Friday, 1st Week of Lent: Anger and Prayer

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Lent 1


Readings

Our readings this week are about prayer, not so much the words of prayer–Jesus warned about wordy prayer – but about attitudes that make prayer possible and flow from prayer.

The gift of prayer is always ours, like rain and snow it comes down from heaven, but then there’s the ground it falls on.

In yesterday’s first reading, Queen Esther and her servants “ lay prostrate on the ground, from morning until evening” praying for deliverance from their enemies. Their prayer is similar to Jesus who prayed prostrate on the ground in Gethsemane. They’re fearful, without resources, humbled, but they do not settle for being humbled, they reach to the One who can raise them up. Humility leads them to pray.

Esther gets more than she asks for– an immediate, surprising victory over her enemies. Jesus is also heard as he prays– after he drinks the cup of suffering he is raised up. Humility leads to prayer and new life.

Today’s reading looks at anger and its relationship to prayer.  

God gets no pleasure from the death of the wicked, Ezekiel says in our first reading, but God rejoices when someone ‘turns from his evil way that he may live,” God is not an angry God, looking to punish. God looks for reconciliation. (Ezekiel 18:21-28)

Jesus also looks for reconciliation. The gospel reminds us he sees reconciliation as a condition for prayer.

“If you bring your gift to the altar,
and there recall that your brother
has anything against you,
leave your gift there at the altar,
go first and be reconciled with your brother,
and then come and offer your gift.

A reconciling person lives respectfully. “Respect” is a wonderful word. It means “to look again” in Latin, to look again at someone to see a value we’ve denied or missed in them. It means looking again at the world around us, or the family we live in. We can give up hope; we can lose our appreciation. Be reconciled, be ready “to look again” Jesus says, or you can miss the gift God gives at the altar.

The anger Jesus condemns in the gospel is that definitive anger that “kills” another, that condemns forever.

The sign of peace we offer at Mass is a sign of God’s call for reconciliation.

Respect is a form of love, St. Paul of the Cross writes, it’s “love loving your neighbor, putting up with the faults of others, looking at all with charity and compassion, having a good opinion of everyone and a bad opinion only of yourself. A simple eye lets you see your neighbor as full of virtues and yourself full of vices, but without discouragement, peacefully, humbly.” (Letter 525)

Lord,
let me look again at those I judge,
let me see them again as you do,
with mercy and forgiveness.
Make me an instrument of your peace,
bringing life and hope to others, not death

Readings: http://www.usccb.org.

For more: http://www.PassionistsPray.org

St. Gabriel Possenti, CP: February 27

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gabriel

St. Gabriel Possenti, was born on March 1, 1838, the 11th child of Agnes and Sante Possenti, governor of Assisi, Italy. Gabriel was baptized Francis after that city’s famous patron. He had everything a privileged child might hope for.

In 1841, the Possentis moved to Spoleto and Gabriel fell under the spell of that city’s bright social world. Spoleto was influenced by the Enlightenment, a movement that preferred what’s new to what’s old.

Lively, headstrong, intelligent, he was educated by the Christian Brothers and the Jesuits. Popular, usually head of his class, he embraced the city’s latest fashions, plays, dances and sporting events. Gabriel was charmed by it all.

Yet, something else kept calling him. A year after moving to Spoleto his mother Agnes died. Her death and the death of two brothers and three sisters made him think seriously about life. A couple of times he almost died himself. He heard Jesus calling him to give up everything and follow him, but then the call seemed to fade away.

In the spring of 1856, a fierce cholera epidemic struck Spoleto and Gabriel’s favorite sister died in the plague. The tragedy overwhelmed the people of the city. They processed through the streets with an ancient image of Mary. They prayed that she intercede to stop the plague. They also asked her to help them bear their heavy cross.

It was a transforming experience for Gabriel, who was drawn into the presence of Mary, the Sorrowful Mother. He passed the familiar mansions where he partied many nights.. the theater and opera that entertained him so often. He realized what little they offered now. He took his place at Mary’s side and at her urging joined the Passionist Congregation.

In a letter home, Gabriel described his new life as a Passionist to his father: “I would not trade even fifteen minutes here for a year. My new life is invaluable. I would not exchange it for any amount of time filled with shows and other pastimes of Spoleto. Indeed my life is filled with happiness.”

Gabriel died on February 27, 1862 and was canonized in 1920. Early biographies of Gabriel, especially that of his spiritual director Fr. Norbert, highlight his faithfulness to his religious rule. They stress his acceptance of sickness and death. They also note his great devotion to Mary, the Sorrowful Mother of Jesus.

