Friday, March 7, 2025

Friday after Ash Wednesday

(Isaiah 58:1-9a; Matthew 9:14-15)

Needless to say, today’s readings involve fasting.  The first calls into question the fasting of Israel in the sixth century before Christ.  The gospel questions the purpose of fasting with the supreme call to joy present.

Fasting is an outward sign of an interior disposition of humility.  It indicates one’s willingness to do God’s will and not one’s own.  Trito-Isaiah chastises the nation of Israel for putting on a show as if they intended to keep God’s commandments.  In reality, however, they mean “business as usual” with just lip service to justice as God commands.

We say Lent is a forty-day fast.  In most years, however, there are only thirty-eight or thirty-nine days of fasting.  The difference is accounted to a suspension of fasting on March 19, the Solemnity of St. Joseph, and March 25, the Solemnity of the Annunciation.  Both days call for celebration, not signs of humility.  Besides Sundays, on the other days of Lent we should not only fast but make up for the times in which we have not rendered full justice to God or neighbor.

Thursday after Ash Wednesday

(Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Luke 9:22-25)

In a “Faustian bargain” one sells his or her eternal soul to the devil in exchange for temporal goods.  The term originates from a legendary man who bargained with the devil for unlimited knowledge and possessions.  Unfortunately, many people forfeit their souls at a much lesser price.  The readings today exhort us to avoid all such arrangements.

 Moses is speaking to the people just before they enter the Promised Land.  He says that God will give them “life,” i.e., prosperity for them and their descendants.  They only have to keep to His ways.  In the gospel Jesus offers an even greater life.  His followers can secure an eternal reward by focusing on him rather than their own desires.  They are to live without complaints doing good for others. 

 The purpose of Lent is to reinforce the habits of self-denying love in order to have fullness of life.  Like any exercise worth our while, it takes effort.  But we share the experience with one another in the Church and with Christ.  The burden becomes, paradoxically, a joy in such good company.

Wednesday, March 5, 2025

Ash Wednesday

(Joel 2:12-18; II Corinthians 5:20-6:2; Matthew 6:1-6.16-18)

People should not come forward to receive ashes today to show the world they are Catholics.  Not only would this reason indicate an unholy pride, but also an increasing number of Protestant communities serve ashes.  Christians wear ashes on their foreheads today not to show they are different than other humans but to show that they are the same.  Like every human being alive today a Christian is a sinner.  He or she has loved God’s creation more than God Himself.  Ashes also indicate that, as in the case of the first human beings, sinners are bound to return to the earth where they decompose into dirt.

Except for one thing, the fact that Jesus Christ also was human.  For sure, he was the one exception to the rule that all humans sin.  (Mary will not be considered here as she was conceived and maintained herself without sin by virtue of being the mother of Jesus.)  Yet Jesus did not shirk from identifying with sinful humans.  He was baptized in solidarity with sinners as the second reading today points out: he who did not know sin was made sin.  Indeed, he took all human sins upon himself so that he might redeem humans by his horrifically unjust Passion and Death.

Ashes should not remain only a sign of our sinfulness.  Rather, they should say something of our intention to rise from our sinfulness as the phoenix of Greek mythology rises from the ashes of its predecessors.  We do this not by our own efforts, but by faith in Jesus Christ.  Our works of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are but ways of joining Christ, who became like us.  He will lift us up to glory.

Tuesday, March 4, 2025

Tuesday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

(Sirach 35:1-12; Mark 10:28-31)

The phrase “giving up” in today’s gospel reminds one that tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent.  Christians will be giving up some of the pleasures of life for the sake of Jesus and the for the gospel.  Is this still good practice?

For years some preachers have recommended not to give up anything for Lent but to enter the spirit of the season with a commitment to “do something positive.”   It seems that they have the issue half-right.  Christians should strive to help others during Lent.  But self-denial complements charity in Jesus’ call to promote him and the gospel.

“Giving up” something for the sake of the other is a heartful expression of love.  We might say that we love another, but giving up a meal while acknowledging the other more forcefully shows that love.  Jesus is not with us in person so that we might do something unambiguously for him.  Nevertheless, we recognize his spiritual presence by denying ourselves a pleasure for his sake.  And if others should hear of it, will they not ask themselves what in the gospel makes us do so?

Monday, March 3, 2025

Monday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

(Sirach 17:20-24; Mark 10:17-27)

A recovering drug addict wrote from prison about how it feels to have fallen from grace.  He said that sin causes deep and constant remorse in the addict.  The sinner knows that he has failed not only God but also his family and himself.  Confession indicates the sinner’s desire to be understood not so much as bad but as weak.  He longs to be part of everyday society whose members are much les dependent.

Today’s first reading addresses the situation of the sinner.  It begins by saying that “God provides a way back” from sin.  The way “encourages those who are losing hope” by offering them the truth that human beings are not alone in the struggle against evil.  More than having one another, God is at hand to assist them.  God supplies the essential difference to live with the sin purged and in peace with all.

Catholics have the Sacrament of Reconciliation to bring about the desired transformation. It provides sinners opportunities to recognize their offenses.  The priest-minister of the sacrament allows them to petition support from both God and community.  It also affords the sinner a sense of participation in his redemption as it requires sinners to make amends.  Finally, it pronounces the words of freedom, “I absolve you from your sins…”