfless service to our brothers and sisters. Not to get caught up in my own selfish and self-centered desires at the expense of others.

Let me share as true story with you, one that can teach us a clear lesson that looking out only for our own interests doesn’t lead us to peace and happiness. (Story of the millionaire and his airplane.)

I’m sure none of us here is a millionaire and therefore perhaps are saying, “what does this story have to do with my life and struggles?” Well, it does. When we put more interest into ourselves and the hording that we do as individuals and as a nation of the earth’s wealth, which by the way is the 41st anniversary of EARTH Day; we are not living up to the example of the life-style that Jesus taught us. He taught us how to put others needs before our own; how to take care of our natural resources of this earth that he created for us; how to change our attitudes and behaviors towards others who are of a different culture, language and life-style of our own. He taught us how to care for others, how to “love one another as I love you,” as St. John’s Gospel tells us.

This solemn service pulls us back into the reality of whom Jesus is and why he went through this horrific crucifixion. For us, for you and me, and all our sisters and brothers around the world, especially those who live on the brink of total disaster of disease, starvation, homelessness, and loss of hope. He did it for all of humanity.

In reading the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke they lead us to this sad day and leave us wondering, what’s next? Is this to be our end too? Is all lost? We read today the Gospel of John which was written many years after Jesus’ death, Resurrection and Assent ion into heaven. His perspective on the whole situation is not one that ends in death and destruction. For John the cross is a celebration of VICTORY through death; Jesus’ glorification, His Resurrection comes at the moment he gives over his life to his Father when he says, “It is finished,” and dies on the cross.

We suffer; we can choose a pessimistic and negative attitude that so often leads to self-pity and a destructive path. But it doesn’t have to be that way and Jesus proves that to us today. At the moment of Jesus’ death, he enters into the glory of the Father where he is exalted as the Son of God. Being lifted up on the cross meant being lifted up for exaltation and total victory. We can choose as Jesus did to see challenges and suffering as opportunities for real growth, new possibilities, renewed hope, new life. You know the old saying, “whatever doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.”

Well now‘s our chance to choose all over again. We come here to remember what Jesus did for us and to learn from his example of how to love each other. We feel a deep sadness in our soul today because we know we haven’t lived up to our calling. But this is not a day that should end in sadness and loss of hope. As we enter the tomb with the dead body of Jesus, we enter with God giving us another chance to get it right. We can choose to stay buried in that tomb afraid to come out of our past behaviors or we can choose to live a better life of self-giving, of washing others feet as Jesus washed our feet.

Will you choose to face the realities of your life choices and remain in the death tomb or will you follow Jesus upon the cross of victory and exaltation to new and Resurrected life without end? The choice is yours, which will you choose – death or life? You have a day and a half to decide…

PALM SUNDAY: Our Holiest Week

For the forty days of Lent, we have been in special prayer and thought looking more closely at our daily lives and how we are living up to our baptismal commitments to serve, care for and love others as Jesus commanded us to do. During this time we have learned much about ourselves and how we are living our Christian commitment in our everyday life experiences. We have made some sacrifices to grow more closely to our Lord and to reach out in special selfless ways to care for others who are less fortunate than ourselves.

Jesus asked us, “to love one another as I love you.” Lent has been a pause in our daily routine to question ourselves on how well have we lived up to this expectation that Jesus has given to us. We have learned new things about our relationships with others, with yourself, and with God. Perhaps it has been a challenging time but a time of new awakening, new possibilities and renewed hope.

We are about to enter into the holiest week of the life of the church. We embark on a journey of Jesus’ triumph and defeat, and ultimately new life of Resurrection. It is not just a passive watching and listening to the stories of Jesus’ final days, it is also our story, the story of our life journey with our own triumphs, defeats, and renewed hopes of a better tomorrow – our own Resurrection story.

