See You on Wednesday
On this Sunday just before Ash Wednesday, Catholics have heard excerpts from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Mtt 5-7). Some used these Sunday’s Gospels as an chance to do an Examination of Conscience for Lent.
As we recall the introductory statement of Jesus to the Sermon, “Blessed are they who are poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of God.” The sermon concludes this morning with the words, “Everyone who listens to these words of Mine and acts upon them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.
In addition, not in our Sunday readings, the Lord’s Prayer is directly in the middle of the Great Sermon. (Recall that many call the Lord’s Prayer, the Anthem of God’s New World Order, New Consciousness, New Age, God’s Kingdom.) Almost in the center of the Lord’s Prayer is the petition, ‘Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” (Recall again that it is estimated that 2/3 of Jesus teaching was about getting along with others, avoiding grudges, violence and hatred.)
One twentieth century theologian said, “Gradually, I came to see a glimpse of what Jesus meant when he said that the Kingdom of God must be in everyone…To change the world by bullets or ballots was a useless procedure. Ergo, the only revolution worth-while is the one man revolution within each human heart. Each one would make this by himself and need not wait for the majority.” (Recall the sentiment expressed by many, “When I was young, I wanted to change the world…Now that I am older, I just want to change myself.”)
Jesus has some tough language for us to process in His words. In trying to analyze what He means for each of us, we might keep three points salient in my minds and hearts, 1) Jesus is smarter than I am. 2) Jesus’ world was just as violent as my own (and maybe, more so). 3) Jesus would not ask the impossible of me.
Taking Jesus at His word, ask for the grace or Help to take specific one time situations in our lives and try, with God’s Help, to take Jesus at His word. As we hear in several places in the Christian Scriptures, Jesus was “like us in all things but sin.” Chances are that Jesus had tough days (just like you and me). Chances are that some people rubbed Jesus the wrong way. Chances are that Jesus might have found it difficult to turn the other cheek with the self-righteous. Recall the words toward the conclusion of the Gospel today, to the one who listens to Jesus, viz., with God’s Help, tries to take the Gospel seriously, is “like the wise man who built his house on rock. The rains fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted his house. It did not collapse; it had solidly been set on rock.”
During the Season of Lent, now upon us, one easy Lenten practice is to log on our parish website daily. Click on the Daily Scripture Readings, then click on any chapter in the 72 books of the Bible that you want. Spend some time looking at that chapter and then check the footnotes at the end for Catholic clarification of what the inspired writers might be saying. A good place to begin would certainly be chapters 5 & 6 & 7, with which we have become so familiar these past Sundays.
As we near Ash Wednesday, we are reminded that we are dust and unto dust, we shall return. We periodically re-focus on what life is all about. Millions of people throughout the world will be reminded that our time in the world is not forever. At the same time, we hear that, indeed, it is time to snap out of it and smell God’s coffee. Periodically, we experience transcendence, viz., that we are different than and radically (basically) dependent upon Something Other than ourselves. The Sundays preceding Ash Wednesday offer us a splendid opportunity to get back to basics and right relationships with the Transcendent Other, the people in our lives, our earthly environment and ourselves. Each of us has a personal, a planetary and a cosmic significance, revealed through the Paschal Mystery of Christ Jesus, our participation in the universal process of ascent, descent and transformation. May we all heed the Sputnik Moment in which we find ourselves in Lent, 2011AD, as we try to get serious once again about what it all really means.
There is a famous religious symbol associated with St Francis of Assisi, known as the Cross of San Damiano. Jesus hangs on the cross in this iconic image with His eyes open staring at you, the viewer, He has not yet died but clearly is at death’s door. The question he seems to be raising is simply, “Do you believe all this?” That is the question Jesus poses for of us as we near Ash Wednesday this week. 030611AD jfq