Less noticed,  perhaps, is how Gabriel saw his life life answering the troubling times in which he lived. The Enlightenment was casting its spell on Italy in his day, threatening religious belief and church institutions. Yet, religious communities, like the Passionists, recovering from the Napoleonic suppression. were experiencing a surprising growth, sending missionaries to other parts of the world.

Gabriel would be aware that in 1845 John Henry Newman, the great English thinker joined the church. The Italian Passionist Dominic Barbari, who arrived in England a few years previously, received Newman into the church.

Newman’s writings, especially his University Sermons, describe the Enlightenment affecting England, but they could also be describing its affect on Spoleto, Italy, and young people like Gabriel. At the same time, Newman was an apostle announciing a “New Spring ” for the world. It was a world Gabriel must have seen as he entered the Passionists.

Gabriel is a saint for young people. They are looking for the pearl of great price in the times in which they live. May he help young people find it today. Interested in becoming a Passionist?

Lord God,

you hide your gifts “ from the learned and clever,

but reveal them to the merest children.”

Show your love to the young of today,

and call them to follow you.

Give them the grace you gave St.Gabriel,

grace to know you as good.

grace to judge life wisely,

grace to be joyful of heart.

Amen

Thursday, 1st Week of Lent: Does God Answer Prayer?

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Readings here

Jesus said to his disciples:”Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which one of you would hand his son a stone when he asked for a loaf of bread,or a snake when he asked for a fish? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him.( Matthew 7, 7-12)

Our readings in the 1st week of Lent, most from the Gospel of Matthew, are devoted to prayer. Today’s reading faces the question– Does God answer prayer? For some, God–if there is one–doesn’t pay attention to us at all. We’re on our own. No one’s listening and no one cares.

Jesus knew his Father listens and cares. He asked for things in prayer and teaches us to pray as he did. In the Garden of Gethsemane he asked over and over that his life be spared. “Father, let this cup pass from me.” As he knocked the door opened, the answer came, yet not as he willed, but as God willed.  “An angel came to strengthen him.” He went on to do God’s will. He suffered and died, and rose from the dead.

In our 1st reading from the Book of Esther, Esther and her servants “ lay prostrate on the ground, from morning until evening” praying for deliverance from their enemies. Their prayer is similar to Jesus’ prayer in the garden. They’re filled with fear, without resources, humbled, but they get what they ask, and more than they ask– an immediate, surprising victory over their enemies.  

From Jesus and Esther, we learn that God hears prayers and is never deaf to them. God’s answer is more than we ask–but according to his will. He gave his only Son the gift of new life after he passed through a trial of suffering and death. God’s answer to Esther was more immediate.

From Jesus and Esther we learn too that humility leads to prayer. Both are stretched out on the ground, humble before God, and their humility leads them to cry out to the One who hears them.

Our prayers are answered in different ways, but there’s always answer and the answer comes from love.

St. Paul of the Cross recognized the mystery surrounding petitionary prayer. In a letter he responds to someone who remarks that God’s playing games; we’re not sure of the outcome. Our faith is tested when we pray for things.

“I thank the Father of Mercies that you are improved in health, and you say well that the Lord seems to be playing games. That’s what Scripture says: ‘God plays on the earth,’ and ‘My delights are to be with the children of men.’  How fortunate is the soul that silently in faith allows the games of love the Sovereign Good plays and abandons itself to his good pleasure, whether in health or sickness, in life or in death!”

(Letter 920)

Lord,

I ask, I seek, I knock.

Hear my prayer 

and let it be done

according to your will. Amen

Can a World Repent?

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We think of lent in personal terms. It’s my time to turn to God, to repent. But is lent a time for the whole world, like Nineveh, to repent? That’s what St. Clement of Rome, an early pope hopes for. Can we hope for it too?

Lord, help our world turn to you!

 ” If we review the various ages of history, we will see that in every generation the Lord has offered the opportunity of repentance to any who were willing to turn to him. When Noah preached God’s message of repentance, all who listened to him were saved. Jonah told the Ninevites they were going to be destroyed, but when they repented, their prayers gained God’s forgiveness for their sins, and they were saved, even though they were not of God’s people.

  Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the ministers of God’s grace have spoken of repentance; indeed, the Master of the whole universe himself spoke of repentance with an oath: As I live,says the Lord, I do not wish the death of the sinner but his repentance. He added this evidence of his goodness: House of Israel, repent of your wickedness. Tell the sons of my people: If their sins should reach from earth to heaven, if they are brighter than scarlet and blacker than sackcloth, you need only turn to me with your whole heart and say, “Father,” and I will listen to you as a holy people.

  In other words, God wanted all his beloved ones to have the opportunity to repent and he confirmed this desire by his own almighty will. That is why we should obey his sovereign and glorious will and prayerfully entreat his mercy and kindness. We should be suppliant before him and turn to his compassion, rejecting empty works and quarrelling and jealousy which only lead to death.

  Brothers and sisters,, we should be humble in mind, putting aside all arrogance, pride and foolish anger. Rather, we should act in accordance with the Scriptures, as the Holy Spirit says: The wise man must not glory in his wisdom nor the strong man in his strength nor the rich man in his riches. Rather, let him who glories glory in the Lord by seeking him and doing what is right and just. Recall especially what the Lord Jesus said when he taught gentleness and forbearance. Be merciful,he said, so that you may have mercy shown to you. Forgive, so that you may be forgiven. As you treat others, so you will be treated. As you give, so you will receive. As you judge, so you will be judged. As you are kind to others, so you will be treated kindly. The measure of your giving will be the measure of your receiving.

Wednesday, 1st Week of Lent: The Sign of Jonah

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Jonah, Roman Catacombs


Luke 11:29-32

Jonah, starting out, doesn’t seem like much of a prophet, does he? He’s a frightened man fleeing the task God gives him–to preach repentance to the great city of Nineveh. He thinks it can’t be done. Not only does he think himself unable to preach repentance to that city but, as we see later in the story, he doesn’t think they deserve to be forgiven. He has a low estimation of God’s forgiveness.

He can’t stop the sailors who thought he cursed their ship from throwing him overboard. He would have been finished if the whale that swallowed him didn’t vomit him onto the shore at Nineveh.The people of Nineveh listened to Jonah and begged God for forgiveness. God calls Jonah to be his messenger of forgiveness.

In Jesus, a greater than Jonah calls us to take up his mission. Jesus announced his death and then rose from the belly of the earth. That’s his great word, his message of hope — God’s forgiveness. That message must be proclaimed to the whole world and the world must hear it.

Paintings and sculptures of the story of Jonah, like the above, often appear in the early Christian catacombs of Rome. There’s Jonah thrown to the whale. On the upper right panel, Moses strikes the rock and water flows, a sign of Baptism promising life. (Note the water flows over the whale) On the panel upper left, Jesus raises Lazarus from the grave.

The story of Jonah raises our hope and nourishes our prayers. God offers us a great mission and a great vision. As it was with Jonah, we may find it beyond our understanding and think our world unredeemable, but we are called to believe in the great mercy of God. but we are called to believe.

“Have mercy on me, O God, in your kindness” we pray in Psalm 51, our responsorial psalm today. Is that the prayer of one person, or is it the prayer of the whole world, yearning for forgiveness, like the people of Nineveh?

Lord,
I believe in the sign
that lifted you up and blesses us,
the sign of your Cross.
You bring resurrection and life to the world,.
Help us believe in what is beyond anything we know..
Amen.

For more: http://www.PassionistsPray.org

Prayer, Light of the Soul

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The highest good is prayer and conversation with God, because we are in God’s company and in union with him. When light enters our bodily eyes our eyesight is sharpened. When a soul is intent on God, God’s inextinguishable light shines into it and makes it bright and clear. I am talking, of course, of prayer that comes from the heart and not from routine: not the prayer that is assigned to particular days or particular moments in time, but the prayer that happens continuously by day and by night.

  Indeed the soul should not only turn to God at times of explicit prayer. Whatever we are engaged in, whether it is care for the poor, or some other duty, or some act of generosity, we should remember God and long for God. The love of God will be as salt is to food, making our actions into a perfect dish to set before the Lord of all things.

 Prayer is the light of the soul, true knowledge of God, a mediator between God and men. Prayer lifts the soul into the heavens where it hugs God in an indescribable embrace. The soul seeks the milk of God like a baby crying for the breast. It fulfils its own vows and receives in exchange gifts better than anything that can be seen or imagined.

  Prayer is a go-between linking us to God. It gives joy to the soul and calms its emotions. I warn you, though: do not imagine that prayer is simply words. Prayer is the desire for God, an indescribable devotion, not given by man but brought about by God’s grace. As St Paul says: though we cannot choose words in order to pray properly, the Spirit himself intercedes for us in a way that could never be put into words.

