Ash Wednesday 13 Feb 2013

Begin Lent -
Cock Pheasant , far-carrying crowing call
often with a flapping of wings.

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Abbot Mark ...     Sent: Wednesday, 13 February 2013, 15:47
Subject: Ash Wednesday 2013

 

Introduction to Mass                              Ash Wdnesday, 2013

‘Come, let us return to the Lord. . . After two days he will revive us. On the third day he will raise us up.’

These words of Hoseah, in a way, foretell the death and resurrection of Christ.  But they also refer to us as we journey this Lent to our own death and resurrection in him.  Lent is a time of struggle but it is also a means to joy and fulfilment in the Lord.

Homily

The triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem was symbolised by the palm branches we held in our liturgical celebration last Palm Sunday.  The remnants of these same branches were destroyed – burnt to ashes – to show how fragile is worldly glory.  With these ashes we will receive a sign of the cross on our foreheads, in a few moments’ time, to remind us of what happened to our Lord so soon after his welcome from the crowds.  That same sign is what we remember and walk with during these coming weeks of Lent.

But, destruction and death are not the meaning of our Christian lives.  We receive meaning from following the One who rose in glory and joy at Easter.  We do indeed have to endure the hardships and pain that that come from standing up to evil and the sin in the world and in ourselves, but we can do that with joy and peace in our hearts because Christ has already conquered in himself.

Lent therefore is not a time of gloom, whatever our sin and need of forgiveness.  It is the everlasting mercy and love of God shown us in his Son which gives meaning to life.  God created us without us but he cannot save us without us, as has been said so often.  Our part in our salvation is simply to be open and ready to receive this mercy and joy through the One who saves us.

We become passengers with Christ on this life journey of Lent – but willing passengers.  We are being carried through these Lenten days by Christ.  We cannot be saved without him.

Like Peter walking on the disturbed waters of the lake towards Jesus, we can do it so long as we keep looking towards him and thinking about him rather ourselves.  It’s when we look back at what we are doing that we lose confidence.  So, in this true spirit of trust and faith, let us begin our Lenten journey.

Thomas Merton Reading Ash Wednesday 13 Feb 2013

 

       ASH WEDNESDAY

Night Office -Alternative Reading

From  Thomas Merton, O.CS.O.

(Meditations on the Liturgy, 100-101)

A time of metanoia

The paschal mystery is above all the mystery of life, in which the Church, by celebrating the death and resurrection of Christ, enters into the kingdom of life which he has established once for all by his definitive victory over sin and death.

We must remember the original meaning of Lent in which the catechumens were prepared for their baptism, and public penitents were made ready by penance for their restoration to the sacramental life in a communion with the rest of the Church.

Lent is then not a season of punishment so much as one of healing.

There is joy in the salutary fasting and abstinence of the Christian who eats and drinks less in order that his mind may be more clear and receptive to receive the sacred nourishment of God's word, which the whole Church announces and meditates upon in each day's liturgy throughout Lent.

The whole life and teaching of Christ pass before us, and Lent is a season of special reflection and prayer, a forty day retreat in which each Christian, to the extent that he or she is able, tries to follow Christ into the desert by prayer and fasting.

Some, monks and ascetics, will give themselves especially to fasting and vigils, silence and solitude in these days, and they will meditate more deeply on the word of God.

But all the faithful should listen to the word as it is announced in the liturgy or in the Bible services and respond to it according to their ability.

In this way, for the whole Church, Lent will not be merely a season simply of a few formalized penitential practices, half understood and undertaken without interest, but a time.

of metanoia, the turning of all minds and hearts to God in preparation for the celebration of the paschal mystery in which some will for the first time receive the light of Christ, others will be restored to the communion of the faithful, and all will renew the baptismal consecration of their lives to God, in Christ.

COMMENT 'The Paralytic at Capernaum'

Hi, William,
Thank you for the Email COMMENT.
Your reading from Sacra Pagina and Knox Translation.
Your thougts resonant as I came to the account of the Paralytic.
And "Its interpretation section concludes with a glorious reflection" comes wonderfully on this Eve of Ash Wednesday.

A Question. "Jesus' five reasons of the conduct of the disciples. Mt 2:28 escapes me.  One reference to the disciples plucking the ears of corn.
Greetings for Lent.
Donald.
PS. Shrove Tuesday, I had the task to burn the last year's Palms for the Ashes of Wednesday, powefully wrapping up the symbols the Paschal Mystery.



----- Forwarded Message ----- 
From: William . . .
To: Fr Donald
Sent: Monday, 20 February 2012, 14:13 
Subject: Re: [Blog] The Paralytic at Capernaum


Dear Father Donald, 

 Your post on the Gospel story of The Paralytic at Capernaum draws me in desire to enter even more deeply into its meaning. 

The passage has a quite involved analysis in the fine "Sacra Pagina" NT commentary, even to the scholarly interpretation of the subtle Greek word ['forgive']. It examines the meaning of the Greek very finely as to whether Jesus actually forgives the sins or whether he acts as an agent of divine forgiveness, confirming the former and (with delight!) acknowledging the reaction of the scribes in their understanding! This is again wonderfully confirmed in the "Gospel Story" (Knox-Cox), which says that this is the most explicit claim to divine power that our Lord makes during his Galilean ministry: "He is not claiming delegated power from God, he claims authority in his own right as the Messias ('Son of Man') during his earthly life - this can only mean that he is God incarnate".

Sacra Pagina also focuses on the words 'Son of Man' which "stress his power on earth and prepare the readers for the proper understanding of the authority of Jesus - a paradoxical authority given to a 'Son of Man' that is not based on dominating power but achieved through suffering, and is to be at the service of others".

 Its interpretation section concludes with a glorious reflection: "This short narrative provides a rich field for contemporary actualization of fundamental Christian themes. In it faith is not simply intellectual conviction but boundary-breaking activity; the faith of the litter bearers who disrupt the assembly is praised. The text also encourages reflection on the relation between sin and "paralysis." Sin can exercise such force that people are unable to move or to change. They may, like the paralyzed man, be dependent on others on the journey to health and restoration. The word of Jesus is restorative and forgiving. And following as a disciple of Jesus, the one who acts as the agent of God's forgiveness and liberation may be not only misunderstood but also may evoke great opposition; and those touched by God's forgiveness may become public witnesses to others so that they in turn can glorify God".

It is one of those passages in the Gospel that can quite fill one's mind, both at rest and along the path of life...

Thank you for challenging my attention on your Blog!


. . . in Our Lord,


William