Daily Lenten Liturgy

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DAILY LENTEN LITURGY
Ash Wednesday

Article 1
The Liturgy of Ash Wednesday Announces a "Dusty Season"!

Pleasures Crumble Into Dust
Yesterday, the world was busy in its pleasures, and the very children of God were taking a joyous farewell to mirth: but this morning, all is changed. The Solemn announcement, spoken of by the prophet, has been proclaimed in Sion (Epistle of Ash Wednesday) the solemn fast of Lent, the season of expiation, the approach of the great anniversaries of our Redemption. Let us, then, rouse ourselves, and prepare for the spiritual combat.

The Armor of Lent Replaces the Soft Clothes of Pleasure
But in this battling of the spirit against the flesh, we need good armor. Our holy mother the Church knows how much we need it; and therefore does she summon us to enter into the house of God, that she may arm us for the holy contest. What this armor is we know from St. Paul, who thus describes it: “Have your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice. And your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. In all things, taking the shield of faith. Take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:14-17).

The very Prince of the Apostles, St. Peter, also addresses these solemn words to us: “Christ having suffered in the flesh, be ye also armed with the same thought” (1 Peter 4:1). We are entering, today, upon a long campaign of the warfare spoken of by the Apostles: forty days of battle, forty days of penance. We shall not become cowards, if our souls can be impressed with the conviction that the battle and the penance must be gone through. Let us listen to the eloquence of the solemn rite which opens our Lent. Let us go where our Holy Mother the Church leads us, that is, to the scene of the fall.

From Mixing With Friends to Fighting Enemies
The enemies, that we have to fight with, are of two kinds: internal and external. The first are our passions; the second are the devils. Both were brought on us by pride, and man's pride began when he refused to obey his God. God forgave him his sin, but He punished him. The punishment was death, and this was the form of the divine sentence: “Thou art dust, and into dust thou shalt return!” (Genesis 3:19). Oh,if we had only remembered this!

From Paths of Pleasure to the Way of the Cross
The recollection of what we are and that we are to be, would have checked that haughty rebellion, which has so often led us to break the law of God. And if, in the future, we are to persevere in loyalty to Him, we must humble ourselves, accept the sentence, and look on this present life as a path to the grave. The path may be long or short; but to the tomb it must lead us. Remembering this, we shall see all things in their true light. We shall love that God, who has deigned to set His heart on us notwithstanding our being creatures of death: we shall hate, with deepest contrition, the insolence and ingratitude, wherewith we have spent so many of our few days of life, that is, in sinning against our heavenly Father: and we shall be not only willing, but eager, to go through these days of penance, which He so mercifully gives us for making reparation to His offended justice.

Dust Yourself Off For The Fight
This was the motive Church had in enriching her liturgy with the solemn rite, at which we are to assist today. When, upwards of a thousand years ago, she decreed the anticipation of the Lenten fast by the last four days of Quinquagesima week, she instituted this impressive ceremony of signing the forehead of her children with ashes, while saying to them those awful words, wherewith God sentenced us to death: “Remember, O man, that thou art dust, and into dust thou shalt return!” (Genesis 3:19).

But the making use of ashes as a symbol of humiliation and penance, is of a much earlier date than the institution to which we allude. We find frequent mention of it in the Old Testament. Job, though a Gentile, sprinkled his flesh with ashes, that, thus humbled, he might propitiate the divine mercy (Job 16:6); and this was two thousand years before the coming of our Savior. The royal prophet tells us of himself, that he mingled ashes with his bread, because of the divine anger and indignation (Psalm 101:10-11).

Many such examples are to be met with in the sacred Scriptures; but so obvious is the analogy between the sinner who thus signifies his grief, and the object whereby he signifies it, that we read such instances without surprise. When fallen man would humble himself before the divine justice, which has sentenced his body to return to dust, how could he more aptly express his contrite acceptance of the sentence, than by sprinkling himself, or his food, with ashes, which is the dust of wood consumed by fire?

Put Away Pride and Have Humility
This earnest acknowledgment of his being himself but dust and ashes, is an act of humility, and humility ever gives him confidence in that God, who resists the proud and pardons the humble. It is probable that, when this ceremony of the Wednesday in Quinquagesima week was first instituted, it was not intended for all the faithful, but only for such as had committed any of those crimes for which the Church inflicted a public penance.

Before the Mass of the day began, they presented themselves at the church, where the people were all assembled. The priests received the confession of their sins, and then clothed them in sackcloth, and sprinkled ashes on their heads. After this ceremony, the clergy and the faithful prostrated, and recited aloud the seven Penitential Psalms. A procession, in which the penitents walked bare-footed, then followed; and on its return, the bishop addressed these words to the penitents: “Behold, we drive you from the doors of the church by reason of your sins and crimes, as Adam, the first man, was driven out of paradise because of his transgression.”

The clergy then sang several responsories, taken from the Book of Genesis, in which mention was made of the sentence pronounced by God when He condemned man to eat his bread in the sweat of his brow, for that the earth was cursed on account of sin. The doors were then shut. And the penitents were not to pass the threshold until Maundy Thursday, when they were to come and receive absolution.

Ancient Penances Abandoned
Dating from the eleventh century, the discipline of public penance began to fall into disuse, and the holy rite of putting ashes on the heads of all the faithful indiscriminately became so general that, at length, it was considered as forming an essential part of the Roman liturgy. Formerly, it was the practice to approach bare-footed to receive this solemn memento of our nothingness; and in the twelfth century, even the Pope himself, when passing from the church of St. Anastasia to that of St. Sabina, at which the station was held, went the whole distance bare-footed, as also did the Cardinals who accompanied him. The Church no longer requires this exterior penance; but she is as anxious as ever that the holy ceremony, at which we are about to assist, should produce in us the sentiments she intended to convey by it, when she first instituted it.

Precious Penance
From the liturgy of Ash Wednesday we learn of the prophet Joel and how acceptable to God is the expiation of fasting. When the penitent sinner inflicts corporal penance upon himself, God's justice is appeased. We have a proof of it in the Ninivites. If the Almighty pardoned an infidel city, as Ninive was, solely because its inhabitants sought for mercy under the garb of penance; what will He not do in favor of His own people, who offer Him the twofold sacrifice, exterior works of mortification, and true contrition of heart? Let us, then, courageously enter on the path of penance.

We are living in an age when, through want of faith and of fear of God, those practices which are as ancient as Christianity itself, and on which we might almost say it was founded, are falling into disuse; it befits us to be on our guard, lest we, too, should imbibe the false principles, which have so fearfully weakened the Christian spirit. Let us never forget our own personal debt to the divine justice, which will remit neither our sins nor the punishment due to them, except inasmuch as we are ready to make satisfaction.

We have just been told that these bodies, which we are so inclined to pamper, are but dust; and as to our souls, which we are so often tempted to sacrifice by indulging the flesh, they have claims upon the body, claims of both restitution and obedience.

Liturgical Lessons to Learn
In the Gradual of the Mass for Ash Wednesday, the Church again pours forth the expressions of her confidence in the God of all goodness, for she counts upon her children being faithful to the means she gives them of propitiating His justice.

The Tract is that beautiful prayer of the psalmist, which she repeats three times during each week of Lent, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and which she always uses in times of public calamity, in order to appease the angel of God.

Our Redeemer would not have us receive the announcement of the great fast as one of sadness and melancholy. The Christian who understands what a dangerous thing it is to be behindhand with divine justice, welcomes the season of Lent with joy; it consoles him. He knows that if he be faithful in observing what the Church prescribes, his debt will be less heavy upon him. These penances, these satisfactions (which the indulgence of the Church has rendered so easy), being offered to God unitedly with those of our Savior Himself, and being rendered fruitful by that holy fellowship which blends into one common propitiatory sacrifice the good works of all the members of the Church militant, will purify our souls, and make them worthy to partake in the grand Easter joy.

Joyful Lent
Let us not, then, be sad because we are to fast; let us be sad only because we have sinned and made fasting a necessity. In this same Gospel, our Redeemer gives us a second counsel, which the Church will often bring before us during the whole course of Lent: it is that of joining alms-deeds with our fasting. He bids us to lay up treasures in Heaven. For this, we need intercessors; let us seek them amidst the poor.

DAILY LENTEN LITURGY
Thursday After Ash Wednesday

Article 2
Lessons from the Rite of Blessing of the Ashes

Ashes on the Head—Ashes in the Mind!
Let us take a closer look at the Rite of Blessing of the Ashes, as used in the Traditional Rite or Extraordinary Rite of the Church—which devotes more blessings to the ashes than the modern rite. The blessings of the Church are, though relatively brief, full of profound teaching and rich in symbolism. So let us first of all look at the prayers of the Rite of Blessing, then let us look deeper at the teaching they impart and symbolism they contain.

PART ONE : THE PRAYERS

The Opening Antiphon
“Hear me, O Lord, for Thy mercy is kind! Look upon me according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies, O Lord!” (Psalm 68:17). “Save me, O God: for the waters are come in even unto my soul!” (Psalm 68:2).
V. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
R. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
“Hear me, O Lord, for Thy mercy is kind! Look upon me according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies, O Lord!” (Psalm 68:17).

First Prayer Over the Ashes
“Let us pray: Almighty, everlasting God, spare those who are repentant, be merciful to those who pray to Thee, and graciously send Thy holy angel from Heaven to bless ☩ and sanctify ☩ these ashes, that they may be a wholesome remedy for all who humbly implore Thy Holy Name; who accuse themselves by acknowledging their sins, who weep for their evil deeds in the sight of Thy divine mercy; who humbly and earnestly seek Thy fatherly love. Grant to us who call upon Thy Holy Name, that all who are sprinkled with these ashes for the forgiveness of their sins, may receive health for their bodies and salvation for their souls. Through Christ our Lord.”

Second Prayer Over the Ashes
“Let us pray: O God, Thou Who desirest not the death but the repentance of sinners, look graciously upon the weakness of our human nature, and, in Thy fatherly love, mercifully bless ☩ these ashes which are to be placed upon our heads as a sign of humility and a pledge of Thy forgiveness. We know that we are but ashes, and because of our wickedness must return to dust. May we obtain, from Thee, mercy the pardon of all our sins and the rewards promised to those who repent. Through Christ our Lord.”

Third Prayer Over the Ashes
“Let us pray: O God, Thou Who art moved by our acts of humility and appeased by our works of penance, turn Thy ear lovingly to our prayers, and, by the ashes sprinkled upon the heads of Thy servants, mercifully pour forth upon them the grace of Thy blessing, fill them with the spirit of repentance and truly grant what they ask for in the right way; and may whatever Thou grant, remain fixed and unchanged always. Through Christ our Lord.”

Fourth Prayer Over the Ashes
“Let us pray: Almighty, everlasting God, Who bestowed upon the people of Ninive, who repented in sackcloth and ashes, Thy merciful remedies, graciously grant that we may so imitate their outward behavior as inwardly to obtain Thy forgiveness. Through Christ our Lord. R. Amen.”

The Imposition of Ashes
Antiphons sung during the distribution of ashes.
“Let us change our garment for ashes and sackcloth! Let us fast and lament before the Lord! For our God is plenteous in mercy to forgive sins!” (Joel 2:13).
“Between the porch and the altar the priests the Lord’s ministers shall weep, and shall say: ‘Spare, O Lord, spare Thy people! And shut not the mouths of them that sing to Thee, O Lord!’” (Joel 2:17).

The Responsorial
“Let us amend for the better in those things in which we have sinned through ignorance: lest suddenly overtaken by the day of death, we seek space for penance, and are not able to find it. Hear O Lord, and have mercy: for we have sinned against thee” (taken from Esther ch. 13; Joel ch. 2).

“Help us, O God, our Savior! And, for the glory of Thy Name, O Lord, deliver us! And forgive us our sins for Thy Name’s sake! O Lord deliver us! Listen, O Lord!” (Psalm 78:9). Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. Listen, O Lord!"

The Final Prayer
“Let us pray: Grant us, O Lord, to take up our duty as soldiers of Christ by holy fasting, that we, who are going to struggle with the evil spirits, may be protected by the help of self-restraint! Through Christ our Lord.”

PART TWO : THE TEACHING AND SYMBOLISM

The First Words of the Rite of Blessing of Ashes
The very first words that are uttered in the Rite of Blessing the Ashes are penitential words: “Hear me, O Lord, for Thy mercy is kind! Look upon me according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies, O Lord!” (Psalm 68:17). “Save me, O God: for the waters are come in even unto my soul!” (Psalm 68:2).

These few words are a mere tip of an iceberg of similar expressions throughout Holy Scripture (which forms the backbone of the Church’s Liturgy) and of the Lenten Liturgy itself. Holy Mother Church will be plaintively crying out to God with such and similar words all throughout Lent. Lent is a time of acknowledging one’s miserable state and misery of life—begging for God to compassionately hear our cries and mercifully do something to alleviate our miseries.

“Hear me, O Lord, for Thy mercy is kind!” brings back to the sinful mind the fact that God’s mercy is the one thing necessary for happiness—it is the one thing, nay, the only thing that we will desire on our deathbed—MERCY! This is powerfully evoked by words from the Responsorial from the Blessing of the Ashes: “Help us, O God, our Savior! And, for the glory of Thy Name, O Lord, deliver us! And forgive us our sins for Thy Name’s sake! O Lord deliver us! Listen, O Lord!” (Psalm 78:9).

Hence, there springs to mind other such similar plaintive, yet confident, cries for mercy. For example, immediately after the Blessing of the Ashes, the Entrance Hymn (Introit) of the Mass for Ash Wednesday also plants the seed of hope in our sinful burdened hearts and minds: “Thou hast mercy on all, O Lord, and hate none of the things which Thou hast made, overlooking the sins of men for the sake of repentance, and sparing them: because Thou art the Lord our God!” (Wisdom 11:24-25, 27). “Have pity on me, O God! Have pity on me, for in Thee I take refuge!” (Psalm 56:2).

In the Rite of the Holy Sacrifice—the text of the Mass without the readings proper for each day or season, such as the Epistle, Gospel, Collects, Offertory, Secret, Communion and Postcommunion prayers—we see that the Mass is already well-loaded with pleas for mercy and admission of guilt for sin—the number of direct references to sin, guilt and mercy is found to be well over fifty times. We are so accustomed to the prayers of the Mass that we fail to notice this. Hey! That’s a pretty conclusive and irrefutable admission that we have done something wrong!! Or why the heck do we say so, over 50 times, in around 30 minutes?

Yet during the Lenten season, many of the readings are specifically chosen to increase that sense of guilt and that desire for mercy. Thus, in some Masses, you can be approaching 70 to 80 references concerning sin, guilt and a plea for mercy! There is a name that is given to this kind of spirit or attitude that constantly focuses on sin, guilt and the desire for mercy—that name or word is “compunction”. The virtue of compunction is defined as “an abiding sorrow for sin” and it is one of best protections again falling back into sin, because it does not dismiss and forget about one’s past sins, but ever keeps them before our eyes, not in a spirit of despair or discouragement, but in a spirit of loving and hopeful sorrow. Hence the words of Holy Scripture: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5). “I know my iniquity, and my sin is always before me!” (Psalm 50:5).

We cannot go through Lent with a “split personality”—realizing we are sinners in our minds, but pretending as though we not sinners by our actions (or lack of action, or more to the point, our lack of penance!).

The Prayers from the Blessing of Ashes Give Us a Program for Lent
If we take some of the key phrases from the prayers used in the Blessing of Ashes, then we find ourselves with a “Program for Lent” that covers all the essential bases and points us in the right direction.

The first thing that has to be stated and admitted is that WE ARE SINNERS—for why on earth would you do penance (pay) for something you have not done, taken or damaged? The liturgical prayers speak of those “who accuse themselves by acknowledging their sins, who weep for their evil deeds” and “we know that we are but ashes, and because of our wickedness must return to dust.”

If we have sinned—and who hasn’t?—then we need to do something about it! Once again, the prayers, used in the Blessing of the Ashes, give an answer and direction to that: “Let us amend for the better in those things in which we have sinned” and “Let us change our garment for ashes and sackcloth! Let us fast and lament before the Lord!”

The Ashes are to remind us several things.
(1) We are reminded that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) and therefore the Blessing of Ashes says: “We know that we are but ashes, and because of our wickedness must return to dust.”

(2) We are reminded of consequences of a lack of penance and repentance, when God spoke through His prophet Ezechiel, saying: “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die … But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done: in his justice which he hath wrought, he shall live. Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?” (Ezechiel 18:20-23). The prayers of the Blessing of Ashes speaks of “the people of Ninive, who repented in sackcloth and ashes”—which should provoke us to consider that event from the Old Testament, where the prophet Jonas was sent to warn the Ninivites of their impending doom:

“And the word of the Lord came to Jonas saying: ‘Arise, and go to Ninive, the great city, and preach in it the preaching that I bid thee!’ And Jonas arose and went to Ninive, according to the word of the Lord. And Jonas began to enter into the city one day’s journey, and then he cried and said: ‘Yet forty days more, and Ninive shall be destroyed!’ And the men of Ninive believed in God and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least. And the word came to the king of Ninive, and he rose up out of his throne, and cast away his robe from him, and was clothed with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he proclaimed and published in Ninive that neither men nor beasts, oxen nor sheep, should taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water … and that everyone turn from his evil way and from the iniquity that is in their hands. For who can tell if God will turn and forgive: and will turn away from his fierce anger, and we shall not perish? And God saw their works, that they were turned from their evil way: and God had mercy with regard to the evil which he had said that he would do to them, and he did it not” (Jonas 3:1-10).

The Hope of Forgiveness and Mercy
God’s reaction to our sinful world can be the same as His reaction was to sinful Ninive—that is why the prayers of the Blessing of the Ashes mention Ninive by name, and then give us a similar hope of receiving the mercy of God—if, like the Ninivites, we do penance: “O God, Thou Who desirest not the death but the repentance of sinners … Let us amend for the better in those things in which we have sinned through ignorance: lest suddenly overtaken by the day of death! … Look upon me according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies, O Lord! … Hear me, O Lord, for Thy mercy is kind! … The people of Ninive repented in sackcloth and ashes, graciously grant that we may so imitate their outward behavior as inwardly to obtain Thy forgiveness … Let us change our garment for ashes and sackcloth! Let us fast and lament before the Lord! … Be Thou moved by our acts of humility and appeased by our works of penance … so that we may we obtain, from Thee, mercy, the pardon of all our sins, and the rewards promised to those who repent … that we may receive health for our bodies and salvation for our souls … Grant us, O Lord, to take up our duty as soldiers of Christ by holy fasting, that we, who are going to struggle with the evil spirits, may be protected by the help of self-restraint!”

DAILY LENTEN LITURGY
Friday after Ash Wednesday

Article 3
The Liturgy Is To Be Lived!
"Liturgical Zombies" Live In "Liturgical Comas"!

Lex Credendi, Lex Orandi, Lex Vivendi!
Liturgical worship is not an “add on” or an “option” for a Catholic. It is the foundation of Catholic identity; expressing our highest purpose. Worship (by liturgical prayer) reveals what we truly believe and how we view ourselves in relationship to God, one another and the world into which we are sent to carry forward the redemptive mission of Jesus Christ. How the Church worships is a prophetic witness to the truth of what she professes by liturgical prayer. Good worship (by liturgical prayer) becomes a dynamic means of drawing Catholics into the fullness of life in Jesus Christ. It attracts, through its beauty, to the Divine Beauty Itself.

There is a Latin maxim that addresses the centrality of worship in the life, identity and mission of the Catholic Church― “Lex Credendi, Lex Orandi.” This phrase in Latin literally means the law of belief (what we believe) is the law of prayer (the way we worship). It is sometimes expanded to as, “lex credendi, lex orandi, lex vivendi”, further deepening the implications of this truth ― what we believe (credendi) is manifested by how we pray and worship (orandi) and determines how we will live (vivendi).

No Liturgical ‘Pot-Pourri’
The Church does not select Her liturgical readings “willy-nilly”―haphazardly or without reflection. In his “Introduction” to The Liturgical Year, Dom Gueranger writes:

“Prayer is man’s richest boon. It is his light, his nourishment, and his very life, for it brings him into communication with God, who is light, nourishment, and life. But of ourselves we know not what we should pray for as we ought; we must needs, therefore, address ourselves to Jesus Christ, and say to Him as the Apostles did: ‘Lord, teach us how to pray.’ He alone can make the dumb speak, and give eloquence to the mouths of children; and this prodigy He effects by sending His Spirit of grace and of prayers … Now it is in the Holy Church that this divine Spirit dwells ... He is the principle of everything that is in her. He it is that prompts her prayers, her canticles of praise, and even her mourning … At one time, under the impulse of that Holy Spirit, who animated the admirable psalmist and the prophets, the Church takes the subject of her canticles from the Books of the Old Testament; at another time she takes the Books of the New Testament; and finally, remembering that she, too, has had given to her a trumpet and harp of her own, she at times gives way to the Spirit who animates her, and sings her own new canticle. From these three sources comes the divine element which we call the liturgy. The prayer of the Church is, therefore, the most pleasing to the ear and heart of God, and therefore the most efficacious of all prayers. Happy, then, is he who prays with the Church! … The Christian soul neither needs nor wishes to avoid the company of the Church, when she would converse with God … In nothing is the excellence of the liturgy so apparent, as in its being milk for children, and solid food for the strong; thus resembling the miraculous bread of the desert, and taking every kind of taste according to the different dispositions of those who eat.” (Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year).

Liturgical Zombies
There is a species of Catholic that could be called “The Liturgical Zombie”—signifying the Catholic who goes to Mass on “auto-pilot”, who reads the texts in an unmoved and indifferent fashion, barely skimming the surface and not digging any deeper and most certainly not taking anything away from the Mass once it is over and, thankfully, it is time to go home and do something constructive and productive!

It is of such “Liturgical Zombies” that Holy Scripture speaks, when it says: “God looked down from heaven on the children of men: to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside, they are become unprofitable together, there is none that doth good, no not one” (Psalm 52:3-4). “O foolish people and without understanding! Who have eyes and see not; and ears and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21). “Thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house: who have eyes to see and see not: and ears to hear and hear not―for they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 12:2).

This was not only the case in the Old Testament, as the above quotes show, but also in the time of Our Lord, as the following New Testament quotes indicate: “Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand!” (Matthew 13:13). “Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not? Neither do you remember!” (Mark 8:18). “God hath given them the spirit of insensibility―eyes that they should not see; and ears that they should not hear―until this present day!” (Romans 11:8).

It is, of course, still true today. We just do not value and appreciate the Liturgy of the Church anymore! This Lenten season has a special liturgy selected for all the days of Lent—yet who will profit from it? How many of those Catholics, who legitimately cannot attend weekday Masses, for one reason or another, will pick up their Daily Missals and follow those daily Mass readings and meditate upon them? Barely anybody! Sad, but true! The Liturgy of the Church is the work of the Holy Ghost Himself—and yet we ignore His work! But under what pretext? We are more likely to read a newspaper article, or some gossipy blog, or look for the sports results, or watch TV, or listen to worldly music, etc., than we are inclined to reach for the Missal and reflect and meditate upon the words of the Holy Ghost spoken through Holy Mother Church! If we shall be judged for every idle word on the Day of Judgment--“I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the Day of Judgment” (Matthew 12:36)—then how shall we be judged for preferring the word of the world to the Word of God?

Wake-Up From the “Liturgical Coma”! Come out of the “Liturgical Tomb”!
Perhaps Lent would be a time to cast aside the “Liturgical Zombie” and awaken from the “Liturgical Coma” and allow Our Lord, as He did with Lazarus, to command us to rise from “Liturgical Death” and come out of our “Liturgical Tomb” and start following Holy Mother Church’s daily Lenten Liturgy! It is almost embarrassing to suggest that it could be done as a penance—for is it nor shameful to be commanded and forced to love something that should be attractive and lovable in itself, without any force being exerted? Yet, just a child, who has been raised on “junk-food”, hates the thought and taste of good healthy food—so, too, do we hate the thought of having to ‘eat’ the Church’s Liturgical ‘food’. Yet, as Holy Scripture says: “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). So, even you can’t attend the wonderful ‘banquet’ served at Holy Mass on a daily basis during Lent, you can always open you liturgical ‘lunch-box’ (your Daily Missal) and ‘snack’ on whatever Holy Mother Church has packed for you for that day!

DAILY LENTEN LITURGY
Saturday After Ash Wednesday

Article 4
Tempted to Take Lent Easy?

What You Sow is What You Reap!
You can make Lent easy or you can make it tough―the choice is yours and the consequences are yours also. Our Lord was not born in this world to live a life of comfort―but a life of poverty and toil, even though He was the sinless God, who created all things. His mode of life was meant to be an example to us―who, because of Original Sin, are always ready for and always searching for the “easy-way-out” in most things. As Holy Scripture warns: “Be not deceived! God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8).

Our Lord praised St. John the Baptist for not being “soft” and not “taking-it-easy”: “Amen I say to you, there hath not risen among them that are born of women a greater than John the Baptist!” (Matthew 11:11). Speaking further of John the Baptist, Our Lord points out and stresses that this greatest of the great was no “softie” who sought the “easy life”, but a wonderful example of sacrifice, mortification and penance: “And when the messengers of John were departed, he began to speak to the multitudes concerning John: ‘What went ye out into the desert to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went you out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are in costly apparel and live delicately, are in the houses of kings. But what went you out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you―and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written: “Behold I send My angel before Thy face, who shall prepare Thy way before Thee!” For I say to you: Amongst those that are born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist!’” (Luke 7:24-28).

No “Easy-Street” to Heaven
The way to Heaven and salvation is no “easy-street” or “cakewalk” ― Heaven is priceless that needs to paid for nevertheless. Those who show no effort have no chance! Our Lord Himself says: “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). Heaven is not an “Open House” where anyone can wander-in regardless―Our Lord’s parable of the wedding-feast, which is a symbol of our eternal marriage to God in Heaven, has people cast-out:

“Jesus answering, spoke again in parables to them, saying: ‘The kingdom of heaven is likened to a king, who made a marriage for his son. And he sent his servants, to call them that were invited to the marriage; and they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying: “Tell them that were invited: ‘Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my calves and fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come ye to the marriage!’” But they neglected, and went their own ways, one to his farm, and another to his merchandise. And the rest laid hands on his servants, and having treated them contumeliously, put them to death. But when the king had heard of it, he was angry, and sending his armies, he destroyed those murderers, and burnt their city. Then he said to his servants: “The marriage indeed is ready―but they that were invited were not worthy! Go ye therefore into the highways; and as many as you shall find, call to the marriage!” And his servants going forth into the ways, gathered together all that they found, both bad and good―and the marriage was filled with guests. And the king went in to see the guests: and he saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment. And he said to him: “Friend! How camest thou in here not having a wedding garment?” But he was silent. Then the king said to the waiters: “Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth! For many are called, but few are chosen!”’” (Matthew 22:1-14).

Many Are Called―Few Are Chosen
Yes, many are called―in fact all are called―but few are chosen because few want to make the ‘violent’ efforts required to attain Heaven. This provoked one man to nervously ask Our Lord about the number of those who are saved: “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28).

“The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). Here Our Lord implicitly speaks of the violence of love and, therefore, the high degree of love what we should have. In her revelations to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, Our Lady speaks of this violence of love, saying:

“In this violence of love the creature begins to withdraw from and die to all earthly things―and that is why love is called strong as death. From this ‘death’ [to worldliness] arises a new spiritual life, which makes the soul capable of receiving new participations of the blessed and their gifts; for it enjoys more frequently the overshadowing of the Most High and the fruits of the highest Good, which it loves. These mysterious influences cause a sort of overflow into the interior and animal parts of the creature, producing a certain transparency and purifying it from the effects of the spiritual darknesses. It makes it courageous and, as it were, indifferent to suffering, ready to meet and endure all that is adverse to the inclinations of the flesh. With a certain subtle thirst, it begins to seek after all the difficulty and violence incident to the attainment of the kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 11:12); it becomes alert and unhindered by earthly grossness, so that many times the body itself begins to feel this lightness in regard to its own self; the labors, which before seemed burdensome, become easy.”

This was Our Lord’s continual teaching―Heaven is not easy, but requires effort. That is why He says: “And He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). Lent is the time of the cross par excellence!

DAILY LENTEN LITURGY
First Sunday of Lent

Article 5
Tempting Lessons

Christ vs. Satan
St. Paul says: “What concord hath Christ with Belial?” (2 Corinthians 6:15). In Holy Scripture we see the account of Our Lord’s battle with Satan in the desert, after He had fasted and prayed for forty days and nights (Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13). In this triple temptation, Our Lord comes out on top against the wiles and temptations of Satan. It would seem that the prayer and fasting was the key to His victory. He Himself would later say, speaking of the devil: “This kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting!” (Matthew 17:20). Which is something He would essentially repeat during His Agony in the Garden, when He said to Peter, James and John: “Watch ye, and pray that ye enter not into temptation! The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh weak!” (Matthew 26:41; Mark 14:38).

The Story of the Battle by Matthew
“Then Jesus was led by the spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards He was hungry. And the tempter coming said to Him: ‘If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread!’ Who answered and said: ‘It is written, “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God!”’ Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, and set Him upon the pinnacle of the Temple, and said to Him: ‘If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down, for it is written: “That He hath given His angels charge over Thee, and in their hands shall they bear Thee up, lest perhaps Thou dash thy foot against a stone!”’ Jesus said to him: ‘It is written again: “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God!”’ Again the devil took Him up into a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and said to Him: ‘All these will I give Thee, if falling down Thou wilt adore me!’ Then Jesus saith to him: ‘Begone, Satan! For it is written, “The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him only shalt thou serve!”’ Then the devil left Him; and behold angels came and ministered to Him” (Matthew 4:1-11).

The Story of the Battle by Luke
“And Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the desert, for the space of forty days; and was tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing in those days; and when they were ended, He was hungry. And the devil said to Him: ‘If thou be the Son of God, say to this stone that it be made bread!’ And Jesus answered him: ‘It is written, that Man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God!’ And the devil led Him into a high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time; and he said to Him: ‘To Thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them. If Thou therefore wilt adore before me, all shall be Thine!’ And Jesus answering said to him: ‘It is written: “Thou shalt adore the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve!”’ And he brought Him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the Temple, and he said to Him: ‘If Thou be the Son of God, cast thyself from hence. For it is written, that He hath given his angels charge over thee, that they keep thee! And that in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest perhaps Thou dash thy foot against a stone!’ And Jesus answering, said to him: ‘It is said: “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God!”’ And all the temptation being ended, the devil departed from Him for a time” (Luke 4:1-13).

Satan Leaves Only For a Time
Even though he was defeated by Christ in the desert, Satan would return to fight another day and in another way. Our life is meant to be one long struggle, one long war. Holy Scripture is very adamant on this: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1) … “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8) … “Fight the good fight of Faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called” (1 Timothy 6:12) … “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12). “And the Lord said: ‘Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy Faith fail not!” (Luke 22:31-32).

Satan’s Major Weapon—Temptation
The chief weapon of Satan is temptation—it is like a universal tool. It can be applied to any subject and to any person at any time. It was the weapon that was first successfully used against Adam and Eve, and it has stood the test of time. From Satan’s point of view, it is a very successful weapon, since, as most Saints and Father of the Church tell us, most souls end up being damned—yet that damnation is not inevitable and could have easily been avoided, if only they would have perseveringly taken the precautions that Christ has given us through His Church.

Just as temptation could be said to be the universal tool, the remedy or defense against temptation is also simple and universal—in that it works against each and every kind of temptation—it is quite simply prayer and fasting, fasting in the broadest sense of the word: not just keeping away from food, but many other things too. This is proved by Our Lord both in theory and in practice. He personally prayed and fasted in the desert for forty days and nights, after which He was able to overcome Satan’s temptations; and He also told us of the power of prayer and fasting against the devil: “But this kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting!” (Matthew 17:20).

The plush and comfortable Titanic sailed into the graveyard of death; the uncomfortable and harsh conditions of the lifeboats saved the lives of a few on the desert of the sea. Do we want the Titanic or its lifeboat? The city or the desert? Pleasure or penance? Fun or fasting?

The Benefits of Temptation
The Imitation of Christ has some very sound advice and encouragement on temptations:

“So long as we live in this world we cannot escape suffering and temptation. Whence it is written in Job: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1). Everyone, therefore, must guard against temptation and must watch in prayer lest the devil, who never sleeps but goes about seeking whom he may devour, find occasion to deceive him. No one is so perfect or so holy but he is sometimes tempted; man cannot be altogether free from temptation.

“Yet temptations, though troublesome and severe, are often useful to a man, for in them he is humbled, purified, and instructed. The saints all passed through many temptations and trials to profit by them, while those who could not resist became reprobate and fell away. There is no state so holy, no place so secret that temptations and trials will not come. Man is never safe from them as long as he lives, for they come from within us — in sin we were born. When one temptation or trial passes, another comes; we shall always have something to suffer because we have lost the state of original blessedness.

“Many people try to escape temptations, only to fall more deeply. We cannot conquer simply by fleeing, but by patience and true humility we become stronger than all our enemies. The man who only shuns temptations outwardly and does not uproot them will make little progress; indeed they will quickly return, more violent than before.

“Little by little, in patience and long-suffering you will overcome them, by the help of God rather than by severity and your own rash ways. Often take counsel when tempted; and do not be harsh with others who are tempted, but console them as you yourself would wish to be consoled.

“The beginning of all temptation lies in a wavering mind and little trust in God, for as a rudderless ship is driven hither and yon by waves, so a careless and irresolute man is tempted in many ways. Fire tempers iron and temptation steels the just. Often we do not know what we can stand, but temptation shows us what we are. Above all, we must be especially alert against the beginnings of temptation, for the enemy is more easily conquered if he is refused admittance to the mind and is met beyond the threshold when he knocks.

“Someone has said very aptly: ‘Resist the beginnings; remedies come too late, when, by long delay, the evil has gained strength.’ First, a mere thought comes to mind, then strong imagination, followed by pleasure, evil delight, and consent. Thus, because he is not resisted in the beginning, Satan gains full entry. And the longer a man delays in resisting, so much the weaker does he become each day, while the strength of the enemy grows against him.

“Some suffer great temptations in the beginning of their conversion, others toward the end, while some are troubled almost constantly throughout their life. Others, again, are tempted but lightly according to the wisdom and justice of Divine Providence Who weighs the status and merit of each and prepares all for the salvation of His elect.

“We should not despair, therefore, when we are tempted, but pray to God the more fervently that He may see fit to help us, for according to the word of Paul, He will make issue with temptation that we may be able to bear it. Let us humble our souls under the hand of God in every trial and temptation for He will save and exalt the humble in spirit.

“In temptations and trials the progress of a man is measured; in them opportunity for merit and virtue is made more manifest. When a man is not troubled it is not hard for him to be fervent and devout, but if he bears up patiently in time of adversity, there is hope for great progress. Some, guarded against great temptations, are frequently overcome by small ones in order that, humbled by their weakness in small trials, they may not presume on their own strength in great ones” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 1, chapter 13).

As the Imitation of Christ says (Book 1, chapter 13 “Of Resisting Temptations”): “Whence a certain one hath said: ‘Resist beginnings; all too late the cure, when ills have gathered strength by long delay.’ For first there cometh into the mind a simple thought; then a strong imagination; afterwards delight, and the evil motion and consent. And so, by little and little, the malignant foe doth gain full entrance, when he is not resisted in the beginning. And the longer anyone hath been slothful in resisting, so much the weaker he daily becometh in himself, and the enemy so much the stronger against him.” Our secular saying--“A stitch in time saves nine”—paints a similar picture.

DAILY LENTEN LITURGY
Monday after the First Sunday of Lent

Article 6
Jesus on the Works of Mercy

In today’s Gospel reading at Mass, Our Lord says:

“And when the Son of man shall come in His majesty, and all the angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the seat of His majesty. And all nations shall be gathered together before Him, and He shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats. And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on His left.

“Then shall the King say to them that shall be on His right hand: ‘Come, ye blessed of My Father! Possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me in; naked, and you covered Me; sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me!’

“Then shall the just answer Him, saying: ‘Lord! When did we see Thee hungry, and fed Thee; thirsty, and gave Thee drink? And when did we see Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? Or naked, and covered Thee? Or when did we see Thee sick or in prison, and came to Thee?’ And the King, answering, shall say to them: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me!’

“Then He shall say to them also that shall be on His left hand: ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave Me not to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave Me not to drink. I was a stranger, and you took Me not in; naked, and you covered Me not; sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me! Then they also shall answer Him, saying: ‘Lord! When did we see Thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to Thee?’ Then He shall answer them, saying: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!’ And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting!” (Matthew 25:31-46).

It is from the above passage that the Church has enumerated the Corporal Works of Mercy as follows:

To feed the hungry;
To give drink to the thirsty;
To clothe the naked;
To shelter the homeless;
To visit the sick;
To ransom the captive (or visit the imprisoned);
To bury the dead.

The Spiritual Works of Mercy are:

To instruct the ignorant;
To counsel the doubtful;
To admonish sinners;
To bear wrongs patiently;
To forgive offences willingly;
To comfort the afflicted (sorrowful);
To pray for the living and the dead.

The doing of works of mercy is not merely a matter of counsel or mere suggestion―Christ imposed a strict precept. The Divine command is set forth in the most stringent terms by Christ, and the failure to comply with it is visited with the supreme penalty of eternal damnation (Matthew 25:41): “Then He shall say to them also that shall be on His left hand: ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, in everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels! For I was hungry, and you gave Me not to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me not to drink. I was a stranger, and you took Me not in; naked, and you covered Me not; sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me”, etc. Even though Christ is here only speaking directly and explicitly of the corporal works of mercy―nevertheless, the spiritual works of mercy deal with a distress whose relief is even more important and necessary.

Mercy can be described as love which continues to love in the face of rejection. It is unmerited, unwarranted love. God, Who is Love itself, is the perfect combination of both justice and mercy. All of Scripture recounts His merciful plan of salvation--what He did in spite of rejection to love His people and call them back to Himself for all eternity. The most beautiful account in Scripture of the mercy of God is recounted in the parable of the prodigal son. The father in the narrative represents God. His son, who has taken his inheritance prematurely (effectively signifying that his father was dead to him), squanders it. Left in destitution and despair, he decided to come back to his father’s house, preferring the life of a servant to his current condition. The father has been waiting anxiously for the son's return, looking on the horizon day after day with hope and longing for their reunion. He runs out to his son, embraces him and celebrates his return. This is God himself who longs to be reunited with us.

Corporal Works of Mercy

► FEED THE HUNGLRY
Food is a fundamental and basic human need. Food is what nourishes us in order to be able to simply live. Feeding the hungry means providing nourishment through charity and hospitality. You can do this by working at a soup kitchen, inviting some friends over for a meal, sharing a snack with someone whose forgotten their lunch, or giving someone on the street a sandwich.

