Claire Smith

Scripture:

Daniel 9:4-10
Luke 6:36-38

Reflection:

The first reading from the Book of Daniel for this Monday in Lent is an anguished cry of sorrow and an urgent plea for God’s mercy.  This book was written some 160 years before the birth of Jesus by an anonymous Jewish author living at a time of great suffering and confusion for Israel. They found themselves under the brutal hand of the Seleucids, a Greek dynasty located in what is now Syria that dominated the entire region.  The head of this empire was the notorious Antiochus IV Epiphanes who imposed a heavy tax burden on the people and constantly interfered with their lives.

The author cries out to God for help on behalf of the people, recognizing their own failings and infidelity but, above all, appealing to God’s mercy: “Lord, great and awesome God, you who keep your merciful covenant toward those who love you and observe your commandments!”  While confessing the people’s sins, the author counts on God’s compassion: “But yours, O Lord, our God, are compassion and forgiveness!”

The Responsorial Psalm 79 picks up the same refrain: “Lord, do not deal with us according to our sins.  Remember not against us the iniquities of the past; may your compassion quickly come to us, for we are brought very low.”

Pope Francis, as is so often the case, finds the right words to describe our hope in God’s mercy.  He speaks of Jesus as “the human face of the Father’s mercy.”  How true this is in the Gospels: Jesus reaching out in compassion to heal the sick; Jesus treating the woman caught in adultery with utmost respect and kindness; Jesus not hesitating to touch the leper’s blighted skin; Jesus giving sight to Bartimaeus as other try to suppress the man’s cry for help; Jesus inviting himself to dine with Zacchaeus, the despised tax collector; Jesus forgiving the very ones who nailed him to the cross.  The list could go on for a long time—Jesus, truly the human face of the Father’s mercy.

No matter what our failings might be, God’s mercy is ours to receive—that is a fundamental conviction of our Scriptures.  And, if that is so, then we, too, as followers of Jesus must extend mercy to others.  That is the message of today’s reading from the Gospel of Luke.  Jesus tells his disciples, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”  Recognizing our human limits and failures—and nevertheless God’s loving embrace of us—Jesus urges us: “Stop judging and you will not be judged.  Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.  Forgive and you will be forgiven.  Give and gifts will be given to you.”

What would life be like in our families, in our country, in our world—if such a spirit of humility and generosity prevailed?

Fr. Donald Senior, C.P. is President Emeritus and Professor of New Testament at Catholic Theological Union.  He lives at the Passionist residence in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago.

Scripture:

Genesis 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18
Romans 8:31b-34
Mark 9:2-10

Reflection:

Together we enter into this 2^nd week of Lent, continuing our journey to Easter, faithful to our commitment of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. God calls us to come to the mountain top, to search out those people, places and events that speak to us of God’s love and everlasting goodness.  God calls us to bring our prayer, fasting and almsgiving to the mountain.  During our lifetime we are called to come to the mountain often and in doing so, enter more deeply into relationship with our brother, Jesus Christ.

God has given us eyes to see, ears to hear, a heart to love and a voice to speak the message of the gospel.  This life that Jesus calls us to does not just happen during these six weeks of Lent. This season of Lent calls us to renewal and reflection.  This can only happen when we take the time to move away from our busyness, our fears, our selfishness, our preoccupation with SELF! 

COVID-19 has forced us to step back and take stock in our life, calling us to change in ways we did not ever expect. In a way it has been a year of Lent.  It has been a life-changing time for all of us. We seem to be rounding the bend, beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel as the vaccine is becoming more available to people.  The sacrifices experienced during Lent bring us to the promise of new life at Easter!

In the coming weeks, spend some quiet time to just BE!  Maybe a good place to hang out, would be on that mountaintop with our friend Jesus.  Let us ask ourselves what is it that we want to take away from these mountain times?  How am I being Changed, Challenged, Empowered to follow the example of Abraham, Peter, James and John and to call others to do the same?

Have a blessed Lent!

Theresa Secord recently retired as a Pastoral Associate at St. Agnes Parish, Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

Deuteronomy 26:16-19
Matthew 5:43-48

Reflection:

Today’s reading is so appropriate for today! I am so weary, seeing tempers flare. Matthew writes of loving everyone, friend or foe! We are so blessed to live in a society of freedom, and that gives us opportunities to speak our hearts. Yet, some take comments personally – friendships and families break apart, and some no longer love their friend and their enemy. Where is the love of Christ in that? Jesus tells us to be perfect, just as our heavenly Father is perfect! So, this lent may be a good time to fast from gossip, judgment and hate, and feast on brotherly love, patience and understanding. God bless you all!

Patty Masson supports the Passionists from Spring, Texas.

Scripture:

Ezekiel 18:21-28
Matthew 5:20-26

Reflection:

Conversion. It’s pretty close to the Latin “conversio,” meaning a turning round, revolving; alteration, or change. And Lent is all about those things.

