1. From Fr. Tony Kadavil’s Collection
Introduction
Ash Wednesday (dies cinerum) is the Church’s Yom
Kippur or the “Day of Atonement.” Its very name comes from the Jewish
practice of doing penance wearing “sackcloth and ashes.” In the early
Church, Christians who had committed serious sins were instructed to do public
penance wearing sackcloth and ashes. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of
full fast and abstinence. Fasting is prescribed to reinforce our penitential
prayer during the Lenten season. The prophet Joel, in the first reading,
insists that we should experience a complete conversion of heart and not simply
sorrow for our sins. Saint Paul in the second reading advises us “to become
reconciled to God.” Today’s gospel instructs us to assimilate the true spirit
of fasting and prayer.
1) A firm conviction that:
a) we are mortal beings,
b) our bodies will become dust when buried and ashes if
cremated, and
c) our life-span is very brief and unpredictable;
2) A strong warning that we will be eternally punished if we
do not repent of our sins and do penance; and
3) A loving invitation to realize and acknowledge our sinful
condition and return to our loving and forgiving God with true repentance, as
the prodigal son did.
We are invited to effect a real conversion and renewal of
life during the period of Lent by fasting, penance, and reconciliation.
I- We are to do
prayerful fasting:
a) by following the example of Jesus before his public
ministry, and
b) by imitating the king and the people of Nineveh (Jon 3:
7), who fasted in sackcloth pleading for mercy from the Lord God, the Syrian
King, Ben Hadad (I Kings 20: 31-34), who did not fast, but wore sackcloth and
begged Israel’s King Ahab for his life), Queen Esther who fasted, begging God
to save her people (Est 4:16), the soldiers of Judas Maccabaeus who fasted so
greatly they felt too weak to fight (1 Mc 3:17) and St. Paul who observed
"frequent fastings" (2 Cor 11:27).
(Historical note: In the past, the Greek Orthodox Christians
had 180 days of fasting and the Orthodox as well as Catholic Syrian Christians
had 225 to 290 days of fasting every year. The Roman church also had a number
of fast days. Technically speaking, fasting is now only required on two days in
Lent, namely, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. In the United States, abstinence
alone is commanded on all Fridays of Lent).
True fasting is “tearing one’s heart and returning to God”
with true repentance for one’s sins (Joel 2:13). It is “breaking unjust
fetters, freeing the oppressed, sharing one’s bread with the hungry, clothing
with the naked and home with the homeless, and not turning away from the needy
relatives” (Is. 58:6-7).
Advantages of
fasting:
a - It reduces the excessive accumulation of “fat” in our
soul in the form of evil tendencies and evil habits (=spiritual obesity).
b - It gives us additional moral and spiritual strength.
c - It offers us more time to be with God in prayer.
d - It encourages us to share our food and goods with the
needy.
e - “There is joy in the salutary fasting and abstinence of
Christians who eat and drink less in order that their minds may be clearer and
more receptive to receive the sacred nourishment of God's word, which the whole
Church announces and meditates upon in each day's liturgy throughout Lent”
(Thomas Merton).
II - We are to lead a
life of penance because:
1 - It is the model given by Jesus.
2 - It was his teaching: “If any one wishes to follow me,
let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” “Try to enter through
the narrow gate.”
3 - Theological reasons: a) it removes the weakness left by
sin in our souls, b) it pays the temporary debt caused by sin, and c) it makes
our prayers more fruitful.
III - We are to
enlarge our hearts for reconciliation.
By receiving the ashes, we confess that we are sinners in
need of the mercy of God, and we ask forgiveness for the various ways in which
we have hurt our brothers and sisters. In the recent past, our Catholic
community has experienced acute suffering caused by the scandalous behavior of
a few of our spiritual leaders. Lent is a time for forgiveness and
reconciliation. Let us allow the spirit of forgiveness to work its healing
influence in our parishes and families. God bless you.
Ash Wednesday agenda:
By Almsgiving, we highlight others more important than ourselves and give
ourselves to them as Jesus gave Himself to others. By Prayer, we highlight God
as most important in our life, magnifying Him, humbling ourselves (thus
realizing the distance between Him and us), and trying to come to come closer
to the Lord. By Fasting, we discover our personal self and see who we really
are. Cutting, pruning and disciplining ourselves will be part of this job. Doing
all these three things with joyful heart and mind will prepare us to rise with
Jesus. (Fr. Raj).