We begin our Holy Week journey on this Palm Sunday – Jesus’ triumphant entrance into Jerusalem, the center of the Jewish religion. Jesus is well a where of what he is doing; the choices he has been making are radically contrary to the religious laws and rituals of his day. He creates a great disturbance in the thinking of both the Jewish leaders and the people. So much so that they feel compelled to turn against him, convince the people that he is nothing more than a left wing radical that needs to be silenced.

The entire event feels strange, almost contrived, how could this have possible happened? We know the story; we have watched it played out right here before our very eyes. It’s undeniable, it happened, it’s real; and yet there is something about it that is so frightening and scary that part of our mind shuts down because we can’t handle the pain of it all, the injustice of it all.

It reminds me when I was a chaplain in an inner city hospital working in the burn trauma center. I learned that the pain is so excruciating that the mind cannot cope with that much pain so it shuts down. How often do we shut down and try to walk away from our pain?

And so we watch with some indifference because another part of us says, “I’m a part of this man’s suffering, and we don’t want to admit that to ourselves and so part of us shuts down, tunes out. But in the end, its undeniable, we have had a part to play in Jesus’ suffering and death. It happens in our daily life experiences of how we treat each other, turn away from our sisters or brothers pain; perhaps because it reminds us to much of our own pain, suffering, disappointments, loss of trust and hope.

Like Jesus, we are faced with a choice, does he turn his back on his fathers will or does he embrace it knowing full well where it is leading. What choice will we make – embrace the hard choices that we are faced with or turn away and tune out? Jesus’ story is our story, we know the choice he made, what choice will you make?

Holy week is not a passion play of merely retelling the story of Jesus’ death, this is real life. This is our story of how one moment we are shouting “Hosanna, Hosanna to the Son of David,” as we carry our palms into the church only a few days late to hear ourselves screaming “Crucify him, crucify him.” We are a people who are easily swayed in the wind. Holy week comes along and reminds us in clear, and no uncertain terms, that through our baptism in Jesus Christ we have been called to walk in his footsteps, loving one another as he loves us. We are called to be co-creators with God to continue what Jesus began and established as God’s kingdom of justice, peace, and love. This is no fairy tale, this is our life story.

We are invited to walk along with Jesus knowing that in his obedience to the Will of his Father led to crucifixion, however not to end there but in his Resurrection. We can’t get there by trying to avoid the trials and sufferings that happen along our life journey. It is only by embracing them, as Jesus did that we experience God’s eternal love that is Resurrection.
We have entered the Holy City waving Palms with shouts of “Hosanna to the Son of David.” How will this journey that Jesus has begun end? Come along and see, for it is our journey too.

HOLY WEEK: Our Most Holy Week of the Year

For the forty days of Lent, we have been in special pray and thought looking more closely at our daily lives and how we are living up to our baptismal commitments to serve, care for and love others as Jesus commanded us to do. During this time we have learned much about ourselves and how we are living out our Christian life in our everyday life experiences. We have made some sacrifices to grow more closely to our Lord and to reach out in special selfless ways to care for others who are less fortunate than ourselves.

Jesus asked us, “to love one another as I love you.” Lent has been a pause in our daily routine to question ourselves on how well have we lived up to this expectation that Jesus has given to us. We have learned new things about our relationships with others, with yourself, and with God. Perhaps it has been a challenging time but a time of new awakening and new possibilities and renewed hope. I pray it has been for you as it has been for me.

We are about to enter into the holiest week of the life of the church and of our own life. We embark on a journey of Jesus’ triumphant and defeat, and ultimately new life of Resurrection. It is not just a passive watching and listening to the stories of Jesus’ final days, it is also our story, the story of our life journey with our own triumphs, defeats, and renewed hopes of a better tomorrow.

