Our readings for the 1st week of Lent are wonderful teachings on prayer. .Prayer is a conversation with God, who made heaven and earth. We can come into God’s presence. Monday’s readings this week remind us of God’s care for everything in heaven and earth. As his children, we’re to share his care for all things.

.In Matthew’s Gospel , Tuesday, Jesus tells us God is “Our Father”.We can come to God as his children. He gives us daily bread, what we need each day. He gives us forgiveness and strength to come to him, no matter what trials we meet. God gives us the gift of prayer to know him. Like the snow and rain that falls constantly on the earth, that gift always falls on us. We can pray to him.

Wednesday’s readings tells us that prayer is about more than ourselves and our own needs. The story of Jonah says we’re part of a world bigger than our own. Like Jonah in Nineveh, we belong to a larger world we must care for, God’s world.

Never lose confidence in prayer and what it makes possible, Jesus tells us in Thursday’s readings. “Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find. Knock and the door with open” .

In Friday’s readings Jesus says we must approach the altar of God’s presence with hearts free from resentment, harsh judgment and anger. Otherwise, our prayer become weak and blind. We cannot see.  (Friday)

We must pray even for our enemies, we hear on Saturday, this week, for our Father in heaven makes the sun shine on the just and the unjust and the rain to fall on saints and sinners.

Lent is an important time to appreciate the gift of prayer. It’s a time for all of us, young or old, even those who don’t pray, to grow in prayer,

For this week’s homily please play the video below.

Here’s a sermon from, St. Leo the Great about prayer, fasting and almsgiving, the three usual recommendations for our lenten season.. Leo guided the Roman church early in the 5th century in troubled times, maybe like ours.

Barbarian tribes poured through Rome’s defenses along the Rhine River on its northern frontier, threatening the Italian peninsula. Many of Rome’s elite left for the safety of Constantinople, the empire’s new center. Rome was left with an army incapable of defending the city. The Romans barricaded themselves in their homes with everything they had, convinced the world was ending.

Leo’s sermon focuses on the most important lenten recommendation for his time – almsgiving.  As governments today give up a role of support for the needy and turn to builiding their armies and their economy, Leo”s word might well be directed to us today. He puts it in more elegant language than mine, but he tells his people “Stick together.”    

“There is no more profitable practice as a companion to holy and spiritual fasting than that of almsgiving. The works of mercy are innumerable. Their very variety brings this advantage to those who are true Christians. In the matter of almsgiving not only the rich and affluent but also those of average means and the poor are able to play their part. Those who are unequal in their capacity to give can be equal in the love within their hearts.”

“The works of mercy are innumerable.” Rich or poor can show mercy, according to what you can do. . Forget yourself and think of someone  else and do something, Leo says. “The works of mercy are innumerable.” Love makes them all equal. 

Pope Francis talks like that too.  What can we do for others?

As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up,
knelt down before him, and asked him,
“Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good?
No one is good but God alone.
You know the commandments: You shall not kill;
you shall not commit adultery;
you shall not steal;
you shall not bear false witness;
you shall not defraud;
honor your father and your mother.”
He replied and said to him,
“Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.” 
Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him,
“You are lacking in one thing.
Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor
and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”
At that statement, his face fell,
and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples,
“How hard it is for those who have wealth
to enter the Kingdom of God!”
The disciples were amazed at his words.
So Jesus again said to them in reply,
“Children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God!
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle
than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.”
They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves,
“Then who can be saved?”
Jesus looked at them and said,
“For men it is impossible, but not for God.
All things are possible for God.”

For this week’s homily please watch the video below.

On weekdays this year we’ve been reading from the Book of Sirach at Mass, and today, the 8th Sunday C, we read it along with the Gospel of Luke.  

The early church used the Book of Sirach for teaching people, especially young people, about the Christian faith. The Book of Sirach was once called the Book of Ecclesiastes, a book for the church. I think Sirach is a Jewish contribution to the church’s catechesis.

Who was Sirach? He was probably a devout Jewish father or grandfather who lived in Jerusalem about 200 years before Jesus, and was writing for younger people, his son or grandson likely among them. 

They were facing changing times. Alexander the Great had conquered the Middle East and Jerusalem. Their world was not going to be the same as their fathers’ and grandfathers’. A different  world.

What does Sirach tell them, this new generation? He doesn’t say “You’re on your own. Brush your teeth, stay healthy and I hope you get a good job.” He has more important advice.

 “Fear of the Lord,” he says over and over.  He’s not telling them to be afraid of God, No. He tells them to keep God, all powerful and wise, before them always. Don’t get lost in yourself or a slave to the times you live in. 

God is present everywhere. God’s wisdom is in the world you will live in and in your experience of daily life. Learn from your life. 

Fear of the Lord is like fear of the sea. We may gain new knowledge and build larger vessels to go on its waters, but we still must fear the sea. It has its own laws. We must accept them, if we don’t want to drown.

God’s not only God of the past, God’s with us always, Sirach says. Follow the Creator’s laws. Don’t forget your religious tradition and its heroes. They can help you. God’s with you on your journey into the future, leading you on.

Always know who you are, Sirach says to the young in today’s reading. Listen to what you say and how you think “one’s speech discloses the bent of one’s mind.” Listen to yourself and watch yourself; you’re responsible for your own life. 

“As the test of what the potter molds is in the furnace, so in tribulation is the test of the just.” Sirach also knows life can be hard and doesn’t always play out the way we’d like. How we meet disappointments and suffering is one of life’s greatest tests. You’re going to be challenged and mocked and made fun of. Hold on to your faith, Sirach says. Don’t give up. God is with you.

Sirach’s teaching resembles the teaching of Jesus in today’s gospel. 

Keep an eye on yourself. If you only pay attention to others and criticize everyone else. Blind, you will fall into a pit.

 A rotten tree doesn’t bear good fruit. Listen to what you say and how you think. That will tell you what your heart is like. What you’re like.

We need this kind of wisdom today, don’t we? The wisdom of Sirach and of Jesus. A wisdom to be passed on from one generation to the next.