1) “Do this, don’t do
that, can’t you read the sign?”
Some of the senior citizens here today can remember a song
that was popular exactly 41 years ago. In 1971, a group from Canada called the
Five Man Electrical Band had a hit called “Signs.” The song is about how signs
are always telling us what to do, and the chorus says, “Do this, don’t do that,
can’t you read the sign?” Four decades later, the question it poses – “Can’t
you read the sign?” — is one we might ask ourselves today. We are going to be
signed with ash - the sign of our faith, the cross. “Can’t you read the sign?”
The cross of ashes means that we are making a commitment – that we are undertaking
Lent as a season of prayer and penitence, of dying to ourselves. It also
describes our human condition: it says that we are broken, and need repair;
that we are sinners and need redemption. Most importantly, it tells us that, as
followers of Jesus Christ, we are to carry our crosses. It also reminds us that
we are dust and ashes – mortal human beings carrying an immortal soul.
(http://www.patheos.com/blogs/deaconsbench/)
2) Kill the Cyclops
in you: The Cyclops is that strange monster of Greek mythology with one big
eye in the middle of its forehead. We pretend to ignore the truth that, for 325
days of each year, we are all Cyclopes because there is ONE GREAT BIG “I” right in our heads! If we are skeptical about
this assertion, we might watch our words for one day, from morning to night.
What’s the first thing we think about each morning? “What am I going to do today? How will I do it?
What will happen to me today? How will I
feel today?” I, I, I. And all day
long, what do we say to people? We say things like, “I think this” and “I think
that” and “I agree” and “I disagree” and “I like this” and “I don’t
like that” and “I just want to
say...” I, I, I. And what’s the last
thing that we think about at night? “I
wish that so-and-so would stop doing thus-and-such to me” and “I really did a
good job today” and “I wonder what
I’ll do tomorrow.” The problem with seeing with one eye is that we’re half
blind. Everything looks flat and two-dimensional because with only one eye, we
have no depth-perception. Consequently, we go wrong in assessing people. In
Greek mythology, the Cyclops was killed when Odysseus and four of his men took
a spare staff of the Cyclops, hardened its tip in the fire and used that to
destroy the monster’s one big eye. It is precisely this that we must do on Ash
Wednesday. With two strokes of his thumb smeared with ash on our forehead, the
priest will cross that “I” out of
our head. By this sacramental ritual we are asked to take that “I” at the front
of our mind and cross it out by “self-denial” and “self- mortification.” Doing
so will help us to see the beautiful creatures of God all around us and replace
“I” with “You." (Condensed from Fr. J. K. Horn)
4) It was Ash
Wednesday, and a woman sifting in a crowded Catholic church, leaned over to the
young man next to her and asked: "What is it that brings so many people
out on a cold night, to get a little dirt smeared on their foreheads, and to be
reminded that they are sinners and that they are going to die?" He looked
at her somewhat oddly and said, "It's habit, I guess."
5) A two-year-old had
gone with her family to her church's Ash Wednesday service. She was upset that
her mother was not taking her to the altar with the rest of the family. She was
overheard exclaiming: "But I want to get a tattoo just like Daddy's!"
***************
2.
From the Connections:
THE
WORD:
The
readings for this first day of the Lenten journey to Easter call us to turn.
In
today’s Gospel, from his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus instructs his listeners on
the Christian attitude and disposition toward prayer, fasting and
almsgiving. Such acts are meaningful
only if they are outward manifestations of the essential turningthat has taken
place within our hearts.
Around
400 B.C., a terrible invasion of locusts ravaged Judah. The prophet Joel saw this catastrophe as a
symbol of the coming “Day of the Lord.”
The prophet summoned the people to repent, to turn to the Lord with
fasting, prayer and works of charity.
In
his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul alternates between anger and
compassion, between frustration and affection in defending his authority and
mandate as an apostle in the face of attack by some members of the Corinthian
community. In today’s second reading,
the apostle appeals for reconciliation among the members of the community, for
a re-turn to the one faith shared by the entire Church.
