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Tag Archives: Ash Wednesday

Beginning Again

26 Wednesday Feb 2020

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Ash Wednesday, Lent, Scripture, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

So it begins…six weeks of traveling toward Jerusalem with Jesus. It seems that we just celebrated the welcome of “the baby Jesus” into the world – and so we have. Our attention to the seasons of our faith ought to keep up with the speed of what seems an accelerate passage of time, but really the calendar is still the same. It’s just that the acceleration of change in this world and our consciousness has increased. Science can barely keep up so it isn’t so strange that we have difficulty doing so.

The readings for today have many encouraging words for how to move through the season of Lent. Here are my favorites that simply call us to attention to our own lives and actions while asking God for help. Think on these things.

>A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me.

>Brothers and sisters, we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us. We implore you, be reconciled to God!

>If today you hear his voice, Harden not your hearts.

>When you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.

>(My personal favorite) Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart…Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord. For gracious and merciful is he…even now!

Mardi Gras

25 Tuesday Feb 2020

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abstention, Ash Wednesday, fasting, Lent, Mardi Gras, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, transformation

New Orleans is a great city to visit. The best thing about it, in my opinion, is the music. My best memory of the only time I visited “The Big Easy” is sitting on the curb in the French Quarter (because there was no possibility of squeezing one more person inside) listening to the best jazz music possible where the instruments themselves speak a language of life in all its joys and trials. I wouldn’t want to be there today, however, as it is Mardi Gras (“Fat Tuesday”) and a million guests are expected in the French Quarter for today’s celebrations.

I did some “surfing” this morning to see if I could find anything about the real meaning of this day when revelers follow the dictum of “eat, drink and be merry…” but there isn’t much attention given to the “morning after” where the revelry ends and the meaning lies.

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent, when Christians traditionally turn their attention to fasting and prayer, good deeds and sacrifice in order to reflect on the sufferings of Jesus in the lead-up to Easter. These days the strictures of the season have been relaxed. Rules of “fasting and abstention” from meat apply only to two days instead of every Friday and meal size restriction isn’t generally talked about any more. Giving up candy for Lent doesn’t seem as relevant; doing good deeds has become more the norm. Maturity seems to hold sway these days in our Lenten living.

The goal of any Lenten practice should not end with the celebration of Easter. Transformation is (and always has been) the goal. We pray and reflect more deeply during this season to follow the example of Jesus, loving more universally, living more honestly and giving more generously of ourselves.

Would that these weeks of practice would be so powerful that we would never “go back” but always move to deeper and broader living in God. It is possible. Why not make that the goal this year?

Today Is the Day

01 Wednesday Mar 2017

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Ash Wednesday, bigheartedness, clean heart, determination, hear his voice, heart, honest intention, Joel, Matthew, motivation, psalm 51, Psalm 95, spirit, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, truth, whole heart

aashwedheartThere’s an urgency running through the Scripture readings this morning that calls us to recognize this moment. It’s as if we are crouched at the starting line of a race, having registered late, maybe, but waiting for the gun to signal: “GO!” The prophet Joel starts it off with his initial words: Even now, declares the Lord. St. Paul picks up the theme telling us that now is the acceptable time and Psalm 95:8 (the gospel acclamation) chimes in with the familiar line: If today you hear God’s voice…These are the prompts that get us from “READY” to “SET” but what will start us running?

It’s all about the heart, you see. This season of Lent could be called “Forty Days of Big-heartedness.” Joel says it doesn’t matter how bad you’ve been because even now, declares the Lord, return to me with your whole heart! Rend your hearts, not your garments. (JL 2:12-13). Harden not your hearts, Psalm 95 adds. So how are we to accomplish this softening inside in order to draw closer to God?

First, we have to take stock of our lives – not necessarily an exhaustive search for what needs correction, but just an honest look in the mirror that will start us on the humble road to conversion. Then we have to ask for God’s help, as with anything we do. Psalm 51 gives us a way to start. A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me. Lastly, we might turn to today’s gospel for a detailed way to pray that makes concrete that humble turning that we wish to achieve. Just a few words of Jesus from the text (MT 6:1-6, 16-18) will give us the idea.

Jesus said to his disciples: Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them…When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you…do not let your left hand know what your right is doing…When you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret…When you fast…anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to be fasting…

It’s easy to get the point about honest intention, motivation and determination, i.e. working from the inside. May your Lenten journey begin today with attention to the beating of your heart for the good of all you encounter. And may the love you share during this season make you stronger in the knowledge that, in truth, it really is all about the heart.

Proclaim a Fast

12 Friday Feb 2016

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abstinence, Ash Wednesday, consciousness, fasting, food, fundamental human right, hungry, Isaiah, Lent, Lenten journey, oppessed, Roman Catholic Church, sharing, Sisters of St. Joseph, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, unjust

Baby Girl at the Kitchen Table My mind is racing already after reading the lectionary texts today. I don’t know if I can settle on one topic emerging from the message of Isaiah. Perhaps it isn’t always necessary to be able to wrap my words up into a tight, cohesive package. I may just strive this morning for coherence and leave cohesion by the wayside. We’ll see how it goes.