We are entering into the life blood of the church, Holy Week which begins with Passion Sunday (Palm Sunday) recalling the triumphant entrance of Jesus into the great city of Jerusalem. We continue into the sacred time of the EASTER Triduum – Holy Thursday evening through Easter Sunday morning. The Latin word triduum means “a three-day-period.” The EASTER Triduum begins with the Thursday evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper, continues with the Good Friday commemoration of Christ’s trial, crucifixion and burial. And now we wait not knowing for sure what to expect, will Jesus come back as he promised, is the one we put all our hopes and dreams in of a new life really dead? It is a sobering two days – restrained and straightforward. What will happen? Jesus holds true to his promise that he will come back, that he will defeat death, and with that defeat bring new life and hope to all humanity, a new life in God. Our Lenten journey has brought us through the wilderness into the bright dawning of a new day, a new age where despair gives way to hope, peace, and love, Easter Resurrection.

For 40 days we have been walking this intense journey with Jesus, growing in our understanding, trust, and faith in who he is and how he wants us to live. He is so determined to follow the Will of God whom he affectionately calls – Father and even more intimately – ABBA.

Jesus is well a where of what he is doing; the choices he has been making that are radically contrary to the religious laws and rituals of his day. He creates a great disturbance in the thinking of both the Jewish leaders and the people. So much so that they feel compelled to turn against him, convince the people that he is nothing more than a left wing radical that needs to be silenced.

We begin come our holiest week of the year, the Easter Triduum with Palm Sunday. This most solemn week reminds us each year of who Jesus is, how he suffered the most despicable humiliation, suffering, and death on a cross paying the price of one man’s death for the salvation of all humanity – past, present, and future, “who died once for the forgiveness of sins for the many.” But unlike many stories of the lives of so many that seemingly end in tragic death; this one does not because of Jesus’ faithfulness to his Fathers Will, he is raised from the dead and thus sets us on the same path of hope that life is not ended at death but rather changed to a new spiritual life of eternal love in the presence of the God who created us and holds us in the palm of his hand, who is our Good Shepherd who carries us in our times of suffering and despair. In the words of the great Spiritualist and Theologian Thomas Merton, “I trust you always… [for] you will never leave me to face my [troubles] alone.”

On Palm Sunday we gather as a total community outside the church where we hear proclaimed the Gospel account of Jesus’ triumphant entrance into the great and holy city Jerusalem. We are not just by standers or passive on lookers no, we are the people who first praise Jesus with “Hosanna, Hosanna…” when he enters this holy city – the center of the Jewish religion, as our conquering hero only to turn on him a few days later with the full force of Roman occupation law in sighted by the Pharisees and Sadducees, the Jewish leadership who Jesus had called, “you brood of vipers and white washed epicures.” No wonder they found Jesus such a threat to their power and control over the people and needed to find a way to get rid of him.
In our jubilant celebration of Jesus’ arrival we wave palm branches as our ancestors did so long ago in praise of him as we go in procession into the church singing, “Hosanna, Hosanna to the Son of David.” We have begun our joyful celebration, but how will it all end?

The Easter Triduum is three days which are not separate from each other but are one continuous liturgy beginning on Holy Thursday night with the celebration of Mass; continues on Good Friday with the veneration of the cross on through Easter Resurrection Sunday. These three days are not separate from each other but are one continuous liturgy a passion play in three parts.

In order for us to more completely enter into these holy days it is important for us to understand the richness of the rituals and symbols that give the deepest of meaning to this Triduum. We begin on Holy Thursday night with the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, the Mass. We refer to this special Eucharist as the Lord’s Supper as it commemorates and embodies the final meal that Jesus took with his apostles before he was to die. The service closes with the transfer of the Eucharist from the church to a suitable place for quiet prayer and contemplation as we join Jesus in his agony in the garden the night before he was crucified. The service ends with all leaving in silence to contemplate and meditate on Jesus’ agonizing what most likely will happen tomorrow. We leave wondering what would we do if we had to make such a choice?

