In today's gospel we are given the Our Father, which if you look closely contains 7 petitions, from "hallowed be thy name" to "deliver us from evil." It's worth noting that Jesus only felt it necessary to repeat one, the one dealing with forgiveness.
Immediately after the our father we get
If you forgive men their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you.
But if you do not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.
Every time we pray the Our Father we ask for God to offer us only limited forgiveness, to forgive us only as much as we forgive.
Is there a limit to God's forgiveness? Yes. And each one of us gets to choose our own personal limit. Every time someone wrongs us we have an opportunity to raise or lower the limit. The more we forgive the more we will be forgiven. The more we stay mad, and hold a grudge, the lower it goes.
Today if something happens, even something small, that offers you the chance to forgive, do it.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
More than not eating meat
Today is the first Friday in Lent and not eating meat on Friday seems to be one aspect of Lent we are best known for. What few Catholics realize is that we are still supposed to abstain from meat in Friday every week of the year, or substitute some other penitential practice.. That last part seems to have gotten lost in the minds of most Catholics. All we heard was "outside of lent you can now eat meat on Friday." Another example of how we all have conscious and unconscious selective hearing.
The point of the reading from Isaiah today is that none of these acts mean anything in isolation. They must be linked to a larger life committed to not simply loving God in the abstract but showing that love through our care of the one creature made in God's image and likeness.
This, rather, is the fasting that I wish:
releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
breaking every yoke;
Sharing your bread with the hungry,
sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;
Clothing the naked when you see them,
and not turning your back on your own.
Here Isaiah is not suggesting that actual fasting be abolished in favor of the above, but reminding us that more is required.
With the economy being what it is, the local outreach centers, food pantries, clothing closets are all in need of assistance. Lent is the perfect time for us to look right in our own neighborhood and ask how we can help. Perhaps this weekend or next is the time to clean out the closets. Throw away the junk, and give away those clothes that are still good but you never wear anyway.
The point of the reading from Isaiah today is that none of these acts mean anything in isolation. They must be linked to a larger life committed to not simply loving God in the abstract but showing that love through our care of the one creature made in God's image and likeness.
This, rather, is the fasting that I wish:
releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
breaking every yoke;
Sharing your bread with the hungry,
sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;
Clothing the naked when you see them,
and not turning your back on your own.
Here Isaiah is not suggesting that actual fasting be abolished in favor of the above, but reminding us that more is required.
With the economy being what it is, the local outreach centers, food pantries, clothing closets are all in need of assistance. Lent is the perfect time for us to look right in our own neighborhood and ask how we can help. Perhaps this weekend or next is the time to clean out the closets. Throw away the junk, and give away those clothes that are still good but you never wear anyway.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Life and Death Decisions
In this second day of Lent our first reading is the stark choice offered by God in the Book Deuteronomy.
"Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom....
Choose life."
In reality all day every day we are making life and death decisions. With every choice we make we take another step toward one or the other.
Look for example at the so called seven deadly sins:
pride, greed, envy, anger, gluttony, sloth and lust.
Now look at their corresponding virtues:
humility(humilitas), generosity(charitas), kindness (humanitas), patience, temperance, diligence(industria), and chastity.
BTW, a married couple is considered chaste,as long as they are faithful; the word doesn't mean what some think.
Each time we choose one of these 14 we are taking a step one direction or the other.
Perhaps this Lent we can focus on the virtues, look for those opportunities we have during the day to take a step toward life. This list is by no means complete but it is a could place to start. Perhaps with practice by the end of Lent some will even be habits.
"Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom....
Choose life."
In reality all day every day we are making life and death decisions. With every choice we make we take another step toward one or the other.
Look for example at the so called seven deadly sins:
pride, greed, envy, anger, gluttony, sloth and lust.
Now look at their corresponding virtues:
humility(humilitas), generosity(charitas), kindness (humanitas), patience, temperance, diligence(industria), and chastity.
