Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent

“He said to me, “This water flows out into the eastern district, runs down into the Arabah and empties into the polluted waters of the sea to freshen them.” (Ezekiel 47:8.)

Saint Jerome offers the following insight on this verses from today’s First Reading:

“We said a little time ago that the waters signify either the grace of baptism or the teaching of the gospel. If these waters go out from the threshold of the temple of the Lord and carry the teaching of the apostles, they have the power to make piles of gravel, sterile and infertile as they are, bear fruit, and they can irrigate every plain and every desert.” (Commentary on Ezekiel, 14.)

Collect

May the venerable exercises of holy devotion
shape the hearts of Your faithful, O Lord,
to welcome worthily the Paschal Mystery
and proclaim the praises of Your salvation.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

Top

The virtue of charity

Pope Saint Leo the Great

Bishop of Rome and Great Latin Father of the Church

An excerpt from his Sermo 10 in Quadragesima

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent

In the gospel of John the Lord says: In this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love for each other. In a letter of the same apostle we read: Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God; he who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

The faithful should therefore enter into themselves and make a true judgment on their attitudes of mind and heart. If they find some store of love’s fruit in their hearts, they must not doubt God’s presence within them. If they would increase their capacity to receive so great a guest, they should practice greater generosity in doing good, with persevering charity.

If God is love, charity should know no limit, for God cannot be confined.

Any time is the right time for works of charity, but these days of Lent provide a special encouragement. Those who want to be present at the Lord’s Passover in holiness of mind and body should seek above all to win this grace, for charity contains all other virtues and covers a multitude of sins.

As we prepare to celebrate that greatest of all mysteries, by which the blood of Jesus Christ did away with our sins, let us first of all make ready the sacrificial offerings of works of mercy. In this way we shall give to those who have sinned against us what God in his goodness has already given us.

Let us now extend to the poor and those afflicted in different ways a more open-handed generosity, so that God may be thanked through many voices and the relief of the needy supported by our fasting. No act of devotion on the part of the faithful gives God more pleasure than that which is lavished on his poor. Where he finds charity with its loving concern, there he recognizes the reflection of his own fatherly care.

In these acts of giving do not fear a lack of means. A generous spirit is itself great wealth. There can be no shortage of material for generosity where it is Christ who feeds and Christ who is fed. In all this activity there is present the hand of him who multiplies the bread by breaking it, and increasing it by giving it away.

The giver of alms should be free from anxiety and full of joy. His gain will be greatest when he keeps back least for himself. The holy apostle Paul tells us: He who provides seed for the sower will also provide bread for eating; he will provide you with more seed, and will increase the harvest of your goodness, in Christ Jesus our Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

 

Top

Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent

“See, I am creating new heavens and a new earth; The former things shall not be remembered nor come to mind.” (Isaiah 65:17.)

Saint Jerome offers the following insight on this verses from today’s First Reading:

“The new heavens and new earth are cause for rejoicing and for confessing the true God, because eternal amnesia follows on the former tribulations; this means that those who live therein will never be mindful of idols and previous errors but will pass from darkness into light for the enjoyment of eternal beatitude. For they will forget the former evils, not by having their memories destroyed but by receiving an inheritance of goods, in accordance with what is written: “On the day of good rewards, there will be no memory of evils,”1 and again: “an affliction of one hour destroys the memory of pleasures.” Thus, to the extent that the former desires were born in tribulation, members of the new creation will never enjoy them in the wayward manner of the Epicureans.” (Commentary on Isaiah, 18.)

Collect

O God,
Who renew the world
through mysteries beyond all telling,
grant, we pray,
that Your Church
may be guided by Your eternal design
and not be deprived of Your help
in this present age.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

Top

Christ the high priestmakes atonement for our sins

Origen of Alexandria

Priest, Ancient Christian Writer and Martyr

An excerpt from his Homily on Leviticus

Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Once a year the high priest, leaving the people outside, entered that place where no one except the high priest might enter. In it was the mercy-seat, and above the mercy-seat the cherubim, as well as the ark of the covenant and the altar of incense.

Let me turn to my true high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. In our human nature he spent the whole year in the company of the people, the year that he spoke of when he said: He sent me to bring good news to the poor, to announce the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of forgiveness. Notice how once in that year, on the day of atonement, he enters into the holy of holies. Having fulfilled God’s plan, he passes through the heavens and enters into the presence of the Father to make him turn in mercy to the human race and to pray for all who believe in him.

John the apostle, knowing of the atonement that Christ makes to the Father for all men, says this: Little children, I say these things so that you may not sin. But if we have sinned we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the just one. He is the atonement for our sins In the same way Paul refers to this atonement when he says of Christ: God appointed him to be the atonement for our sins in his blood, through faith. We have then a day of atonement that remains until the world comes to an end.