► GIVE DRINK TO THE THIRSTY
Water is the very essence of life. To give drink to the thirsty is to offer them life itself. Giving drink to the thirsty can be lived out by volunteering at a soup kitchen, contributing funds to clean water and well projects in underdeveloped countries or even within a family, as a mother provides food and drink to her children. Also be mindful of your own water consumption and try not to waste water.

► CLOTHE THE NAKED
This generally means giving to those who are in need of material things. There are many ways to give. Some donate to charitable organizations, others might volunteer their time working with the needy. One idea is to skip a drink, coffee or meal out each week and instead give the money you would have spent to a charitable organization or to put in the church collection basket. However you give, consider giving a little more time, energy or money during this season of Lent.

► SHELTER THE HOMELESS
Having a roof over our heads is a basic human need. Sheltering the homeless can take many forms. Some include: giving time or money to a homeless ministry, hosting someone like a religious pilgrim, speaker or clergy member, supporting ministries that work with the displaced or refugees, or volunteering to help build houses through an organization.

► VISIT THE SICK
Visiting the sick can mean going to the hospital and praying with patients there, bringing a sick family member or friend flowers or something to eat, visiting a nursing home, or offering someone going through an illness support. Our health is a gift and blessing. Let us make a special effort to reach out to those in need this year.

► VISIT THE IMPRISONED
Visiting the imprisoned can be difficult to participate in without special clearance or permission. If you find yourself unable to physically visit the imprisoned, try getting involved in a ministry that writes letters to the imprisoned or one that organizes retreats for them. Those incarcerated, and their families, can always use prayers.

► BURY THE DEAD
During funerals, we mourn the loss of life. As Christians, we live in the hope of the Resurrection. Participate in this work of mercy by offering condolences or sending a card to someone whose lost a loved one. Pray for those who have gone before you whenever you pass a cemetery or go to a cemetery intentionally to pray.

Spiritual Works of Mercy

► INSTRUCT THE IGNORANT
Our Catholic Faith is incredibly deep and rich. Knowing all of it can be impossible, but it's important to learn as much about it as we can! Instructing the ignorant means teaching others how to live according to the Gospel and how to be followers of Christ. This can include a formal Catechesis program, working in youth ministry, teaching Religion classes or religious education, or even teaching your children or family members about different prayers, devotions or Church teaching.

► COUNSEL THE DOUBTFUL
Counseling the doubtful means helping guide someone towards truth. As Christians, our very lives should be a witness to the truth that God sent his only Son to redeem us and invite us to share in his life forever. Each of us, however, can go through moments of doubt. How can we counsel the doubtful? Some examples could include: a priest guiding a person towards a life of virtue in confession; a mother or father instructing or correcting their children; a spiritual director helping someone grow in their spiritual life; a teacher helping their students learn a certain subject.

► ADMONISH THE SINNER
Admonishing the sinner means helping someone who has fallen off track get back on the path towards holiness. We all fall at different points of our life. Sometimes, we need help choosing the good and sticking with it. James 5:19 says, “whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way ... will cover a multitude of sins.” Admonishing the sinner can include a priest helping guide someone in confession; a spiritual director pointing out some negative patterns or tendencies in a person's life; parents correcting their children; teachers correcting students; employers correcting employees; a friend or roommate sitting down in love to point out some wrong behavior, or actions to a loved one. Admonishing the sinner should never be easy. We do not do it out of spite or pride, but as a merciful act of love to bring someone closer to the heart of the Father.

► BEAR WRONGS PATIENTLY
Because we live in a fallen world, we face injustice throughout our lives. Do not fear to ask for the strength to encounter hardship and sorrow with patience when it arises. There will be moments when you feel unjustly treated by co-workers, family, friends, or even by God himself. Ask for clarity, patience and joy in the midst of these trials. Pray for those who have treated you unfairly. This may also be a good time to pray about any time you have treated others unfairly.

► FORGIVE INJURIES
Forgiveness often is not our natural response when we have been hurt or wounded. It's much easier to close up, hold a grudge or avoid the problem altogether. As Christians, we know that only forgiveness will lead us to true freedom. Try to understand why someone might have hurt you. Does it stem from their own woundedness? Pray for those that have harmed you. Pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and ask to grow in the mercy.

► COMFORT THE SORROWFUL
We all experience different moments of sorrow in our lives. Comforting the sorrowful involves reaching out to those having a hard time and accompanying them on their journey of grief. Call a friend who has been feeling down and ask them about their day. Send a card to someone going through a difficult time. Listen to and comfort a friend who needs to vent or cry. Don't forget the value in simple accompaniment.

► PRAY FOR THE LIVING AND THE DEAD
Prayer unites us not only with God, but with each other. We are called to pray, as the Church, for the other members of the Body of Christ. Some of these members have gone before us. We pray for the repose of their souls, especially within our families, so that we may hope to join them one day in heaven. We also pray for the needs of our friends, family and those of the whole world. Ask a friend or family member how you can best pray for them. Write down a list of prayer intentions and bring them with you to Mass or the chapel. Offer up your day, work or activities for the needs of those around you. Offer up a Mass for a deceased loved one or family member.

DAILY LENTEN LITURGY
Tuesday after the First Sunday of Lent

Article 7
Jesus Cleanses the Temple

In today’s Gospel reading at Mass, we read:

“At that time, when Jesus entered Jerusalem, all the city was thrown into commotion, saying: ‘Who is this?’ But the crowds kept on saying: ‘This is Jesus the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee!’ And Jesus entered the Temple of God, and cast out all those who were selling and buying in the Temple; and He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold the doves. And He said to them: ‘It is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer” ― but you have make it a den of thieves!’ And the blind and the lame came to Him in the Temple, and He healed them. But the Chief Priests and the Scribes―seeing the wonderful deeds that He did and the children crying out in the Temple, and saying: ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’―were indignant and said to Him: ‘Do You hear what these are saying?’ And Jesus said to them: ‘Yes! Have you never read, “Out of the mouth of infants and sucklings You have perfected praise”’? And leaving them, He went out of the city to Bethany and He stayed there” (Matthew 21:10-17).

The First Temple was built in the 10th century BC, during the reign of Solomon over the United Kingdom of Israel. It stood until around 587 BC, when it was destroyed along with the city during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem―which God permitted because of the increasing idolatry among His Chosen People. Almost a century later, the First Temple was replaced by the Second Temple when a small portion of the exiled Jews returned from their Babylonian captivity. While the Second Temple stood for a longer period of time than the First Temple, it was likewise destroyed during the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD ― which Christ had prophesied.

The Temple of Jerusalem is the prototype of the Catholic Church. The Chosen People of God had originally been ruled by God―God was their king, not some human being―they were a THEOCRACY (ruled by God ― “theos” is Greek for God) and not a MONARCHY (ruled by a king) or a DEMOCRACY (ruled by the people). God was supposed to be the focal point of their lives―much as He is supposed to be the focal point of our lives: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength! This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31).

God is to be served and not ignored or abused. When―during the Exodus from Egypt―several thousand Israelites made and worshiped the “Golden Calf” and God destroyed them for their idolatry. Once they finally entered the “Promised Land” and established themselves there, the Israelites once again fell into the idolatry of worshiping false gods―and again God severely punished them by destroying Jerusalem―as well as the Temple that they had built in His honor. Later, as a result of the Jewish nation rejecting God’s only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, God again punished them by allowing the Romans to destroy Jerusalem, destroy the rebuilt Temple, and kill almost all of the inhabitants of Jerusalem (which had swelled to over 1 million due to the influx of pilgrims for the annual Passover feast), crucifying thousands of them.

Sin just does not pay―idolatry does not pay! The Temple was a place of worship and praise and prayer and ritual sacrifice — not a place to exploit the poor. Our Lord saw that the majority of what was happening in the Temple was primarily materialistic and not supernatural. All Jewish males living outside Jerusalem were required by the Law of Moses to make three annual pilgrimages to the Temple to celebrate liturgical festivals. For them, being able to purchase animals there was a convenience―which meant that they did not need to bring animals with them on what could be a long trip. Furthermore, because pilgrims were unfamiliar with Jerusalem, the Temple merchants sold sacrificial animals at a higher price than elsewhere in the city. The high priest overlooked their dishonesty, as long as he got his share.

Likewise, Jews who came on pilgrimage to Jerusalem from foreign countries, obviously came with their foreign currencies―which were not acceptable to the Temple authorities. The high priest, who received a percentage of the profit from the money changers and merchants, ordered that only Tyrian shekels would be accepted for the annual half-shekel Temple tax because they contained a higher percentage of silver, so the money changers exchanged unacceptable coins for these shekels. Thus they had to exchange foreign currency for Jewish currency. Money-changers were set up in this area to exchange foreign currency for the appropriate coins needed to pay the annual Temple tax. These services were licensed by those in charge of the Temple. Of course, they extracted a profit, sometimes much more than the law allowed.

The Temple’s outer court―the Court of the Gentiles―where the buying and selling took place, was supposed to be a place of prayer and worship for the Gentiles. It was not meant to be just a market-place or a location for a money-making enterprise―it was supposed to be a place that focused upon salvation. Turning the outer court of the Temple into a market place effectively impeded God’s plan of salvation for the Gentiles.

The Venerable St. Bede, commenting upon this Gospel reading, in the Divine Office for Matins for the Tuesday after the First Sunday of Lent, writes: “The same thing which the Lord showed, in a figure, by cursing the barren fig-tree, He afterwards more plainly put before us by casting the desecrators out of the Temple. The tree itself had not sinned by bearing no fruit when the Lord was hungry, for the time of figs was not yet come, but those Priests had sinned who were carrying on worldly business in the Lord’s house, and who neglected to bring forth that fruit of godliness which they owed, and which the Lord was hungry to find in them. The Lord made the fig-tree to wither-away under His curse, so that all men who saw it, and all men who heard of it, might know that they will be condemned by the judgment of God, if they merely content themselves with the talk of godliness, without the solid fruit of good works―even as that barren fig-tree was clothed only with a rustling garb of green leaves.

“But because the buyers and sellers understood not the parable of the barren fig-tree, the Lord brought upon them the stroke of the punishment that they had deserved, and cast out the traffickers in earthly things, from that house, wherein it had been commanded that nothing should be done save the work of God, sacrifices and prayers offered up to Him, and His word read, taught, and sung. And yet it may be believed that nothing was being sold or bought in the temple save such things as were needful for the service thereof, as we read in another place (John 2:14), that when Jesus went into the Temple, He found those that sold oxen and sheep and doves―and all these things were without doubt there for no other end but to be offered to God in that His holy house, and were sold by the natives to those worshippers who came from a distance, to be so used.

“If, therefore, the Lord would not have to be sold in the temple, even such things as He willed should be offered therein, (On account, that is, of the greed or dishonesty which is often the stain of such transactions,) with what anger, suppose ye, would He visit such as He might find laughing or gossiping there, or yielding to any other sin. If the Lord suffer not to be carried on in His house such worldly business as may be freely done elsewhere, how much more shall such things as ought never to be done anywhere, draw down the anger of God if they be done in His own holy house.” (St. Bede, commentary on the Gospel).

PRESENT DAY APPLICATION:
Is the Church today more concerned with the spirit of the world than with the salvation of souls, thus impeding its primary mission as a soul-saving institution? The Catholic philosopher, Dietrich von Hildebrand (1889–1977), commented long ago that there was a morality crisis infecting the Church in a most dangerous manner. In his book, Trojan Horse in the City of God, he writes:

“One of the most ominous symptoms of decay in the Church today is the acceptance of modern amoralism (the doctrine or attitude that ignores or rejects moral values, or deems them to be irrelevant). One could observe many amoralistic trends creeping into sermons years before Vatican II. The amoralism gaining currency among Catholics is indeed one of the most alarming symptoms of a loss of authentic Christian Faith. Goods such as the earthly welfare of mankind, scientific progress, and the domination of the forces of nature are…considered much more important than moral perfection and the avoidance of sin …. He who is more impressed and thrilled by ‘cosmic processes’ and the speculation of science than by reflections on Christ’s humanity in a saint and by the victory over the world that the very existence of a saint embodies, is no longer filled with the Christian spirit. He who cares more for the earthly welfare of humanity than for its sanctification has lost the Christian view of the universe.”

Today, modern Catholics invent their own moral code of conduct―and it is invariably in line with the amoralism of the world at large. Hence it is that things like abortion, contraception, cohabitation, fornication, masturbation, homosexuality, same-sex marriages, divorce and remarriage, immodesty, pornography, drunkenness, drug abuse, etc. have found ‘moral’ acceptance among increasing numbers of Catholics―even among some clergy!

Furthermore, modern day Catholics place more importance upon the idol of technology―television, computer, smartphone, internet, social media, etc.―than they place upon God and the Faith. They gladly spend hours on these things daily―but barely spare a few minutes for prayer, spiritual reading, meditation, visits to the Blessed Sacrament and extra Masses!

Additionally, one has to wonder about the Faith of Catholics who pay more attention to their body than their soul when attending Holy Mass on Sundays! Some persons dress as though are going to the beach―wearing shorts, barefoot in sandals, gaudy shirt, etc. Others dress as though they are going to Mass to find a boyfriend, girlfriend or spouse―too much makeup, immodest clothing that is revealing, tight-fitting, too short, etc. Who is supposed to the main point of focus at Mass on Sunday―you or Christ? This leads to distractions, “looking-around” and “eyeing-up people” during Mass! Our Lord’s words and actions of the past deserve to be repeated in the Church (the Temple of God) today!

DAILY LENTEN LITURGY
Ember Wednesday after the First Sunday of Lent

Article 8
A Purified Soul Can Again Become a Putrefied Soul

In both today's Epistle and Gospel we see lessons in the terrible consequences of falling from God's good graces.

The Lesson from the book of Exodus
“In those days, the Lord said to Moses: ‘Come up to Me on the mountain and, while you are there, I will give you the stone tablets on which I have written the Law and the Commandments, so that you may teach the children of Israel!’ So Moses set out with Josue, his aide, and went up to the mountain of God. The elders, however, had been told by him: ‘Wait here for us until we return to you! Aaron and Hur are staying with you! If anyone has a complaint, let him refer the matter to them!’

“After Moses had gone up, a cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord settled upon Mount Sinai and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day He called to Moses from the midst of the cloud. To the Israelites the glory of the Lord was seen as a consuming fire on the mountaintop. And Moses entered into the midst of the cloud as he went up on the mountain; and there he stayed for forty days and forty nights.” (Exodus 24:12-18).

As they say: “When the cat’s away, the mice will play!” Well, in this case, while Moses was away the Israelites did stray! The beloved Chosen People of God became not-so-beloved as they fell into idolatry―as we read in Holy Scripture:

“And the people seeing that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, gathering together against Aaron, said: ‘Arise! Make us gods, so that may go before us! For as to this Moses, the man that brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has befallen him!’ And Aaron said to them: ‘Take the golden earrings from the ears of your wives, and your sons and daughters, and bring them to me!’ And the people did what he had commanded, bringing the earrings to Aaron. And when he had received them, he made of them a molten calf. And they said: ‘These are thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee out of the land of Egypt!’ And when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it, and made proclamation by a crier's voice, saying: ‘Tomorrow is the solemnity of the Lord!’ And rising in the morning, they offered holocausts, and peace victims, and the people sat down to eat, and drink, and they rose up to play.

“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Go! Get thee back down! Thy people―which thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt―hath sinned! They have quickly strayed from the way which thou didst show them―and they have made to themselves a molten calf and have adored it, and sacrificing victims to it, have said: ‘These are thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee out of the land of Egypt!’ And again the Lord said to Moses: ‘Do you see that this people is stiff-necked! Leave Me alone, so that my wrath may be kindled against them and that I may destroy them! And of thee I will make a great nation!’

“But Moses besought the Lord, saying: ‘Why, O Lord, is thy indignation kindled against thy people, whom thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt, with great power, and with a mighty hand?’ Let not the Egyptians say, I beseech thee: “He craftily brought them out, that he might kill them in the mountains, and destroy them from the Earth!” Let thy anger cease, and be appeased upon the wickedness of thy people!’ And the Lord was appeased from doing the evil which he had spoken against his people. And Moses returned from the mountain, carrying the two tablets of stone made by the work of God, written on both sides with the writing also of God graven in the tablets.

“And when he came near to the camp, Moses saw the golden calf, and being very angry, he threw the tablets out of his hand and broke them at the foot of the mountain. And laying hold of the golden calf which they had made, he burnt it, and beat it to powder, which he threw into water, and gave thereof to the children of Israel to drink.

“And Moses said to Aaron: ‘What has this people done to thee, that thou shouldst bring upon them a most heinous sin?’ And Aaron answered him: ‘Let not my lord be offended―for thou knowest this people, that they are prone to evil! They said to me: “Make us gods, that may go before us! For as to this Moses, who brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is befallen him!” And I said to them: “Which of you hath any gold?” And they took and brought it to me―and I cast it into the fire, and this calf came out!’

“Then Moses, standing in the gate of the camp, said: ‘If any man be on the Lord's side let him join with me!’ And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. And Moses said to them: ‘Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: “Let every man put his sword upon his thigh, and go and return from gate to gate through the midst of the camp, and let every man kill his brother, and friend, and neighbor!”’ And the sons of Levi did according to the words of Moses, and there were slain that day about twenty-three thousand men.

“And when the next day was come, Moses spoke to the people: ‘You have sinned a very great sin! I will go up to the Lord, to see if by any means I may be able to intercede with him for your crime!’ And returning to the Lord, he said: ‘I beseech thee! This people hath sinned a heinous sin, and they have made to themselves gods of gold! Either forgive them this trespass, or if thou do not, strike me out of the book that thou hast written!’ And the Lord answered him: ‘He that hath sinned against Me, him will I strike out of My book! But go thou, and lead this people where I have told thee! My angel shall go before thee! And I, in the day of revenge, will visit this sin also of theirs!’ The Lord therefore struck the people for the guilt on occasion of the calf which Aaron had made.” (Exodus 32:1-35).

We see here the danger and the tragedy of God’s chosen ones falling into the grave sin of idolatry and being severely punished for it by death―at the command of Moses, the idolaters were killed and “there were slain that day about twenty-three thousand men.” Sweet had turned to sour! Some of God’s Chosen People chose to offend God by idolatry and ended up being chosen for death by execution with the sword. Truly “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

Similarly, once God had led the Israelites out of Egypt to the borders of the Promised Land―the Israelites, out of great fear, refused God’s command to enter and conquer the land. The terrible consequence of that was God condemning them to wander throughout desert wilderness for 40 years―until all the adults, who had arrived at the borders of the Promised Land, had died in desert. It was only their descendants―born during those 40 years―that were finally allowed to enter the Promised Land.

In one portion of today’s Gospel reading at Mass, Our Lord speaks of something vaguely similar:
“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he roams through dry places in search of rest, and finds none. Then he says: ‘I will return to my house which I left!’ ― and when he has come to it, he finds the place unoccupied, swept and decorated. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits, more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there ― and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. So also shall it be with this evil generation! (Matthew 12:43-45).

Jesus explains that a person freed from the power of Satan can end up in a worse state than he was in the first place. Why is the person in this analogy so much worse off after having already been cleansed and purified? St. Augustine, his commentary on this passage, explains what this can look like in a concrete way.

