20150218 THE TRUE SPIRIT OF LENT AS RECONCILIATION IN THE CONTEXT
OF BAPTISM
Readings at Mass
|
First reading
|
Joel 2:12-18 ©
|
‘Now, now – it
is the Lord who speaks –
come back to me with
all your heart,
fasting, weeping,
mourning.’
Let your hearts be
broken, not your garments torn,
turn to the Lord your
God again,
for he is all
tenderness and compassion,
slow to anger, rich
in graciousness,
and ready to relent.
Who knows if he will
not turn again, will not relent,
will not leave a blessing
as he passes,
oblation and libation
for the Lord your
God?
Sound the trumpet in
Zion!
Order a fast,
proclaim a solemn
assembly,
call the people
together,
summon the community,
assemble the elders,
gather the children,
even the infants at
the breast.
Let the bridegroom
leave his bedroom
and the bride her
alcove.
Between vestibule and
altar let the priests,
the ministers of the
Lord, lament.
Let them say,
‘Spare your people,
the Lord!
Do not make your
heritage a thing of shame,
a byword for the
nations.
Why should it be said
among the nations,
“Where is their
God?”’
Then the Lord,
jealous on behalf of his land,
took pity on his
people.
|
Psalm
|
|
Psalm
50:3-6,12-14,17 ©
|
Have mercy on us,
O Lord, for we have sinned.
Have mercy on me,
God, in your kindness.
In your
compassion blot out my offence.
O wash me more and
more from my guilt
and
cleanse me from my sin.
Have mercy on us,
O Lord, for we have sinned.
My offences truly I
know them;
my sin is
always before me
Against you, you
alone, have I sinned;
what is
evil in your sight I have done.
Have mercy on us,
O Lord, for we have sinned.
A pure heart create
for me, O God,
put a
steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away
from your presence,
nor
deprive me of your holy spirit.
Have mercy on us,
O Lord, for we have sinned.
Give me again the joy
of your help;
with a
spirit of fervour sustain me,
O Lord, open my lips
and my
mouth shall declare your praise.
Have mercy on us,
O Lord, for we have sinned.
|
Second reading
|
|
2 Corinthians
5:20-6:2 ©
|
We are ambassadors
for Christ; it is as though God were appealing through us, and the appeal that
we make in Christ’s name is: be reconciled to God. For our sake God made the
sinless one into sin, so that in him we might become the goodness of God. As
his fellow workers, we beg you once again not to neglect the grace of God that
you have received. For he says: At the favourable time, I have listened to
you; on the day of salvation I came to your help. Well, now is the
favourable time; this is the day of salvation.
|
Gospel
Acclamation
|
Ps50:12,14
|
Praise to you, O
Christ, king of eternal glory!
A pure heart create
for me, O God,
and give me again the
joy of your help.
Praise to you, O
Christ, king of eternal glory!
|
Or
|
cf.Ps94:8
|
Praise to you, O
Christ, king of eternal glory!
Harden not your
hearts today,
but listen to the
voice of the Lord.
Praise to you, O
Christ, king of eternal glory!
|
Gospel
|
|
Matthew
6:1-6,16-18 ©
|
Jesus said to his
disciples:
‘Be
careful not to parade your good deeds before men to attract their notice; by
doing this you will lose all reward from your Father in heaven. So when you
give alms, do not have it trumpeted before you; this is what the hypocrites do
in the synagogues and in the streets to win men’s admiration. I tell you
solemnly, they have had their reward. But when you give alms, your left hand
must not know what your right is doing; your almsgiving must be secret, and
your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.
‘And when
you pray, do not imitate the hypocrites: they love to say their prayers
standing up in the synagogues and at the street corners for people to see them;
I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward. But when you pray, go to your
private room and, when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in
that secret place, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will
reward you.
‘When
you fast do not put on a gloomy look as the hypocrites do: they pull long faces
to let men know they are fasting. I tell you solemnly, they have had their
reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that no
one will know you are fasting except your Father who sees all that is done in
secret; and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.’
THE
TRUE SPIRIT OF LENT AS RECONCILIATION IN THE CONTEXT OF BAPTISM
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: JOEL 2l12-18; 2 COR 5:20-6:2; MT 6:1-6, 16-18
“Well, now
is the favourable time; this is the day of salvation” so says St
Paul. But is that really the way we approach this season of Lent? Do
we see the season of Lent as a time of grace and welcome it with deep gratitude
and joy? Or do we see it more as a burdensome season? The truth
is that if we take a survey, most people see Lent rather negatively. This
is evident from the way Catholics in some countries understand the season of
Lent. Before Ash Wednesday, they would celebrate Fat Tuesday, or better known
as Carnival Day. On this day, they would enjoy themselves as much as they
could. It is a day of celebration. There would be parades, eating,
drinking, merry making, etc. They will eat more meat and expose their
flesh for others to see. And all this because the next day, on Ash
Wednesday, they would have to suffer, since they are required to fast and do
penance. In other words, Carnival Day is a day when you could have your last
fling.
Thus,
in the minds of most ordinary Catholics, the season of Lent is simply a season
of penance. However, if we reduce the season of Lent simply to a
season of doing penance, then we would have missed out the whole meaning of
Lent. Then indeed, it would become a most miserable season. Who
likes to do penance? The very word ‘penance’ means some act of punishment
that we impose on ourselves; to do something which we do not like to do.