The Triduum picks up with the Good Friday service of accompanying Jesus at his trial, a trial with no basis and as such the Jews force the Romans to try him. Even the Roman governor washes his hands of this mockery of a man who has done nothing wrong in the eyes of a Roman. That didn’t stop the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders pushing the Romans into crucifying him. After all, even the people had turned on Jesus who had just a few days ago praised him and welcomed him now turn to cries of “Crucify him, Crucify him.” We humans are so fickle when it comes to standing strong against injustices of every kind. We run away from the face of the poor, the homeless and marginalized. We need to stop and ask ourselves, “What would Jesus do?”

This is a sobering day which forces us to look directly into Jesus’ eyes and see not only his pain but even more importantly his unconditional love for us. He is raised up on the Roman cross with hands stretched out that say, “this is how much I love you, and I give my life for you that you may have life not just existence.

The Good Friday service is unique and the ritual has remained the same down through the ages. We approach the wood of the cross, the instrument of torture, cruelty and death; we reverence it with a touch, a bow or a kiss. If it were not for the eyes of faith we could never understand this strange, indeed bizarre instrument of how it has been transformed from a weapon of torture to a gift of Gods’ salvation, forgiveness and LOVE. We come to the cross and there not to look upon death, but life. A life lived in the hope and trust that in Gods’ love for us we will find new life. The universe is changed. The world will never be the same again. Once again we leave in silence, saddened, even feeling somewhat hopeless to wonder, how did this horrible injustice happen to a man who only showed us how to love one another?

Holy Saturday is a day of quiet wonder, questioning and waiting. Traditionally, people held vigil from the close of the Friday service through Saturday all the way to Sunday morning. The meaning of vigil is “a purposeful or watchful staying awake during the ordinary hours of sleep.” It is a sacrifice but one that is joyfully made.

It is not long before our sadness and hopelessness will turn to Easter Resurrection joy. The light of day gives way to the darkness of night. It is our Passover. The Easter Vigil has begun. Down through the centuries this vigil has changed and its rituals have moved in modern times to the Saturday night Easter Vigil Mass of Resurrection. The service begins somewhere outside the church. We gather, we wait, we watch. We keep vigil. We wait with the generations who waited with longing for Christ to rise from the tomb. We gather around the fire of life that diminishes the darkness, it is the birthing of all creation. The darkness of sin and death gives way to the bright light of this new fire that leads our way out of the darkness. We read from the scriptures of the Hebrew Testament of Gods’ creating hand. We tell our story of Gods’ creation of the universe, our first parents created in the image and likeness of himself; Abraham’s sacrifice, and how God guided his people out of slavery in Egypt through the parting of the Red Sea into the Promised Land flowing with milk and honey.

As we did on Palm Sunday, we form a procession led by the priest carrying the Paschal (Christ) candle, the light of Gods glory; holding our candles high as we sing and move back into the church; where once there was darkness now the light of Christ who has given us his light illumines the church as we sing “Glory to God in the Highest, Sing Glory to God…” St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans makes clear the fact that this is our resurrection night, “…We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.” (6:3-4).

The Mass continues with the baptism and confirmation of those who have been preparing to become full members in the church of Christ for many months. They come forward to the waters of Baptism, entering the pool from the west meaning darkness and sin; rising from the tomb/womb of the baptismal font facing the East; the Easter light of the risen Christ. They are a reminder to us of our own baptism as we renew our baptismal promises and our call to Gods’ service.
The sun rises and lights up the world as Jesus rises from the grave to bring us new life and the knowledge that following God’s will puts an end to death. In our promise “I do” we renew all that this holy night promises and the food and drink that we partake in at the Eucharist takes the sting out of death and assures us eternal victory. Death does not win; we rise from the darkness of death to Easter joy seeing God face to face.

