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1.
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Lent 1 A 2023
I always say that Lent comes at a good time each year.
No, I am not excited that it is time for my family to take a
closer look at faults and failings and "give things up" that
fuel them. For me, Lent is the designated but gentle time to
understand more fully why I still need to be rescued,
redeemed, and put back on a more joyful visible path of
hope, even though I am not an evil person. A quick glance at
the news or where you spend a lot of time, perhaps a chat or
two with folks with whom you share deeply and honestly, or
just a quiet time to remove the mask we all wear sometimes
(so we don't crumble in front of those who look up to us )
might be revealing. All of us need either a different path
entirely or Someone to walk more closely with us through the
current symbolic or real blizzard or flood or windstorm or
earthquake or hot spell that touches us or those we love.
Our Scriptures today have somewhat different words than
the ones I am used to hearing/reading. I don't remember the
reading from Genesis mentioning that the forbidden
fruit/tree was "desirable for obtaining wisdom" although I
have thought about that before. Sin presents itself as a
"good" of some kind, always has, always will. Our task and
path to holiness, I think, is to trust God's ways and words
MORE than what we or another human person might think, want,
suggest or do. Maybe this Lent I should follow the
suggestion of my cats as they try to sit and snuggle with me
MORE so I can sit and pray about that!
Maybe Lent 2023 should be about MORE. More of what God
wants necessarily means less of other things. Another thing
I always say is that I cannot give anyone more time than the
allotted 24 hours each of us gets each day. I can give more
of my time to someone or readjust how I spend my time, but
that is it. Maybe that is the answer for this Lent and the
pathway to follow.
Jesus trusted the Spirit to take him into the desert to
be tempted. Jesus knew the Father completely. He thus
weathered the temptations that were presented to him by
Satan in the desert and, actually, through his entire life
including the crucifixion. In some way, Jesus's life, death,
and resurrection prefigure our own journey. It is the way,
the truth, and the life we profess to seek, honestly without
so much suffering, but ultimately.
What is it that we can do MORE of that will help us be
MORE authentic Christians and followers of Christ? Lent
traditionally offers us prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. For
my MORE suggestion relating to fasting, what unhelpful
practices of convenience or desire or omission can we fast
from and replace by feasting on opposite ones that will
bring us more in tune with God's lasting promises? Yes, I'm
going to go pat a cat and pray about that myself!
Blessings,
Dr. Lanie
LeBlanc OP
Southern
Dominican Laity
lanie@leblanc.one
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2.
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First Sunday of Lent February 26, 2023
Genesis 2:7-9 & 3:1-7; Responsorial Psalm 51;
Romans 5:12-19; Gospel Acclamation Matthew 4:4;
Matthew4:1-11
The crazy liturgists have done it in this Sunday’s
liturgy of the Word. They chose two verses from chapter two
of Genesis. Those two verses speak of the creation of
humanity. This was no creation by word as the Creator did
with the rest of creation, including living animals. No, it
is most significant and something that is overlooked. God
creating a lump of clay into a living person accomplished by
God blowing God’s breath into the clay nostrils of this
form, this Adam. Unlike the rest of living beings, only
humanity comes to life with the breath of God. That’s a
really big deal that sets up the rest of the Genesis reading
for the rest of our first reading this Sunday. The breath of
God story means that we are created to live God’s life. And,
before we forget, that life is eternal.
Oops! So the low down, sneaky, cunning serpent is given a
speaking part. The purveyor of evil inhabits this creeping
creature and insists to Eve and then to Adam through Eve
that eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil will cause them to live forever. Ha! They already
have the breath of God which is forever. And yet humanity
falls for this fabrication by the evil one. So now humanity
knows of evil and it causes the beauty of what they are, the
wonder of their bodies to become sources of shame. The story
here really tells us that what is good becomes bad. By
knowing the possibility of evil what is good, beautiful, and
a unifying force through intimacy brings shame and guilt to
persons. The breath of God in individuals suffers
corruption.
In a sense, humanity was tested as gold is tested by
fire, silver purified by testing it, concrete tested to
verify its ability to support and divide structures. Steel
is created by fire and alloys and is tested to verify its
strength. And humanity failed that trial, that test.