HOMILY POINTS:
As
the earth will “turn” toward the sun in the weeks ahead transforming the dark
and cold of winter into the light and warmth of spring, so these ashes mark the
beginning of a Lenten transformation of our souls and spirits.
The
Spirit who called Jesus to the wilderness calls us, as well, to a forty-day
“desert experience,” a time to peacefully and quietly renew and re-create our
relationship with God, that he might become the center of our lives in every
season.
3.
Fr. Jude Botelho:
Once
again we begin the season of Lent with this Ash Wednesday celebration. Lent is
a time for repentance and renewal yet the Preface of Lent will call it the
joyful season of Lent. We should remind ourselves that originally Lent was a
time for preparation for Baptism and for Easter. Later on as the practice of
adult baptisms died out, it became a time of baptismal renewal as well as a
time of repentance and a proximate preparation for Easter. As we begin this new
season may we find our joy in coming back to God.
The
key ceremony on Ash Wednesday is the imposition of the ashes on our forehead.
“Remember thou art dust and to dust thou shall return.” In a sense, this ritual
reminds us of our beginning and our end, we are back to basics. It is meant to
give us a right perspective of life. We are dust, we are finite, we are human,
we are creatures, dependent and capable of mistakes. At times, with all our
successes, our possibilities, our capabilities and the power we try to acquire,
we are led to believe we can manage on our own, that we don’t need anybody, we
don’t need God! Lent puts things in proper perspective. We need God, who does
not look down on the dust that we are, our humanness, our weakness, but renew
his covenant to human beings, he breathes life into the earth and creates us
and recreates us.
The first reading from the prophet Joel
reminds us that sometimes God invited the people of Israel to come back to Him
through the great disasters that befell them. It was after one such disaster
that the prophet Joel conveyed to the people the message that God would come to
their rescue. The disaster that befell the Israelites at that time was the
invasion of locusts that came in large numbers from the desert and devoured
everything. The prophet Joel called them to prayer and to penance. He assured
them that if they came back to Yahweh, He would provide them with food they
needed. He reminded them that everyone should do penance, the priests and the
laity, the young and the old, even the children. They needed to ask God’s
pardon as a family, as one community and God would forgive them all.
The Nail Post
A father wanted his son to really understand
the importance of making right choices, of obeying and doing what’s right. So
if his son made a bad choice or a wrong decision, he’s give him a hammer and a
nail to take out into the backyard and pound into a fence post. When the son
went through the whole day making good decisions, he’d let the boy go out and
take out one of those nails. Until the boy was fifteen, there were always two
or three nails in the post, -seemed he’d be nailing new ones as often as he’d
pull out others. The youth started to mature and make better decisions and
finally one day all the nails were removed from the post. That was when his dad
took him back and said, “I want you to notice something about the post.” The
son looked at the post for a moment and realized that all the nails that once
were driven in and then later removed had left small holes in the post. The
holes were the remaining effects of the nails. His dad said, “I want to tell
you something about bad choices and decisions. Even though you may be totally
forgiven from your bad choices or decisions, and there are no nails visible,
there are the remaining effects, the consequences, of those choices or
decisions; just like the holes in that fencepost.”
Author
Unknown
The Gospel of today speaks to us of three
paths that can lead us back to God: Prayer, Fasting and Alms. Jesus reminds us
that these three practices by themselves will not lead us to God unless we
perform them with a humble heart. Lent is firstly a time for renewing our
prayer life. When we pray, do not pray to be seen or heard by others? Is Jesus
against praying in public with the community or prayer group? What Jesus is speaking
about is the motive of our prayer practices. Are we putting on a performance?
Would we do the same if no one was watching? Our community prayer life needs to
be balanced with private and personal prayer. The second practice recommended
is fasting and abstinence during lent, but we are reminded that how we do it is
more important than what we do. If fasting makes us irritable, if we fast with
long faces and put on a gloomy look and make all around us miserable, there is
something wrong. The heart of fasting is to do without something that we like
and believe we can’t do without, in order to realize that God can supply our
every need. What about a weekly fast from our favourite TV serial? The third
practice of the devout Jew was almsgiving. Again the admonition is the same:
“So when you give alms do not have it trumpeted to win men’s admiration.”
Almsgiving is any kind of help, material or spiritual we give to our neighbour.
