February 14, 2016

Bulletin First Sunday in Lent

Deuteronomy 26: 4-10; Romans 10: 8-13; Luke 4: 1-13 We begin Lent again. What are our intentions this year? Perhaps Psalm 116:12 can help; it says, “How can I repay the Lord for all the good done for me?“ Can I occupy myself with more than just giving-up? Can I sit each day and reflect on the ways that I notice that God loves me? Can I review at the end of the day the people who have come into my life that day? Can I think of how they touched me? Can I recall God’s voice through them? Can I see what I could have done to be Jesus to them during our encounter time? Can I thank God for the gifts that I have noticed during the day…realizing that all gifts come from God? Sacred Space 2016 in the introduction for the First Week of Lent gives a wonderful help in a Lenten path to follow. It says: “Something to think and pray about each day this week: The Joyful Season The season of Lent has begun. Lent originally meant ‘springtime’, and so we can view it as a springtime for the spirit. It is a time also to spring clean the cave of our hearts! Whatever the variations in the practice of Lent over the last 2,000 years, the main issue is whether Lent helps me to become more aware of how I stand in relation to God and my neighbor. The ancient practices designed to achieve these goals were fasting, almsgiving, and prayer. The call to fast makes me focus on the affairs of the spirit rather than of the body. The call to almsgiving makes me more alert to my needy neighbor. The call to prayer nourishes my relationship with God, and especially with Jesus in His Passion. What about fasting? There are many little things I can perhaps do without. The point is that the shock to the system should lead to a deeper sense of what God may want of me! Jesus warns us against trying to attract notice when we fast or pray or give alms (Matthew 6). The simple act of washing off the ashes on Ash Wednesday is understood in some Christian circles as a reminder of Jesus’ admonition to look joyous. Lent is a ‘joyful season.’” As always, these Irish Jesuits who write Sacred Space suggest that we take time with each of the daily mass readings and reflect on how God is leading us in our journey. It’s a practice known as Lectio Divina or Divine Reading or Scripture Reading when a passage is read and then spent some time with in reflective questions. These writers tell us just to read and reread each scripture of each day. They tell us just to realize that at every moment, God is not only present to us but is waiting and listening for our call. Then today they suggest some reflective questions: • If God were trying to tell me something, would I know? • If God were reassuring me or challenging me, would I notice? Lord allow me to concentrate on You and not on my distractions and preoccupations. • How do I find myself today? Where am I with God? With others? Do I have something to be grateful for? Then I give thanks. Is there something I am sorry for? Then I ask forgiveness. • What is stirring in me as I pray? Am I consoled, troubled, left cold? I imagine Jesus Himself standing or sitting at my side and I share my feelings with Him. • I thank God for these few moments we have spent alone together and for any insights I may have been given concerning the text.” The first reading is from the book of Deuteronomy which has spent time in looking at the laws which Moses gave to the Israelites when he came down from Mount Sinai. It continues to remind the people of all that God has done for them…how God has chosen them and called them and how God has liberated them from Egypt. Look at all that God has done for them…look at all that God has done for me…what am I doing in return? God has trusted me and entrusted me with His love and care coupled with His tremendous array of gifts to be used in His service. Am I returning His gifts with care and devotion and sacrifice coupled with love? It’s so interesting to see that ‘God’ is what God is, not who God is. Moses today uses the title ‘Lord’ which shows a relationship of respect and submission. The Israelites understood this. Do I? Am I working daily on my relationship with my loving God? Paul says it so beautifully: “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, enriching all who call upon Him. For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” As Alice Camille in Exploring the Sunday Readings says today, “Faith gets personal very quickly where you “confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord.’” So I reflect with her on her questions from this: “How personal is your faith to you? Where does it become most intimate for you?” Today is Valentine’s Day, a day that has become such an affirming day of grateful love couples have for each other. It is also World Marriage Day which acknowledges the dedication of faithfulness, sacrifice and joy of family life. Love is personal….God is personal. Luke in the Gospel shows how Jesus was led into the desert. So often our lives are lived in a ‘desert’ type of area and/or temperament. We have the ‘winter’s desert’ in the bleakness of vegetation around us…and maybe the snow covering ‘new life’. We want to be freed from the bleakness and the gray drudgery around us. We look at our own lives and ask is there a desert in which I am now living? Is there something in my life which I have found myself coming face to face with as a result? Jesus was tempted as I am and as each person is. I can only resist temptation and overcome sin through His grace. Do I come to Him daily with this in mind? It really is through our temptations and sins that we realize our total dependence on God. St Augustine puts it succinctly when he says, “It is through temptation that we come to know ourselves. We cannot win our crown unless we overcome, and we cannot overcome unless we enter the contest, and there is no contest unless we have an enemy and the temptations he brings.” Our temptations never go away. They return so often when not expected. Jesus was even tempted on the cross: “If he is the Messiah, let him come down from the cross, and we will believe in him.” And Jesus has for me each day and each moment exactly what I need— His love and His grace! So I reflect on: • I look at some of the desolate places where I am tempted, like in my despair, sadness, and envy. What leads me into these places and what gets me out? • Do I say ‘the devil made me do it’ instead of looking at my own shortcomings or failures and sin? How do I address this? • How often do I call on God’s power? • Do I ever look at Lent as a boot camp for faithfulness…an oasis…a garden…a spiritual workout…a vacation with the Lord? Why not? Could any of these help? Sacred Space 2016 says: “In the wilderness Jesus did not engage the devil’s temptations. He simply quoted the Word of God in Scripture God’s Word has power, even over demons. Jesus’ experience teaches us that there is nothing wrong with being tempted; it’s how we react to the temptation that matters. A short prayer or a quote from God’s Word will help us let it go. For example: ‘Lead me not into temptation’ or ‘I must forgive, not once but seventy times.’”