God’s word tells us: The high priest shall put incense on the fire in the sight of the Lord. The smoke of the incense shall cover the mercy-seat above the tokens of the covenant, so that he may not die. He shall take some of the blood of the bull-calf and sprinkle it with his finger over the mercy-seat toward the east.

God taught the people of the old covenant how to celebrate the ritual offered to him in atonement for the sins of men. But you have come to Christ, the true high priest. Through his blood he has made God turn to you in mercy and has reconciled you with the Father. You must not think simply of ordinary blood but you must learn to recognize instead the blood of the Word. Listen to him as he tells you: This is my blood, which will be shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.

There is a deeper meaning in the fact that the high priest sprinkles the blood toward the east. Atonement comes to you from the east. From the east comes the one whose name is Dayspring, he who is mediator between God and men. You are invited then to look always to the east: it is there that the sun of righteousness rises for you, it is there that the light is always being born for you. You are never to walk in darkness; the great and final day is not to enfold you in darkness. Do not let the night and mist of ignorance steal upon you. So that you may always enjoy the light of knowledge, keep always in the daylight of faith, hold fast always to the light of love and peace.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

 

Top

 

Scrutiny IILet the Light of the Father’s Mercy enter life

εὐαγγελίζω (euaggelizo)
“to announce the Good News of victory in battle”

“When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out,
he found him and said,
“Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
He answered and said, “Who is he, sir,
that I may believe in him?”
Jesus said to him,
“You have seen him, the one speaking with you is he.”
He said, “I do believe, Lord,” and he worshiped him.
Then Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment,
so that those who do not see might see,
and those who do see might become blind (John 9:35-41).””

John 9:35-41
Fourth Sunday of Lent

θεωρέω (theoreo)
(“to perceive, discover, ponder a deeper meaning”)

There are a number of sights and sounds that present and reinforce the Season of Lent. Ashes signal Lent’s Graced-beginning. Communal fasting and abstaining from food and other dimensions of liviing as responses to Grace mark a number of Lenten days. Devotions such as Stations of the Cross and other Lenten prayers focus, with with necessary initiative and sustenance of Divine Grace, mind, heart and body on Our Savior’s Passion and Death. Individual resolutions to sacrifice along with acts of mortification inspired by Grace help to detach us from all that is not necessary so as to have room to receive all that is necessary for life. Vitally important to add to thes actions are the Rites that characterize Lent as a period of intense purification and enlightenment for the Elect and for the faithful as well.

A person’s life journey that has drawn her or him to inquire about the ‘good things of God’ gently stirred the Gift of Faith to the point of listening to the Word of God as a catechumen. In listening to the Word, the catechumen discovered and was attracted to the Word-made-flesh Who offers water to not only refresh life’s aridity, but to slake the thirst for an eternity of Divine life and love with Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the Communion of Saints. Gratefully and humbly, the catechumen accepted the gift and invitation to be chosen; to be elected, to permit his or her life to be immersed in and configured to the One Who is Light shining in the darkness of chaos, confusion, uncertainty and sin. He Who is Light leads the way and reveals true life, for He is Life.

The journey then to Jesus’ Resurrection in Baptism-Confirmation-Holy Eucharist is a pivotal sight and sound of Lent. In fact, one might contend that the penitential aspect and practices of Lent make sense only within a Baptismal context – Initiation for the Elect, renewal of Baptismal Promised at Easter for the faithful. This point comes into sharper focus with the celebrations of the Scrutinies on the Third, Fourth and Fifth Sundays of Lent. “The Scrutinies are Rites for self-searching and repentance and have above all a spiritual purpose. The Scrutinies are meant to uncover, then heal all that is weak, defective or sinful in the hearts of the Elect; to bring out, then strengthen all that is upright, strong and good (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, 141).” But here is where many faithful experience a disconnect and loose sight of Lent’s baptismal character. Some would hold that while these Rites may be important for an unbaptized person, they really do not concern me since I am already baptized. Once again, the wisdom of the Church instructs us: the Rites are to be celebrated “in such a way that the faithful in the assembly will also derive benefit from the Liturgy of the Scrutinies and join in intercessions for the Elect. (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, 145).” In other words, these Rites have benefit for all of us: the Elect and the Faithful. We are all in this together as members of One Body.

Consequently, as the Scrutinies are celebrated, “the celebrant first addresses the assembly of the faithful, inviting them to pray in silence and to ask that the Elect will be given a spirit of repentance, a sense of sin, and the true freedom of the children of God. (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, 166).” Here is Lent in a nutshell: spirit of repentance, a sense of sin and freedom of the children of God. But notice, we are asked to pray, asking that the Elect be given a “spirit of repentance,” “a sense of sin” and “freedom of the children of God.” These ‘spirits’ are not products of our making, they do not come into existence because I choose or will them into existence. This is 1 of the points of Jesus’ dealings with the man-born-blind and all of the other characters connected to him. Left to ourselves, we have no “sense of sin.” Left to ourselves, “a spirit of repentance” is a nothing more than meager attempt to fix a relationship on my terms so that I can get something out of it. Left to ourselves, there is no “freedom of the children of God” only license to indulge whatever impulse strikes our fancy that results in sucking us deeper into a black hole of addictive slavery to the self and all of its wants.