We could help our neighbour in need, we could give them good advice or encouragement,
we can help someone in spiritual danger, we can encourage people to attend to
their spiritual needs. Perhaps the help that people need is more spiritual than
material. Are we bringing people to Jesus by our words, our good example and
our deeds?
A Good Lesson
A young man, a student in one of our
universities, was one day taking a walk with a professor, who was commonly
called the students' friend, from his kindness to those who waited on his
instructions. As they went along, they saw lying in the path a pair of old
shoes, which they supposed belonged to a poor man who was employed in a field
close by, and who had nearly finished his day's work. The student turned to the
professor, saying: "Let us play the man a trick: we will hide his shoes,
and conceal ourselves behind those bushes, and wait to see his perplexity when
he cannot find them." "My young friend," answered the professor,
"we should never amuse ourselves at the expense of the poor. But you are
rich, and may give yourself a much greater pleasure by means of the poor man.
Put a coin into each shoe, and then we will hide ourselves and watch how the
discovery affects him." The student did so, and they both placed
themselves behind the bushes close by. The poor man soon finished his work, and
came across the field to the path where he had left his coat and shoes. While
putting on his coat he slipped his foot into one of his shoes; but feeling
something hard, he stooped down to feel what it was, and found the coin.
Astonishment and wonder were seen upon his countenance. He gazed upon the coin,
turned it round, and looked at it again and again. He then looked around him on
all sides, but no person was to be seen. He now put the money into his pocket,
and proceeded to put on the other shoe; but his surprise was doubled on finding
the other coin. His feelings overcame him; he fell upon his knees, looked up to
heaven and uttered aloud a fervent thanksgiving, in which he spoke of his wife,
sick and helpless, and his children without bread, whom the timely bounty, from
some unknown hand, would save from perishing. The student stood there deeply
affected, and his eyes filled with tears. "Now," said the professor,
"are you not much better pleased than if you had played your intended
trick?" The youth replied, "You have taught me a lesson which I will
never forget. I feel now the truth of those words, which I never understood
before: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"
Author
unknown, retold by Artin Tellalian
Minor Irritants of Life
A young man had just hiked across a long,
barren stretch of land. Reporters asked what he found hardest about it. “Was it
the loneliness of the hike?” “No,” he replied. “Was it the hot sun beating down
on you?” “No”, he replied. “Was it the dangerous nights by the roadside?” “No”,
he replied. “Well then, what was it?”
“The sand in my shoes,” he said. That is often the case in everyday life. It is
not the big things that get us down, more often, it’s the tiny irritations! May
be, accepting the tiny irritations with family, friends, colleagues, office
workers, that come our way each day, could be a good way to start our Lent!
Anonymous
Renewal
Once, long ago a musician well-known for the
beauty and sweetness of his songs was asked to play for the royal audience. The
king was so pleased with the performance that he made the musician part of the
royal court. His highness loved one particular song so much that he had the
musician play it over and over, several times a day. It went well for the
musician who had everything he needed, and fame and prestige as well. After a
time the musician grew weary of repeating the melody and no longer played with
the same zest and passion as he once did. This disturbed the king, because his
favourite song now lacked much of its original vibrancy. So in order to
re-kindle the musician’s interest in the song, the king ordered someone, who
had never heard the song before, to be brought to the palace everyday. When the
musician saw the new person he was inspired and he played with new vigour. But
the king was getting tired of finding a new person everyday and so he consulted
his advisors who suggested that the musician should be blinded! The musician
was drugged into sleep and his eyes put out so he never knew what had happened,
and he never saw a human form again. From that time on the blind musician would
sit continually before the king. Whenever the king wanted to hear his favourite
melody, he would say. “O musician, here comes someone new, a person who has
never heard you play before.” And the musician would play his song with the
utmost skill and spiritedness, as if for the first time. What is the meaning of
this parable? It is left to you to determine! For in the words of an Eastern
sage: “When you go to the market to buy
fruit from the green grocer, you do not ask him to chew it for you!”
Anonymous
Dr. Karl Menninger, the famous psychiatrist,
once gave a lecture on mental health, and then answered questions from the
audience. “What would you advice a person to do,” asked one man, “if that
person felt a nervous breakdown was coming on?” Most people expected him to
reply, “Consult a psychiatrist.” To their disappointment he replied, “Lock your
house, go across the railway tracks, find someone in need and do something to
help that person.” –Don’t sit and pout. Get up and do something for others!