St. Augustine explains that “when someone falls away from righteousness [the state of sanctifying grace], he will also pretend to be virtuous. For when the lust of the flesh has been driven off, from its usual actions by penance, and does not find delights in which to rest (Matthew 12:43), it returns with greater desire and again occupies the mind of man...” According to St. Augustine, the seven demons that return with the original demon represent vices that are contrary to the Theological Virtues (Faith, Hope, and Charity) and contrary to the Cardinal Virtues (Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance). The once converted person will now be hypocritical and only “pretend that he has the virtues…”

St. Augustine explains that this is what happens to the one who “becomes negligent after [evil] has been driven out, so that the word of God may not be brought in as the inhabitant of a house that has been cleansed by sound doctrine.” In other words, this is a passage that exhorts us to be faithful to God’s Word, so that we will not be corrupted by false doctrine. It is not enough to drive evil out―we must also let God in, so that with His help we can prevent evil from returning―as Jesus said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Otherwise, we may continue to appear a Christian, but, in reality, we will undo what God has done in purifying us. Instead of remaining “empty, swept, and put in order,” our once purified souls will again become cluttered, dusty, disordered, damaged, decaying and eventually putrefied!

DAILY LENTEN LITURGY
Thursday after the First Sunday of Lent

Article 9
Under the Influence of the Devil

In today's Gospel we see the interaction between a woman outside of the Jewish faith, who had a daughter possessed by devils, and Our Lord, who seemed reluctant to help her. Sometimes, our own Faith (confidence, hope, trust) may well be tested and seemingly bring nothing but refusals from God—as seen in the case of the Canaanite woman. Here we have a woman not of the Jewish Faith (today, we would say a non-Catholic), who has the audacity to come to Jesus asking for a miracle—the casting out of a devil from her daughter. No doubt she has Faith―the knowledge, confidence, hope, trust―that Christ has the power to do this—otherwise she wouldn’t be there. It seems she has been ‘trying all day’ to get close to Jesus, to be able to beg of Him this miracle—yet the Apostles have been successful in keeping her away. She must have been pretty persistent in her efforts, for the Apostles complained to Our Lord about her continuous harassment.

When she finally breaks through the ‘protective cordon’ surrounding Our Lord, she begs Him, with great hope, for her desired miracle. Our Lord ‘stonewalls’ her with His silence. Undeterred, she again begs—this time Our Lord tells her that she is not of the right religion. Still she comes at Him—only to have Him call her a dog! Even this will not quench her hope and confidence—she humbly acknowledges that she is a dog, but then says that even dogs get crumbs from the master’s table. At this point Our Lord relents—He had tested her Faith and Hope, and she came through with flying colors.

Here is the Scriptural account: In Thursday’s Gospel reading at Mass, we read:

“At that time, Jesus retired to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman came out of that territory and cried out to Him, saying: ‘Have pity on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is sorely beset by a devil!’

But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came up and besought Him, saying: ‘Send her away! For she is crying after us!’

But He answered and said to the woman: ‘I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel!’

But she came and worshipped Him, saying: ‘Lord, help me!”

He said in answer: ‘It is not fair to take the children’s bread and to cast it to the dogs!’

But she said: ‘Yes, Lord! But even the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table!’

Then Jesus answered and said to her: ‘O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done to you as you will!’

And her daughter was healed from that hour.” (Matthew 15:21-28).

The account is also found in Mark 7:24-30. Mark gives us a little more information in some areas.

“And rising, Jesus went into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And entering into a house, He wanted that no man should know he was there―but He could not be hid. For a woman, as soon as she heard of Him, whose daughter had an unclean spirit, came in and fell down at His feet. For the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophenician born, and she besought Him that He would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.

Jesus said to her: ‘Suffer first the children to be filled! For it is not good to take the bread of the children, and cast it to the dogs!’

But she answered and said to Him: ‘Yes, Lord! But the whelps also eat under the table of the crumbs of the children!’

And He said to her: ‘For this saying, go thy way! The devil is gone out of thy daughter!’

And when she was come into her house, she found the girl lying upon the bed, and that the devil was gone out.” (Mark 7:24-30).

A parable of Our Lord’s can also be applied to this situation―to highlight the “doggedness” of the Canaanite woman:

Our Lord said: “Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and shall say to him: ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, because a friend of mine is come off his journey to me, and I have not what to set before him!’

And he, from within, should answer, and say: ‘Trouble me not! The door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed! I cannot rise and give thee!’

Yet if he shall continue knocking, I say to you, although he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend; yet, because of his importunity [persevering efforts in face of rejection or adversity], he will rise, and give him as many as he needs” (Luke 11:5-8).

Perseverance Pays
This woman had been trying to get to Our Lord for quite some time, but had been continually rebuffed by His Apostles. She has now somehow broken through the protective barrier and manages to speak to Jesus Himself. Yet she meets the same fate at the hands of Jesus—He says nothing and refuses to talk to her. When the Apostles ― perhaps flustered that she had managed to slip past them and get to Jesus Himself ― complain to Jesus about this ‘pest’ of a pesky woman, Jesus further rebukes and rejects the woman’s pleas for help: “And Jesus answering, said: ‘I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel!’” In other words: “You are not of My religion! Go away! Get lost!”

This latest in a series of setbacks, rejections and failures does not deter the woman, nor dampen her Faith and confidence. “But she came and worshiped Him, saying: ‘Lord, help me!’ He said in answer: ‘It is not fair to take the children’s bread and to cast it to the dogs!’”

Wow! The Apostles have repeatedly rejected her; then Jesus gives her the ‘silent-treatment’ and refuses to answer her; then He says makes what we today would term as a ‘racist’ comment, saying she is of the wrong race and so cannot be helped; now He calls her a dog! That would be enough to turn away the staunchest of persons! But she said: “Yes, Lord! But even the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from their master’s table!” She humbles herself and says that, yes, she is a dog—but that even dogs are given crumbs by their masters! “Then Jesus answered and said to her: ‘O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done to you as you will!’ And her daughter was cured from that hour” (Matthew 15:22-28). Humility and perseverance will go a long way to getting our prayers answered.

Not only great was her Faith, but great was her courage and devotion. She was turned back and refused by the Apostles. Our Lord Himself refused her. She pressed on regardless. Devotion to something means that we stick with it, through ‘thick-and-thin’, taking the ‘rough with the smooth’, persevering in adversity. How would we respond if Jesus insinuated that we were dogs? It is easier to call oneself a sinner or even a dog, than to be called such by others—and it must be supremely hard to take when it comes from the mouth of Jesus Himself!

DAILY LENTEN LITURGY
Ember Friday after the First Sunday of Lent

Article 10
Sin and Die! Repent and Live!

In today's Epistle lesson we God clearly state the consequences of sin and the consequences of repentance with penance. Sin invariably brings death―not only physical death, but also a spiritual death that sees the departure of God’s grace from the soul and merits eternal damnation in the next world, as well as punishment in this world. On the other hand, sincere repentance joined to penance and the keeping of God’s commandments can win for the sinner the mercy of God. Take your pick―it’s your choice! Here is the Lesson from Ember Friday’s reading at Mass:

Lesson from the Prophecy of Ezechiel
“Thus says the Lord God: ‘Only the one who sins shall die! The son shall not be charged with the guilt of his father, nor shall the father be charged with the guilt of his son. The virtuous man’s virtue shall be his own, as the wicked man’s wickedness shall be his own. But if the wicked man turns away from all the sins he committed, if he keeps all My commandments and does what is right and just, he shall surely live, he shall not die. None of the crimes he committed shall be remembered against him; he shall live because of the virtue he has practiced. Do I indeed derive any pleasure from the death of the wicked? says the Lord God. Do I not rather rejoice when he turns from his evil way that he may live? And if the virtuous man turns from the path of virtue to do evil, the same kind of abominable things that the wicked man does, can he do this and still live? None of his virtuous deeds shall be remembered, because he has broken faith and committed sin―because of this, he shall die! You say, ‘The Lord’s way is not fair!’ Hear now, house of Israel! Is it My way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair? When a virtuous man turns away from virtue to commit iniquity, and dies, it is because of the iniquity he committed that he must die. But if a wicked man, turning from the wickedness he has committed, does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life; since he has turned away from all the sins which he committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die, says the Lord almighty.” (Ezechiel 18:20-28).

The Gospel, reading from St. John’s Gospel, is loosely along the same lines. Christ shows mercy to a sinner―but warns him to stop sinning because something worse will happen to him if he continues to sin―thus echoing the words of Holy Scripture: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5). Here is the Gospel account of Christ’s encounter with the sinner who had labored under sickness for over 38 years:

“At that time, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem, by the Sheep-Gate, a pool called in Hebrew ‘Bethsaida’, having five porticoes. In these were lying a great multitude of the sick, blind, lame, and those with shriveled limbs, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel of the Lord used to come down at certain times into the pool, and the water was troubled. And the first to go down into the pool after the troubling of the water was cured of whatever infirmity he had. Now a certain man was there who had been thirty-eight years under his infirmity. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had been in this state a long time, He said to him: ‘Do you want to be healed?’ The sick man answered Him: ‘Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred! For while I am going down to the pool, another steps down before me!’ Jesus said to him: ‘Arise! Take up your pallet and walk!’ And at once the man was cured. And he took up his pallet and began to walk. Now that day was a Sabbath day. The Jews therefore said to him who had been healed: ‘It is the Sabbath! You are not allowed to take up your pallet!’ He answered them: ‘He who healed me said to me: “Take up your pallet and walk!”’ They asked him then, Who is the Man Who said to you: ‘Take up your pallet and walk’? But the man who had been healed did not know who it was―for Jesus had quietly gone away, since there was a crowd in the place. Afterwards Jesus found him in the Temple, and said to him: ‘Behold, you are cured! Sin no more―lest something worse happen to you!’ The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus Who had healed him.” (John 5:1-15).

DAILY LENTEN LITURGY
Ember Saturday after the First Sunday of Lent

Article 11
God’s Contract―Take it or Leave it!

Today, being the Ember Saturday of Lent, there are a total of 7 readings at Mass (including the Gospel). Here are some extracts from the various Readings from the Mass of the Ember Saturday of Lent:

“This day the Lord, your God, commands you to observe these statutes and decrees. Be careful, then, to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. Today you are making this agreement with the Lord! He is to be your God and you are to walk in His ways and observe His statues, commandments and decrees, and to hearken to His voice. And today the Lord is making this agreement with you―you are to be a people peculiarly His own, as He promised you! And―provided that you keep all His commandments―He will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory above all other nations He has made, and you will be a people sacred to the Lord, your God, as He promised.” (Deuteronomy 26:12-19) … “If you are careful to observe all these commandments, following His ways exactly, and holding fast to your God, the Lord will drive all nations out of your way, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves. Every place where you set foot shall be yours! None shall stand up against you!” (Deuteronomy 11:22-25) … “Pray without ceasing! Give thanks! Do not extinguish the Spirit! Do not despise prophecies! Hold fast that which is good! Keep yourselves from every kind of evil. And the God of peace Himself will sanctify you completely!” (1 Thessalonians 5:14-23).

It is God who writes the contract with mankind. Salvation is on His terms, not our terms. It is God who gives us our “job description” that we have to carry-out if we are to have any hope of salvation. We work for God―and not the other way round! God hires―we are merely the hirelings! That was the image painted by Our Lord in the Gospel for Septuagesima Sunday―which set the tone for the Lenten season:

“Jesus spoke to His disciples this parable: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is like a householder who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. And having agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And about the third hour, he went out and saw others standing in the market place idle; and he said to them: ‘Go you also into the vineyard, and I will give you whatever is just!’ So they went. And again he went out about the sixth, and about the ninth hour, and did as before. But about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing about and he said to them: ‘Why do you stand here all day idle?’ They said to him: ‘Because no man has hired us!’ He said to them: ‘Go you also into the vineyard!’”

The workers in the vineyard had to work on the householder’s terms―not on their own terms. In fact, they only got into the vineyard because they were invited or recruited by the householder. A hireling is hired―he does not hire himself. You can apply for a job in someone else’s business―but you do walk in and say: “I’m hired! This is the kind of work that I will do! This is what you will pay me!” The same is true for Heaven―nobody has an inborn right to Heaven. God generously invites everyone to Heaven―but everyone is employed for a trial period―probationary period―on Earth to see if they are good enough for eternal employment in Heaven: “Carefully study to present thyself approved unto God―a workman that needeth not to be ashamed” (2 Timothy 2:15). “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus in good works” (Ephesians 2:10). “All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ” (Colossians 3:17).

Heaven is all about that hated four-letter-word: WORK. Our Lord says: “My Father worketh until now―and I work!” (John 5:17). “I must work the works of Him that sent Me!” (John 9:4). Then, at the Last Supper, He says: “Father, I have finished the work which Thou gave me to do!” (John 17:4).

Man was made for work―God created Adam and placed him in the Garden of Eden to WORK and not to play! “The Lord God took man and put him into the paradise of pleasure―to dress it and to keep it” (Genesis 2:15). We too, imitating our working Lord, are obliged to work. “Man shall go forth to his work and to his labor until the evening!” (Psalm 103:23). “Six days you shall do work―the seventh day shall be holy unto you, the Sabbath, and the rest day of the Lord!” (Exodus 35:2). “Six days shall you do work―the seventh day, because it is the rest day of the Sabbath, shall be called holy. You shall do no work on that day!” (Leviticus 23:3). “Persevere in this work which you have begun!” (Judith 4:13). “Work your work before the time, and He will give you your reward in his time!” (Ecclesiasticus 51:38). “Take courage and let not your hands be weakened―for there shall be a reward for your work!” (2 Paralipomenon 15:7). “For the Lord will render to a man his work, and according to the ways of everyone He will reward them!” (Job 34:11). “I will render to everyone according to his work!” (Proverbs 24:29).

Therefore, “be a doer of the work!” (James 1:25). “Abound to every good work!” (2 Corinthians 9:8). “That the man of God may be perfect―furnished to every good work” (2 Timothy 3:17). “In much work there shall be abundance” (Proverbs 13:23). “Do you see that it is by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? … Faith without works is dead!” (James 2:24-26). “If any man will not work, then neither let him eat!” (2 Thessalonians 3:10). “In all thy works be quick” (Ecclesiasticus 31:27). “Be not slack and remiss in thy works!” (Ecclesiasticus 4:34). “He that is loose and slack in his work, is the brother of him that wasted his own works” (Proverbs 18:9). Therefore, “with fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). “In all thy works remember thy last end―and thou shalt never sin!” (Ecclesiasticus 7:40).

DAILY LENTEN LITURGY
Second Sunday of Lent

Article 12
Go Figure How to Transfigure Your Life

The Gospel on the Transfiguration
You may―or may not―have noticed that the Gospel reading about the Transfiguration of Our Lord occurs for two days in succession―the first being on the Ember Saturday of Lent; and the second being on the following day, the Second Sunday of Advent. In addition to that, we also have the Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord on August 6th. Do we have the Gospel account of the Transfiguration read to us three times because the Church has run out of Gospel readings to present to us? No! Rather, it is because of the importance of the Transfiguration and its implications. Let us then refresh our memories about the Transfiguration with the three Evangelists who recorded the event in the Gospels―Saints Matthew, Mark and Luke. Here is a combined version of their Gospel accounts.

“And after six days Jesus taketh with Him Peter and James and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain, apart by themselves, to pray. And whilst He prayed, the shape of His countenance was altered, His face did shine as the sun: and His garments became white as snow—white and glittering. And there appeared to them Elias with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. And they spoke of His decease that He should accomplish in Jerusalem. But Peter and they that were with Him were heavy with sleep. And waking, they saw His glory, and the two men that stood with Him. And Peter said to Jesus: ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here! If thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles (tents), one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias!’ And as he was yet speaking, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice came out of the cloud, saying: ‘This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased: hear ye Him!’ And the disciples hearing, fell upon their face, and were very much afraid. And Jesus came and touched them: and said to them: ‘Arise, and fear not!’ And they lifting up their eyes and immediately looking about, they saw no man any more, but Jesus only with them. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying: ‘Tell the vision to no man, till the Son of man be risen from the dead!’” (Matthew 17:1–9, Mark 9:1–8, Luke 9:28–36).

Ancient Gospel
This Gospel has been associated with Lent for many centuries, and serves very well to express the positive side of Lent and to prepare us for the celebration of the Easter mystery. The Transfiguration is the heart of the Mass texts for today, and supplies the main lesson. Whereas the Gospel for last Sunday emphasized more the negative aspect of Lent, the Gospel for today tends to stress the positive purpose of this season. Transfiguration is grace, moral perfection, and glory. This is the aim of Lent.

What’s It Doing Here?
The Gospel which we have just heard may come as a surprise to us at this time. The one appointed for the previous Sunday (the First Sunday of Lent), seemed most fitting for Lent, portraying as it did Christ doing penance by fasting for forty days, and Christ engaged in combat with the devil. The Gospel for today would seem more suitable for a season of rejoicing, than for the austere time of Lent. Still, we must remember that Lent should not be regarded merely as a sorrowful time of penance, dying to self, and consciousness of sin, since it is also a time of grace: “Behold, now is the acceptable time, behold, now is the day of salvation.” The purpose of Lent is to fill us with grace and to transfigure us for a new life in the celebration of the Easter mystery, whereby we celebrate our having died to sin having risen with Christ to a new life that leaves sin behind.

Progression of Lent
Thus we might say that the Gospel readings appointed for the first two Sundays form the two extreme boundaries of the Lenten season. With Christ, the Man of penance and the warrior, we desire to do penance and to battle against our lower nature defiled by Original Sin. With the glorified Christ, we long to have part in His transfiguration, when the feast of Easter arrives and the end of our life arrives. The Church sets before our eyes the aim of Lent. On Septuagesima Sunday the Church led us into the stadium of the spiritual life, where we were to enter the race and join in the combat to gain the spiritual victory. Today the Church shows us the prize of that victory, which is not a corruptible crown, nor a silver trophy, but the transfiguration or transformation of our souls—the changing of the sinner into the saint. Our Lord shows Peter, James and John the glory that awaits them too, if they are faithful to His teachings.

The Time and Place of the Transfiguration
The Transfiguration takes place towards the end of Jesus’ ministry in the province of Galilee. The Gospel says “After six days,” (Luke reckons “about eight days”) that is to say six days after St. Peter had made his inspired profession of Faith in the divinity of Christ--“Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God”—at Caesarea Philippi, which is around 50 miles north of Mount Thabor (Matthew 16:13-20) and Christ, in turn, had promised Peter the Primacy of His Church—“Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build My Church.” Here the transfiguration, which the Gospel of the Second Sunday of Lent commemorates, took place.

Mount Thabor is a cone-like hill rising 1,850 feet above sea level around 10 miles southwest of the Sea of Galilee and around 8 miles from Our Lord’s home in Nazareth. From the fourth century onward, Thabor has been identified as the “high mountain apart” (Luke: “the mountain,” as if there were only the one).

Some modern authors prefer the much more impressive, snow-crested Mount Hermon, 9,383 feet above sea level and twelve miles north-east of Caesarea Philippi, as the mountain in question. However, it would surely not have taken Jesus and His band of Apostles, a total of six days to cover the twelve miles between the two places; moreover, when He came down from the mountain He was surrounded by a crowd of Jews seeking cures, a circumstance hardly likely to occur in the pagan country that surrounded Mount Hermon.

God Has His Favorites
Our Lord is preparing to make the last journey to Jerusalem which will lead to His Passion and Death. He has been telling His Apostles of the fate that awaits Him in Jerusalem. This, naturally, caused much despondency among the Apostles. It was while they were in this mood of depression that He took His most trusted and beloved disciples—Peter, James, and John—to the top of a high mountain to pray. Only three of the twelve Apostles were privileged to witness the happenings on Mount Thabor, and they were the same three who, more than any of the others, had been singled out for His special friendship— they would also be the witnesses of the cure of Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:37) and the same three would witness His Agony in the Garden a short time later. Peter was the Leader appointed by Him; John was the Beloved Disciple; and James would be the first to die for Him.