“A spirit of repentance,” “a sense of sin” and “freedom of the children of God” are gifts given that reveal our lives in the light of the Father’s mercy, not our own. We are, admittedly, blind to many aspects of our own weaknesses and sins. Repeatedly we make excuses like so many in this Sunday’s Gospel episode. As contemporary listeners to the events that Jesus is dealing with, we might be tempted to smirk at the lengths people went to in order to deny the healing of blindness. Yet we do the same by rationalizing behaviors or referring to specific sins as ‘developmental challenges’ characteristic of one of life’s many phases. The Scrutinies do challenge us to allow Divine Light to shine into all aspects of life so that sin may not rule life and keep anyone from all that is upright, strong and good in the Lord.

Fourth Sunday of Lent

“As he passed by he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:1.)

Saint Ambrose of Milan offers the following insight on this verse from today’s Gospel proclamation:

“You have heard that story in the Gospel where we are told that the Lord Jesus, as he was passing by, caught sight of a man who had been blind from birth. Since the Lord did not overlook him, neither ought we to overlook this story of a man whom the Lord considered worthy of his attention. In particular we should notice the fact that he had been blind from birth. This is an important point.

There is, indeed, a kind of blindness, usually brought on by serious illness, which obscures one’s vision but that can be cured, given time; and there is another sort of blindness, caused by cataract, that can be remedied by a surgeon: he can remove the cause, and so the blindness is dispelled. Draw your own conclusion: this man, who was actually born blind, was not cured by surgical skill but by the power of God.” (Letter 67)

Collect

O God,
Who through Your Word
reconcile the human race
to Yourself in a wonderful way,
grant, we pray,
that with prompt devotion and eager faith
the Christian people may hasten
toward the solemn celebrations to come.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

Christ is the wayto the light, the truth, and the life

Saint Augustine of Hippo

Bishop and Great Western Father of the Church

An excerpt from his Treatise on John

Fourth Sunday of Lent

The Lord tells us: I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. In these few words he gives a command and makes a promise. Let us do what he commands so that we may not blush to covet what he promises and to hear him say on the day of judgment: “I laid down certain conditions for obtaining my promises. Have you fulfilled them?” If you say: “What did you command, Lord our God?” he will tell you: “I commanded you to follow me. You asked for advice on how to enter into life. What life, if not the life about which it is written: With you is the fountain of life?”

Let us do now what he commands. Let us follow in the footsteps of the Lord. Let us throw off the chains that prevent us from following him. Who can throw off these shackles without the aid of the one addressed in these words: You have broken my chains? Another psalm says of him: The Lord frees those in chains, the Lord raises up the downcast.

Those who have been freed and raised up follow the light. The light they follow speaks to them: I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness. The Lord gives light to the blind. Brethren, that light shines on us now, for we have had our eyes anointed with the eye-salve of faith. His saliva was mixed with earth to anoint the man born blind. We are of Adam’s stock, blind from our birth; we need him to give us light. He mixed saliva with earth, and so it was prophesied: Truth has sprung up from the earth. He himself has said: I am the way, the truth, and the life.

We shall be in possession of the truth when we see face to face. This is his promise to us. Who would dare to hope for something that God in his goodness did not choose to promise or bestow?

We shall see face to face. The Apostle says: Now I know in part, now obscurely through a mirror, but then face to face. John the apostle says in one of his letters: Dearly beloved, we are now children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. We know that when he is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. This is a great promise.

If you love me, follow me. “I do love you,” you protest, “but how do I follow you?” If the Lord your God said to you: “I am the truth and the life,” in your desire for truth, in your love for life, you would certainly ask him to show you the way to reach them. You would say to yourself: “Truth is a great reality, life is a great reality; if only it were possible for my soul to find them!”