BTW, a married couple is considered chaste,as long as they are faithful; the word doesn't mean what some think.
Each time we choose one of these 14 we are taking a step one direction or the other.
Perhaps this Lent we can focus on the virtues, look for those opportunities we have during the day to take a step toward life. This list is by no means complete but it is a could place to start. Perhaps with practice by the end of Lent some will even be habits.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
The journey begins
For those of us between ages 18 and 59 today is not only a day of abstaining from meat but also a day of fasting.
The internet is filled with articles about various and sundry fasts, some based in actual science, some that are just plain dangerous. All of them proclaim the health benefits of fasting. For that reason, I thought it important to point out the fundamental difference between the fasting we do today and any of those fasts.
Our fasting today is not meant to be of any physical benefit. Our fasting today is not about solidarity with the poor. Our fasting today is one thing, an act of penance, plain and simple.
The goal of penance is not only that the sin be forgiven, but that we experience true conversion of heart. In the words of the catechism, the Christian "should strive by works of mercy and charity, as well as by prayer and the various practices of penance, to put off completely the "old man" and to put on the "new man."
As we emerge from this Lent at Easter let us pray that our penance be truly effective and we be able to say, "I feel like a new man", Christ.
The internet is filled with articles about various and sundry fasts, some based in actual science, some that are just plain dangerous. All of them proclaim the health benefits of fasting. For that reason, I thought it important to point out the fundamental difference between the fasting we do today and any of those fasts.
Our fasting today is not meant to be of any physical benefit. Our fasting today is not about solidarity with the poor. Our fasting today is one thing, an act of penance, plain and simple.
The goal of penance is not only that the sin be forgiven, but that we experience true conversion of heart. In the words of the catechism, the Christian "should strive by works of mercy and charity, as well as by prayer and the various practices of penance, to put off completely the "old man" and to put on the "new man."
As we emerge from this Lent at Easter let us pray that our penance be truly effective and we be able to say, "I feel like a new man", Christ.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
The Importance of Friends
Lent, a Season of Penance. While we may not use the word penance much anymore, it is as necessary to life as food and water.
The trouble is that it forces us to acknowledge a reality we would rather forget. It forces each of us to say the sentence, "I am a sinner."
The only way we can avoid that sentence is to say, "I am perfect."
Speaking for myself, I am not perfect; I am a sinner; I need to do penance.
There, that wasn't all that hard; was it?
Once we face that reality, then we can see Lent not as a chore but a gift, a time the church marks out each year for us to do penance.
Traditionally the Church recommends three categories based on the Ash Wednesday gospel: prayer, fasting, and alms-giving. Before you choose your penance for this year, I would suggest a close look at today's gospel. Because the date for Easter varies, the gospel for the last Sunday before Lent varies. Today we have the healing of the paralytic in Mark.
The verse from this gospel that always gets my attention is: When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Child, your sins are forgiven."
It is the faith of the friends that saves the paralytic.
So often, even in our penance, we can be egocentric, me praying for God to forgive ME. While that is certainly a good and necessary thing, this gospel reminds us that even in our Lenten penance we need to be other directed.
In these last few days before Ash Wednesday, as we decide on our penitential practices for this Lent, perhaps as can look to the example of the friends in today's gospel. Who will we be friend to? For whom will we offer our penance?
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Child, your sins are forgiven."
The trouble is that it forces us to acknowledge a reality we would rather forget. It forces each of us to say the sentence, "I am a sinner."
The only way we can avoid that sentence is to say, "I am perfect."
Speaking for myself, I am not perfect; I am a sinner; I need to do penance.
There, that wasn't all that hard; was it?
Once we face that reality, then we can see Lent not as a chore but a gift, a time the church marks out each year for us to do penance.