As the evening comes upon them, Jesus is absorbed in prayer, while His disciples lie down at some distance and fall asleep—same old story: Jesus prays, His followers merely sleep! Jesus pours out His soul in communion with His heavenly Father, offering to Him with joyful heart His approaching suffering, and commending to Him all those who will have a share in the Redemption.

He Was Transfigured Before Them
As He is engaged in fervent prayer, Jesus took on or manifested a new appearance. The splendor of His divinity breaks through the cloak of His humanity, and His countenance begins to shine like the sun and His garments become white as snow. Since Christ continually possessed the beatific vision, His body should, at all times, have been radiant and shining like the glorified bodies of the saints will be in Heaven, but Christ kept this effect of the beatific vision hidden, as it would have hindered His mission among mortals. It was only here on Mount Thabor, for a brief moment, that He allowed His divinity to shine forth and illumine His body and even His garments.

St. Matthew remarks that His face “shone as the sun” while His garments became “white as snow,” and St .Mark declares that no fuller (= launderer) on Earth could make them any whiter. St. Luke notes that Jesus’ face was changed as He prayed: “His face shone as the sun and His garments became white as snow.” Prayer nearly always alters the human countenance. “Light” is widely employed as the symbol of the divine presence.

Unlike Moses, who came down from another high mountain (Sinai), with his face glowing and reflecting the majesty and glory of God (Exodus 34:29), this radiance on Thabor was proper to Christ. Theologically it is explained as being an overflow of the glory, which inundated His soul, by reason of His constant vision of the face of God. By a special divine dispensation, however, this overflow was not allowed to glorify His body and make it incapable of suffering.

Moses and Elias
The Apostles are awakened by the divine light which envelops Him, and they behold the wonderful spectacle. Two men, Moses and Elias, come to Jesus and are transported in glory with Him. They converse with Jesus about His approaching suffering and death. Moses and Elias had been the molders of the Jewish nation and were two of the greatest landmarks in Hebrew history. The three chosen Apostles saw these representatives of the Law and of the Prophets conversing deferentially with Jesus, which shows that between the Old and New Testaments there is perfect harmony and continuity.

Scandalized at Christ’s Idea of a Kingdom
Prior to the Transfiguration, Our Lord had told His Apostles that He must soon go up to Jerusalem and suffer at the hands of the Elders, the Scribes, and the Chief Priests, a suffering which will end in death, but that He would rise again the third day. This announcement greatly depressed the Apostles. They still hoped that He would establish an earthly kingdom, that He would use His great powers to subdue all His enemies, and that He would reign triumphant in this world.

Talking About Suffering and Death
St. Luke tells us the Apostles gazed in amazement when they saw and heard Moses and Elias speaking with Jesus, not of heavenly mysteries, but of His death as a man in Jerusalem: “And they spoke of His decease that He should accomplish in Jerusalem” (Luke 9:31). There was a certain fittingness in this, as both of them had known much suffering in life at the hands of their own people.

Perhaps the Apostles recognized Moses and Elias from traditional descriptions of them, or Christ may have addressed each by his name, or else it was revealed to them who these two were. Their presence on this occasion of Christ’s manifestation of His glory, was a further proof, for the Apostles, that Christ was the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. Moses the Lawgiver and Elias the principal of the Prophets were the representatives of the Old Testament.

Wrong Idea of the Messias
Although the Apostles willingly accepted Christ as the Messias, they found it hard to accept a Messias who should suffer and die, despite the fact that this had been foretold in the prophecies; the presence of Moses and Elias speaking with Christ of His sufferings and death soon to take place in Jerusalem should remove these doubts. Christ, in the very act of revealing to them a little of His heavenly glory, reminds them that He hid that glory and came on Earth to suffer and die that mankind might share in His glory.

Later on, to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, Christ Himself expounded this truth: “O foolish and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things before entering into His glory? And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things referring to Himself” (Luke 24:25-27).

Impulsive Peter
One can easily imagine how thrilled Peter was at what was going on before his very eyes. Peter, all excited and beside himself with wonder and admiration at the beauty of the vision he was seeing, said: “Lord it is good for us to be here, if thou wilt (that is, if you allow us) let us set up three tents, for you, for Moses and for Elias” meaning by this tents made out of branches. Peter’s one thought, in his excitement, was that this vision should last forever, hence the tents.

But as St. Luke and St. Mark add in their Gospels “he knew not what he was saying.” The truth of the matter is that Peter probably did not realize fully what he was saying—being an outgoing personality, he simply had to say something. His remark suggests, however, that the incident took place at some time during the day and not at night — one does not set up tents during the night. He may have thought that Jesus was about to begin His glorious mission (Peter did not always understand the lesson of the Cross), but the incongruity of his suggestion is obvious, for Jesus was not in the habit of seeking such shelter for sleep, nor was it at all likely that Moses and Elias could have been persuaded to prolong their stay on that account.

The Bright Cloud & the Voice of God
As Peter was still speaking a bright cloud overshadowed them, and hid Jesus and Moses and Elias from the Apostles’ eyes. In the Old Testament a cloud was always the symbol of the presence of the divine majesty. God spoke to the people in the desert from a cloud (Exodus 16:10); He gave the Ten Commandments to Moses from a cloud (Exodus 19:16). He manifested His presence in the newly built Temple of Solomon in a cloud which “filled the house of the Lord” (3 Kings 8:10). A voice then spoke from the cloud, saying: “This is My beloved Son ... hear Him!” A bright cloud is a favorite Old Testament symbol of God’s loving presence (cf. Exodus 16:10; 19:9; 24:15; 33:9, etc.).

The same voice from Heaven had made the same proclamation on the occasion of Our Lord’s baptism. The voice of the Father, repeated to the three Apostles the same words He had uttered at Jesus’ baptism (Matthew 3:17), adding the admonition “Hear Him” in the present imperative, indicating that one should pay Him a continuing attention. It is at this moment that Jesus has finished His Galilean ministry and has begun to speak of His sufferings (Matthew 16:21 ff); it was fitting, therefore, that God should consecrate Him in an extraordinary way as His Son, Whom they should all obey.

Struck by Fear
The disciples fell on their faces: In fear and adoration, they realized their own sinfulness and feared to be so near the sinless majesty of God. Whenever the supernatural makes itself felt in the natural order, men are at first frightened and troubled, and under such circumstances it has always seemed to them, and rightly, only proper to adopt an attitude of adoration and humility, of prostration upon the Earth. There is nothing demeaning about this; it is merely the normal reaction of religious men realizing their unworthiness to be in God’s presence.

Do Not Be Afraid
Moses and Elias had disappeared along with the cloud, but Jesus remained. He always remains—the bridge between God and man. With the vision having ended, Christ raised up the three frightened Apostles and dispelled their fear. He was their mediator between them and God, He was the bridge that spanned the gulf between sinful human nature and the sublime majesty of God for He was both God and man.

Tell No One
Jesus commanded silence upon His three chosen witnesses--“Tell the vision to no man, till the Son of man be risen from the dead!”—knowing well that a knowledge of His Transfiguration would have aroused an excitement difficult to control both among His other disciples and among the people, who would rise up against the Roman authorities and openly proclaim Him King, if they really knew He was the promised Messias. The people’s idea of the Messias was that He would be their temporal ruler, their political, rather than their spiritual, Redeemer. He had chosen well; the three kept the secret faithfully until after the resurrection, when they divulged it to the others (2 Peter 1:10-18).

Privileged Apostles
What an honor and what a privilege for Peter, James, and John to have been given even a brief glimpse of the glory of Christ, the God Incarnate. This privilege they never forgot. “We saw His glory,” St. John says in his Gospel, written about sixty years later, and in his Epistles he also refers to this privilege (see 1 John 1:1). And St. Peter, writing from his prison in Rome, to the Churches of Asia Minor, about thirty years later, refers to this great privilege: “For we were not following fictitious tales when we made known to you the power and coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eye witnesses of His grandeur. For He received from God the Father honor and glory, when from out the majestic glory a voice came down to Him, speaking thus: ‘This is My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased.’ And this voice we ourselves heard, borne from Heaven, when we were with Him on the holy mount” (2 Peter 1:16-18).

We Are Privileged Too
Yes, the Apostles were privileged, but we, too, are sharers in their privilege. We too have incontrovertible proofs of the glorious divinity of Christ, in the Gospel narratives and in the twenty centuries of history of the Church, which He founded. Were He not divine, that Church would long since have tottered and crumbled under the assaults from without and human weakness from within. But Christ is God and the Church has His divine protection and assistance. Therefore it will go on till the end of time to continue His work of redemption as He promised—even though it may be greatly reduced in size as foretold by Our Lady, and in recent years stated by Pope Benedict XVI, saying that the Church will be reduced to tiny size of what it once was.

Let us thank our divine Lord today, for giving this consoling and strengthening vision of His divinity to His Apostles, and through them, to us. It was for them, and it is for us a guarantee and a foretaste of the joys, that will be ours for all eternity, if we only persevere in our struggles against the world, the flesh, and the devil. This struggle is not easy on weak human nature, but our loving Savior is ever beside us, ready to “raise us up and tell us not to fear” if we would only turn to Him. When we are tempted to despair—about ourselves or others—and to give way under the weight of the cross, that lies so heavily on our shoulders, let us think of Mount Thabor and the glorified Jesus, Who faced His own cross so cheerfully for our sakes, and who now looks down from Heaven on us encouraging us and promising us eternal bliss in His company if only we will persevere.

What is the Message of this Gospel?
In the first place it reveals Christ in His transfiguration. The Church is greatly concerned to point out to us again and again that Christ is true God and true man. The Transfiguration lets us glimpse the fact that Christ is the Son of God. From all eternity He is seated on the throne of divine majesty, God of God, light of light, the reflection of the glory of God and the likeness of His majesty.

The Transfiguration did not occur in public, but on a solitary mountain in an atmosphere of prayer, recollection, mortification. God can thunder forth in the midst of a multitude, but His voice is usually a whisper, and one must be still to hear it.

In order to redeem mankind, He assumed the mantle of a slave, our human nature. This, of course, cast an outward veil over His divinity, although it by no means annihilated it. He remained, even on Earth, the ever-lasting Son of God. And even on the cross, where He cries out in abandonment: “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me,” His divinity never forsakes Him.

At the present moment, in the Transfiguration, Jesus allows His disciples a momentary preview of His glorified body. With the resurrection, however, the time of humiliation came to an end; and, at the ascension into Heaven, the transfiguration of His human nature becomes a permanent state. In the splendor of the Transfiguration, He will appear on Earth once more, with great power and majesty, when He comes to judge.

Eucharistic ‘Transfiguration’
But even now Christ comes to us on Earth in transfigured form. Of course we do not see Him with our bodily eyes. But we do see Him in the members of His Mystical Body, in the little child, in the poor, in the priest, in our neighbor; moreover, we see Him especially in the Holy Eucharist with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity under the appearances of bread and wine. With the eyes of Faith we must recognize Him as the transfigured Lord when in the Eucharist He offers up His Body and His Blood in the continuation of the Passion—that He was discussing with Moses and Elias—in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The Eucharist is our food and nourishment for the life of grace. That which the Gospel portrays today, is the real picture of Christ.

Jesus Wants to ‘Transfigure’ or Transform Our Souls
The Gospel shows us something more. We see a circle of men around Christ — Moses, Elias, Peter, James, and John — who are the representatives of both the Old and New Covenants. They, too, are included in the Transfiguration. They testify to the fact that Christ wishes to lead all men to sanctity and glorification—which is the reason why He came upon Earth. He wills not only to free men from sin, but to have them participate in His holiness and His eternal splendor, through grace here on Earth, through glory in the next life.

Grace Perfects, Transforms or ‘Transfigures’
What is grace? It is not merely a benign recognition of men by God; it is an elevation of the soul, a transfiguration of the soul. As St. Thomas Aquinas tells us: “Grace perfects nature.” Just as the sun shines down on the world, not only to give warmth and light, but also to transform the Earth from the barrenness of winter into a paradise of precious flowers and fruits, so too does the grace of God stream down on men, in order to transform their souls. St. Peter says that, by grace, man is made a partaker of the divine nature. The man of grace is therefore one whose soul has been transformed.

Of course, such transfiguration of man is not visible during His life on Earth, any more than Christ’s divinity was manifest during His earthly sojourn. St. Paul has said that our life of grace is hidden with Christ in God. Nevertheless, the soul of the man in grace is truly transfigured, and if one were able to see this with bodily eyes, the soul would resemble Christ as He appeared on Mount Thabor.

Holiness is Your Vocation and God’s Will for You
The transformation of the soul is in continual progress, and attains perfection only in the life of Heaven. A Christian’s vocation in this world is to be, for example, a parent, a worker, a student, but his real vocation is to grow to maturity and holiness in the life of grace. Woe betide him if at the hour of death he is like the man in the Gospel, who wanted to build a tower, but had to stop when the work was only half-done, because he was unable to complete it. How many men will be found to resemble an unfinished tower when death overtakes them!

Now, in regard to the question of who does the work on the structure of our soul, the answer is that God is the builder, but we have to be His apprentices. Without our cooperation God will never bring the work to completion. In the first place God does the work. “Unless the Lord build the house, the builders labor in vain.” God has to come to us with His first inspiration of grace.

Before we were born God already looked down in favor on us and watched over us. After we were born we were taken to be baptized, and from that moment our soul began to shine with the splendor of God’s grace. As we continued through life, our nature tainted by Original Sin oftentimes overshadowed our soul with dark clouds.

Yet the sacrament of penance was there to remove the shadows over and over again. But the ripening of the life of grace is accomplished mainly through the Eucharist. The flesh of the transfigured God-Man brings the life of the soul to perfection. Still we must serve as apprentices to the divine Builder. It is not enough that we simply use the means given by God, such as the sacraments of penance and the Eucharist; but we are expected to work along on building-up the spiritual life.

What Can We Do?

Sanctify Sunday
(a) First there is Sunday which is truly a day of sanctification. Six days are for our ordinary work; one day is appointed for the work on our souls. On this one day we are to build up the tabernacle of the spiritual life. Hence we must have the highest regard for Sunday. This is symbolized by Our Lord going off alone, with His three disciples, up the mountain (of God) to pray. He separated Himself from the world. We cannot be content to keep the Lord’s Day by assisting at one short Mass, and then feel satisfied that we have done our duty, and decide that the rest of the day belongs to us. It is true that we have this day to ourselves more than the other days of the week, but it is ours not only for the recreation of the body but more especially for the transformation of the soul. The entire day should be devoted to the things of God. “This is the day of the Lord!”

Nowadays, Sundays are increasingly desecrated. In bygone times, Sunday was still kept holy. People used go to church in their “Sunday-best” clothes, and a blessed peace reigned, especially in the countryside (or the ‘boonies’) a symbol of one’s interior transfiguration. The high point of Sunday was a Mass celebrated with all possible solemnity and with a sermon. All parts of the Mass aimed at the elevation of the soul: the prayer service at the beginning; the word of God in the Epistle, Gospel, and sermon; the Offertory, at which point in the Mass we offered our souls to God; the Consecration, when we were transfigured along with the gifts of bread and wine; the Communion, when grace was poured out on the soul. Even bodily rest from servile work was a foretaste of heavenly glory. But a Sunday badly spent by a Christian brings spiritual desolation in its wake.

Daily Mass
(b) Yet the work of spiritual growth must be extended to the weekdays, for which purpose there is daily Mass, or at the very least a fervent morning and night prayer.

Seek After Holiness
(c) Let us not forget that holiness is something interior, and usually remains hidden from the sight of men. We should not imagine that progress in sanctity is taking place only when we experience the delight of exalted feelings. On the contrary, the soul is oftentimes more pleasing to God when it seems to be utterly forsaken by Him, and is cast down by suffering and sorrow. Was not the soul of Christ glorified when He cried out from the cross: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Suffering, temptation, abandonment do not lessen the loveliness of the soul, any more than thorns detract from the beauty of a rose.

Practice Chastity and Justice
(d) We have to help along in the important work of growing in holiness. We must strive to model our lives on the life of Christ, to increase in virtue, to suppress sin and our evil passions. The Epistle for today tells us that God wills our sanctification, and then it mentions two virtues by which we grow in sanctity, namely, chastity and justice. Both of these virtues cause men to shine forth transfigured. “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.” And the virtue of justice in a man is recognized for its worth even by the world. A life’s task lies before us — to develop a genuine Christian personality.

A Time to Grow—Grow in Holiness
Now we can understand how fitting it is that the Gospel of the Transfiguration is appointed for use during Lent. Lent is the principal time for man to change his ways and to work out his sanctification. As we have repeated over and over, Lent is a period not only for the negative task of waging battle against our lower nature and making expiation for sin. Lent is also — and indeed primarily — a time for growth in grace and holiness.

When Easter comes, the whole Mystical Body of Christ is to shine forth in newness of life and Easter glory. The Gospel for today is truly a symbol of the Easter mystery. The risen Christ will appear in all His glory, surrounded by the Church, His Mystical Body. During this time of Lent, Mother Church is busy with the work of purifying her children and adorning them with the life of grace.

Therefore, let us use this precious time of grace. Assist at daily Mass, receive the sacraments, read and listen to the word of God, keep the fast, practice other works of mortification, be fervent in prayer, and give alms generously. If we do these things, then at Easter time our souls will be resplendent in the light of the Transfiguration. During Lent the seed must be sown in tears on the acre of our soul, so that at Easter we may reap with joy the harvest of holiness and glory.

DAILY LENTEN LITURGY
Monday after the Second Sunday of Lent

Article 13
You Are of This World! I Am Not of This World!

The Gospel reading for the Monday after the Second Sunday of Lent speaks of two worlds―our world and Our Lord’s world. In speaking to the Jews, Our Lord indicates that there is an opposition between those two worlds―a point that Holy Scripture reinforces elsewhere. Here is that relevant passage from the Gospel:

“At that time, Jesus said to the multitudes of the Jews: ‘I go, and you will seek Me, and in your sin you will die! Where I go you cannot come!’ The Jews therefore kept saying: ‘Will He kill Himself, since He says, “Where I go you cannot come”?’ And He said to them: ‘You are from below, I am from above! You are of this world, I am not of this world! Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins―for if you do not believe that I am He, then you will die in your sin!’ They therefore said to Him: ‘Who are You?’ Jesus said to them: ‘Why do I speak to you at all? I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you! But He Who sent Me is true, and the things that I heard from Him, these I speak in the world!’ And they did not understand that He was speaking to them about the Father. Jesus therefore said to them: ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that of Myself I do nothing―but that I preach only what the Father has taught Me! And He Who sent Me is with Me! He has not left Me alone, because I do always the things that are pleasing to Him!’” (John 8:21-29).

On several other occasions Our Lord also placed our world as being in opposition to His world: “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). Concerning His followers, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).

Holy Scripture further stresses this divide or division between our world and Our Lord’s world: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4) ... “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27) … “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32).

The Father and Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine of Hippo, comments upon the above Gospel passage saying: “The Lord spoke unto the Jews, saying: ‘I go My way!’ ― for, to the Lord Christ, death was a departure to that place from which He had come, and which He had never departed. ‘I go My way!’ said He, ‘and you shall seek Me―not from love, but out of hatred. And so it was ― after He had withdrawn Himself from the sight of men, two classes sought Him― those that loved Him, and those that hated Him! The one, because they longed for His presence―the other, because they wanted to hunt Him down!