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

 

Top

Saturday of the Third Week of Lent

“He will revive us after two days; on the third day he will raise us up, to live in his presence.” (Hosea 6:2)

Origen of Alexandria (part 2 of Pope Benedict’s reflections on Origen) comments on this verse from the First Reading proclaimed at Mass today:

“Hear what the prophet says: “God will revive us after two days, and on the third day we shall arise and live in his sight.” The first day is the passion of the Savior for us. The second is the day on which he descended into hell. The third day is the day of resurrection. Therefore on the third day “God went before them, by day in a column of cloud, by night in a column of fire.” But if according to what we said above, the apostle teaches us rightly that the mysteries of baptism are contained in these words, it is necessary that “those who are baptized in Christ are baptized in his death and are buried with him.” [They must] also arise from the dead with him on the third day, according to what the apostle says, “He raised up together with him and at the same time made them sit in the heavenly places.” When, therefore, you shall have undertaken the mystery of the third day, God will begin to lead you and will himself show you the way of salvation.” (Homilies on the Exodus, 5)

Collect

Rejoicing in this annual celebration
of our Lenten observance,
we pray, O Lord,
that, with our hearts set on the Paschal Mysteries,
we may be gladdened by their full effects.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

Serve Christ in the poor

Saint Gregory Nazianzus

Bishop and Great Eastern Father of the Church

An excerpt from his Oration 14 - De pauperum amore (On Love of the Poor)

Saturday of the Third Week of Lent

Blessed are the merciful, because they shall obtain mercy, says the Scripture. Mercy is not the least of the beatitudes. Again: Blessed is he who is considerate to the needy and the poor. Once more: Generous is the man who is merciful and lends. In another place: All day the just man is merciful and lends. Let us lay hold of this blessing, let us earn the name of being considerate, let us be generous.

Not even night should interrupt you in your duty of mercy. Do not say: Come back and I will give you something tomorrow. There should be no delay between your intention and your good deed. Generosity is the one thing that cannot admit of delay.

Share your bread with the hungry, and bring the needy and the homeless into your house, with a joyful and eager heart. He who does acts of mercy should do so with cheerfulness. The grace of a good deed is doubled when it is done with promptness and speed. What is given with a bad grace or against one’s will is distasteful and far from praiseworthy.

When we perform an act of kindness we should rejoice and not be sad about it. If you undo the shackles and the thongs, says Isaiah, that is, if you do away with miserliness and counting the cost, with hesitation and grumbling, what will be the result? Something great and wonderful! What a marvelous reward there will be: Your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will rise up quickly. Who would not aspire to light and healing?

If you think that I have something to say, servants of Christ, his brethren and coheirs, let us visit Christ whenever we may; let us care for him, feed him, clothe him, welcome him, honor him, not only at a meal, as some have done, or by anointing him, as Mary did, or only by lending him a tomb, like Joseph of Arimathaea, or by arranging for his burial, like Nicodemus, who loved Christ half-heartedly, or by giving him gold, frankincense and myrrh, like the Magi before all these others.

The Lord of all asks for mercy, not sacrifice, and mercy is greater than myriads of fattened lambs. Let us then show him mercy in the persons of the poor and those who today are lying on the ground, so that when we come to leave this world they may receive us into everlasting dwelling places, in Christ our Lord himself, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

 

Top

Friday of the Third Week of Lent

“Ephraim! What more have I to do with idols? I have humbled him, but I will take note of him. I am like a verdant cypress tree. From me fruit will be found for you!” (Hosea 14:9.)

Saint Cyril of Alexandria comments on this verse from the First Reading proclaimed at Mass today:

“It is only by deeply considering the matters in the divinely inspired Scriptures that we shall find the hidden truth. It would be fitting for us when looking into the dark shadows of the law to say what one of the holy prophets rightly said, “Whoever will be wise will understand these things; and whoever will be prudent will know them.” “For the law is but a shadow of the good things to come, and not the exact image of the objects,” as it is written. Yet the shadows bring forth the truth, even if they do not contain the whole truth in themselves. Because of this, the divinely inspired Moses placed a veil upon his face and spoke thus to the children of Israel, all but shouting by this act that a person might behold the beauty of the utterances made through him, not in outwardly appearing figures but in meditations hidden within us.” (Letter 41)

Collect

Pour Your grace into our hearts,
we pray, O Lord,
that we may be constantly
drawn away from unruly desires
and obey by Your own gift
the heavenly teaching You give us.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

Top

The mystery of our new life in Christ

Saint Gregory the Great

Bishop of Rome and Great Western Father of the Church

An excerpt from his Moral Reflections on Jobs

Friday of the Third Week of Lent

Holy Job is a type of the Church. At one time he speaks for the body, at another for the head. As he speaks of its members he is suddenly caught up to speak in the name of their head. So it is here, where he says: I have suffered this without sin on my hands, for my prayer to God was pure.

Christ suffered without sin on his hands, for he committed no sin and deceit was not found on his lips. Yet he suffered the pain of the cross for our redemption. His prayer to God was pure, his alone out of all mankind, for in the midst of his suffering he prayed for his persecutors: Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.

Is it possible to offer, or even to imagine, a purer kind of prayer than that which shows mercy to one’s torturers by making intercession for them? It was thanks to this kind of prayer that the frenzied persecutors who shed the blood of our Redeemer drank it afterward in faith and proclaimed him to be the Son of God.