The bright dawn of Easter Sunday morning assures us that God in Jesus is not dead; he and we along with him have been raised to new and eternal life. The universe is changed; the world is changed; we are changed; nothing will ever be the same again; we look upward and outward towards a future that is filled with Gods’ loving presence, “So that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.” (The Gospel of John)

3rd Sunday of Lent

Water, is one of the four essential elements to sustain life. We have heard throughout history the power of water to give life, as we do in our 1st reading from Exodus today. We also know from history the power of water to destroy life – the parting of the Red Sea to save the Israelites and then its immense power to swallow-up Pharaoh’s army. Water is destructive and yet water is an attractive beauty that gives us life, not only physically but also its beauty in a water fall and the calming and peacefulness that one can experience in a rushing brook or a still fishing stream.
We have seen the horror of the power of water to destroy communities and kill people in our time of the tsunami in Indonesia in 2004, hurricane Katrina in 2005, and now with the horrible destructive power to totally destroy and wipe away whole villages, towns, and cities. Destroying and taking the lives of those in its path, as we are now see instantly on television nightly in Japan – first the earthquake and then the tsunami of 2011.
Water is our life giving source that is to be respected, cherished, and admired for its many abilities and wonders. Water should never be taken for granted. It is a precious gift from God. And yet, millions of people around the world lack water or clean drinking water. Thousands of our brothers and sisters die every day from the lack of water.
I learned this during my time of service to the people of Papua New Guinea in 1976 – 78. We had plenty of water to grow crops, vegetables and fruits – which made for a fairly healthy way of life. While some of my classmates went to Africa to places where there was little water, and not enough clean drinking water. As a result babies were born mal nourished; most often die before the age of five. There is little livestock and crops in the fields. People are not healthy and die young in comparison to peoples who have an ample supply of good water.
Our readings today are all about WATER. Turning back during hard times seems like the best thing to do because the future is unknown and raises FEAR inside of us. What do you suppose Pharaoh would have done – turned around and left the Israelites go or welcome them back with open arms? I don’t think so!
Facing our fears is the only way to truth, growth and wellness. Where would we be today if our ancestors had turned back, given up, gave into their fears, lost HOPE? Yahweh (God) proves once again, even in spite of the people’s lack of trust that He will always provide for them – He gives them mana to eat and water to drink. These are physical lifesaving foods that God provides for them. They are even more important as symbols of God’s spiritual life-giving evidence that He is with us in our deepest, darkest moments. What Saint John of the Cross calls the, “Dark Night of the Soul.” Yahweh proves his faithfulness to provide for their needs time and again during their 40 year journey in the dessert.
When we enter into the desert journey of LENT, we come face to face with our own needs, wants, desires, fears, and doubts if God is going to see us through to the promised land? It is a journey we take in faith; on God’s part he is praying that we will trust him that he will not let us fail. Faith engenders hope, and hope assures us of God’s abiding love and that God will never abandon us.
However, we have to take the first step out into the unknown and that’s scary.
John’s gospel story of the Samaritan woman is a story about communication and relationship; where water once again becomes the life giving symbol of who Jesus really is.
Jesus initiates the communication when he asks her for a drink of water. Both the woman and Jesus know this is a serious breach of boundaries between Jews and Samaritans – whom the Jews deeply hated. On top of that Jesus was asking a woman for water – another taboo between the two ethnic groups.
Some 2,000 years later we continue to see this pattern of ethnic hatred between ethnic groups and dictatorships across the mid – and middle east. The Jews are surrounded by some groups that would drive them into the sea; while others are fighting for the same freedoms and possibilities that we hold so dear and believe they are God given rights and human dignity.
We are experiencing similar types of war fare right here at home, where the rich have grown fat and feel secure in their wealth, at the high cost of bringing the poor and middle class to our knees. A revolt is already taking place in many parts of our country and could turn into a full revolution if we don’t heed the Lord’s warnings.
The communication between Jesus and the woman leads her to believe in Jesus as the Messiah. The once forbidden relationship is now forged. Her faith becomes so strong that she convinces other Samaritans who Jesus really is.
The irony here is that the rejected ethnic group, the Samaritans, becomes the chosen people. God’s salvation is universal, not bound by human feuds, fears, and boundaries. God’s love is given freely to all who will accept it and live in it. The boundaries, ethnic, and racial, rich and poor are broken down by Jesus himself. Jesus is life giving water for those who live as he would have us live and the water of destruction for those who turn away from him. Jesus is not only talking to the Samaritan woman, HE is talking to us.