“In the Psalms the Lord Himself saith by His Prophet: ‘I looked on My right hand and there was no one that would know Me! Flight hath failed Me―and there is no one that hath regard to My soul!’ (Psalm 141:5). And again He said in another Psalm: ‘Let them be confounded and ashamed that seek after My soul. Let them be turned back and be confounded that devise plots against Me!’ (Psalm 34:4). Thus He blames those that seek Him not, and condemns such as seek Him. Yes, it is a good thing to seek the soul of Christ, as the disciples sought it; and an evil thing to seek it, as the Jews sought it! The first sought the soul of Christ to possess it―the second to sought to destroy it.

“What, then, does He tell us will be the reward of those who seek Him evilly with a perverse heart? ‘You shall seek Me, and in case you think that you shall do well so to seek Me thus, I tell you that you shall die in your sins!’ To seek Christ with a bad intention, is as much as to die in sin―for it is to hate Him through Whom alone we can be saved. Whereas men whose hope is in God ought to return good even for evil, those men returned evil for good. The Lord therefore told them beforehand, and, because He knew it, He let them know their coming end, how that they should die in their sins. Then in another place (John 13:33), He said this to His disciples: ‘Where I go, you cannot come!’ ― but He never said to them: ‘You shall die in your sins!’ What did He say? The same words as to the Jews: ‘Where I go, you cannot come!’ Yet, to the disciples, these words only delayed their hopes for a little while, but they did not cut away hope ― for they, though while they could not go where He was to go, yet, in the end, they would go there. But not so they, to whom He foretold and said: ‘You shall die in your sins!’”

Are we seeking Christ with a good intention, or a bad intention? Are we seeking Christ while seeking worldliness and still remaining worldly? In that case we seek Him wrongly―and we will die in our sins of worldliness. For Christ said that He was not of this world and that the works of this world are evil. Elsewhere―during His sermon on the mount―Our Lord warned: “No man can serve two masters! For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24). Yet the vast majority of Catholics stubbornly seek to serve two masters―Christ and the world―forgetting that the ruler and orchestrator of the world and its worldliness is Satan himself, of whom Christ says: “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not anything … The prince of this world is already judged ... Now shall the prince of this world be cast out!” (John 12:31; 16:11; 14:30). Hence, to be worldly and love worldliness is to give oneself over to Satan: “He that commits sin is of the devil” (1 John 3:8).

This was the tragic dilemma of the young rich man―who sought to serve God while keeping his worldly riches and possessions. That account reads as follows: “And behold, a certain rich young man, a ruler, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-24; Mark 10:17-23; Luke 18:18-25).

DAILY LENTEN LITURGY
Tuesday after the Second Sunday of Lent

Article 14
All Talk and No Action!

In the Gospel for the Mass of Tuesday after the Second Sunday of Lent, we have an account of Our Lord’s criticism of the Scribes and Pharisees, who had undertaken the unofficial leadership of the Jews, professing themselves to be interpreters of the Word and Law of God:

“At that time, Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, saying: ‘The Scribes and the Pharisees have sat on the chair of Moses! Therefore, all things that they command you―observe and do! But do not act according to their works―for they talk but do nothing! And they bind together heavy and oppressive burdens, and lay them on men’s shoulders―but not with one finger of their own do they choose to move them! In fact, all their works they do in order to be seen by men―for they widen their phylacteries, and enlarge their tassels, and love the first places at suppers and the front seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the market place, and to be called by men ‘Rabbi.’ But do not you be called ‘Rabbi’; for one is your Master, and all you are brothers. And call no one on Earth your father―for one is your Father, Who is in Heaven! Neither be called masters―for one only is your Master, the Christ! He who is greatest among you, shall be your servant! And whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted!’” (Matthew 23:1-12).

“Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely!” An observation that a person’s sense of morality lessens as his or her power increases. The statement was made by Lord Acton, a British historian of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He borrowed the idea from several other writers who had previously expressed the same thought in different words. The quote comes from one of his letters to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887―the full quote reads thus: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.”

We how true this quote is in our present day and age―many world leaders are corrupt behind the scenes. The power that they have goes to their heads and makes them imagine that they are above the law and can do as they please. This was also true, to a certain extent, in the case of the Scribes and Pharisees. The Scribes were Jews who had studied the Bible and were experts in the Law of Moses. After some years of study they were recognized as being the true interpreters of the Law. Pharisees were people whom sought to maintain the fervor and the fidelity to the law. Saint Paul, declares himself to be a Pharisee before the Sanhedrin. “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees” (Acts 23:6).

The Pharisees were not in principle bad people. They had the principles to be good, but they did not use their principles correctly. They were pious, observant of the Law of God, and sought to please Him. But they were so observant of the Law that they became legalists. They made an absolute of outer or external rites of worship, carried out meticulously to the tiniest detail. This led them to leave aside more important things, like the charity and mercy. Jesus does not question their authority to teach, nor their legitimacy; he does not tell people to disobey the Pharisees. He only warns that their conduct is not to be imitated: “Do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice what they preach” (Matthew 23:3).

DAILY LENTEN LITURGY
Wednesday after the Second Sunday of Lent

Article 15
Unduly Desiring Honors! Not Desiring the Cross!

In the Gospel reading for Wednesday after the Second Sunday of Lent, we see the hidden pride and ambition of the Apostles surface.

“At that time, as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and said to them: ‘Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the Scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and will deliver Him to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified; and on the third day He will rise again!’

“Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Him with her sons (St. James and St. John); and, worshiping, she made a request of Him. He said to her: ‘What do you want?’ She said to Him: ‘Command that these my two sons may sit, one at Your right hand and one at Your left hand, in Your kingdom!’ But Jesus answered and said: ‘You do not know what you are asking for! Can you drink of the cup of which I am about to drink?’ They said to Him: ‘We can!’ He said to them: ‘Of My cup you shall indeed drink! But as for sitting at My right hand and at My left, that is not Mine to give you, but it belongs to those for whom it has been prepared by My Father!’

“And when the other ten disciples heard this, they were indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus called them to Him, and said: ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them! Not so is it to be among you! On the contrary, whoever wishes to become great among you, shall be your servant! And whoever wishes to be first among you, shall be your slave―even as the Son the Man has not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many!’” (Matthew 20:17-28).

For most of the time, since they saw Jesus work miracles, the Apostles were in high hopes that Jesus would turn out to be the all-conquering Messias and that they would be rewarded with honors in His conquered kingdom. The whole idea of the crucifixion and death of Christ―even though He told them of it―was revolting, a scandal, an unthinkable and unacceptable idea. We see that on another occasion reported in the same Gospel of St. Matthew:

“From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples, that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the ancients and scribes and chief priests, and be put to death, and the third day rise again. And Peter, taking him, began to rebuke Him, saying: ‘Lord! Be it far from thee! This shall not happen unto thee!’ Jesus, turning, said to Peter: ‘Go behind Me, Satan! Thou art a scandal unto Me! Because thou savorest not the things that are of God―but the things that are of men!’ Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me! For he that wants save his life, shall lose it―and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it! For what does it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and suffers the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?’” (Matthew 16:21-26).

It was not only Peter, but all the Apostles who had a revulsion for the cross and the idea of Christ suffering and dying on the cross. They failed to see the HONOR of the cross―they looked upon honor in a worldly fashion. They desired to be raised to high positions in Christ’s forthcoming conquered kingdom―but Christ sought the “honor” of being raised high on the cross! Truly, as God says: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9).

In the same vein, St. Mark reports: “And Jesus taught His disciples and said to them: ‘The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men, and they shall kill Him; and after He is killed, He shall rise again the third day!’ But they understood not the word, and they were afraid to ask Him. And they came to Capharnaum. And when they were in the house, He asked them: What did you talk of along the way?’ But they were silent―for on the way they had disputed among themselves, which of them should be the greatest. And sitting down, He called the Twelve Apostles, and said to them: ‘If any man desire to be first, then he shall be the last of all and the minister of all!’” (Mark 9:30-34).

The Apostles―being human like everyone else―placed human honor and fame above the ‘honor’ and ‘fame’ of suffering. Most people prefer comfortable and pleasurable honor and glory rather than the honor and glory of suffering. Yet St. Paul―inspired by the Holy Ghost―writes: “God forbid that I should glory in anything except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world!” (Galatians 6:14). Is that our attitude, or do we still prefer human glory, worldly glory, worldly praise and recognition? The Imitation of Christ has some words to say on this matter:

“Jesus has always many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire consolation, but few who care for trial. He finds many to share His table, but few to take part in His fasting. All desire to be happy with Him; few wish to suffer anything for Him. Many follow Him to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the chalice of His passion. Many revere His miracles; few approach the shame of the Cross. Many love Him as long as they encounter no hardship; many praise and bless Him as long as they receive some comfort from Him. But if Jesus hides Himself and leaves them for a while, they fall either into complaints or into deep dejection.

“Those, on the contrary, who love Him for His own sake and not for any comfort of their own, bless Him in all trial and anguish of heart as well as in the bliss of consolation. Even if He should never give them consolation, yet they would continue to praise Him and wish always to give Him thanks. What power there is in pure love for Jesus — love that is free from all self-interest and self-love!

“Do not those who always seek consolation deserve to be called mercenaries? Do not those who always think of their own profit and gain prove that they love themselves rather than Christ? Where can a man be found who desires to serve God for nothing? Rarely indeed is a man so spiritual as to strip himself of all things. And who shall find a man so truly poor in spirit as to be free from every creature? His value is like that of things brought from the most distant lands.

“If a man give away all his wealth―it is nothing! If he do great penance―it is little! If he gain all knowledge―he is still far afield! If he have great virtue and much ardent devotion―he still lacks a great deal, and especially, the one thing that is most necessary to him. What is this one thing? That leaving all, he forsake himself, completely renounce himself, and give up all private affections. Then―when he has done all that he knows ought to be done―let him consider it as nothing, let him make little of what may be considered great; let him in all honesty call himself an unprofitable servant. For Jesus Himself has said: “When you shall have done all these things that are commanded you, say: ‘We are unprofitable servants.’” (Luke 17:10). Then he will be truly poor and stripped in spirit, and with the prophet may say: “I am alone and poor.” No one, however, is more wealthy than such a man; no one is more powerful, no one freer than he who knows how to leave all things and think of himself as the least of all!” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, chapters 11 & 12).

DAILY LENTEN LITURGY
Thursday after the Second Sunday of Lent

Article 16
Who Do You Trust?

Who do you trust? Who do trust in? Who do you rely upon? Is it God or yourself? In theory you know you should trust in God above all else―but do you put that theory into practice? When you need something; when you take on a project; when you are in dire straits―do you first of all turn to your own “know-how”, skills and endeavor? Or do you first of all turn towards God and implore His help before you set about doing what needs to be done? It is much like saying grace before meals―we pray to God to bless our food BEFORE we sit down to eat, and, afterwards, we give thanks to God for what we have had to eat. The same should apply to all things that we do―turn to God for help and grace, so that we can accomplish what needs to be done. Then, once completed, we should again turn to God and thank Him for the success or failure of the project.

Too many people are full of themselves and their knowledge and skills. They forget that “every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). “For who distinguishes thee? Or what have you that you have not received? And if you have received it, why do you glory, as if you had not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). As Our Lord says: “Without Me―you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).

It is in this light that we should approach the Epistle and the Gospel for the Thursday after the Second Sunday of Lent. First of all, let us look at the readings―then let us comment upon them.

Lesson from the Prophecy of Jeremias
“Thus says the Lord God: ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in man, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the Lord! He is like a barren bush in the desert that enjoys no change of season, but stands in a lava waste, a salt and empty earth! Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is the Lord! He is like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream: it fears not the heat when it comes, its leaves stay green; in the year of drought it shows no distress, but still bears fruit! More tortuous than all else is the human heart, beyond remedy―who can understand it? I, the Lord, alone probe the mind and test the heart, to reward everyone according to his ways, according to the merit of his deeds, says the Lord almighty” (Jeremias 17:5-10).

The Gospel of St. Luke
“At that time, Jesus said to the Pharisees: ‘There was a certain rich man who used to clothe himself in purple and fine linen, and who feasted every day in splendid fashion. And there was a certain poor man, named Lazarus, who lay at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be filled with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. And it came to pass that the poor man died and was borne away by the angels into Abraham’s bosom; but the rich man also died and was buried in Hell. And lifting up his eyes, being in torments, he saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out and said: “Father Abraham! Have pity on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue―for I am tormented in this flame!’ But Abraham said to him: ‘Son, remember that you in your lifetime have received good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things! But now here he is comforted, whereas you are tormented! And besides all that, between us and you a great gulf is fixed―so that they who wish to pass over from this side to you, cannot―and they cannot pass from your side to us!’ And he said: ‘Then, father, I beseech you to send him to my father’s house―for I have five brothers―that he may testify to them, lest they too come into this place of torments!’ And Abraham said to him: ‘They have Moses and the Prophets! Let them listen to them!’ But he answered: ‘No, father Abraham! But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent!’ But he said to him: ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, then they will not believe even if someone rises from the dead!’” (Luke 16:19-31).

The Imitation of Christ tells us: “The more you know and the better you understand, the more severely will you be judged, unless your life is also the more holy. Do not be proud, therefore, because of your learning or skill. Rather, fear, because of the talent given you. If you think you know many things and understand them well enough, realize at the same time that there is much you do not know.”

In the Divine Liturgy―the section of the Breviary or Divine Office―Holy Mother Church cites a homily by Pope St. Gregory the Great on this above Gospel passage:

“Whom, dearly beloved brethren, whom are we to understand as signified by that rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day? Whom, I ask, are we to understand, but the Jewish people, who had all the outward life of religious ordinances, and who turned the treasure of the law they had received to mere show and not to good use? And what but the herd of the Gentiles is figured in Lazarus―full of sores? Whoever turns himself to God and is not ashamed to confess his sin, has his sores on the skin, for in a sore on the skin breaketh out the corruption, which is drawn from within.

“What is, then, the confession of our sins but the breaking out of our sores? The corrupt matter of sin is healthily opened in confession, instead of remaining in the mind to rot it. Open sores on the skin bring the poisonous matter to the surface, and when we confess our sins, what do we do but open up the evil that there is lurking in us? But Lazarus desired to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table, and no man gave anything to him; even so did that proud people scorn to admit a Gentile to the knowledge of their law.

“The teaching of the law moved them to pride, and not to love―as though they swelled with self-importance at the thought of their riches, and the words which some Gentiles caught of their knowledge were as crumbs falling from their sumptuous table. On the other hand, the dogs came and licked the sores of the beggar that was laid at their gate. Sometimes in Holy Writ, under the figure of dogs, preachers are understood. A dog’s tongue heals the sore which it licks, and so do holy teachers, when we confess our sins, and they speak to us, soften by their tongues the sores of our souls.”

Our Faith has been given to us to share and not to keep greedily for ourselves: “Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you!” (Matthew 28:19-20). “You are the salt of the Earth! But if the salt lose its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men! You are the light of the world! A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid! Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house! So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:13-16). “Give to everyone that asks thee!” (Luke 6:30). “So that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven―Who makes His sun to rise upon the good and bad, and lets His rain fall upon the just and the unjust!” (Matthew 5:45). “If any man says, ‘I love God!’ and hates his brother, then he is a liar. For he that does not love his brother, whom he sees, how can he love God, whom he sees not?” (1 John 4:20). “He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him―how does the charity of God abide in him?” (1 John 3:17).

DAILY LENTEN LITURGY
Friday after the Second Sunday of Lent

Article 17
The Evil Fruits of Envy!

In both readings at Mass today―the Epistle and Gospel―we see the evil fruits of envy raise their heads! The Epistle reading deals with the Old Testament account of Joseph being envied and hated by his brothers. The Gospel deals with Our Lord being envied and hated by Chief Priests and the Pharisees. Let us first read both accounts and then make some observation and comments upon them.

Lesson from the book of Genesis:
“In those days, Joseph said to his brothers: ‘Listen to this dream which I had! We were binding sheaves in the field! My sheaf rose up and remained standing, while your sheaves gathered round and bowed down to my sheaf!’

“His brothers answered: ‘Are you to be our king? Are you to rule over us?’ And because of his dreams and words they hated him the more.

“He had another dream, which he also told to his brothers. ‘I had another dream,’ he said. ‘The sun, the moon and eleven stars were worshiping me!’ When he told that to his father and his brothers, his father reproved him. ‘What is this dream that you have had?’ he said. ‘Can it be that I and your mother and your brothers will come to bow to the ground before you?’ So his brothers envied him, while his father pondered the matter.

“When his brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks at Sichem, Israel (Jacob) said to Joseph: ‘Your brothers are pasturing the flocks at Sichem! Get ready, I will send you to them!’

“Joseph answered: ‘I am ready!’

“‘Go, then, said Israel, and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks; and bring back a report to me!’ So he sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he came to Sichem.

“A man found Joseph wandering about in the fields and asked him: ‘What are you looking for?’

“‘I am looking for my brothers!’ he answered. ‘Tell me, please, where they are pasturing.’

“The man said: ‘They have moved on from here, because I heard them say: “Let us go to Dothain!”’

“So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothain. They saw him in the distance, and before he drew near them, they plotted to kill him. They said to one another: ‘Here comes that dreamer! Let us therefore kill him and throw him into a cistern! We can say that a wild beast devoured him! Let us see then what becomes of his dreams!’

But when Ruben heard of it, he tried to rescue him from them saying: We must not kill him. Then he continued: Do not shed blood! Throw him into the cistern there in the desert, but do not lay a hand on him!’ His purpose was to rescue him from them and restore him to his father” (Genesis 37:6-22).

Reading from the Gospel of St. Matthew:
“At that time, Jesus spoke this parable to the multitude of the Jews and the Chief Priests: ‘There was a man, a householder, who planted a vineyard, and put a hedge about it, and dug a wine vat in it, and built a tower. Then he let it out to vine-dressers, and went abroad. But when the fruit season drew near, he sent his servants to the vine-dressers to receive his fruits. And the vine-dressers seized his servants, and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent another party of servants more numerous than the first; and they did the same to these. Finally he sent his son to them, saying: “They will respect my son!” But the vine-dressers, on seeing the son, said among themselves: “This is the heir! Come―let us kill him and we shall have his inheritance!” So they seized him, cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. When, therefore, the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-dressers?’

“They said to Him: ‘He will utterly destroy those evil men, and will let out the vineyard to other vine-dressers, who will render to him the fruits in their seasons!’

“Jesus said to them: ‘Did you never read in the Scriptures ― “The stone which the builders rejected, has become the cornerstone; by the Lord this has been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes”? Therefore I say to you, that the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and will be given to a people yielding its fruits. And he who falls on this cornerstone will be broken to pieces; and upon whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder!’

And when the Chief Priests and Pharisees had heard His parables, they knew that He was speaking about them. And though they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the people, because they regarded Him as a prophet” (Matthew 21:33-46).

Dissecting Envy and Jealousy
It is interesting to read what psychologist say about envy―here is an extract from a licensed psychologist, Dr. Natalie Staats Reiss, Ph.D., who writes: “Recently a comprehensive article was published from the University of Kentucky, describing the nature of envy as well as the negative effects it can have on our mental and physical health. Historically considered one of the seven deadly sins―and appearing in two of the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament―envy is a state in which the desired advantage enjoyed by another person or group of people causes a person to feel a painful blend of inferiority, hostility, and resentment. As medieval theologian St. Thomas Aquinas wrote: ‘Charity rejoices in our neighbor’s good, while envy grieves over it.’ Envy can be a destructive emotion both mentally and physically. Envious people tend to feel hostile, resentful, angry and irritable. Such individuals are also less likely to feel grateful about their positive traits and their circumstances. Envy is also related to depression, anxiety, the development of prejudice, and personal unhappiness.” (Dr. Natalie Staats Reiss, Ph.D.).