Brian
Cavanaugh in ‘The Sower’s Seed’
Ready to Change?
Once, a king was walking through the streets
of the capital city when he came upon a beggar who immediately asked him for
money. The king did not give him any money. Instead he invited him to his
palace. The beggar took up the king’s offer. On the appointed day he made his
way to the royal palace, and was duly ushered into the king’s presence. However
as he came into the king’s presence he was acutely conscious of his rags and
felt ashamed of them. They were an eloquent symbol of the wretchedness of his life.
The king an exceptionally kind man, received him warmly, took pity on him, and
among other things gave him a new suit of clothes. However, a few days later
the beggar was back to begging on the streets, dressed in his old rags. Why did
he give up the new suit? Because he knew that to wear it would mean that he
would have to live a new life. It would mean giving up the life of a beggar.
This he was not prepared to do. It wasn’t that the new life did not appeal to
him. It was just that a change of life would be slow, painful and uncertain. In
other words he was too much steeped in habit to change.
Flor
McCarthy in ‘New Sunday and Holy day Liturgies’
May
Lent find us ready to change whatever needs to be changed in our life with
God’s help!
4.
From Sermons.com
Nowadays the cost of a dinner and a movie keeps
going up, and a vacation can be especially expensive, but if I really want to
go somewhere I just take the change out of my pocket and lay it on the desk.
It's like a time machine. Each coin has a year stamped on it, and just thinking
about the year helps me travel back in my memory.
1979 is the year my first son was born and the
year I started in ministry. 1981 and 1983 are the years my daughter and second
son were born. 1988 is the last time the Dodgers won the pennant. 1990 was when
I moved to Indiana from Los Angeles. 1994 and 2004 were the years I turned
forty and fifty. 2002 was when I moved to Pennsylvania. And it's getting harder
to find, but any coin with 1954 is my birth year.
I enjoy laying out the change in my pocket and
just glancing at the dates. It's nice to carry these little reminders of
important events, good and bad. But they're just one kind of reminder. We carry
all sorts of reminders around. One of the most obvious is our date book, which
we use to remind us of important events that are not in the past but in the
future. We especially need a reminder for Ash Wednesday. It comes in the middle
of nowhere. It's not like Christmas or Independence Day that fall on the same
dates every year. Ash Wednesday is all over the map, from early February to
sometime in March. What usually happens is that we notice someone with a
smudge on their forehead and suddenly realize: was that today? Really, it's not
very convenient. The least Ash Wednesday could do is fall on a Sunday.
It is an interruption. And it's an unwelcome
reminder of an unpleasant fact. Dust we are and to dust we shall return. The
grass withers and the flower fades....
__________________________________
The
Lord's Prayer: A Walking Prayer
Every evening I walk three miles as part of my
losing campaign against high blood pressure and my imperialistic waist line. I
generally don't wear an iPod, because I prefer to take my exercise without
anesthesia. (I enjoy the sounds of nature, and I want to be able to hear the
cars honk before they run me over.) Sometimes I devote the time to prayer, and
I have found that the Lord's Prayer makes a good outline. Here's how I do it:
I address God as my Father by adoption through
the grace of Jesus Christ and give thanks for His salvation.
I pledge to keep His name holy in all my
conduct. I remind Him of ways I have done this in the past, and ask Him
forgiveness for all the ways I have failed to do so as well.
I ask that His will be done, here on earth
through me, as efficiently as it is done by His angels in heaven. I give
examples of how I think I could do that; I ask His guidance and pledge my
obedience.
I ask for my material needs for the day,
itemizing and discussing them. I give thanks for specific instances of His
providence in the past.
I ask forgiveness, but only to the degree I am
willing to forgive others. If I have a problem, I discuss it in detail.
If I am facing any particular temptations, I
discuss them and ask God to help me resist them. If I have recently survived
any tough tests, I discuss them and thank God that He gave me the power to
overcome them.
I tell God about the evil things that frighten
me, and ask Him to deliver me from them. I also give thanks for past rescues.
You get the idea. When you pray like this, it's
amazing how time flies!
Kenneth W. Collins, Praying
________________________________
I'm
Sorry, Father
A Catholic priest working in an inner city was
walking down an alley one evening on his way home when a young man came down
the alley behind him and poked a knife against his back. "Give me your
money," the young man said.