2nd Sunday of Lent

Our six weeks of Lent always carries with it the theme of CALL, SENT, JOURNEY. This theme is well played out in our readings today on this second Sunday in Lent.
As children we probably grew up not liking Lent because of what we were told it meant – the overarching theme was, REPENT, you evil sinners, turn back to the Lord your God, before it’s too late. The fear of hell and punishment was driven home hard to our parents and they in turn interpreted what that meant for us. And for a lot of us, it was never anything positive, but only negative. If you got by with a more positive outlook on Lent, then you can count your blessings to be sure.
Priests and nuns, not all of them mind you, had a way of striking the fear of God’s wrath upon you. It frightened our parents and it scared us as children. Then it came down to the rituals and practices that were place upon us if we were to cross over this unholy ground to a safer and more secure refuge with God. But that demanded sacrifices. REPERATION for our sins, anyone remember that word? Just the sound of it is chilling and sends goose bumps upon and down my spine.
It was made perfectly clear that there was only one way to get back on God’s good side – and save your almighty soul – REPENT, turn away from sin and BEG for God’s mercy and forgiveness. It sounds much like the Dark Ages of the 12th century. REPENTANCE meant “giving up things, the little things you had in life that gave you even the slightest hint of pleasure – candy, movies, playing games, not doing our homework without complaints, STRICKLY obeying every COMMAND by the priests, nuns and your parents. In other words – to suddenly, overnight, become PERFECT CHILDREN, PERFECT PARENTS because the pressure was to REPENT.
I remember when I was oh about 5 – 6 years old. We were a family of 8 children. Dad had taken a terrible fall off a tall scaffolding at work and broke his leg rather badly and was out of work for nearly a year. We lived in a one bedroom, one bathroom duplex with a half basement. Very small by today’s standards even for a family of 3, we were a family of 10.
We lived on public assistance, food stamps, and here comes the good part – help from our local parish family. Mom and I went grocery shopping one day in Lent and I tried to sneak in a 5 cent Baby Ruth candy bar. (My favorite you know!) When it came time to pay and we didn’t have enough food stamps one of the items that had to be left behind was my nickel candy bar. I was heartbroken, angry, and didn’t understand why we had to put back my candy bar.
Mom tried to cover up her grief and sadness by making up some excuse that it was Lent and candy wasn’t allowed; besides there wasn’t enough to buy each child a candy bar, so we all had to go without. We hardly ever got candy to begin with. I was furious with God – how could God be so mean to me and take away my candy bar – I hated God and was angry with my mother. It was totally confusing to me and for years I hated each year when Lent would come around and would remind me of that sad moment.
The thing is we grew up very poor and never had candy or popcorn or go to the movies but once or twice a year anyway. So you might think, what’s the big deal then? Well, to a little boy and a mother who didn’t have the money to even provide this small treat to her son, it was heart breaking for her. So she covered it up with the sacrifice that was being asked of us to give up for Lent. Mom masked her own pain and sadness behind a religious dictum that she herself had been taught since she was a child.
You might be feeling judgmental or feeling unkind toward my mother right now for the judgment call she made, but don’t be. I’m not; it took me many years to move past that pain and anger I felt and not understanding what she did. It was many years later, when I was already in the seminary that I was able to come to understand and forgive her and myself for what had happened that day. I love my Mom, I love my Dad, and I understand and found peace with the whole situation a long time ago.