If that were so, Lent would be a life-killer. We would not be able to
laugh or to be happy. Instead, we would be expected to be somber, fast
and put on long faces, feel miserable and sad because God wants to punish us
for having enjoyed ourselves too much during the year. Consequently, many
Catholics wish the Lenten season would be over even before it has begun.
But of course, this is a distorted understanding of the Lenten season.
What, then, should the
real Spirit of Lent be?
St Paul in the second reading makes it clear. Lent is a time for
reconciliation. He made the appeal in God’s name: Be
reconciled. Indeed, the cause of our unhappiness in life is because we
lack integration within ourselves. We need to be reconciled, with God,
within ourselves and with others in our lives. We have in our own ways
destroyed the unity in our lives. It is within the context of reconciliation
then that the season of Lent should be understood.
But the reconciliation
which Paul speaks about is directly connected with baptism as well.
That is why in John’s gospel, there is no apostolic command to go and baptize
as in the synoptic gospels. Rather, John substituted this with the gift
of the Holy Spirit given to the apostles for the forgiveness of sins, which is
the work of reconciliation. Hence, when we speak of reconciliation, we
are actually speaking of the renewal of baptism in our lives. We
are called to die to ourselves so that we can rise with Christ at Easter.
Unless, we die to ourselves, it is not possible for us to be reconciled with
God, others and self. It is within this framework of reconciliation which is
brought about by the living out of our baptismal life that the Lenten program
as spelt out in today’s gospel is to be understood. And so if Jesus
approves of the three pillars of traditional piety, it is in order to help
us to find integration in our lives.
The first integration
that we need is, of course, our union with God. What we all
need badly in life is a deep relationship with God. For this reason, it
is necessary that we spend time in deep prayer, not just community prayers,
important as it might be, but also personal prayer which the gospel advocates
today. Unless, we have a personal encounter with the Lord, we will not be
able to find our connection. That is why mystics and those who engage in
contemplative prayer say that in the depth of their contemplation, they feel
united with the whole universe and reality. Indeed, meditation on the
Word of God and a real relationship with the Lord will help us to become more
integrated with the whole of reality.
But this is possible
only when we are prayerful. In this respect, the invitation to fast
is important. Fasting is necessary only because it helps us to be in a
better disposition in our prayer life. Fasting is not simply to reduce the
amount of the intake of food; rather fasting is to prevent ourselves from being
too distracted by the temptations and enjoyments of the world, so much so that
we lose our focus in life. Fasting is then surely a great help to
meditation and prayer. All religions would vouch for the important link between
fasting and prayer.
But fasting is not
only helpful to prayer and our union with God; it also leads us to live an
integrated life. When we fast correctly, fasting is the means
by which we come to understand ourselves better. We become more self-integrated
when we fast from our over involvement in the activities of the world.
With a greater sense of calmness and recollection, we will come to understand
ourselves much more; and re-orientate our lives accordingly. And once we
are centered, we find ourselves much more at peace within ourselves. We
begin in other words, to love ourselves authentically. This, then, is
integration on the level of self.
However, the integration
with God and self cannot but lead to the third integration, namely, our reconciliation
with our neighbours. Almsgiving is simply a way by which we express
our love and compassion and understanding for our neighbours. Almsgiving
is more than helping others, but it is to reach out to others. When we
are loving and centered, we cannot but be loving towards others. We would
therefore seek and work for reconciliation and unity. For we know that
there is no way to be reconciled with God when we know that we are still not
yet reconciled with our neighbours, when we still hold grudges in our hearts
against them.
So, then, this is the
framework by which we are called to live the spirit of Lent. A failure to
have such a context in the practice of Lent will bring about just the reverse
effects. When reconciliation through dying to self is not the motive for
the Lenten season, then the Lenten program can turn us to be more egoistic
people. And of course, a person who is egoistic is alienated, divided and
cut off from others, self and from God. Precisely, this is what Jesus is
warning us in today’s gospel.
A wrong attitude towards
the season of Lent will make us over-conscious of self. We begin to subtly transform the
pious practices of Lent into an ego-trip. We start giving alms so that we
can boast to God and our fellow human beings how generous we have been during
this Lent. We fast so that others will see how serious and disciplined we
are. We pray so that people would think that we are very holy people and
God would be very grateful to us for spending so much time with him.
Hence, instead of becoming more integrated, we find ourselves living a
dualistic life. We become divided; we become hypocritical in the
end. And of course, a hypocrite is a person who pretends to be what he is
not. Such an outcome is totally against the Spirit of Lent.
Let us therefore pray that
we approach the season of Lent rightly in the context of reconciliation and
our baptismal vows. When we see Lent in this context, then Lent will
be a season not to be dreaded but rather truly a season of grace, a season of
renewal, the beginning of Spring. Indeed, it is really a season of grace
because the whole Church is in retreat. Indeed, this is the purpose of
the season of Lent. The Church wants all of us to be in solidarity with
each other to make this journey together. She knows that most of us are
too weak to make our own retreat. But with Lent, the mood and the
environment is provided for all of us to make this annual retreat together so
that we might be able to enter into ourselves and be fully reconciled fully
with God and with others. When that happens, we will not live scattered
lives but a holistic life. Such a life is indeed the resurrected
life. Hence, we can share Paul’s sentiment that “today is the favourable
time; this is the day of salvation.”
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV
WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP
OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No comments:
Post a Comment