First Sunday of Lent: March 1, 2009

The readings set the stage for our thinking about our Lenten Passage—for that is what it is: the Lenten Season is a season of passage. All life is a passage from birth to death, from matter to spirit, from darkness and density to lightness and light. Lent is our annual “dress rehearsal.” We prepare ourselves to breathe into eternity unafraid. And this weekend the readings are of sacred covenants: the first, with Noah, one that binds all that is in being together, the next, in Baptism that binds the Church in purpose, and then the Gospel tells us the time of fulfillment has come—the time to take those relationships seriously, and grow into them. So let’s take them seriously; let us strive this Lent to live with less, to be kinder to the planet, and to be more drawn to God and each other.

February 22, 2009: 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The readings this weekend focus in on the topic of forgiveness. Isaiah sees the release of the hostages taken to Babylon to be God’s “forgiveness” of Israel’s failure to live up to its potential earlier in its history. In the Gospel, when Christ’s forgiveness comes, a paralyzed man is able to walk. What is the connection between “not living up to one’s potential” and “spiritual paralysis?” Perhaps we are ALL that paralytic in the Gospel; each of us “frozen” in some way—sort of carried by our friends, as we are unable to “carry ourselves.” Sometimes what we need to “thaw” and “move” is to begin the inner examination of what “unforgiven business” we are carrying around with us. Let’s think of that this weekend as we prepare ourselves for Ash Wednesday and the coming penitential season of Lent.

February 15, 2009: 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

This weekend’s readings continue the general theme of last weekend: God’s path of blessing brings health and strength in the midst of a terribly sick world, but this weekend has a slightly different twist on that theme. “Leprosy” is the malady—a malady that, for reasons lost to us, rendered the sufferers unqualified for entrance into the Temple worship in Jerusalem. What isn’t told us is that this disease was generally believed to have had a specific “cause”: the evil tongue! Those who were cursed with this disease were believed to have brought it on themselves by what they said to or about others. In the time of Moses, the leper had to remain “outside the camp,” in other words he had to have a “time out” to figure out how important to him were the people he had been slandering with his tongue. In the Gospel, we see that the evil tongue is, indeed, hard to silence. The sufferer leaves Jesus healed, but still can’t keep his mouth shut! (This would have caused the audience in Jesus’ day to smile.) So, this weekend, we ask for the Grace to control our tongues! This ability is often considered to be the very “first step” of spiritual growth.

February 8, 2009: 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The first reading from the Book of Job speaks of life’s pain and suffering; the Gospel illustrates with the near-death of Peter’s mother-in-law. Life is often hard and seemingly cruel. It was suffering that led Job to question God’s existence. Suffering has often led people to question their faith. The Gospel tells us not to look at the world through “rose colored glasses.” The Gospel tells us that suffering and sickness will strike even the holiest. The promise of Christ isn’t that we will have no trouble, but rather that One Who is Larger than our strife and stronger than our weakness will be with us in the midst of it, bringing us health and balance as we live in an unhealthy and unbalanced world. Let us pray for a double-dose of His Spirit of serenity this weekend!