Or you might be asking yourself another question, so Dennis, why are you bringing it up today these many years later? I can only tell you, that each year at Lent this story comes back to me, but no longer as a painful or sad or angry memory, but as a blessing, reminding me of just how much my parents loved me and always did the best they could to provide for my 6 brothers, my sister and myself.
It is no longer sadness; it is a pleasant memory that holds much joy in my heart of just how much my parents loved me and how much God loves me. I look forward to Lent each year now, not with regret like, oh God here we go again, what am I supposed to sacrifice, give-up this year? Well, quite honestly, getting older as we all know takes its toll on our bodies, and sweets and goodies just aren’t that appealing or healthy for most of us anymore anyway. Right?
So, here we are at the beginning of a new Lenten Season, we are older and hopefully much wiser about what the real meaning of Lent is all about. Hopefully, gone are the days when we sit and rack our brains trying to come up with some meaningless “things” to give up for Lent to save our ratchet souls.
At least I have and believe you have too. I no longer think of Lent as a time to give up meaningless, incidental things that really have no meaning but rather, time to be spent dong something positive to build up God’s Kingdom of justice, peace, and love. It is time to shack off the old ways and find new ways of serving God in others.
Our First Reading from the Book of Genesis sets Abraham and his wife Sarah out on a journey into unknown territory. Yahweh was asking them to trust him and that He would build up a great nation from them. That they would receive many great blessings if they would go beyond their homeland, and adventure out into the great unknown, out of what we call today, our “comfort zone.”
Lent is one of the greatest opportunities we will ever have to grow in understanding of yourself, who we are, what we are being called to become, and who our loving God really is. Not the gloom and doom of the past, but the hopeful expectation of a greater, more just, more peaceful, and more loving tomorrow.
It’s not going to be an easy road ahead, it wasn’t for Abraham and Sarah and their children either, but look at the success story – here we are, some 4,000 years later, still being called, still being sent, and still be asked by God to journey out into the future. But now it’s different, it’s not the great unknown anymore – the future we seek is EASTER RESURRECTION – New Life, New possibilities, New promises for a better tomorrow for ourselves, our children and our grandchildren, just like Abraham and Sarah had.
BUT WE HAVE TO TAKE THE FIRST STEP.
Lent is a time to reflect on where we have come from, where we are, and where we want to go. It is not a time to give up things but a time of doing, doing good things that will bring peace and happiness into our lives and the lives of our brothers and sisters everywhere.
We see and hear about so many troubled places in our world today. God has given us a myriad of opportunities to show ourselves to be the true Christians we are and call ourselves to be:
- Making a phone call to the Salvation Army and donating $10.00 for Japanese victims.
- Giving one day a week here at home to work in a soup kitchen.
- Donating $48.00 to K.I.N.D.S. (Kids in need of desks) to take 3 children off dirt floors to sit in a real desk to learn and have a fighting chance for a better life.
- And there is always prayer. Our world is so messed up and in need of peace that we can pray the Rosary, saying “Mary, Queen of Peace, pray for us and our world.”
Let me finish with a short return to my childhood days. During Lent, after dinner, we would all kneel down in a circle around the living room and pray the Rosary. It was Dad’s thing, his piety one might say. I didn’t really get it back then, but I have now, and daily pray, “Mary, Queen of Peace, pray for us and our world.” Let us journey together.