Traditionally the Church recommends three categories based on the Ash Wednesday gospel: prayer, fasting, and alms-giving. Before you choose your penance for this year, I would suggest a close look at today's gospel. Because the date for Easter varies, the gospel for the last Sunday before Lent varies. Today we have the healing of the paralytic in Mark.
The verse from this gospel that always gets my attention is: When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Child, your sins are forgiven."
It is the faith of the friends that saves the paralytic.
So often, even in our penance, we can be egocentric, me praying for God to forgive ME. While that is certainly a good and necessary thing, this gospel reminds us that even in our Lenten penance we need to be other directed.
In these last few days before Ash Wednesday, as we decide on our penitential practices for this Lent, perhaps as can look to the example of the friends in today's gospel. Who will we be friend to? For whom will we offer our penance?
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Child, your sins are forgiven."
Saturday, February 18, 2012
You kiss your mother with that mouth?
A good old southern question asked of someone with a foul mouth. In fact, in the first reading today St. James gives one of the harshest descriptions possible of the mouth. We often uses the worse cursing to refer to a list of "bad words." He goes much further in his notion of what constitutes foul language.
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters,
for you realize that we will be judged more strictly...
In the same way the tongue is a small member
and yet has great pretensions.
Consider how small a fire can set a huge forest ablaze.
The tongue is also a fire.
It exists among our members as a world of malice,
defiling the whole body
and setting the entire course of our lives on fire,
itself set on fire by Gehenna.
For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature,
can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species,
but no man can tame the tongue.
It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
With it we bless the Lord and Father,
and with it we curse men
who are made in the likeness of God.
From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.
My brothers and sisters, this need not be so.
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters,
for you realize that we will be judged more strictly...
In the same way the tongue is a small member
and yet has great pretensions.
Consider how small a fire can set a huge forest ablaze.
The tongue is also a fire.
It exists among our members as a world of malice,
defiling the whole body
and setting the entire course of our lives on fire,
itself set on fire by Gehenna.
For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature,
can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species,
but no man can tame the tongue.
It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
With it we bless the Lord and Father,
and with it we curse men
who are made in the likeness of God.
From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.
My brothers and sisters, this need not be so.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
All are created equal
But if you show partiality, you commit sin
This may be one of the most difficult exhortations in the Bible. As human beings we all have people we prefer to be with, people we care more about.
While St. James warns his people about partiality toward the rich, we can also in church see a naiveté towards the poor that is unwilling to critique any of the choices that poorer people make.
St. James calls us to an attitude of NO PARTIALITY, a true recognition of the equal dignity of every human being.
Even when well intended we can speak of groups in ways that reveal underlying prejudices in ourselves. When we speak of Hispanics or Latinos, for example, we can forget there are 20 countries in the area we refer to as Latin American, and inside each country there are certainly multiple cultures and often multiple languages, and more than 500,000,000 individuals. There is no such thing as Hispanic Culture (in the singular) any more than there is a single Catholic Culture.
For sociological study purposes we group and generalize but James reminds us today that we must continue to always honor the unique human life created by God at the moment of the conception of each person. Each equal loved by God.
This may be one of the most difficult exhortations in the Bible. As human beings we all have people we prefer to be with, people we care more about.
While St. James warns his people about partiality toward the rich, we can also in church see a naiveté towards the poor that is unwilling to critique any of the choices that poorer people make.
St. James calls us to an attitude of NO PARTIALITY, a true recognition of the equal dignity of every human being.
Even when well intended we can speak of groups in ways that reveal underlying prejudices in ourselves. When we speak of Hispanics or Latinos, for example, we can forget there are 20 countries in the area we refer to as Latin American, and inside each country there are certainly multiple cultures and often multiple languages, and more than 500,000,000 individuals. There is no such thing as Hispanic Culture (in the singular) any more than there is a single Catholic Culture.
For sociological study purposes we group and generalize but James reminds us today that we must continue to always honor the unique human life created by God at the moment of the conception of each person. Each equal loved by God.
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