  If God gives to someone the gift of such prayer, it is a gift of imperishable riches, a heavenly food that satisfies the spirit. Whoever tastes that food catches fire and his soul burns for ever with desire for the Lord.

Pseudo-Chrysostom,,,

Tuesday, 1st Week of Lent

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The scripture readings at daily Mass during Lent are arranged differently than they are for the most of the year. For most of the year the readings are consecutive. There is no attempt to harmonize the first readings and the gospel readings.  

In Lent the first reading and the gospel complement each other. Our first reading today from Isaiah is a commentary on Matthew’s gospel where Jesus teaches his disciples the Our Father. (Matthew 5: 14-17) In this 1st week of Lent our readings contain Jesus teaching on prayer.

Isaiah adds an interesting dimension to Jesus’ teaching on prayer.

Thus says the LORD: Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth;

It shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10-11)

Isaiah says that God’s word comes from the heavens like rain and snow, watering the earth, making it fruitful, giving seed to the sower and bread to the one who eats. “It shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.”

Prayer is a gift from God in  heaven, whom Jesus tells us to pray to. God wishes to speak to us, to communicate with us, to share divine life with us his children, as “our Father.”  The gift is like rain and snow, mysteriously given,, yet in some way sure to come and effective. Prayer begins, not with us, but with God desiring friendship with us. 

It’s a gift that, like rain and snow, falls upon the whole earth. It falls on all people, on the publican who wonders if he belongs in the temple at all, on Queen Esther, the fallen-away Jewess whom we remember in Thursday’s reading this week, or the people of Nineveh who we remember on Wednesday. It falls on the just and the unjust. Prayer is a gift given to all.

Lent is a time for renewing our intimacy with God in prayer. It’s an intimacy drawing us to be like him. It’s a seed we’re given to cultivate, a valuable gift of God, our Father in heaven. Let’s care for it:

Our Father who art in heaven. ,hallowed be thy name, thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven .Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

“What prayer could be more a prayer in the spirit than the one given us by Christ, by whom the Holy Spirit was sent upon us? What prayer could be more a prayer in the truth than the one spoken by the lips of the Son, who is truth himself? It follows that to pray in any other way than the Son has taught us is not only the result of ignorance but of sin. He himself has commanded it, and has said: You reject the command of God, to set up your own tradition. 

 So, my brothers and sisters, , let us pray as God our master has taught us. To ask the Father in words his Son has given us, to let him hear the prayer of Christ ringing in his ears, is to make our prayer one of friendship, a family prayer. Let the Father recognise the words of his Son. Let the Son who lives in our hearts be also on our lips. We have him as an advocate for sinners before the Father; when we ask forgiveness for our sins, let us use the words given by our advocate. He tells us: Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. What more effective prayer could we then make in the name of Christ than in the words of his own prayer?” St. Cyprian, On the Lord’s Prayer

Reaadings: http://www.usccb.org

More: http://www.PassionistsPray.org

Feast of St. Polycarp: February 23

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Agora, Ismir (Smyrna). Wiki Commons

Today’s the feast of St. Polycarp. Some years ago, I visited Izmir in Turkey where Polycarp, a revered Christian bishop, was martyred about the year 155. The city was then called  Smyrna.  Now predominantly Muslim, there’s a small church of St. Polycarp in the city and up the mountain is the ancient agora and the ruins of the stadium where Polycarp was burned to death by the Romans.

The account of his martyrdom, sent to other Christian churches by the Christians of Smyrna, is one of the most interesting documents of the early church. Polycarp was an old man, 86. As a child he knew John the Apostle and was a friend of Ignatius of Antioch, another early bishop martyred for the faith. He was also a teacher of Irenaeus, who became bishop of Lyon in Gaul.

The old bishop went to his death peacefully and heroically, the account indicates:

“When the pyre was ready, Polycarp took off all his clothes and loosened his under-garment. He made an effort also to remove his shoes, though he had been unaccustomed to this, for the faithful always vied with each other in their haste to touch his body. Even before his martyrdom he had received every mark of honour in tribute to his holiness of life.

There and then he was surrounded by the material for the pyre. When they tried to fasten him also with nails, he said: “Leave me as I am. The one who gives me strength to endure the fire will also give me strength to stay quite still on the pyre, even without the precaution of your nails.” So they did not fix him to the pyre with nails but only fastened him instead. Bound as he was, with hands behind his back, he stood like a mighty ram, chosen out for sacrifice from a great flock, a worthy victim made ready to be offered to God.