The priest opened his jacket and reached into
an inner pocket to remove his wallet, exposing his clerical collar. "Oh,
I'm sorry, Father," said the young man, "I didn't see your collar. I
don't want YOUR money."
Trembling from the scare, the priest removed a
cigar from his shirt pocket and offered it to the young man. "Here,"
he said. "Have a cigar."
"Oh, no, I can't do that," the young
man replied, "I gave them up for Lent."
_____________________
Let
Us Play
My dear friends, let us play. Yes, you heard me
correctly. Now is a time for play. In fact, today the church begins that time
of the year when we do our most serious playing.
And playing is a serious business, you know. Ask any teacher of children. Better still, watch children at play. No wonder they are tired at the end of the day. They work hard at playing. They take it seriously.
Play is the child's laboratory for learning about life. Children who have never played at being grown-up tend to be handicapped in some way when they have to confront the actual experience. Boys who have never been allowed to play with dolls can hardly be expected to hold their own infants with ease and loving confidence. It has to be a later learning if it is ever learned at all. Play may be a more valuable tool for learning than all the educational resources manufactured by the professionals.
And playing is a serious business, you know. Ask any teacher of children. Better still, watch children at play. No wonder they are tired at the end of the day. They work hard at playing. They take it seriously.
Play is the child's laboratory for learning about life. Children who have never played at being grown-up tend to be handicapped in some way when they have to confront the actual experience. Boys who have never been allowed to play with dolls can hardly be expected to hold their own infants with ease and loving confidence. It has to be a later learning if it is ever learned at all. Play may be a more valuable tool for learning than all the educational resources manufactured by the professionals.
That is why, on this Ash Wednesday, the church
summons us to a season of play. Our Lord has told us, if we are to enter the
kingdom of heaven, we must become as little children. And one of childhood's
most important occupations is play.
Am I wrong in my impression, however, that most of us do not come to church to
play, that play is the furthest thing from our minds? Play seems foreign to our
understanding of religion, and if it is to be found in church at all, it is
best restricted to the nursery and the carefully supervised activities of the youth
groups. H.L. Mencken defined a puritan as a person with the haunting fear that
someone, somewhere, might be happy. I know the puritan still comes to church
with me from time to time. What about you?
Kendall K. McCabe and Michael L. Sherer
__________________________
Recharging
Your Batteries
An Italian newspaper recently carried a story
about a young couple in Milan who seemed particularly devoted in their worship.
The priest at a cathedral there reported that the pair spent an hour or more on
a regular basis sitting before a statue of the Virgin Mary. Naturally, he
assumed they were praying.
Turns out, this young couple was recharging their cell phone. They had noticed a stray electric cable sticking out of the wall behind the statue of the Virgin Mary. Whenever their phone's power supply dwindled, the young couple came to the church and re-charged it from the cable behind the Virgin Mary. The priest states that the young couple is welcome to use his church for this purpose.
We talk about coming to church to "re-charge our batteries," but this is ridiculous. What looked to the unobservant eye like an act of piety was actually a self-serving ploy to save money. This young couple was using the church for their own needs. And we're shocked, shocked, I tell you--until we realize that we may be guilty of the same mistake.
King Duncan
__________________________________
A
Walking Children's Sermon
The Rev. Timothy J. Kennedy tells a
wonderful true story that is perfect for Ash Wednesday. It was told to him by a
colleague, Pastor Chris Mietlowski. It concerned a baptism that Mietlowski once
performed on an infant named Eric. Mietlowski took Eric in his arms and traced
the cross of Christ on Eric's forehead using a special anointing oil.
Following worship, Eric's family celebrated
with a big backyard party. Family and friends ate burgers and chips and played
volleyball under a summer sun. Eric, being only six months old, was left to nap
in his backyard stroller. When Mom got him up, whoops. Basted on Eric's
forehead was the image of the cross. Mom had forgotten to wash Eric's face
following his baptism, and the oil that the pastor had traced onto his forehead
acted the opposite of a sun screen. The Cross of Christ was imprinted on Eric's
forehead. "For several weeks until it completely disappeared," says
Rev. Kennedy, "that cross was a wonderful reminder as to the meaning of
Baptism and a reminder that the Cross of Jesus was 'written' upon Eric's
forehead."
