Looking In

Have you noticed that we barely look at each other anymore?  We are so busy looking down at our smart phones, iPads, and iPods that we scarcely ever notice humanity in the flesh.   Our techno-toys are a great way to avoid seeing what we’d rather evade.  In other words, they give us a great excuse to look away.   I think of the times I look away:  from the homeless to avoid seeing a broken world; from those physically or intellectually different  to avoid feeling discomfort; from the mirror to avoid noticing the imperfections in my own body. 

Lent is a time which calls us to not look away, but to look more closely, to peer inside to see all that we have been avoiding in ourselves and in our world.  But, looking goes both ways.  We are called not only to look and see, but also to allow ourselves--our whole selves--to be seen.   Those who are in love know what it’s like to look at each other with eyes of love, to look at the imperfections and to see only love.  It’s that kind of trusting relationship that allows us the vulnerability to uncover ourselves, flaws and all, before the eyes of our beloved.   It’s this kind of trusting relationship to which God calls each of us.  For God looks at us with the eyes of a lover and gazes at us with awe and wonder.  God's loving, penetrating eyes are so powerful, we become healed and whole in God’s sight.  We need only to trust the loving eyes of God.

It’s this kind of trust that enables the Elect to celebrate the scrutinies, the second of which  they celebrate this Sunday.  The scrutiny calls them to uncover those inner flaws, sins and failings, and to trust that God’s love is bigger than their biggest imperfection.    May we, along with the Elect, learn to trust more deeply the heart of God whose loving gaze is ever upon us.  Amen!

The Power of Surrender

It happens more often than not.  Whenever we try to recruit people to join the choir, they chuckle, uttering a common phrase, “I can’t sing!”  This is usually followed with something like, “Ever since I was in the third grade and my chorus teacher told me to just mouth the words, I knew I couldn’t sing.” 

I think to myself, the third grade?  And, now you’re forty-something?  And, you’re still listening to the voice of your chorus teacher?   

It’s amazing how often we allow others to shape our perceptions of who we are, what we can do, and who we are to become.   Like a sponge, we tend to absorb others’ opinions, thoughts, and ideas about ourselves.   I wonder what would happen if instead we absorbed God’s opinions, thoughts and ideas about ourselves.   This is what baptism is all about.   In baptism, we absorb God’s unconditional love through the life-giving waters of God’s grace, calling us to be nothing less than God’s very own children.  

Reflecting on baptism makes me think about water.  If you’ve ever swum in the ocean, ridden the waves, or surfed a crest to the shore, you understand the power of water.  You cannot fight water and win.  If you want to survive water’s power, you must surrender. 

Lent is all about surrender.  Lent prompts us to surrender all that keeps us from living out our baptismal covenant.  We, the baptized, journey along with the Elect, the unbaptized, as they await the new life given in baptism.  This weekend, the Elect will celebrate their first scrutiny, powerful prayers which call upon God to heal all that is weak and to strengthen all that is good.   We, too, are encouraged to scrutinize our own lives, to reflect on the meaning of our baptism, and to surrender to God’s powerful love which calls us.  Let us pray, along with the Elect, to absorb the reality of God’s love over the false perceptions of others.  By the way, you can sing!  So, join the choir, and then send a CD to that third grade chorus teacher!  Amen!

The Liturgical Word

During Lent, the Church encourages us to pray, fast and give alms.   Reading the scriptures more frequently is one way to deepen our prayer life.    Another is to listen more closely to the prayers of the liturgy.  You will discover that most of the prayers in our liturgy are based on scriptural passages.    In fact, it is said that our entire liturgy is the Bible accompanied by ritual.  For example, here are just some Scriptural connections found in our Nicene Creed:  

I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth…

“In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1)

 …I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God,

born of the Father before all ages…

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.” (Jn 3:16)

…begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father…

“The Father and I are one” (Jn 10:30)

….and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you”

 (Lk 1:35)

…and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.   

“He was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures” (1 Cor 15:4)

…He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead…

“He is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead” (Acts 10:42)

…I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life…  

“Now the Lord is the Spirit” (2 Cor 3:17)  “But the Spirit gives life” (2 Cor 3:6)

…I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins…

“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38)

…and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.  

“I know he will rise in the resurrection on the last day” (Jn 11:24)

In the liturgy, the Creed stands between the liturgy of the Word and the liturgy of the Eucharist.  This is because it sums up the faith we have heard in the scripture readings and reminds us that we are united in faith, i.e., in communion, before we receive Holy Communion.   This week, we hand on the Creed to the Elect.   Let us pray, along with them, for the grace to live our faith more deeply.  Amen! 

Spring Cleaning

Every year around this time, my mother would rearrange the furniture in the living room.  Along with that, came the changing of the drapery.   Then, she would open the cupboards and drawers  in the kitchen and take out all the dishes, glasses, cups, goblets, plates, pitchers, platters, bowls, casseroles, china, and silverware for cleaning.  It was as if we were preparing for the biggest banquet of the year.   She called this cleansing fury spring cleaning. 

Every liturgical year around this time, the Church gives us the opportunity to do our own inner spring cleaning.  In fact, the word “Lent” is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word meaning spring.  Lent is a prime time to rearrange our priorities, to open the cupboards of our hearts and hold our egos to the light to see those areas that need cleaned and polished.    This idea of inner cleansing or conversion has always been at the heart of Lent.    From the earliest times, Lent was the final leg of the journey for the catechumens preparing for baptism.  It was also a time when penitents, isolated from the assembly because of their sins, would be reconciled to God and community.    Both catechumen and penitent were related in that both underwent a significant conversion.    As the catechumen looked forward to baptism, the penitent looked forward to reconciliation, often seen as a second baptism.   Even today,  the focus of Lent remains both baptismal and penitential.    

It is easy to rearrange chairs and to clean dishes.  Inner change is more of a challenge.   Therein lies the good news.  It is God who calls us to conversion,  and it is God’s transforming grace that accompanies all of us on the journey of conversion.  Let us pray for the courage to be open to this grace, that we might come to Easter, the biggest banquet of the liturgical year,  with clean hearts and renewed spirits.  Amen!

A clean heart create for me, O God and a steadfast spirit renew within me.   Psalm 51

Community

In the past several weeks, a large number of common dolphins have beached along the southern shore of Cape Cod in Massachusetts.    Scientists are calling it the largest beaching by a single species in the history of the region.  More than 100 have died.  Scientists are stumped as to why so many dolphins are swimming so dangerously close to shore.   But, they do understand why they tend to beach in groups.   Dolphins are very social animals and when one of them gets into trouble, they stick together.   Their social bond is so strong that they would even abandon the waters that give them life for the sake of staying with one another.

Dolphins are one of the most intelligent animals on the planet, and we humans, especially those of us who bear the name Christian, can learn a lot from them.  God has called us as a people, a community, a body.   The Eucharistic liturgy bonds us together.  It strengthens us so that we too, like the dolphins, can stay with one another in good times and bad, even to the point of dying.  This is because the Eucharist is a commemoration of the God whose social bond is so strong that he sent his son Jesus, to be with us in good times and in bad, even to the point of dying. 

Lent is upon us.  As we anticipate the waters of new life at Easter, may we, like the dolphins, be willing to leave the waters of our own comfort in order to die a little, with and for each other, for the life of the world.  Amen!