Another psychologist, the President of Westmont College, Dr. Gayle D. Beebe, Ph.D., writes: “As humans, we face a tension between envy and contentment. We get preoccupied with comparing ourselves to others, which ruins how we celebrate and enjoy the gifts God has given us. Evagrius of Pontus, a great thinker in the early Church, identifies eight deadly thoughts―gluttony, anger, greed, envy, pride, lust, indifference and melancholy―that derail our life with God. Scripture describes envy’s disruptiveness: ‘Soundness of heart is the life of the flesh―but envy is the rottenness of the bones’ (Proverbs 14:30). It also presents the alternative: ‘Love is patient, love is kind. Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way, it is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth’ (1 Corinthians 13:4-6).

“Being kind to people helps us realize the graciousness and mercy of God as we extend ourselves to others. Such acts strengthen the anterior cingulate in our brain, the connecting link between the limbic system and the frontal lobe, balancing reason and emotion so we can make reasonable responses to disruptive behaviors. Envy destroys our capacity to live in community and get along well with others. It often gives rise to petty jealousy, gossip and an inability to celebrate the gifts that God has given to others.

“The story of Cain and Abel in Genesis, chapter 4, illustrates envy. For some reason, Abel’s sacrifice pleased God, and Cain’s didn’t. Cain can’t control his disgust, and he murders Abel. Envy holds that kind of power―the capacity to destroy the gifts of others because we don’t feel accepted ourselves.

“Recent literature in neuroscience and psychology helps us understand how the eight deadly thoughts re-channel our brain. For example, research identifies two kinds of envy: inferiority and schadenfreude (a German word for joy in seeing other fail). We either feel inferior toward others and that sparks envy, or we find delight in the harm our archrival suffers. Evagrius noticed this trait in the fourth century and identified contentment as the way to overcome envy, build community and control our natural tendency to prefer ourselves to others. I believe some people are inclined to be contented and others aren’t. But wherever we fall on this spectrum, we can learn to understand our life with God well enough to discipline disruptive moods, behaviors and tendencies, re-channeling them so they make a great contribution to our life.

“How do we cultivate contentment and overcome envy? We must begin with our own attitude and recognize that we can control our attitude and effort. Spiritual disciplines can help us reroute the natural inclination of our hearts. Devoting ourselves to a life of prayer is important. We can think about people we deeply resent and begin to pray for them. Prayer will change us and the power these individuals hold over us. Evagrius encouraged us to pursue contentment to overcome our inclination to envy, and neuroscience helps us understand that we’ll be healthier if we learn to re-channel destructive emotions. Thankfully, God provides the resources and guidance we need to accomplish this goal.” (Dr. Gayle D. Beebe, Ph.D.).

The following is an extract compiled from two psychology websites: “Jealousy and envy can have negative effects on relationships. Jealousy is a fear of losing something you already have―such as a relationship or friendship. With envy, a person might wish they had something someone else has―such as reputation, power, influence, intelligence, talents, skills, beauty, health, money, possessions, or even their spouse, children, friends, etc. For example, you could become jealous if your mother confides in your sister instead of you, but you might become envious that your best friend has a nicer house than you. Jealousy can be a sign of insecurity and can stem from feelings of insecurity―which stems from a lack of contentment with how things are. Jealousy can also be distressing and destructive to relationships. Jealousy and envy can both become destructive if you don’t deal with the root of where they come from. Jealousy and envy are cases of toxic misplaced anger.

“Insecurity can come from lack of communication or constant criticism from others in your relationship with them. Insecurity about yourself or your relationship can cause you to feel a variety of uncomfortable emotions. For example, you might view other people as a threat to your relationship with someone, or worry excessively about the feelings of others for you. You might experience jealousy or envy, which may cause rifts in your relationship or bring up shame. If you don’t feel confident in yourself or your relationships, this can lead to jealousy. People who deal with jealousy may often feel threatened by other people―in that it is imagined that others will take away from you what you value. You may also feel that you are in competition with others, even if in reality you’re not in competition. If you have an insecure attachment style, or deal with personal insecurity, this may lead to feeling envious of others or unfairly comparing yourself or your life to others. Insecurity and jealousy may also be associated with: (a) low self-esteem, (b) neuroticism―which is a tendency toward anxiety, depression, and other negative feelings, (c) hostility, (d) rigidity and (e) social anxiety.

“However, while jealousy can be a sign of insecurity, this isn’t always the case. A variety of situations can also cause insecurity. For example, criticism can lead to feelings of insecurity or inadequacy for some people. Common signs of insecurity can include: (a) feelings of inadequacy, (b) jealousy, (c) uncertainty, (d) anxiety within relationships, (e) low self-esteem, (f) feeling unworthy, (g) lack of confidence, (h) striving for perfection.

“For many people, the first step in overcoming insecurity and jealousy is becoming aware of those feelings. Being able to detect jealous thoughts and feelings may help you recognize their impact on your mental health and relationships.”

The Jealousy and Envy of the Scribes, Pharisees and Chief Priests Towards Jesus
Having thus examined the psychological viewpoints on jealousy (hold on to what I have) and envy (desire what others have), we can easily relate them to the Scribes, Pharisees and Chief Priests in their dealings with Our Lord. They were jealous in that they were inordinately attached to the positions that they already had and they saw Our Lord as threat to their authority. They were also jealous in being attached to their way of doing things, and refused to accept Our Lord’s recommendations on how things ought to be done. Additionally, they were envious of Our Lord’s popularity and powers. They were afraid that Jesus would overturn their status quo of things and minimize or take away their authority. All of this contributed to their negativity, hostility, hatred and eventual murderous desires towards Our Lord:

“He came unto His own, and His own received him not!” (John 1:11). When Jesus cured the sick man by the pool in Jerusalem on the Sabbath, “the Jews therefore did persecute Jesus, because He did these things on the Sabbath” (John 5:16). “The Pharisees therefore said to Jesus: ‘Thou givest testimony of Thyself―Thy testimony is not true!’ Jesus answered, and said to them: ‘Although I give testimony of Myself, My testimony is true! My judgment is true! Because I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent Me!’ They said therefore to Him: ‘Where is Thy Father?’ Jesus answered: ‘Neither Me do you know, nor My Father! If you did know Me, perhaps you would know My Father also! … You are from beneath, I am from above! You are of this world, I am not of this world! Therefore I said to you, that you shall die in your sins! For if you believe not that I am He, you shall die in your sin!’ They answered, and said to Him: ‘Abraham is our father!’

“Jesus said to them: ‘I know that you are the children of Abraham―but you seek to kill Me, because My word hath no place in you! If you be the children of Abraham, do the works of Abraham! But now you seek to kill Me―a Man who has spoken the truth to you, which I have heard of God. This Abraham did not! If God were your Father, you would indeed love Me―for from God I proceeded and came. For I came not of Myself, but He sent Me! Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear My word! You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies! But if I say the truth, you believe Me not! He that is of God, hears the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God! Abraham, your father, rejoiced that he might see My day! He saw it, and was glad!’

“The Jews therefore said to Him: ‘Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast Thou seen Abraham?’ Jesus said to them: ‘Amen, amen I say to you, before Abraham was made, I am!’ They took up stones therefore to cast at Him. But Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the Temple” (John 8:13-59).

“As Jesus was teaching the people in the Temple, and preaching the Gospel, the Chief Priests and the Scribes, with the ancients, met together, and spoke to Him, saying: ‘Tell us, by what authority dost Thou do these things?’ and ‘Who is he that hath given Thee this authority?’ [Jesus then tells some parables which are aimed at them, at the end of which] … He, looking upon them, said: ‘What is this then that is written: “The stone, which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? Whosoever shall fall upon that stone, shall be bruised: and upon whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder!”’ And the Chief Priests and the Scribes sought to lay hands on Him at that the same hour―but they feared the people, for they knew that He aimed this parable at them. And being upon the watch, they sent spies, who should pretend to be just, so that they might entrap Him in His words, so that they might deliver Him up to the authority and power of the governor” (Luke 20:1-2; 20:17-20).

Yet all the time the popularity, credibility and fame of Jesus spread. “The Pharisees said among themselves: ‘Do you see that we prevail nothing? Behold, the whole world is gone after Him!’” (John 12:19). “Therefore, the Chief Priests and the Pharisees, gathered a council, and said: ‘What do we, for this Man doth many miracles? If we leave Him alone, then all will believe in Him and the Romans will come, and take away our place and nation!’ But one of them, named Caiphas, being the High Priest that year, said to them: ‘You know nothing! Neither do you consider that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not!’” (John 11:47-50).

Envy cannot bear to show its face―so it hides behind false pretenses: “It is for the good of the people…” rationalizes the high priest. Isn’t it strange how we always make evil out to be some kind of good? “The Pharisees, going out, made a consultation against Him, how they might destroy Him” (Matthew 12:14). Pontius Pilate “knew that for envy they had delivered Him” (Matthew 27:18). “For he knew that the Chief Priests had delivered Him up out of envy” (Mark 15:10). Despite these self-deluded justifications, envy is never truly hidden. The true motives of the Jewish leaders were evident and manifest. Pilate had no trouble perceiving the seething envy and insecure jealousy beneath the accusations of the Chief Priests. When we are eaten up with envy, its presence will be obvious, despite our best efforts to conceal our wicked pettiness.

DAILY LENTEN LITURGY
Saturday after the Second Sunday of Lent

Article 18
The Day of Envious Brothers

Both readings, in the Mass for the Saturday after the Second Sunday in Lent, deal with the envy and grievances of two sets of brothers. Esau’s grievance against Jacob; and the grievance of the brother of the Prodigal Son when he returned from his sinful ways. Let us first refresh our minds with the circumstances in both cases and them make some comments upon them.

A reading from the Book of Genesis
“In those days, Rebecca said to her son Jacob: ‘I heard your father tell your brother Esau: “Bring me some game; prepare some savory food for me to eat, and then I will bless you in the sight of the Lord before I die!” Now, my son, do what I tell you! Go to the flock and bring me two choice kids that I may make of them savory food for your father, such as he likes. Then bring it to your father to eat, that he may bless you before he dies!’

“Jacob said to his mother Rebecca: ‘But Esau, my brother, is a hairy man, while I am smooth. If my father touches me, it will seem to him that I am mocking him! Thus I shall bring a curse on myself instead of a blessing!’

“His mother replied: ‘Let the curse fall on me, my son! Do but listen to me! Go, get them for me!’

“He went, selected them, and brought them to his mother, who prepared savory food such as his father liked. Then Rebecca took the best clothes of her elder son Esau, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. She put the skins of the kids on his hands and over the smooth parts of his neck. Then she gave her son Jacob the savory food and bread she had prepared.

“He went to his father and said: ‘Father!’
“He answered: ‘I hear! Who art thou, my son?’
“And Jacob said to his father: ‘I am Esau, your first-born! I have done as you told me! Sit up, please! Eat again of my game, that you may bless me!’
“Isaac replied: ‘How did you find it so quickly, my son?’
“He answered: ‘The Lord your God let me come upon it!’
“Then Isaac said to Jacob: ‘Come close that I may touch you, my son―to know whether you are really my son Esau or not!’
“Jacob went close to his father; Isaac touched him and said: ‘The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau!’ He did not recognize him because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; and so he blessed him.
“Isaac said: ‘Are you really my son Esau?’
“Jacob answered: ‘Yes, I am!’
“Isaac continued: ‘Set your game near me, my son, that I may eat it, and bless you!’
He set it before him and he ate of it, and he brought him some wine, which he drank.
“Then his father, Isaac, said to him: ‘Come close and kiss me, my son!’
“He came close and kissed him. When he smelled the fragrance of his garments, he blessed him and said: ‘The fragrance of my son is like the fragrance of a field which the Lord has blessed! God give you dew from Heaven, and fruitfulness of the earth, abundance of grain and wine! Let nations serve you, peoples bow down to you! Be master of your brothers―may your mother’s sons bow down to you! Cursed be those who curse you, blessed be those who bless you!’

“Isaac had pronounced the blessing and Jacob had just left his father’s presence, when his brother Esau returned from hunting. He also prepared savory food and brought it to his father, saying: ‘Sit up, father, and eat of your son’s game, that you may bless me!’
“His father, Isaac, said to him: ‘Who are you?’
“He answered: ‘I am Esau, your first-born son!’
“Isaac was greatly disturbed, and asked: ‘Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? Before you came I ate heartily and then blessed him―and he shall be blessed!’
“On hearing his father’s words, Esau uttered a very loud and bitter cry, and said to him: ‘Father, bless me too!’
“But he answered: ‘Your brother came deceitfully and received your blessing!’
“Then Esau said: ‘Must he, true to his name Jacob, supplant me now a second time? He took my birthright and now he has taken my blessing!’ He added: ‘Have you not reserved a blessing for me?’
“Isaac answered Esau: ‘I have appointed him your lord, and have given him all his brothers as servants! I have enriched him with grain and wine! What then can I do for you, my son?’
“But Esau said to his father: ‘Have you only one blessing, father? Bless me also, my father!’ And Esau wept aloud.
“His father Isaac answered him: ‘With the fruitfulness of the earth shall your dwelling be! With the dew of the heavens above!’”
(Genesis 27:6-40).

A reading from the Gospel of St. Luke
“At that time, Jesus spoke to the Pharisees and Scribes this parable: ‘A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father: “Father, give me the share of the property that falls to me!” And he divided his means between them. And not many days later, the younger son gathered up all his wealth, and took his journey into a far country; and there he squandered his fortune in loose living. And after he had spent all, there came a grievous famine over that country, and he began himself to suffer want. And he went and joined one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his farm to feed swine. And he longed to fill himself with the pods that the swine were eating, but no one offered to give them to him.

“But when he came to himself, he said: ‘How many hired men in my father’s house have bread in abundance, while I am perishing here with hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him: “Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before you! I am no longer worthy to be called your son! Make me as one of your hired men!”’

“And he arose and went to his father. But while he was yet a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion, and ran and fell upon his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him: ‘Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before you! I am no longer worthy to be called your son!’

“But the father said to his servants: ‘Fetch quickly the best robe and put it on him! And give him a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet! And bring out the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry! Because this my son was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and is found!’

“And they began to make merry. Now his elder son was in the field; and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And calling one of the servants he inquired what this meant. And he said to him: ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has got him back safe!’ But he was angered and would not go in.

“His father, therefore, came out and began to entreat him. But he answered and said to his father: ‘Behold, these many years I have been serving you, and have never transgressed one of your commands―and yet you have never given me a kid that I might make merry with my friends! But when this your son comes―who has devoured his means with harlots―you have killed for him the fattened calf!’

“But he said to him: ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours! But we were bound to make merry and rejoice―for this, your brother, was dead and has come to life; he was lost, and is found!’” (Luke 15:11-32).

DAILY LENTEN LITURGY
The Third Sunday of Lent

Article 19
Walk in Love

Today, we will focus on the Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians which Holy Mother Church presents to us on the Third Sunday of Lent. The Gospel deals with Christ casting out demons―and that has been amply covered in the current Daily Thoughts article of the same Third Sunday of Lent, so we will leave that aside in this article.

Firstly, let us look at the portion of the Epistle that Holy Mother Church places before us today:

“Brethren! Be imitators of God, as very dear children and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and delivered Himself up for us an offering and a sacrifice to God to ascend in fragrant odor! But immorality and every uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you―as becomes saints―nor obscenity, nor foolish talk, nor scurrility―which are out of place―but rather thanksgiving. For know this and understand, that no fornicator, or unclean person, or covetous one ― for that is idolatry ― has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one lead you astray with empty words! For because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the children of disobedience! Do not, then, become partakers with them! For you were once darkness―but now you are light in the Lord! Walk, then, as children of light―for the fruit of the light is in all goodness and justice and truth!” (Ephesians 5:1-9).

On the side of God we have:
► LOVE ― We are told to “walk in love” and that is because “God is love” or “God is charity” (1 John 4:8).
► SACRIFICE ― Our Lord’s life was one of sacrifice, Who “delivered Himself up for us as a sacrifice to God.”
► SAINTS ― It is absolutely necessary to become a saint―for only saints go to Heaven. “He chose us before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in His sight in charity” (Ephesians 1:4).
► CHILDREN OF LIGHT ― “God is light, and in him there is no darkness” (1 John 1:5) and Christ tells us: “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14).
► THANKSGIVING ― “Eucharist” means “Thanksgiving”. Giving thanks shows humility, dependence and gratitude. We are told to “give thanks to God without ceasing … In all things give thanks―for this is the will of God” (1 Thessalonians 2:13; 5:18).
► GOODNESS ― “None is good but God alone!” (Luke 18:19) and we are meant to tap into and imitate His goodness: “When Thou openest Thy hand, they shall all be filled with good” Psalm 103:28).
► JUSTICE ― means giving what is due to others, whether reward or punishment.
► TRUTH ― Christ said: “I am the truth!” (John 14:6) and He adds: “The devil is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 8:44).

On the side opposed to God, which is the side of sin, we have:
► DARKNESS ― “Error and darkness are created with sinners” (Ecclesiasticus 11:16). “Men loved darkness rather than the light―for their works were evil!” (John 3:19). “The fool walks in darkness” (Ecclesiastes 2:14). “If thy eye be evil thy whole body shall be darksome! If the light that is in thee, be darkness―the darkness itself how great shall it be!” (Matthew 6:23). “Therefore, take heed that the light which is in thee be not darkness!” (Luke 11:35). “Woe to you that put darkness for light, and light for darkness!” (Isaias 5:20). “Cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light!” (Romans 13:12).
► DISOBEDIENCE ― “By the disobedience of one man (Adam), many were made sinners!” (Romans 5:19). “You also perish, if you be disobedient to the voice of the Lord your God!” (Deuteronomy 8:20). “In the last days shall come dangerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves, haughty, proud and disobedient!” (2 Timothy 3:1-2).
► IMMORALITY ― “The flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit fights against the flesh―for these are contrary one to another. The works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, sects, envies, murders, drunkenness, reveling, and such like. Of the which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God!” (Galatians 5:17-21).
► OBSCENITY ― “Let not obscenity so much as be named among you, as is becoming of saints!” (Ephesians 5:4). “Let no evil speech proceed from your mouth―but that which is good” (Ephesians 4:29).
► FORNICATION ― “The spirit of fornication hath deceived them! … The spirit of fornication is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Lord” (Osee 4:12; 5:4) “Keep thyself from all fornication!” (Tobias 4:13). “Cease from fornication!” (Ezechiel 16:41). “Abstain from fornication!” (1 Thessalonians 4:3). “The disgrace of thy fornication shall be discovered!” (Ezechiel 23:29). “Know and understand, that no fornicator has inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God!” (Ephesians 5:5).
► UNCLEANESS ― The Hebrew word translated “unclean” in Leviticus is used nearly one hundred times in this one book, clearly emphasizing “clean” status versus “unclean.” Animals, objects, food, clothing, and even people could be considered “unclean.” Generally, the Mosaic Law spoke of something as “unclean” if it was unfit to use in worship to God. Being “clean” or “unclean” was a ceremonial designation governing the ritual of corporate worship.
► SCURRILITY ― this term means expression intended to offend or hurt―such as those that are vulgar, indecent, abusive, slanderous.
► COVETOUSNESS ― “Thou shalt not covet!” (Romans 7:7). “Fools covet those things which are hurtful to themselves!” (Proverbs 1:22). “Take heed and beware of all covetousness―for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of things which he possesses!” Luke 12:15).
► FOOLISH TALK ― “Talk not much with a fool, and go not with him that hath no sense!” (Ecclesiasticus 22:14). “The heart of fools is in their mouth!” (Ecclesiasticus 21:29). “The mouth of fools bubbles out folly! … The mouth of fools feeds on foolishness” (Proverbs 15:2, 14). “A friend of fools shall become like them!” (Proverbs 13:20). “Fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7). “You fools―be wise at last!” (Psalms 93:8). “The number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15).