And what a powerful witness it was, says Rev.
Kennedy. "Eric's Mom and Dad had to explain the cross to the pediatrician,
to the neighbors, to the stranger in the grocery store. For a few weeks, Eric
was nothing less than a [living] children's sermon. It was only a bit of a
sunburn to be sure, but [it was] the best basting a child can have to be marked
with the cross of Christ! And why not? That cross is to be the foundation of
that child's life."
If I read the little book of Joel right,
God's desire is not that we wear a cross on our forehead, but that it be basted
on our hearts. "Rend your heart and not your garments," says Joel
2:23. That's much harder to do, isn't it? It's much easier to rend your clothes
than to rend your heart. It's much easier to wear a cross around your neck than
it is to bear it daily in everything you do.
Timothy J. Kennedy
______________________
"Some
Christians jump all over the room;
Others are as solemn and quiet as a tomb.
Some lift their hands high in the air,
But others wouldn't, even on a dare.
Christians are different in style and in song;
But if they are humble, to Christ they belong."
Others are as solemn and quiet as a tomb.
Some lift their hands high in the air,
But others wouldn't, even on a dare.
Christians are different in style and in song;
But if they are humble, to Christ they belong."
Traditional
______________________
Pancake Day
Every once in a while a whimsical story makes
the news. Some years ago, the Associated Press carried a story about a woman in
Olney, England, named Dawn Gallyot who defied snow and a biting wind to beat
seven other women to the finish line in the annual Shrove Tuesday pancake race.
In her first race, the 38-year-old schoolteacher made the 415-yard dash from a
pub in the market square to the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul with a pancake
and a frying pan in her hand in 73 seconds. That was 9.5 seconds slower than
the previous year's pace. Each woman must flip a pancake in the frying pan at
the start and at the finish of the race. The record is 58 seconds. Mrs. Gallyot
reportedly wore a traditional headscarf and apron, but opted for modern running
shoes.
Shrove Tuesday, known in England as Pancake
Day, is traditionally the last day for merrymaking before the start of Lent.
Pancakes are thought to be a good way to get in the eggs and fat that faithful
church people were supposed to give up for Lent. Legend has it that the Olney
race started in 1445 when a housewife, dashing to get to church on time,
arrived at the service clutching in her hand a frying pan with a pancake still
in it.
The pancake race is but one of many traditions
that have grown up around the season of Lent. New Orleans' Mardi Gras is
another - one last blowout before a season of denial...
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We are sorry that Fr Michel de Verteuil’s book does not carry a commentary for Ash Wednesday
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Kenneth Payne
What shall I say?
Theme: Lent – spring – is a time of spiritual growth through prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
Liturgical Text: ‘As we begin the discipline of Lent, make this season holy by our self-denial.’ (Opening Prayer)
Homily Notes:
1. No age lives a more unbalanced lifestyle than our own. There are days when people have no fresh air, no exercise, no leisure, and they think no time for prayer.
2. Jesus instructs us that when we pray, fast or give alms we should do so privately.
3. Prayer: give more time to it – alone, with the family or a small group, going to Mass (weekdays), prayer before meals, walk instead of using the car and pray whilst walking, etc. Fasting: food, drink, eating less, giving up some favourite food or drink, TV, glossy magazines, etc.
Almsgiving: this can be linked with the money saved by some form of fasting and given to those in need – CAFOD, MoPSA,etc.
4. We are beginning an exciting time when the Lord challenges us to live more fully and be renewed in every way.
Story/Quote:
A. The sannyasi had reached the outskirts of the village and settled down under a tree for the night when a villager came running up to him and said, ‘The stone! The stone! Give me the precious stone!’
‘What stone?’ asked the sannyasi.
‘Last night the Lord Shiva appeared to me in a dream,’ said the villager, ‘and told me that if I went to the outskirts of the village at dusk I should find a sannyasi who would give me a precious stone that would make me rich forever.’
The sannyasi rummaged in his bag and pulled out a stone. ‘He probably meant this one,’ he said, as he handed the stone over to the villager. ‘1 found it on a forest path some days ago. You can certainly have it.’
The man looked at the stone in wonder. It was a diamond, probably the largest diamond in the whole world for it was as large as a man’s head.
