The Lenten Season: The Lectionary
readings for Lent fall into two basic themes broken into the first half of Lent
and the second. In the first half, beginning today and running through the
Saturday of the third week of Lent focuses on the model of discipleship. As we
are confronted time and again with the demands of that call we come to
understand that in spite of our best efforts, the call will always be out of
our reach.
The second half of Lent the
Lectionary shows us Jesus the Christ in the Gospel of St. John. We review his ministry,
not so much as a synopsis, but rather to come to a closer understanding of the
salvation He alone provides.
Taken together, the first
half of Lent is ethical and the second is Christological. The first half
empties us the second fills us up. At the end lies the great gift of Easter.
Reading 1: Joel
2:12-18
Even now, says the Lord,
return to me with your whole
heart,
with fasting, and weeping,
and mourning;
Rend your hearts, not your
garments,
and return to the Lord, your
God.
For gracious and merciful is
he,
slow to anger, rich in
kindness,
and relenting in punishment.
Perhaps he will again relent
and leave behind him a
blessing,
Offerings and libations
for the Lord, your God.
Blow the trumpet in Zion
proclaim a fast,
call an assembly;
Gather the people,
notify the congregation;
Assemble the elders,
gather the children
and the infants at the
breast;
Let the bridegroom quit his
room
and the bride her chamber.
Between the porch and the
altar
let the priests, the
ministers of the Lord, weep,
And say, “Spare, O Lord, your
people,
and make not your heritage a
reproach,
with the nations ruling over
them!
Why should they say among the
peoples,
‘Where is their God?’”
Then the Lord was stirred to
concern for his land
and took pity on his people.
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Commentary on Jl
2:12-18
The land has
suffered a great plague of locusts and Joel calls the people of Israel
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm
51:3-4, 5-6ab, 12-13, 14 and 17
R. (see 3a) Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Have mercy on me, O God, in
your goodness;
in the greatness of your
compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my
guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R. Be merciful, O Lord,
for we have sinned.
For I acknowledge my offense,
and my sin is before me
always:
"Against you only have I
sinned,
and done what is evil in your
sight."
R. Be merciful, O Lord,
for we have sinned.
A clean heart create for me,
O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew
within me.
Cast me not out from your
presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not
from me.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for
we have sinned.
Give me back the joy of your
salvation,
and a willing spirit sustain
in me.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth shall proclaim
your praise.
R. Be merciful, O Lord,
for we have sinned.
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Commentary on Ps
51:3-4, 5-6ab, 12-13, 14 and 17
Psalm 51 provides
a call to repentance. “A lament, the most famous of the seven Penitential
Psalms, prays for the removal of the personal and social disorders that sin has
brought.”[4]
We acknowledge our sinfulness and vow to return to the grace of God.
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Reading II: 2 Corinthians 5:20—6:2
Brothers and sisters:
We are ambassadors for
Christ,
as if God were appealing
through us.
We implore you on behalf of
Christ,
be reconciled to God.
For our sake he made him to
be sin who did not know sin,
so that we might become the
righteousness of God in him.
Working together, then,
we appeal to you not to
receive the grace of God in vain.
For he says:
In an acceptable time I heard
you,
and on the day of salvation I
helped you.
Behold, now is a very
acceptable time;
behold, now is the day of
salvation.
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Commentary on 2 Cor 5:20—6:2
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Gospel: Matthew
6:1-6, 16-18
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Take care not to perform
righteous deeds
in order that people may see
them;
otherwise, you will have no
recompense from your heavenly Father.
When you give alms,
do not blow a trumpet before
you,
as the hypocrites do in the
synagogues and in the streets
to win the praise of others.
Amen, I say to you,
they have received their
reward.
But when you give alms,
do not let your left hand
know what your right is doing,
so that your almsgiving may
be secret.
And your Father who sees in
secret will repay you.
“When you pray,
do not be like the
hypocrites,
who love to stand and pray in
the synagogues and on street corners
so that others may see them.
Amen, I say to you,
they have received their
reward.
But when you pray, go to your
inner room,
close the door, and pray to
your Father in secret.
And your Father who sees in
secret will repay you.
“When you fast,
do not look gloomy like the
hypocrites.
They neglect their
appearance,
so that they may appear to
others to be fasting.
Amen, I say to you, they have
received their reward.
But when you fast,
anoint your head and wash
your face,
so that you may not appear to
be fasting,
except to your Father who is
hidden.
And your Father who sees what
is hidden will repay you.”
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Commentary on Mt
6:1-6, 16-18
The Lord
continues the Sermon on the Mount. In this selection the Lord specifically
addresses the pious acts of charity, prayer, and fasting, contrasting each with
the spurious or pandering acts of the Scribes and Pharisees. He tells his
audience that when they do these things, do them for God to see not other
people. They are to do what is right for God’s glory not their own, not so that
others will place them in high esteem because of their piety or generosity. In
all three instances, almsgiving, prayer, and fasting the same instruction is
given. We are to give generously but in private, we are to pray fervently but
alone, and we are to fast with purpose but to hide our discomfort. (The section
left out of this reading, Matthew
6; 7-15, is Jesus giving
the disciples the Lord’s Prayer.)
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Reflection:
We start our own Lenten
journey with an apologetic statement; in the view of many Christian
denominations, Catholics are said to be good at guilt. In their eyes our Celebration of Ash
Wednesday and even Lent exemplifies our faith.
Those who have not taken a deeper look do not realize what truly happens
each year. Ironically, those involved in
modern manufacturing techniques would see very clearly what goes on. That is because the goal of the modern
manufacturing facility is to produce quality parts with no defects and, to get
to that perfect system, there must be, what is commonly called, “Continuous
Improvement.”
We do not embrace guilt over
our failures, but we do not hide it from ourselves either. We do not believe that once we have accepted
Christ and named him our Savior that we can go on as we please having been
saved with no more effort than to say “I believe”.
The Church has set up for us
a cycle of “Continuous Improvement”.
Each year during our Lenten Season we hear those words “Turn away from
sin and be faithful to the Gospel” as we accept the ritual ashes that have
marked the repentant faithful since ancient times. Each year we accept the penitent role and
review in detail how we have succeeded in God’s call to holiness and how we
have failed. The measure with which we
measure ourselves is Christ the Savior – Zero Defects.
We believe that no one has
achieved this state of perfection before or since the Lord took on his humanity
and walked among us. We are not,
however, dissuaded from trying to get as close to our model as possible. During our Lenten season we first hold
ourselves up to the intense scrutiny that is only possible for one who
understands the love Christ has for them and for all His creation. We see the flaws clearly. The deeper we are drawn in our relationship
with the Lord the more clearly those stains appear. It is like stain on a fabric, the closer to
pure white a fabric becomes in color, the more clearly even the smallest stains
can be seen. In Lent we strive for the
snowy white of our baptismal garment.
As we see those flaws we
attempt to discover ways to change what we do and the way we behave to conform
ourselves more closely to our Lord. We
empty ourselves like a garage during spring cleaning so we can clean out the
junk and put only the good things back.
The first half our Lenten Season is exactly that – empting out all of
what has accumulated in the past year or years.
The second half is dedicated to filling ourselves with the love of
Christ so that when Easter arrives, we rejoice, converted once more and ready
once more to try for that perfect life in Christ.
Pax
[1]
ALTRE
[2]
The picture used is “The Repentant Magdalen” by Charles Le Brun, 1655
[3]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible with the exception of the
Psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and
is for private use only.
[4]
See NAB footnote on Psalm 51
[5]
See NAB footnote on 2 Corinthians 6:2
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