This first reading helps us understand what is happening
to Jesus after his fasting and prayer in that terrible
desert between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. The word used for
Jesus’ trial is temptation. Unfortunately, this translation
is weak. Just as concrete is tested, just as the water
supply for cities is constantly tested for purity sufficient
for consumption, so also Jesus beginning his mission has his
understanding, his knowledge of the prophets and the law,
and his approach to his mission tested. Jesus’ mission is to
win the hearts and minds of creation that lives because of
the breath of God. Jesus is tested regarding his resolve,
his understanding of the objective of Mosaic Law, and the
prophets’ interpretation of events in the light of God’s
plan.
The three temptations are a road map to avoid the
pitfalls that life offers to test us. The stones into loaves
of bread test: Jesus certainly had the power and would have
realized he had that power. How would he use that power? Had
he used that power to gain followers, it would have been a
selfish use of his power. Persuading humans by giving them
material things, especially things necessary for survival,
would have gained him instant popularity. Ah, but how
quickly that popularity would have turned into "what have
you done for me lately?" Making bread out of the plentiful
stones would have been a bribe. Besides that, bribery
negates the understanding that human life is full of
challenges. Jesus insists those challenges are a taking up
of our own cross. Jesus’ model for human life is giving our
talents in service of others. A second thought why Jesus
would not use bribery is this: to feed humans’ hunger more
than physical means healing the damage sin does to us.
Feeding only a physical hunger instead of healing brokenness
makes the soul’s sickness worse.
The second test of Jesus’ approach is using sensational
acts. The problem with this is that using sensationalism
brings with it increasing demands and expectations for more
and more, greater and greater feats of magic and
superstition. The God expects us to understand our living
contains possibilities that are risky, especially in service
of God’s Kingdom. Sensationalism is a method of drawing
attention and is about gaining following for ourselves.
Using God’s gifts to us in service of our pride and
arrogance is a misuse harming our character and diminishing
our relationship with God. God is not a transactional God –
"you do for me, then I’ll do for you."
The third testing has to do with Jesus bringing salvation
to the world. This third test regards compromising the
meaning and application of salvation. Gaining a following of
all the nations of the world would require setting standards
of behavior and relationship that compromise to the values
of the world. Wealth, power, fame were the enticements of
the way of the world. For Jesus to compromise with those,
seeking the energy of great wealth, wielding great power,
gaining a fan-club of millions – none of these would bring
the salvation for which God sent his Son. The persons living
with the breath of God are the objects of Jesus’ work. This
is not about adoration of Jesus. It is about returning
persons to God, the Creator, whose breath enlivens each
person --- EQUALLY – and the sanctity of the person. It is
us returning to the bosom of God. All that comes from the
Creator seeks to return to is source and its salvation.
This testing of the character of Jesus by the evil one
clarified Jesus’ methods. He would never bribe humanity into
following him. Jesus would never use sensational displays to
gain even a temporary following. Recall that his miracles of
healing were always about the person healed. Frequently
Jesus insists that "your faith has healed you." All his
miracles were about bringing back to the community of
humanity those whose disease, infirmity, physical
challenges, addictions, and any disability kept from
participating in the community. And in the third test, we
learn there would never be any compromise in Jesus’ methods.
That choice, that failure to water down the message and the
healing would lead him to Gethsemane and a final test of his
will. Finally, his way led to the Cross. There he took upon
himself all human suffering, all pain, all rejection, all
sin, and all human failings. It was there his message
underwent its final testing.
This is no solicitation, these temptations of Jesus, to
do evil. These so-called temptations were a testing of Jesus
and how he approached his mission. Again, we should think of
Gethsemane and that final testing of Jesus will. This
beginning of Lent, it would be helpful if we thought about
this testing and see how our daily living mirrors these
tests. Most theologians believe that these tests occurred
not only directly following his baptism. These continued
through out his ministry. As proof of that recall after each
significant event in Jesus’ public life, he retired to an
isolated place to pray. We should believe getting away for
prayer applies to us as we seek to measure up to Jesus’ way.
However, we can never forget our life derives from the
"breath" of God.