He took the diamond and walked away. All night he tossed about in bed, unable to sleep. Next day at the crack of dawn he woke the sannyasi and said, ‘Give me the wealth that makes it possible for you to give this diamond away so easily.’
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Thomas O’Loughlin,
Homily notes
1. If the liturgy conveys the basic message of today (i.e. that we (1) as a community (2) begin today a season/ period in which we undertake (3) a journey and process of renewal that (4) makes us more fully the Body of Christ and (5) leads others to the moment of baptism, then a homily need only be a word or two in length while the ashes are being made by burning last year’s palms.2. To see this season as a gift/ opportunity is very difficult for us as we are still burdened with half-remembered images of long ago when dancing, weddings, and eggs and lard were forbidden. Penitence which is just an attempt ‘to make up’ for sins by voluntary sufferings so as to avoid penalties post mortem has the effect of placing God’s justice and human retributive justice on the same plane – and thus denying the graciousness of God as seen in Christ’s reconciliation. So the task is to present Lent as the time for rebuilding bonds, becoming joined back to God and neighbour, for overcoming strife and working for peace and justice, and renewing ‘the bonds of peace’ (cf Eph 4:3) and love.
3. Renewing ourselves as the people chosen as God’s own, recovering the image of Christ soiled by sin, rebuilding the links with those we have injured and scandalised is not something that can happen in a moment: it requires time, patience, effort, and the commitment of resources. This is why we have a season and not just some quick ceremony: reconciliation is always a longer process than the impression given in our rites of reconciliation, whether individual or collective. The resources needed may be emotional – speaking again to someone who has offended us or crossing boundaries that keep us apart in warring tribes; political- advocating policies based on the fact that we believe Christ has commissioned us to minister reconciliation to the world; spiritual-time needed to serve the community, to pray, or to grow in understanding of Christ’s way through taking part in a ‘Lenten Group’; and financial- using our material resources to help build the kingdom of justice, love, and peace.
4. We are involved in two solidarities: in that of sin that disfigures the world and the image of God in each of us; and in the community of grace through baptism. Lent is the time when we re-align ourselves and seek to oppose sin in every sphere with love.
Gospel:Mt 6:6
When you pray, go to a secret place, close your door and pray to your Father in secret
Step by Step(This is a morning and/or evening exercise)When you pray, go to a secret place, close your door and pray to your Father in secret
Like Jesus,
Go to a quiet place
Close the door quietly.
Turn off your mobile, radio, andTV.
Light a candle (- if it is safe to do so)
Try clearing and calming your mind.
Breathe in and out consciously for a few moments.
Focus on God, Abba, our Father .
(God is already there and just waiting for you.)
Reflection for the Day
a room for prayer, a few days holiday,
a time where we can take time out. Lent is what Lent means.
It’s a time to refresh the body, mind and spirit,
in prayer,
in some fasting maybe,
and in the type of love that shares with others, – especially the poor.
Fasting and almsgiving. are ways of taking us
inside ourselves to be renewed, outside ourselves to love others.
The real test of Christian life, prayer and fasting is how we live our lives in the everyday.
The test of Lent in the end is not what have we done for Lent, but what Lent has done, through us, for others .It is a sacred space to get in touch with Jesus, the God/man who lived, died and rose again
for others .
Today we remember that we come from the dust of the earth but are destined heaven
A LENTEN POEM
A tree was planted on a height
It had two branches bare
The rock was barren and full of bones
– a site for death
Yet that same tree did blossom straight
And bore a fruit beyond all telling
Whose leaves forever spring freshly green
For its fair flower is God
Honor G Mc Cabe O.P.
Prayer for the Week
Good and gracious God,
enlighten the secret places of my mind,
embrace the secret places of my desires,
enlarge the secret places of my love,
so that I walk in your light,
act out of your desires
and live in your love. Amen.
enlighten the secret places of my mind,
embrace the secret places of my desires,
enlarge the secret places of my love,
so that I walk in your light,
act out of your desires
and live in your love. Amen.
*****************************************************************Catholic Ireland.net would like to thank
Fr Donal Neary, S.J and Sr Honor Mc Cabe O.P.
Fr Donal Neary, S.J and Sr Honor Mc Cabe O.P.
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