Preparing My Easter Confession, Being Drawn to Christ

 

Saturday, 2 March, St. Rose of Lima in Garretson

THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT

Ex 20:1-17

1 Cor 1:22-25

Jn 2:13-25

 

Praised be Jesus Christ!

       How’s your Lent going? Here we are at the 3^rd Sunday already! From the Book of Exodus we are called to be mindful of the 10 Commandments. That is about as good a plan for Lent as one could think of: to see how you measure up to the big ten. And so the 1^st Reading for today can form a lesson to carry us through another week of our Lenten retreat. Both in the passage from St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians which makes up our 2^nd Reading, and in the account from John’s Gospel of Jesus cleansing the Temple by chasing out the buyers and sellers with a whip of cords we have a ponderous reflection on the person of Jesus Christ: but we proclaim Christ crucified… Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God… Zeal for your house will consume me… and they came to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.

       Lent should probably divide the spirits. It should push us personally to take a stance, both morally in terms of living out the 10 Commandments and in having us witness in all we say and do to Jesus for Who He truly is as in faith we profess Him: but we proclaim Christ crucified… Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God… Zeal for your house will consume me… and they came to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.

       It is certainly true that the Lord Jesus embodies a rule for life. He is the teacher like no other, but His very way of being among us makes Christ so much more than a lawgiver. In the Lord we encounter in a real person the power of God and the wisdom of God… which is to say that we come face to face with the living God. Like the Apostles, facing Jesus should disarm us as surely as it did them.

       Just how much are we; how much are you and I truly believers? Has our Lent given space to Christ in us? The verse from the responsorial [Lord, you have the words of everlasting life] hearkens back to the standoff in John’s Gospel over the Bread of Life discourse. There Jesus tells His listeners, I am the Bread of Life come down from heaven. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood will have life in Me. A goodly part of the crowd walks away as they find His claims to be altogether too much. Jesus challenges His disciples, are you going to leave me too? They respond, “Lord, to whom shall we go, you have the words of everlasting life”.

        It is sort of funny/sad how embarrassed or ashamed we can be about the Lord Jesus Christ when we encounter Him at full stature, as He truly is. Should it be any wonder that people walk away from the Church, walk away from Jesus and His message? I don’t mean to walk away out of indifference or disgust at the weakness of faith, the laxity or hypocrisy of people who claim to be pillars of the Church. Sadly enough, we see that kind of walking away all too often, especially among our young people, who have never been challenged by the faith of their parents, which is not really faith at all, but rather social conformity out of indifference.

       No, people should leave the Church for a much better reason. They should pull out their hair and run the other way because they are encountering the Lord Who has come into His Temple to sweep clean the threshing floor of chaff, so to speak. We don’t want Catholics to be frightful nags, but rather people who stand in awe of Christ among us. Our encounter, our witness should be to the Good Shepherd Who lays down His life for the flock… but we proclaim Christ crucified… Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God… Zeal for your house will consume me… and they came to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.

       How is your Lent going? Is it opening you up in awe to Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the Living God? Has it made you more eager to get down on your knees before Him? Are you in the habit of making a good confession for Easter? Maybe with the 10 Commandments in the docket this would be the week to do that examination of conscience and prepare yourself for that Lenten/Easter confession.

       Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God… His zeal should be the one not to drive me away but to draw me toward Him, to consume me with love for Him.

       Praised be Jesus Christ!

PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI

Confirmed in Christ

 

Mass of Confirmation

4 February 2024 - St. Joseph Cathedral

Readings from the FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Jb 7:1-4, 6-7

1 Cor 9:16-19, 22-23

Mk 1:29-39

Praised be Jesus Christ!

       Some weeks back I asked Father Morgan which readings they take for the Confirmation Mass here at the Cathedral and he said that Bishop DeGrood takes the Sunday readings, as for the people who are there on Sunday afternoon, this is their Sunday Mass. I mention that to you to explain my puzzlement over the First Reading from the Book of Job. Confirmation should be a dynamic thing about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, about going out on mission, really about conquering the whole world for Christ and His Gospel. The confirming Bishop should give you a kind of pep talk at Confirmation. But then from Job we read: “Job spoke, saying: ‘Is not man’s life on earth drudgery? ... He is a slave who longs for the shade, a hireling who waits for his wages… Remember that my life is like wind. I shall not see happiness again.”

       Even our Gospel passage from St. Mark has Jesus retreating, moving on from that town after performing miracles of healing and casting out demons, in a sense I guess, to avoid the praise and popularity of those who witnessed them. He told His disciples they needed to move on to preach elsewhere.

       Your Confirmation today completes your Christian initiation begun at Baptism, already strengthened and nourished as you are by the Holy Eucharist, healed and forgiven your sins through the Sacrament of Penance. Now the Holy Spirit comes upon you in Confirmation to strengthen you in grace, to aid you in bringing Christ to our world. Confirmation is a soldier’s sacrament. It is a special grace for athletes. Heroism best describes this Sacrament. Is it even appropriate to talk about drudgery like Job does?

       I pose the question because I think yes, maybe not right now in your life for you young people, but maybe for your parents, for your aunts and uncles, for your grandparents who are here today. Maybe they need a good word. Truth to be told, being a Catholic Christian is not meant to be a joy ride. Confirmation strengthens you to stand alongside Christ in His temptation and His fast, along the path that leads to the Cross. We should not be looking for perks in this life, but rather the Lord is enough for me.

       There is a podcast of Butler’s Lives of the Saints which I really like, and the other day it was the life and martyrdom of St. Ignatius of Antioch. Already an older man, the saintly bishop was condemned to death in the arena in Rome, and drug in chains by 11 ornery soldiers all the way around the Mediterranean by ship from Syria to Italy. Continually abused by these soldiers, he had the opportunity despite his chains, in every port where they stopped and through a number of letters he wrote, to encourage fellow Christians and beg them to pray for strength for him that he might meet his end in Rome and be torn to pieces and devoured by the wild beasts in the arena. Kind of like Jesus preaching in the Gospel, Ignatius encouraged people all along the way and by their prayers and by God’s grace not only did he die well, but he left a lasting memory for Christians everywhere, a true witness to Christ, which confirmed them in the faith.

       Don’t get me wrong! I don’t wish any of you a martyr’s death, but I hope and pray that the grace of Confirmation will keep you from discouragement in life and enable you to pray with St. Ignatius of Antioch for the strength and courage to follow Christ beyond the Cross to Glory!

PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI