A Lenten Moment

Restless, during a morning meditation this Lent, a poignant memory popped into my reflection and changed my prayer.  In my younger years as a guidance counselor, I sometimes visited a classroom to deliver a message or speak to a student.  One morning, as I quietly opened the door to the woodworking class, I was taken aback by the hush in the room and the alluring scent of sawdust and wood shavings as the students went calmly about their projects.

In the centre of the classroom, clamped to a large table, stood a life-sized, maple cross made in the workshop and destined to have a permanent place in the school’s front entrance.  As I surveyed the peaceful scene, a young student wearing his white shirt and dark pants quietly walked to the large cross, put his back to it and measured himself upon it.  He paused for a short time and silently walked back to his work.  Only I witnessed the moving experience and was awed and overcome with love. As is often the case, so much of what one feels is left unspoken.

Image: Unsplash/Aaron Burden

As my mind returned to my meditation, the long-ago memory provided a deep grace in my day.  How blessed were those students to have that old rugged cross in their midst during those Lenten days.  I’m sure the young fellow was not the only one who had deep thoughts about Jesus and the meaning of life.

Looking back over my years in education, I was blessed to be among thousands of young people making their way through the academic grades. I am proud of our Catholic education system that imparts scriptural knowledge and moral values in an atmosphere of peace and kindness.  Today, I pray for the amazing youth in our schools and for the fresh-faced young people in Russia and Ukraine who neither asked for a war nor ever dreamed they would be called to serve. I hope we are able, like that young student years ago, to measure ourselves against the cross - and have it steady us.

 -Sister Jean Moylan, csj

Fourth Sunday of Lent 2022

Image: Unsplash/Tiffany Nguyen

Be sure and pick a rose for this Sunday. Yes, the Fourth Sunday of Lent is called Laetare Sunday, and the liturgical colour is rose. “Laetare” meaning ‘rejoice’, has its place in our Lenten journey similar to “Gaudete Sunday” in Advent when we pause to anticipate the joy of Christ’s coming. Laetare is a more solemn anticipation, but nonetheless a moment in our penitential Lenten path to remember our Creator is a God of love who invites us to healing of body, mind and spirit. The grace of God’s compassionate love is always beside us in our trials and struggles of life.

Simnel cake has been eaten since medieval times as both a rich, sweet treat and a symbolic ritual. The fruit cake is topped with eleven marzipan balls to represent the eleven apostles of Christ, minus Judas.

With the change of colour we recognize it’s a time to briefly glimpse the joy and celebration that awaits us at Easter, like a spring crocus unexpectedly breaking through the earth. In medieval England simnel cakes (special rich fruitcakes) were a treat given out on this day. It is a signal time of hope and encouragement. Always our Creator is a God of compassionate mercy. Our lives follow a cycle of God’s birth life, death, and resurrection and Laetare Sunday reminds us to keep our perspective of the whole journey in mind and heart. As we are born of the Earth, so our spiritual lives are birthed and rebirthed. Soon the fields will break into green garments, the song time of returning birds will be heard and flowers appear in tidy gardens - and in the most impossible cracks of our pathways. Hope will once again be birthed in God’s creation.

“Soon the fields will break into green garments, the song time of returning birds will be heard and flowers appear in tidy gardens - and in the most impossible cracks of our pathways. Hope will once again be birthed in God’s creation. ”

In today’s scripture the themes of God’s generous nourishment and abundant forgiveness is traced through the readings. In Joshua there is the celebration of Passover with the first produce of the land of Canaan that year. And in the Gospel God’s unconditional love and forgiveness is illustrated in the parable of the ‘Prodigal Son’. Although we might well quibble that the lost son didn’t deserve such a feast upon his return from squandering his father’s inheritance, God’s stance in the father’s actions turns our worldly logic upside down. Repentance and sincere contrition are the only the grounds for God’s unconditional love. The way home to our true self in God’s heart and love is open to us.

Each of us have our lost and shadow selves that we would rather not admit to having. Although we’d rather hide them, sometimes our shortcomings and fears, unworthiness and self-doubts are calling out to us for acceptance and compassionate love. As John 4:18 writes, “perfect love casts out fear”. Fear can be an astute warning sign of danger, but when it overtakes us, fear becomes a self-punishment. That is not God’s way, and the message of Jesus constantly reminds and assures us of this ultimate reality. God’s embracing love is there to clothe us in resilient hope and new courage in all times and circumstances.