Focusing on Love
There are too many points listed in the Epistle to do each of them justice by sufficient coverage―therefore, we shall focus on the most important one―charity or love. “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and we are told to “walk in love” (Ephesians 5:2) because of all virtues, “the greatest of these is charity” (1 Corinthians 13:13).

Our Lord says: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength! This is the greatest and the first commandment! And the second is like to it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). He then goes further and points out that loving God is not saying that you love God, but proving it by your actions―by keeping God’s commandments: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words!” (John 14:15, 14:21-24).

HOLY SCRIPTURE affirms and adds to this: “He who says that he knows Him, and keeps not His commandments, is a liar and the truth is not in him!” (1 John 2:4). “In this we know that we love the children of God―when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the charity of God: that we keep His commandments―and His commandments are not heavy!” (1 John 5:2-3). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world! If any man love the world, then the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15).

“Let us love one another―for charity is of God. And every one that loves, is born of God, and knows God. He that loves not, knows not God―for God is charity. By this has the charity of God appeared towards us, because God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, so that we may live by Him. In this is charity―not as though we had loved God first, but because He has first loved us and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins. If God has so loved us, then we also ought to love one another! If we love one another, God abides in us and His charity is perfected in us! … And we have known and have believed in the charity which God has towards us. God is charity―and he that abides in charity, abides in God, and God in him! … Let us therefore love God, because God first hath loved us! If any man says: ‘I love God!’ and hates his brother, then he is a liar. For he that does not love his brother whom he sees, how can he love God Whom he sees not? And this commandment we have from God, that he, who loves God, must also love his brother!” (1 John 4:7-21).

“In this we have known the charity of God, because He has laid down His life for us―and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. He that has the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him―how does the charity of God abide in him? Let us not love in word, nor in tongue―but in deeds and in truth!” (1 John 3:16-18). “In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil. Whosoever is not just is not of God, nor he that loves not his brother! For this is the declaration, which you have heard from the beginning, that you should love one another” (1 John 3:10-11). “He that says he is in the light and hates his brother―then he is in darkness even until now! … He that hates his brother, is in darkness and walks in darkness, and knows not where he goes―because the darkness has blinded his eyes” (1 John 2:9, 11).

So vital and important is love or charity, that without it being present in our souls as the motivating and driving factor behind all that we think, say or do: “Above all things have charity, which is the bond of perfection” (Colossians 3:14) … “Before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves―for charity covers a multitude of sins!” (1 Peter 4:8) ... “Let all your things be done in charity!” (1 Corinthians 16:14). If we fail to think, speak and do things in charity, then all becomes worthless―as Holy Scripture points out:

“If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal! And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing! And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profits me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).

Hoy Scripture then gives us a brief description or list of SOME of the chief aspects of charity: “Charity is patient, Charity is kind; Charity does not envy; it does not deal perversely; it is not puffed up; it is not ambitious; it seeks not its own advantage; it is not provoked to anger; it thinks no evil; it does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices with the truth; it bears all things; it believes all things; it hopes all things; it endures all things. Charity never falls away―whether prophecies shall be made void, or tongues shall cease, or knowledge shall be destroyed. And now there remain Faith, Hope, and Charity, these three―but the greatest of these is Charity” (1 Corinthians 13:4-13).

THE IMITATION OF CHRIST builds upon the previous Scriptural passage in a most wonderful description and praise of Charity, which reads as follows:

“Love is an excellent thing, a very great blessing, indeed. The noble love of Jesus spurs to great deeds and excites longing for that which is more perfect. It makes every difficulty easy and bears all wrongs with calmness and evenness of temper. For it bears a burden without being weighed-down, and makes sweet all that is bitter. Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of troubles, attempts more than it is able, and does not plead impossibility, because it believes that it may and can do all things. Wearied, it is not tired. Pressed, it is not straitened. Alarmed, it is not confused, but like a living flame, a burning torch, it forces its way upward and passes unharmed through every obstacle. For this reason, it is able to do all, performing and effecting much, where he, who does not love, fails and falls.

“Love wishes to be free and estranged from all worldly affections, lest its inward sight be obstructed, lest it be entangled in any temporal interest and overcome by adversity. Love is subject and obedient to superiors. Love is never self-seeking, for in whatever a person seeks himself, there he falls from love. One who is in love gives all for all and possesses all in all, because he rests in the one sovereign Good, Who is above all things, and from Whom every good flows and proceeds. He does not look to the gift, but turns himself above all gifts to the Giver [God]. He who is not ready to suffer all things and to stand resigned to the will of the Beloved [God], is not worthy to be called a lover. A lover must embrace willingly all that is difficult and bitter, for the sake of the Beloved [God], and he should not turn away from Him because of adversities. Love is mean and contemptible in its own eyes, devoted and thankful to God; always trusting and hoping in Him even when He is distasteful to it, for there is no living in love without sorrow.

“Love often knows no limits, but overflows all bounds. Love tends upward; it will not be held down by anything low. One who is in love flies, runs, and rejoices; he is free, not bound. Love is watchful. Sleeping, it does not slumber. Love is swift, sincere, kind, pleasant, and delightful. Love is strong, patient and faithful, prudent, long-suffering, and manly. Love is circumspect, humble, and upright. It is neither soft nor light, nor intent upon vain things. It is sober and chaste, firm and quiet, guarded in all the senses.

“Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing stronger, or higher, or wider; nothing is more pleasant, nothing fuller, and nothing better in Heaven or on Earth, for love is born of God and cannot rest except in God, Who is above all created things. If a man loves, he will know the sound of this voice.” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 3, Chapter 5).

DAILY LENTEN LITURGY
Monday after the Third Sunday of Lent

Article 20
The Leprosy of Body and Soul

This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.

Both readings at Mass today focus upon leprosy. The Old Testament Lesson from the 4th Book of Kings gives the account of Naaman the Leper, a general in Syrian army, whereas in the reading from St. Gospel, we see Our Lord also speak of Naaman the Leper. First of all, here are the readings―after which we shall comment upon them:

Reading from the 4th Book of Kings
“In those days, Naaman, general of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable ― for by him the Lord gave deliverance to Syria ― and he was a valiant man and rich, but also a leper. Now, robbers had gone out from Syria, and had led away, as captive out of the land of Israel, a little maid, and she waited upon Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress: ‘I wish my master had been with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would certainly have healed him of the leprosy which he has!’

“Then Naaman went in to his lord and told him, saying: ‘Thus and thus said the girl from the land of Israel!’ And the king of Syria said to him: ‘Go==and I will send a letter to the king of Israel!’ And he departed and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of clothing and brought the letter to the king of Israel, in these words: ‘When you shall receive this letter, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may heal him of his leprosy!’

“And when the king of Israel had read the letter, he tore his garments and said: ‘Am I God―to be able to kill and give life―that this man has sent to me to heal a man of his leprosy? Mark, and see how he seeks occasions against me!’

“And when Eliseus, the man of God, had heard this―that the king of Israel had torn his garments―he sent word to him, saying: ‘Why have you torn your garments? Let him come in to me, and let him know that there is a prophet in Israel!’

“So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and stood at the door of the house of Eliseus. And Eliseus sent a messenger to him, saying: ‘Go and wash seven times in the Jordan―and your flesh shall recover health and you shall be clean!’

“Naaman was angry and went away, saying: ‘I thought he would have come out to me, and standing would have invoked the name of the Lord his God, and touched with his hand the place of the leprosy, and healed me! Are not the Abana and the Pharphar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel, that I may wash in them, and be made clean?’

“So as he turned, and was going away with indignation, his servants came to him, and said to him: ‘Father, if the prophet had bid you to do some great thing, surely you should have done it! How much rather what he now has said to you, “Wash, and you shall be clean”?’

“Then Naaman went down and washed in the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored, like the flesh of a little child, and he was made clean. And returning to the man of God with all his train, he came, and stood before him, and said: ‘In truth I know, there is no other God in all the Earth, but only in Israel!’” (4 Kings 5:1-15).

Reading from the Gospel of St. Luke
“At that time, Jesus said to the Pharisees: ‘You will surely quote me this proverb: “Physician, cure Yourself! Whatever things we have heard of as done in Capharnaum, do here also in Your own country!’ But He said: ‘Amen I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country! In truth I say to you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elias, when Heaven was shut up for three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land―and to none of them was Elias sent, but rather to a widowed woman in Sarepta of Sidon. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet―and not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian!’ And all in the synagogue, as they heard these things, were filled with anger. And they rose up and put Him forth out of the town, and led Him to the brow of the hill, on which their town was built, so that they might throw Him down headlong. But He, passing through their midst, went His way” (Luke 4:23-30).

Important to Know What We Are Talking About!
As the philosophical axiom states: “You cannot give what you have not got!” In this case, it is important to know what leprosy is if we are going to talk about it and learn lessons from it. Therefore, since most people are totally clueless about leprosy, or merely have superficial sketchy ideas about it, here is a brief overview.

Leprosy of the Body
Leprosy has been affecting lives for thousands of years and was recognized even in the oldest civilizations of China, Egypt, and India. The first known written mention of leprosy is dated 600 B.C., but skeletal evidence of leprosy has been found dating back to 2000 B.C. It is believed the disease first originated on the Indian subcontinent―but, many centuries later, by 1200 AD, there were an estimated 19,000 leprosy hospitals in Europe. It is believed the disease was most likely spread to Europe through trade routes and by travelling armies. The incidence of leprosy began to decline quite suddenly around the 1400s and had died out of most European countries by the 1600s.

Leprosy is also a modern disease, with roughly 200,000 people diagnosed with the disease every year. Most cases of leprosy today are found in Asia, Africa, and South America, with almost two thirds of the cases being diagnosed in India. In India alone―which has more than 60% of the world’s lepers and over 1,000 leper colonies―it is estimated that there are about 3 million people with disabilities resulting from leprosy. The number of new leprosy cases in India discovered last year is over 126,000. About 150 people are diagnosed with leprosy each year in the United States.

Leprosy thrives in poor communities where lack of sanitation, poor nutrition and lower standards of living mean people’s immune systems are weakened and are simply not strong enough to fight the disease. Throughout history, those with leprosy have often been ostracized by their communities and families. Leprosy-affected individuals and families are often forced to live in shame, isolation and poverty. Even if one person in a family is diagnosed with leprosy, the stigma and discrimination they endure impacts their whole family, who may be socially excluded by the community.

Leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease, is a chronic, mildly infectious disease caused by slow-growing bacteria called Mycobacterium Leprae, which multiplies very slowly, with an incubation period of about 3 to 5 years. However, symptoms can take as long as 20 years to appear. Its symptoms start in the skin and peripheral nervous system (outside the brain and spinal cord), then spread to other parts of the body. Leprosy typically appears as patches of discolored skin with a loss of sensation at the affected area. Once a person is infected with leprosy, the bacteria spreads throughout the body―such as the hands, feet, face, and earlobes. If the facial nerves are affected, they may lose the blinking reflex of the eye, which can lead to dryness, ulceration, and blindness. Facial changes include thickening of the outer ear and collapsing of the nose. When bacteria gets into the mucous lining of the nose, it can cause internal damage and scarring, which in time, causes the nose to collapse. When nerves in the arm are affected, small muscles become paralyzed, and this can cause the fingers to curl. Patients with leprosy experience disfigurement of the skin and bones, twisting of the limbs, and curling of the fingers to form the characteristic claw hand. Tumor-like growths called lepromas may form on the skin and in the respiratory tract, and the optic nerve may deteriorate. Other serious signs of advanced and untreated leprosy may include paralysis and crippling of hands and feet, extreme light-sensitivity, blindness, loss of eyebrows, nose disfigurement, and skin ulcers. It can affect the nerves, eyes, skin, and mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract.

The largest number of deformities develop from loss of pain sensation due to extensive nerve damage. Leprosy attacks nerve endings and destroys the body’s ability to feel pain and injury. Without feeling pain, people injure themselves on fire, thorns, rocks, and even hot coffee cups. For instance, inattentive patients can pick up a cup of boiling water without flinching. Patients may also lose sensation in the feet. This loss of sensation in the extremities can lead to greater risk of severe infection, and can lead to the shortening of toes and fingers which is due to re-absorption. Injuries become infected and result in tissue loss. Fingers, toes, and limbs become shortened and deformed as the tissue is absorbed into the body. Unable to feel pain, the patient can suffer deformation of their feet due to continued injury and infection.

Leprosy is not highly contagious; in fact, most experts agree that 95% of the world’s population is genetically immune to the disease. Only 1 in 10 of people affected by leprosy are infectious. Current research shows Leprosy is transmitted primarily through coughing and sneezing and via the skin during close and frequent contact with untreated, infected persons. However, in order for a person to contract leprosy, he or she would need to spend many months in close contact with an infected individual in order to get the disease. It is important to note, however, that one cannot get leprosy from casual contact such as shaking hands, hugging, or sitting next to someone. In addition, as soon as a patient starts treatment, he or she is no longer able to spread the disease. Treatment can take between six months and 12 months and people affected by leprosy are considered non-infectious within 48 hours of starting treatment.

Leprosy, with its deformation and disability, can be avoided if it is treated in its early stages. Early diagnosis is very important! While treatment does cure leprosy and prevents further damage, it cannot reverse the effects of permanent nerve damage or disfigurations that occur before treatment is administered. If caught early enough, leprosy can be stopped before it ravages a body and ruins a life. Unfortunately, many people are diagnosed too late to prevent leprosy-related disabilities. This makes leprosy one of the world’s leading causes of preventable disability.

Leprosy in the Bible
In the Bible, the word leprosy is mentioned upwards of 40 times―depending on the Bible version being used. The term “leprosy” (including leper, lepers, leprosy, leprous) occurs 86 times in the Douay Rheims Bible—73 times in the Old Testament and 13 times in the New Testament. Leprosy was common in Bible times, and the many references to it were well understood by those who lived in unsanitary conditions. The main reason why leprosy is talked about so much in the Bible is that it is a graphic illustration of sin’s destructive power. In ancient Israel leprosy was a powerful object lesson of the debilitating influence of sin in a person’s life.

God had given the Israelites very specific instructions on how to deal with leprosy and other skin infections. Two entire chapters of the Book of Leviticus are devoted entirely to the subject of leprosy (Leviticus 13 & 14). Anyone suspected of having this disease had to go to a priest for examination (Leviticus 13:2-3). If found to be infected, “whosoever shall be defiled with the leprosy, and is separated by the judgment of the priest, shall have his clothes hanging loose, his head bare, his mouth covered with a cloth, and he shall cry out that he is defiled and unclean. All the time that he is a leper and unclean, he shall dwell alone without the camp” (Leviticus 13:44-46). The leper then was considered utterly unclean—physically and spiritually.

Incurable by man, many believed God inflicted the curse of leprosy upon people for the sins they committed. In fact, those with leprosy were so despised and loathed that they were not allowed to live in any community with their own people: “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Command the children of Israel, that they cast out of the camp every leper, and whosoever hath an issue of seed, or is defiled by the dead―whether it be man or woman―cast them out of the camp, lest they defile it when I shall dwell with you!’” (Numbers 5:1-3). Among the sixty-one defilements of ancient Jewish laws, leprosy was second only to a dead body in seriousness. A leper wasn’t allowed to come within six feet of any other human―including his own family. The disease was considered so revolting that the leper wasn’t permitted to come within 150 feet (50 yards) of anyone when the wind was blowing. Lepers lived in a community with other lepers until they either got better or died. This was the only way the people knew to contain the spread of the contagious forms of leprosy. (So that’s where Fauci and Co. got their social distancing ideas from!).

The Bible records the story of a leper who was the first to be healed by Jesus: “A leper came and adored Him, saying: ‘Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean!’ And Jesus stretching forth His hand, touched him, saying: ‘I will―be thou made clean!’ And forthwith his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him: ‘See that thou tell no man! But go, show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift which Moses commanded for a testimony unto them!’” (Matthew 8:2-4). “And as He entered into a certain town, there met Him ten men that were lepers, who stood afar off and lifted up their voice, saying: ‘Jesus, Master! Have mercy on us!’ Whom when He saw, He said: ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests!’ And it came to pass, as they went, they were made clean” (Luke 17:12-14). When Our Lord sent out His Apostles to preach, He also commanded them: “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils!” (Matthew 10:8).

Leprosy as a Symbol of Sin
The key lesson to be learned from the above texts is that just as leprosy defiles the body in the sight of other men, so too sin defiles us in the sight of God. Biblical leprosy is a powerful symbol reminding us of sin’s spread and its horrible consequences. Like leprosy, sin starts out small but can then spread, leading to other sins and causing great damage to our relationship with God and others. Furthermore, just as leprosy can be more or less healed by certain medicines, so too can be healed of the plague of sin that separates us from God. Christ and His Precious Blood is that divine medicine for the leprosy of sin. God loathes sin; it is repulsive to Him. Sin bans us from the presence of God because God will not allow sinful man in His sight and presence: “I will stand before Thee, because Thou art not a God that willest iniquity. Neither shall the wicked dwell near Thee, nor shall the unjust abide before Thy eyes!” (Psalm 5:5-6). “Thy eyes are too pure to behold evil, and Thou canst not look on iniquity” (Habacuc 1:13). “There shall not enter into Heaven anything defiled, or that worketh abomination, or maketh a lie!” (Apocalypse 21:27).

This is not only true of sins with a sexual connotation―that are normally regarded as filthy and repulsive―but it includes all forms of disobedience and rebellion: “To rebel is like the sin of witchcraft, and to refuse to obey is like the crime of idolatry. Forasmuch, therefore, as thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord hath also rejected thee!” (1 Kings 15:23; Proverbs 15:9). All sin is abhorrent to God. But those who have been redeemed from sin by grace through Faith in Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9) can stand in God’s presence in full confidence that we are accepted “in the Beloved,” and we praise Him for the grace He extends to us for that purpose: “Praise the glory of His grace, in which He hath graced us in His beloved son. In Whom we have redemption through His Blood, the remission of sins, according to the riches of His grace!” (Ephesians 1:5-7).

When we’ve captured a glimpse of the holiness and purity of God, we have to exclaim as did the prophet Isaias: “Woe to me, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people that hath unclean lips, and I have seen with my eyes the King the Lord of hosts!” (Isaias 6:5). Our attitude toward sin in the light of our Savior should echo the words of Peter: “Simon Peter fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying: ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!’” (Luke 5:1-8). Another key lesson we learn from the leper in Matthew’s Gospel is that just as the leper did, we can confidently approach Jesus in all our need, with all our sins and defilement. When we sincerely plead for cleansing and forgiveness, He will not turn us away: “Let us go therefore with confidence to the throne of grace: that we may obtain mercy!” (Hebrews 4:16). “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our iniquities from us!” (Psalm 102:12). Yet He will also tell us what He told the sick person He cured at the Pool of Bethsaida from a 38 year illness: “Behold thou art made whole―sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee!” (John 5:14).

Leprosy of the Body Linked to Leprosy of the Soul

DAILY LENTEN LITURGY
Monday after the Fourth Sunday of Lent

Article 21
St. Joseph and His Trials and Tribulations

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