The text goes on fittingly to speak of Christ’s blood: Earth, do not cover over my blood, do not let my cry find a hiding place in you. When man sinned, God had said: Earth you are, and to earth you will return. Earth does not cover over the blood of our Redeemer, for every sinner, as he drinks the blood that is the price of his redemption, offers praise and thanksgiving, and to the best of his power makes that blood known to all around him.

Earth has not hidden away his blood, for holy Church has preached in every corner of the world the mystery of its redemption.

Notice what follows: Do not let my cry find a hiding place in you. The blood that is drunk, the blood of redemption, is itself the cry of our Redeemer. Paul speaks of the sprinkled blood that calls out more eloquently than Abel’s. Of Abel’s blood Scripture had written: The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to me from the earth. The blood of Jesus calls out more eloquently than Abel’s, for the blood of Abel asked for the death of Cain, the fratricide, while the blood of the Lord has asked for, and obtained, life for his persecutors.

If the sacrament of the Lord’s passion is to work its effect in us, we must imitate what we receive and proclaim to mankind what we revere. The cry of the Lord finds a hiding place in us if our lips fail to speak of this, though our hearts believe in it. So that his cry may not lie concealed in us it remains for us all, each in his own measure, to make known to those around us the mystery of our new life in Christ.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

 

Top

Thursday of the Third Week of Lent

“But they did not listen to me, nor did they pay attention. They walked in the stubbornness of their evil hearts and turned their backs, not their faces, to me.” (Jeremiah 7:24.)

Tertullian of Carthage comments on this verse from the First Reading proclaimed at Mass today:

“Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you will be my people; and you will walk in all my ways, which I have commanded you.” This was God’s invitation. “But,” it says, “they did not listen, nor inclined their ear.” This was Israel’s refusal. “They departed, and walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart.” I have bought a field, I have purchased oxen, I have married a wife. So again he adds: “I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising early even before daylight” — this would be the Holy Spirit who calls to those who are feasting — “Yet my people did not listen to me, nor inclined their ear, but stiffened their neck.” (Against Marcion, 4.)

Collect

We implore Your majesty most humbly,
O Lord,
that, as the feast of our salvation
draws ever closer,
so we may press forward
all the more eagerly
towards the worthy celebration
of the Paschal Mystery.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

Top

The spiritual offering of prayer

Tertullian

Priest and Ancient Christian Writer

An excerpt from his work, On Prayer

Thursday of the Third Week of Lent

Prayer is the offering in spirit that has done away with the sacrifices of old. What good do I receive from the multiplicity of your sacrifices? asks God. I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams, and I do not want the fat of lambs and the blood of bulls and goats. Who has asked for these from your hands?

What God has asked for we learn from the Gospel. The hour will come, he says, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. God is a spirit, and so he looks for worshipers who are like himself.

We are true worshipers and true priests. We pray in spirit, and so offer in spirit the sacrifice of prayer. Prayer is an offering that belongs to God and is acceptable to him: it is the offering he has asked for, the offering he planned as his own.

We must dedicate this offering with our whole heart, we must fatten it on faith, tend it by truth, keep it unblemished through innocence and clean through chastity, and crown it with love. We must escort it to the altar of God in a procession of good works to the sound of psalms and hymns. Then it will gain for us all that we ask of God.

Since God asks for prayer offered in spirit and in truth, how can he deny anything to this kind of prayer? How great is the evidence of its power, as we read and hear and believe.

Of old, prayer was able to rescue from fire and beasts and hunger, even before it received its perfection from Christ. How much greater then is the power of Christian prayer. No longer does prayer bring an angel of comfort to the heart of a fiery furnace, or close up the mouths of lions, or transport to the hungry food from the fields. No longer does it remove all sense of pain by the grace it wins for others. But it gives the armor of patience to those who suffer, who feel pain, who are distressed. It strengthens the power of grace, so that faith may know what it is gaining from the Lord, and understand what it is suffering for the name of God.

In the past prayer was able to bring down punishment, rout armies, withhold the blessing of rain. Now, however, the prayer of the just turns aside the whole anger of God, keeps vigil for its enemies, pleads for persecutors. Is it any wonder that it can call down water from heaven when it could obtain fire from heaven as well? Prayer is the one thing that can conquer God. But Christ has willed that it should work no evil, and has given it all power over good.

Its only art is to call back the souls of the dead from the very journey into death, to give strength to the weak, to heal the sick, to exorcise the possessed, to open prison cells, to free the innocent from their chains. Prayer cleanses from sin, drives away temptations, stamps out persecutions, comforts the fainthearted, gives new strength to the courageous, brings travelers safely home, calms the waves, confounds robbers, feeds the poor, overrules the rich, lifts up the fallen, supports those who are falling, sustains those who stand firm.