St. Paul calls us to be ministers of reconciliation, for as we know God’s forgiveness and compassionate love, so we are called to share the abundance of compassion with those we encounter. It is the way of the heart. And it is the message of the rose.

-Sister Linda Gregg, csj

Third Sunday of Lent

A BOLD GESTURE

Today, in John’s Gospel account (Jn 2:13-25) we move from a wedding celebration held in Cana to a riot-like scenario in the temple of Jerusalem.  What a shock and sight that must have been!  Jesus is seen displaying anger by upending tables, shooing animals using a whip, causing money to fly all over the place.  What is this outburst all about?  Psalm 69 sheds light on the situation by  describing Jesus’ bold gesture in these words: “It is zeal for your house that has consumed me.” It wouldn’t be until much later that the disciples of Jesus would remember these words and connect them to the Psalmist’s meaning.  The message is clear and urgent! 

“Stop making my Father’s house a house of merchandise.” (John 2:16). 

What is most intriguing about Jesus cleansing the temple is the ongoing structural injustice within the Temple itself.  A justified system had become one in which the leaders used laws to marginalize the poor.  Jesus wanted nothing of this kind of business!  With his time getting shorter, there lay his deep sense of urgency to address injustices such as greed and power. Hence, the display of anger on Jesus’ part is seen as a bold gesture to shake up things and to wake up the financial and spiritual temple leaders from corruption.    

Although the leaders display upset over Jesus’ overt use of authority, they had not yet comprehended the symbolism of the Temple which is God’s dwelling place.  God not only dwelt within the temple but also within the people and today, within us!  Yes, Jesus came in the flesh to be within us and among us.

This week, we might consider Jesus’ bold gesture and ask ourselves some challenging questions as we prepare for the Easter Resurrection. What bold gestures are needed in our time?  Where do I/we need to stand boldly and be a voice for the voiceless?  What does not belong in God’s temple and needs transformation?   

-Sister Linda Parent, csj

Dancing in the Wilderness

Dancing and wilderness seem to be opposite realities, but in this time of necessary social distancing which in itself is a paradoxical term, we need to discover once again that the human spirit is capable of continuing the Dance of life.

For Christians throughout the world, the Season of Lent has just begun and is a reminder of the journey into the wilderness to which all Christians are called.

Because of the Coronavirus, ALL of us, Christian or not have been drawn into a wilderness unprecedented in our lives. This can be a gift or a curse.

As a gift, it is providing an opportunity for us to go deeper and to take a “long loving look at the real” that is ours now.  The “real” is a mixture of suffering, death, loss of freedoms once enjoyed, and on the other hand, a time for reading into the meaning of our lives, to discovering our passion for life, and how we are called to live that life to the full.

The invitation to the dance of life involves a long look at aging which involves considering:

• entitlement: how deeply can we let go of it?

• entitlement to work?

• entitlement to status?

• to being productive?

• to body control?

• to the movement of limbs?

• to eating quietly and cleanly?

• to controlling anger

• to understanding my own responses

• to drive a car

• to walk long distances

• to memory?

We know in our own lived experience that we are dealing with these realities and we also know that by living in the moment we can celebrate who and how we are.  All we need to do is to choose to do just that.  The Dance in the wilderness need not be a dance of doom but one of delight if we but choose the steps.  It may be writing poetry, or journaling, or meaningful reading. It is the invitation to go into the wilderness in a way that we never have done before individually or as a society.... very mindfully. 

The wilderness on the political scene we have witnessed in the last 4 years in the U.S.  Silence was consent to all that was done or NOT done and as a result, core values of decency, honesty, respect, and truthfulness were thrown aside. Where has all the goodness gone?

We witness blatant racism, white supremacy in many countries, including Canada in its relationship with Indigenous peoples and in some cases with refugees.

We must face the massive climate change which threatens to bring the human species to extinction.

The list could go on and on, but in fact, we ARE in the wilderness and we need to talk about it. We need to dance a new step of openness, togetherness.

The Coronavirus and the variants are now facing the whole world.  It is interesting how it is now on the front burner of government agendas.  The time of silence or denial is over in a world crisis.  We are in this together.

So, let’s begin a NEW Dance of LIFE together.

-Sister Kathleen Lichti, csj