Here is what Isaiah shouts today in God’s name on the topic of fasting that definitely reverberates down through the ages. Would that today you might fast so as to make your voice heard on high!…This is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; clothing the naked when you see them and not turning your back on your own. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn and your wound shall quickly be healed. (IS 58:1-9A)

On Wednesday (Ash Wednesday, still an official day of fast and abstinence in the Roman Catholic Church – one of only two in Lent these days) I was so aware of my eating. Running through my mind was the rule that “two small meals equal the one main meal” and “no meat at any meal.” The challenge was not finding what I could eat to fit that description but in the second part of the stricture of no eating between meals. The issue was consciousness. Happily, I was on the road working about 80 miles away from home because when I’m home the challenge is always to notice when I pick up a cracker or a grape walking through the kitchen if I feel hungry – or even if not. But there was the moment on Wednesday when I stopped to fill my car’s gas tank at a station with a convenience store attached. I had to remind myself not to go in and pick up a candy bar or a small bag of potato chips, “just in case…” Food is so accessible in my life; I need to be more responsible to that fact.

Yesterday I read an article in the semi-annual publication of our province of Sisters of St. Joseph. Our Social Justice Coordinator was writing about a collaboration between two organizations uniting to fight hunger. One, Great Nations Eat, is using the technology of media like TV, radio, or even billboards and internet like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to raise consciousness. “We put a man on the moon. Feeding our people shouldn’t be rocket science” and “America can’t be great on an empty stomach” are two of their slogans aimed at making people think. The other organization, Share Our Strength, is similarly motivated to call on Americans to unite in the effort to fight hunger. “It [hunger] affects the life of one in six Americans. That doesn’t happen in any other developed nation. It shouldn’t happen here,” says founder and CEO, Billy Shore. “Ending hunger is possible. It will take public awareness and political outreach to build the necessary national will…”

So it isn’t just about eating or not eating; it’s more about consciousness that setting free the oppressed and unbinding the yoke of others in our midst or in our world can start with feeding the hungry. Here recent images on the news of emaciated children in war-torn places in the Middle East come to mind. It’s all connected and we are all responsible. My province of the Sisters of St. Joseph has committed us to address this issue in the following ways: 1. to promote and to advocate for the recognition and realization that food is a fundamental human right, and 2. to be part of developing and implementing a comprehensive strategy to end hunger on the local, national and international levels. That is a big order and it is clear that we do not assume we can do it alone. Even small steps, tiny actions are important. On yesterday’s local news, for example, there was a report of elementary school children from Owego, NY – a rural area – collecting cans of soup last week in the run-up to the Super Bowl game to donate to homeless people served by the Tioga County rural outreach organization directed by one of our Sisters. These children gave Sister Mary 524 cans of soup and learned a great lesson of caring at the same time.

Enough! We all have our own work to do to respond to God’s call through Isaiah. Who will you notice on your Lenten journey who needs your help? How will you recognize his/her hunger? What will you do to feed it? And what about me? What will I do next time? It’s about each of us and all of us. May we walk together into a brighter, more caring future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Lenten Journey

10 Wednesday Feb 2016

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40 days, Ash Wednesday, Christ's journey, consciousness, Corinthians, devotion, disciplines, God's voice, grace, harden not your hearts, humility, Joel, Lent, practices, psalm 51, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

ashesFor many Christians around the world, today is like another New Year’s Day. We are full of enthusiasm for making resolutions at the beginning of Lent, this season of pilgrimage dedicated to reflection on Christ’s journey toward Jerusalem that culminates in his passion, death and resurrection. Readings for this Ash Wednesday are full of instruction on how to act during these 40 days. The prophet Joel starts us off with a clarion call from God saying: Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart…Rend your heart, not your garments and return to the Lord, your God. Psalm 51 chimes in with this: A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me…a willing spirit sustain in me. St. Paul is his usual ardent self as he urges the Corinthians: Working together, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For He says, “In an acceptable time I have heard you and on the day of salvation I helped you. Behold, now is a very acceptable time…” The verse before the gospel is as familiar as it is instructive: If today you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts.

Finally, all of these hints of how to act culminate in a message of Jesus that is full of true devotion, humility and mature practice for our actions and our prayer. Take care, Jesus says, not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them. (This is a good place to stop and think as it holds a great temptation sometimes. We all want to be well thought of, after all.) But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door and pray to your Father in secret…When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites…But…anoint your head and wash your face so that you may not appear to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden…(No drama, just sincerity.)

You can see by all the ellipses that I have chosen just the snippets that serve my purpose which is to look at a deeper way to consider not just the practices that we choose as Lenten disciplines but rather at the underlying purpose of them. It is all about the heart, you see. All about our movement toward the heart of our striving, which is entrance into the heart of God. So if it is chocolate that you give up for these 40 days, do it to remind yourself each time you reach out for a piece that God is the sweetness that you truly desire. If you take a daily trek to Church, make that your inner room where you and God can be alone, in communion. Above all that we can take along on this pilgrimage, let one of our companions be a consciousness of how Jesus walked his journey in his full humanity, carrying out his mission of love and surrender to the God in whose heart he lived every moment of every day. And let us do the same, together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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