All the angels pray. Every creature prays. Cattle and wild beasts pray and bend the knee. As they come from their barns and caves they look out to heaven and call out, lifting up their spirit in their own fashion. The birds too rise and lift themselves up to heaven: they open out their wings, instead of hands, in the form of a cross, and give voice to what seems to be a prayer.

What more need be said on the duty of prayer? Even the Lord himself prayed. To him be honor and power for ever and ever. Amen.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

 

Top

Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent

“Now therefore, Israel, hear the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to observe, that you may live, and may enter in and take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.” (Deuteronomy 4:1.)

Origen of Alexandria (part 2 of Pope Benedict’s reflections on Origen) comments on this verse from the First Reading proclaimed at Mass today:

“See what we are generally taught about God: “God is not as a man to be deceived nor as the son of man to be threatened,” and we learn that God is not as man. But other texts say that God is as a man: “For the Lord your God has taught you as a man teaches his son,” and again, “As a man he takes on the manners of his son.” Hence, wherever the Scriptures speak theologically about God in relation to himself and do not involve his plan for human matters, they teach that he is “not as a man.” For “there will be no limit to his greatness,” and “he is more feared than all of the gods,” and “praise him, all you angels of God; praise him, all his hosts; praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all stars and light.” You can find many other passages in the sacred Scriptures to which you can relate the words “God is not as a man.”” (Homily 18)

Collect

Grant, we pray, O Lord,
that, schooled through Lenten observance
and nourished by Your word,
through holy restraint
we may be devoted to You with all our heart
and be ever united in prayer.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

Top

Blessed are the clean of heart,for they will see God

Saint Theophilus of Antioch

Bishop

An excerpt from To Autolycus

Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent

If you say, “Show me your God,” I will say to you, “Show me what kind of person you are, and I will show you my God.” Show me then whether the eyes of your mind can see, and the ears of your heart hear.

It is like this. Those who can see with the eyes of their bodies are aware of what is happening in this life on earth. They get to know things that are different from each other. They distinguish light and darkness, black and white, ugliness and beauty, elegance and inelegance, proportion and lack of proportion, excess and defect. The same is true of the sounds we hear: high or low or pleasant. So it is with the ears of our heart and the eyes of our mind in their capacity to hear or see God.

God is seen by those who have the capacity to see him, provided that they keep the eyes of their mind open. All have eyes, but some have eyes that are shrouded in darkness, unable to see the light of the sun. Because the blind cannot see it, it does not follow that the sun does not shine. The blind must trace the cause back to themselves and their eyes. In the same way, you have eyes in your mind that are shrouded in darkness because of your sins and evil deeds.

A person’s soul should be clean, like a mirror reflecting light. If there is rust on the mirror his face cannot be seen in it. In the same way, no one who has sin within him can see God.

But if you will you can be healed. Hand yourself over to the doctor, and he will open the eyes of your mind and heart. Who is to be the doctor? It is God, who heals and gives life through his Word and wisdom. Through his Word and wisdom he created the universe, for by his Word the heavens were established, and by his Spirit all their array. His wisdom is supreme. God by wisdom founded the earth, by understanding he arranged the heavens, by his knowledge the depths broke forth and the clouds poured out the dew.

If you understand this, and live in purity and holiness and justice, you may see God. But, before all, faith and the fear of God must take the first place in your heart, and then you will understand all this. When you have laid aside mortality and been clothed in immortality, then you will see God according to your merits. God raises up your flesh to immortality along with your soul, and then, once made immortal, you will see the immortal One, if you believe in him now.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

 

Top

Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent

“Azariah stood up in the midst of the fire and prayed aloud...” (Daniel 3:25.)

Origen of Alexandria (part 2 of Pope Benedict’s reflections on Origen) comments on this verse from the First Reading proclaimed at Mass today:

“Regarding prayer, we have examples in Daniel, “And Azariah, standing up, prayed in this way, and opening his mouth in the middle of the fire he said...” And in Tobit, “And I prayed with tears saying, ‘You are just, O Lord, and all your works are just, and all your ways are mercy and truth. And your judgments that you offer are true and just forever.’” Since the passage cited in Daniel has been obelized because it is not found in the Hebrew and those of the circumcision reject the book of Tobit as not canonical, I will quote the words of Anna from the first book of Kings: “And she prayed to the Lord and cried with many tears and made a vow saying, ‘Lord of hosts, if you will look down on the lowliness of your servants,’ etc.” Also, in Habakkuk, “A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, with song, ‘Lord, I have heard your voice, and I was afraid. Lord, I considered your works, and I was astonished. In the middle of two animals you will be known; in the approaching of the years you will be known.’” This example illustrates very well the definition of the term proseuchē in that it combines prayer with the attempt to give glory. But also in the book of Jonah, “Jonah prayed to the Lord his God out of the belly of the fish, saying, ‘I cried in my tribulation to the Lord my God, and he listened to me; from the heart of the grave you heard the screams of my voice; you threw me into the depths, in the heart of the sea, and the waters encircled me.’” (On Prayer, 14.)