Next week, I’ll have another part of my Lenten journey to share with you
—-St. Arnold’s prayer, “May the Darkness of sin,…”

4th Sunday of Lent

In our first reading, God sends the prophet Samuel to anoint a new king to take the place of Saul, who didn’t follow God’s ways. He turned out to be a terrible king. This time it would be different, the chosen king would follow God’s
way and lead the people to victory and peace. God sends Samuel to the house of Jesse who has seven sons to anoint the new king.
Traditional Mosaic Law dictated that it would or should fall to the eldest son. However, Samuel was being led by God and not tradition to find and anoint the true chosen king for God’s people. Often enough it was also dependent upon
who looked and acted like a king; however looks and externals can be very deceiving indeed. Samuel is led by God to anoint the youngest of the seven sons, who obviously was thought to be the most inexperienced at fighting and leading. But, as the scriptures say, “Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart.”
Picking the wrong leaders because they maybe the best spoken, the most educated or who look like they would be the best choice is, as St. Paul puts it, living in the darkness of the past. St. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians calls us to
turn away from the darkness of the past, which so often leads us as individuals, as a church, and as a nation down the wrong path.
We learned in last week’s gospel how Jesus acted totally against tradition and the strict laws of separation between Samaratins and Jews, and women other than Jewish women, who were also treated at best as second class citizens
and at worst a step above slaves to their husbands.

Jesus changes everything.

John’s gospel story of the blind man is a complete metaphor – those who are sighted or have their physical sight, the Pharisees in particular in this case, are the ones who are truly blind. They cannot see who Jesus really is, he possess too
much of a threat to their authority and the Law of Moses. They get hung up on how the man gained his sight; whereas, the man is led to find out who Jesus is.
As the story unfolds we witness how the blind man moves through various

levels of coming to know and then finally professes who Jesus is – “the Son of Man.” Much in the same way as the Samaritan woman did in last week’s gospel. These are clear signs or paradigms for us to look at for our own lives, our
faith journey today. That’s one of the reasons why Lent can be such an important time in our lives. The opportunity to step out into the unknown, past the safe and comfortable, to take a chance on a deeper encounter with Jesus just as the Samaritan woman and the blind man did. They took a chance to reach beyond their known boundaries and let themselves be led by Jesus through an enlightening experience that brought them to faith in Him, not as a Jew, not as a
man, but as the Son of God.
As we have witnessed in these scriptures both of these persons lives were radically changed, so much so that their faith in Jesus kindled faith in others around them.
In psychiatry and psychology it is a well-known fact that as a counselor you can’t help the person who comes to you for help to move them along in their own life journey any further than you have gone in yourself development. This is
taught to us by our mentors and in time becomes a personal known fact. One of the reasons why we are also told to learn when and how it is time to make a good referral to someone who maybe more experienced or specialized in a certain area of expertise, much like we see in the medical world of doctors, M.D.s.
We, you and me, have been baptized into the faith of Jesus Christ and the Roman Catholic religion. Through our baptism we were plunger into the waters of baptism taking us out of the darkness (blindness if you will) as St. Paul says, and have become believers in Jesus, as the Son of God – we have chosen to walk in the light of Christ.
We are not meant to be blind anymore, we have thousands of eye witnesses testifying who Jesus is. We live in the time of God’s kingdom. Like those who have gone before us, we are to be His witnesses now, in our time and
place.
So I ask you, why is it that we have fewer conversions to our faith today? How is it that we see a huge drop off in those who are baptized and raised in the church and then stop attending? Why fewer and fewer of our younger adults are
choosing not to follow in their parents faith and practices? Why do so many in our country today say they follow no religion? So many questions and so few answers or solutions…
However, we should not be without hope if we are willing to take a deeper leap of faith in Jesus and get to know him as the Samaritan woman and the blind man did. We have to know that our faith journey is not complete, not finished.
As long as we draw breath our journey back to the Lord is not finished. Lent is a special opportunity for what I might call, a tune-up, much like you do with your car when it starts to get sluggish. We are believers; otherwise we
would have opted out a long time ago like so, so many others have who have lost hope in the church and in God.
We need to take this time to examine how blind we are in our faith, how short of the mark we really are. We are supposed to be ambassadors for Christ, then how come so few are following us, and so many are actually walking away?
These are troubling questions that our church leadership is grappling with. These need to be the questions and concerns we are asking ourselves. What can I do this Lent to grow more deeply in my faith and become a better witness? Am I willing to put my life on the line to profess Jesus, as the Son of God?
Let us move out of the darkness, out of our blindness, and see Jesus for who he really is and wants to be in our lives, an all loving and all merciful God.