Looking up to heaven, he said: “Lord, almighty God, Father of your beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, through whom we have come to the knowledge of yourself, God of angels, of powers, of all creation, of all the race of saints who live in your sight, I bless you for judging me worthy of this day, this hour, so that in the company of the martyrs I may share the cup of Christ, your anointed one, and so rise again to eternal life in soul and body, immortal through the power of the Holy Spirit. May I be received among the martyrs in your presence today as a rich and pleasing sacrifice. God of truth, stranger to falsehood, you have prepared this and revealed it to me and now you have fulfilled your promise.

“I praise you for all things, I bless you, I glorify you through the eternal priest of heaven, Jesus Christ, your beloved Son. Through him be glory to you, together with him and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.”

When he had said “Amen” and finished the prayer, the officials at the pyre lit it. But, when a great flame burst out, those of us privileged to see it witnessed a strange and wonderful thing. Indeed, we have been spared in order to tell the story to others. Like a ship’s sail swelling in the wind, the flame became as it were a dome encircling the martyr’s body. Surrounded by the fire, his body was like bread that is baked, or gold and silver white-hot in a furnace, not like flesh that has been burnt. So sweet a fragrance came to us that it was like that of burning incense or some other costly and sweet-smelling gum.”

One small incident occurred on our visit to Izmir I still remember. It happened during our visit to the Church of St. Polycarp, which is today the only Christian presence in a Muslim city. The custodian asked us to sign our names in the visitors’ book and as I did I noticed many signatures in Korean. When I asked about them, the custodian said the church is a favorite pilgrimage destination for Korean Catholics.

Somebody must have told Polycarp’s story in Korea and it must have impressed them there. A missionary priest or sister, perhaps? Heroes inspire us, old heroes as well as young. Who knows? But we need more Polycarps.

Here’s how Polycarp answered the judge who urged him to renounce his faith and live:

“I have been a servant of Christ for eighty-six years and no evil has come near me: how can I now speak against my king who has saved me?”

Monday, 1st Week of Lent

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“’Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?  When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’…Amen I say to you as long as you did it for one of the least, you did it for me.” Matthew 25, 31-46 Readings

Jesus was tempted to be a messiah of another kind, a messiah marked by ” power, success, and dominion and not by the total gift on the Cross, not by the messianism of gift and selfless love.” (Benedict XVI)

You don’t need to be hungry, thirsty, or sick; you don’t have to die. You can be above all that, Satan said to him. You can have all the kingdoms of this world. You can be a privileged religious leader who tells God what to do. One who receives instead of gives.

“Away with you, Satan,” Jesus says and he leaves the Jordan Valley. He goes, not to Jerusalem, center of religious and political power, but fo Galilee to give to those who “live in darkness and the shadow of death.”, to those described in today’s gospel as “the least:” the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the stranger, the sick, the prisoner. Jesus identifies with them.

“You shall love your neighbor as youself,” Moses teaches in today’s first reading. We must follow him. How? The readings this week tell us–by prayer.  “When did we see you?…” they say. Prayer helps us to see. Remember how much prayer was a part of Mother Teresa’s ministry to the poor. She saw in “the least” “Christ in disguise.” She saw because she was a woman of prayer which gave her eyes to see. Duk Soon Fwang in her painting of the saint befow has tears from her eyes giving life to an abandoned child.

There’s a grace in this season for seeing the least this way. Let’s ask for it

Lord Jesus Christ, may I see you in my neighbor, especially those “in disguise.” those in need who may seem unlike you.

May I love you in my neighbors, and find you in the least of them. Amen.

I ask myself who gave me the gift of life? I breathe, I know things, above all I know God and can hope for the kingdom of heaven and the sight of glory, however darkly as in a mirror I see it now.

I’m a child of God, one with Christ. Where did I get this; who gave it to me? I look at the world around me. Who gave me eyes to see the beauty of the sky, the sunlit universe,  the countless stars, the harmony of living things?

I feel the rain nourishing the earth bringing food to us all. I have family, friends. Who gave them to me? Can I see how generous God is to me and not be generous to all creation? How can I misuse the gifts I have been given?

God sends down rain on the just and the unjust. The sun rises on all creation. Birds have the air; fish have water. God gives abundantly. How can I say it’s only mine that’s meant for all?

Adapted from a reading from St. Gregory Nazienzen

For Today’s readings; http://www.usccb.org

For more: http://www.passionistspray.org