Collect

May Your grace not forsake us, O Lord, we pray,
but make us dedicated to Your holy service
and at all times obtain for us Your help.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

Top

Prayer knocks, fasting obtains, mercy receives

Saint Peter Chrysologus

Bishop

An excerpt from his Sermon 43

Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent

There are three things, my brethren, by which faith stands firm, devotion remains constant, and virtue endures. They are prayer, fasting and mercy. Prayer knocks at the door, fasting obtains, mercy receives. Prayer, mercy and fasting: these three are one, and they give life to each other.

Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. Let no one try to separate them; they cannot be separated. If you have only one of them or not all together, you have nothing. So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to others you open God’s ear to yourself.

When you fast, see the fasting of others. If you want God to know that you are hungry, know that another is hungry. If you hope for mercy, show mercy. If you look for kindness, show kindness. If you want to receive, give. If you ask for yourself what you deny to others, your asking is a mockery.

Let this be the pattern for all men when they practice mercy: show mercy to others in the same way, with the same generosity, with the same promptness, as you want others to show mercy to you.

Therefore, let prayer, mercy and fasting be one single plea to God on our behalf, one speech in our defense, a threefold united prayer in our favor.

Let us use fasting to make up for what we have lost by despising others. Let us offer our souls in sacrifice by means of fasting. There is nothing more pleasing that we can offer to God, as the psalmist said in prophecy: A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit; God does not despise a bruised and humbled heart.

Offer your soul to God, make him an oblation of your fasting, so that your soul may be a pure offering, a holy sacrifice, a living victim, remaining your own and at the same time made over to God. Whoever fails to give this to God will not be excused, for if you are to give him yourself you are never without the means of giving.

To make these acceptable, mercy must be added. Fasting bears no fruit unless it is watered by mercy. Fasting dries up when mercy dries up. Mercy is to fasting as rain is to the earth. However much you may cultivate your heart, clear the soil of your nature, root out vices, sow virtues, if you do not release the springs of mercy, your fasting will bear no fruit.

When you fast, if your mercy is thin your harvest will be thin; when you fast, what you pour out in mercy overflows into your barn. Therefore, do not lose by saving, but gather in by scattering. Give to the poor, and you give to yourself. You will not be allowed to keep what you have refused to give to others.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

 

Top

Monday of the Third Week of Lent

“Naaman, the army commander of the king of Aram, was highly esteemed and respected by his master, for through him the LORD had brought victory to Aram. But valiant as he was, the man was a leper.” (2 Kings 5:1.)

Saint Ephrem the Syrian offers the following insight on these verses from today’s First Reading:

“Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram.” Some rely on these words to say that he was the one who had killed Ahab by striking him with an arrow shot by his own hand, when there was war between [Israel] and Aram. This favor was granted him by the Lord as a reward for killing the persecutor of the prophets and for enfeebling the power of Jezebel, [Ahab’s] wife, and for restraining her cruelty. And thanks to him the disciples of Elijah had relief too, those whom the fear of Ahab and Jezebel had forced to flee into the desert and take refuge in some caves. And they had returned to their abodes, as the Scripture mentions below. But all these theories are groundless, except for what they say about the persecution of the prophets, which is undoubtedly correct. It is true, nevertheless, what Obadiah says to Elijah: “Has it not been told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord, how I hid a hundred of the Lord’s prophets fifty to a cave and provided them with bread and water?” (On the Second Book of Kings, 5.)

Collect

May Your unfailing compassion, O Lord,
cleanse and protect Your Church,
and, since without You She cannot stand secure,
may She be always governed by Your grace.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

Boast only of the Lord

Saint Basil the Great

Bishop and Great Eastern Father of the Church

An excerpt from his Homily 20: On Humility

Monday of the Third Week of Lent

The wise man must not boast of his wisdom, nor the strong man of his strength, nor the rich man of his riches. What then is the right kind of boasting? What is the source of man’s greatness? Scripture says: The man who boasts must boast of this, that he knows and understands that I am the Lord. Here is man’s greatness, here is man’s glory and majesty: to know in truth what is great, to hold fast to it, and to seek glory from the Lord of glory. The Apostle tells us: The man who boasts must boast of the Lord. He has just said: Christ was appointed by God to be our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption, so that, as it is written, a man who boasts must boast of the Lord.

Boasting of God is perfect and complete when we take no pride in our own righteousness but acknowledge that we are utterly lacking in true righteousness and have been made righteous only by faith in Christ.

Paul boasts of the fact that he holds his own righteousness in contempt and seeks the righteousness in faith that comes through Christ and is from God. He wants only to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and to have fellowship with his sufferings by taking on the likeness of his death, in the hope that somehow he may arrive at the resurrection of the dead.