Dennis
Keller
dkeller002@nc.rr.com
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3.
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Year A: 1st Sunday of Lent
‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every
word that comes from the mouth of God.’
We believe that women and men do not live by bread alone,
but by the presence and goodness of God in our lives. It is
that Presence which lives in and through us in the World,
making us the best that we can be for our own good and for
the love of the people who need us the most.
Two of my oldest friends are called Colin and Sarah. They
married more than twenty years ago. And, quite quickly they
had two children, called Edward and David. Then, about four
years after they married, just when they had settled down
comfortably to live happily ever after, Sarah was found to
have a brain tumour - a cancer of the brain. She had to have
surgery followed by other treatment. She was very ill, very
frightened and in a lot of pain and frequently she could not
eat. So Colin made a promise to Sarah that on those days
when Sarah could not eat, he would not eat either. He
thought that was a way he could show solidarity with his
wife in her time of suffering. The doctors expected the
treatment to last six months and he thought he could
probably keep it up that long.
There were many days when he regretted that promise. The
treatment actually lasted more than two years. Sarah
gradually became more ill with it, with more and more severe
chemotherapy and radiotherapy and there were more and more
days when she could not eat. So Colin did not eat either. He
lost weight and began to look unwell.
His friends, myself included, tried to persuade him that
if he ate normally, he would be stronger and better able to
look after his wife and the two boys. We told him to go and
ask Sarah to release him from his promise – surely she would
understand. And, to be fair to him, he gave it serious
thought. But in the end, he just couldn’t do that. For him a
promise was a promise. And he said that it had meant a lot
to Sarah that he was prepared to suffer along with her at
least a little bit. And he didn’t want to take that away
from her. Once he had stood with her before an altar and
promised to love, honour and cherish her, for better, for
worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health
till death did them part. And he had meant it when he said
it.
But then it became clear that the treatment wasn’t
working. The cancer was growing - out of control. They
couldn’t stop it and Sarah was going to die.
And eventually Sarah did die and Colin was heartbroken.
He hardly ate at all and collapsed into deep depression. He
still took good care of the two boys, but he was in a bad
way and it took him many months to recover.
That was just about twelve years ago.
Just recently I spoke to him on the phone and Colin told
me how glad he was to have fasted along with his wife. He
felt he had genuinely been with her every step of the way
and had participated – even if only a little – in her
sufferings. Having grieved with her before she died, he was
strong enough to endure it when she died.
That too is why we will fast in Lent.
We will walk with Jesus – and we will suffer with him -
just a little bit, but an important little bit– on his way
to Jerusalem and to His death. Because in sharing His death,
we also share His Resurrection.
For a Christian, to fast means to hunger, not for food,
but for God – to do without food in order that we may
experience our deeper hunger for the presence of God.
I tell you this story today because next Friday would
have been; no, will be… Sarah’s 52nd birthday. On that day,
Colin, Edward and David will be fasting in her memory.
They do not live by bread alone.
And neither do we.
One more thought – I stole this piece of paper from the
desk of one of my brother Jesuits. Well, let’s say rather
that I took it hoping he wouldn’t mind and that I would be
able to sneak it back before he noticed. It is by Pope
Francis and it is beautiful:
- Do you want to fast this Lent?
- Fast from hurting words and say kind words.
- Fast from sadness and be filled with gratitude.
- Fast from anger and be filled with patience
- Fast from pessimism and be filled with hope.
- Fast from worries and have trust in God.
- Fast from complaints and contemplate simplicity.
- Fast from pressures and be prayerful.
- Fast from bitterness and fill your hearts with joy.
- Fast from selfishness and be compassionate to
others.
- Fast from grudges and be reconciled.
- Fast from words and be silent so you can listen.
- Let us stand and profess our Faith in God's life in
us.
Paul
O'Reilly SJ <fatbaldnproud@opalityone.net>
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4.
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Volume 2 is for you. Your thoughts, reflections,
and insights on the next Sundays readings can influence the
preaching you hear. Send them to
preacherexchange@att.net. Deadline is
Wednesday Noon. Include your Name, and Email Address.
-- Fr. John Boll, OP