To convert implies that we can look at ourselves as in a mirror. Not one of those goofy mirrors on the boardwalk or midway that distorts our image, or one of the playful apps on our smart phone that dresses us up in silly outfits. In a mirror we see ourselves reflected back with all that is good and all that we recognize as needing some work. Lent has always been about becoming a better person by doing something about the flaws that keep us from being all we know we can be and all we know God calls us to be.

But we live in such unforgiving times that “turning around” or “altering” our lives is harder than ever. There seems little room to recognize that we can and do grow and mature. Images on the Internet are forever. Tweets in a moment of frustration are thrown back at us many years later. Indiscretions of youth are assumed to be permanent personality disorders.

The Lenten clarion call, “The kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel,” seems not as easy as simply saying, “I’m sorry. I’m going to do better.” The tether to past sins—from our own guilt to buried tweets—can prove difficult to sever. The starting point of conversion is the honest appraisal and recognition of the need for a course correction. Public personalities who say, “That statement/action is not who I really am,” might rephrase that. “That is not the person I am hoping to grow into, and I am sorry. I want to do better.”

We are flawed. We are sinful. We do need Lent. We can change. And we need to allow ourselves and certainly others to change.

Robert Hotz is a consultant with American City Bureau, Inc. and was the Director of The Passion of Christ: The Love That Compels Campaign for Holy Cross Province.

Scripture:

Jonah 3:1-10
Luke 11:29-32

Reflection:

Conversion Metanoia

 The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.   -Luke 11:32

The word for repent in today’s Gospel is metanoeō or metanoia. This is one of the favorite words for conversion in the Greek inspired New Testament.  The verb and nounare used 56 times indicating their importance in Scripture. Jesus begins His preaching in Mt 4:17:  “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

The word metanoeō is not the easiest word to translate into English.  It is composed of two words, meta which can mean after 88 times etc.   The second word is noiéō meaning to comprehend, heed:—consider.   I think the meaning rather strongly indicates the need of a change of thinking or acting.  You can’t pour new wine into old wine skins.   The amazing mystery of God’s incarnation was utterly beyond the hopes or imagination of the people in the Hebrew scriptures.  With the coming of Christ He had first to prepare their mind for the incredible move of the Father giving His Son to us!

It is interesting how Jesus was upset when even his apostles could not appreciate this great mystery,   Christ is recorded in the Greek New Testament using the critical word syniēmi (sun together+ send) which means to send together or put together.  The verb noeo, lit. “to direct one’s mind to a subject” shares a close relationship with the word metanoeō i.e.need to deeply understand and change our thinking. 

Jesus complains in Mark 8:21 “He was saying to them, “Do you not yet understand (syniēmi)?”  It took even the Apostles a long time to “get it together” the beautiful reality of Christ.   When Mark uses “was saying” the original Greek clearly says Jesus was often saying this!   The words “not yet” show that Our Lord after so long a relationship with his disciples, they still did not comprehend His wonderful identity.

For us conversion means primarily getting our minds and hearts to realize the magnitude of the Incarnation.  This will never happen unless Christ reveals this to us.  “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal  Him.” LK 10:22  The first step of conversion is that Christ reveals Himself to us.  This we need often to humbly beg Him to show Himself to us!

Fr. Bob Weiss, C.P. preaches Parish Missions and is a member of the Passionist Community in Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

Isaiah 55:10-11
Matthew 6:7-15

Reflection:

In our Gospel reading today, Jesus talks to His disciples about prayer. He tells them to trust that God knows what we need, and we do not need to convince God that we should be helped: “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

And then Jesus tells His disciples how to pray, and we hear what we often refer to as the “Our Father,” or “The Lord’s Prayer.” Even though this is a prayer we recite many times, I don’t think we often appreciate how radical a prayer this is. For me, one of the most radical aspects of the prayer have to do with forgiveness. “… and forgive us our debts” is not so radical. We know we need forgiveness. It’s the next line that should startle us: “… and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” (italics mine).

I don’t think it’s overstating it to say that forgiveness is one of the most basic ways we demonstrate our discipleship of Jesus. But for many in our world, especially during these times of division and “cancel culture,” forgiveness is seen as weak, or naïve, or simply unjust. We have to remember that forgiveness is not a condoning of bad behavior, nor is it a denial of what has happened. But it is necessary for the well-being of our soul, even as we work for justice.

I think that is why, after Jesus teaches the prayer, He says: “If you forgive others their transgressions, our heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.” I sometimes wrestle with this, because it seems to put the lie to God’s unconditional love for us. After all, Jesus died for us on the Cross while we were still sinners. The way I understand Jesus’ words here is to ask, “How can we take God’s forgiveness of us for granted while we withhold forgiveness from others?”

May we take Jesus’ command to forgive seriously, and help bring about reconciliation in our world.

Fr. Phil Paxton, C.P., is the local superior of the Passionist Community in Birmingham, Alabama.