Here we see all overweening pride laid low. Humanity, there is nothing left for you to boast of, for your boasting and hope lie in putting to death all that is your own and seeking the future life that is in Christ. Since we have its first fruits we are already in its midst, living entirely in the grace and gift of God.

It is God who is active within us, giving us both the will and the achievement, in accordance with his good purpose. Through his Spirit, God also reveals his wisdom in the plan he has preordained for our glory.

God gives power and strength in our labors. I have toiled harder than all the others, Paul says, but it is not I but the grace of God, which is with me.

God rescues us from dangers beyond all human expectation. We felt within ourselves that we had received the sentence of death, so that we might not trust ourselves but in God, who raises the dead; from so great a danger did he deliver us, and does deliver us; we hope in him, for he will deliver us again.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

 

Top

The woman of Samaria and Scrutiny I:respond to Jesus from and with heart!

εὐαγγελίζω (euaggelizo)
“to announce the Good News of victory in battle”

“... and they said to the woman,
“We no longer believe because of your word;
for we have heard for ourselves,
and we know that this
is truly the savior of the world.””

John 4:39-42
Third Sunday of Lent and the First Scrutiny

θεωρέω (theoreo)
(“to perceive, discover, ponder a deeper meaning”)

A few weeks ago, ashes were imposed as the Gospel imperative was sounded: “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” That same imperative opens Jesus’ Public Ministry in the Gospel according to Mark: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent (μετανοεῖτε, metanoeite), and believe (πιστεύετε, pisteuete) in the Gospel (Mark 1:14-15).” These form Jesus’ first commandments and first actions in light of the announcement of the Kingdom (Reign) of God. Because the Kingdom of God is at hand, repenting and believing are not only appropriate actions, they are imperatives for the disciples of Jesus.

Volumes can be said, written and pondered about repenting and believing. On one hand, the fact that much can be said about repenting and believing is good. There are all sorts of ways that the Lord draws us to Himself and we certainly want to be careful about any improper human restrictions on the Father’s mercy, forgiveness and the ways of believing. Yet on the other hand, because much can be said about repenting and believing, our language concerning these often gets minimized to the point of using repenting to describe a mindless “I'm sorry” and perfunctory “I believe” because we really find it hard to express deeper meanings concerning these essential realities. Sometimes our approach to biblical challenges is superficial and surface-level; sometimes due to sloth but other times due to a lack of knowledge of a biblical word’s meaning in the context of the Sacred Text.

The command μετανοεῖτε is a compound of the Greek prefix μετα (meta, “beyond”) and the Greek noun νοος (nous, “mind”). Literally, μετάνοια is “going beyond the mind” suggesting an action “from and with the heart.” This is certainly the way of living that the Divine Lawgiver had in mind when the Decalogue was offered to the Chosen People. The 10 prescriptions of the Covenant were not intended to be a mindless checklist of do’s and don’ts that ‘earned points with God,’ but a norm for experiencing true peace and happiness lived in the mode of responding from the heart. The season of Lent is not a time of begrudgingly ‘giving something up’ because it is Lent and that’s what I have always done. Lent’s echo of Jesus’ command to embrace μετάνοια is a summons to live the Kingdom from the heart. The woman of Samaria permits herself to undergo μετάνοια as she is drawn from an attitude of hostility and indifference towards Jesus to becoming an evangelizer herself. In the Prayer over the Elect (First Scrutiny), the Church prays that each opens his/her heart to the Lord in a similar manner.

Jean François de Troy, Jésus et la Samaritaine
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

As important as “from the heart” is in exploring the depth of μετάνοια, a description of μετάνοια forth by the Jesuit philosopher-theologian, Bernard Lonergan in his work, Method in Theology may offer some insight when combined with some additional approaches from the Fathers of the Curch:

μετάνοια is a Grace initiated, accompanied and sustained response to the Kingdom of God that is a radical transformation actively engaging all dimensions and levels of human living. μετάνοια consciously acknowledges that life is an interlocking and interdependent series of changes and developments expressive of relational living with God, others, the true self and all of creation. μετάνοια further involves transforming apprehensions (how one sees the world), sensitizing conscience and moral criteria (values) all as a continuous straining forward to receive the ‘call up’ from God the Father in Christ Jesus Our Lord through the Grace of the Holy Spirit.

Yes there is much to ponder in the description of what seems is to be simple and “from the heart.” Yet the affects and effects of Original Sin often limit what we think needs to be done in terms of repenting … if I just change this or change that – I will be fine, I will be done. The truth is that this side of the grave the work of μετάνοια is never done. As the Lord’s Grace leads us onward and upward, μετάνοια is an affirmation not only of transformation that needs to occur, but more so the discovery of abundant riches of the Father’s loving mercy poured into our lives as pure and gratuitous Gift.