On Our Journey With Christ, a reflection for the third Sunday of Lent

On Our Journey With Christ
A Reflection on the third Sunday of Lent
Readings: Ephesians 5:1-9, Luke 11: 14-28
By Rev. Robert Johnnene OFA
Mission Sts. Sergius and Bacchus

www.missionstsergius.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EverlastingLoveOfChristMinistry


For the remaining 28 days of lent until the glorious feast celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, I thought I would reflect on what this period of the church season means and what we, as followers of Jesus Christ, should be concentrating on to prepare ourselves for the Pascal Mystery we celebrate on Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday the eve of the Easter Celebration.
Just what exactly, is the message of the all the gospels used by the universal church during Lent, beyond the story of the events leading up to Christ’s passion, death and resurrection?
The first one is of acceptance, accepting Jesus Christ as the promised messiah , the redeemer, the son of God who became man to bring us a new covenant or way of life.
As we have heard in the gospels, not all were ready to accept that and many who did, did so only after witnessing a major miracle like the one described in the Gospel of today where Christ cast out the evil spirit from the man who was mute. (Luke 11:14-28)
Our challenge is to believe and accept Jesus Christ as the son of God and the one sent to save us and open up the gates of heaven to us because of our faith and trust and love of Almighty God, the Creator and Father of us all.

This is a difficult thing for many to do, especially since today we have so many secular distractions. The truth of the Gospels seems to be always challenged and brought into question. Just this last week a major television network and all the news papers and tV stations told the story of the supposed remains of Jesus being found and those supposedly of His child and wife. The evidence presented was sparse and highly questionable and not conclusive but it still seemed to convince some that it was factual and therefore opened them to question all that our religion teaches.

In today’s world, many question the will of God, question why, if God is a God of mercy there is so much suffering in the world. I do not have an answer that will satisfy most but I believe that just as God had a reason for creating everything and that everything that he created was good; I have to believe that He has a reason for the suffering. Some theologians will tell you that it is to allow us to experience a small portion of the suffering that Jesus endured and that may be true but, I believe that it is to give us an opportunity to take action to ease that suffering and bring comfort to those who are suffering, just as Jesus brought comfort to those who believed and followed Him and taught us in the Sermon on The Mount.

The one message that is as clear as crystal is we need to have total and complete trust in God and to practice what Christ called THE GREAT COMMANDMENT. “Love God with all your heart, mind, soul and body and to love your neighbor as you love yourself.”
Another message is, Christ came for ALL people not just the Jews but for all of the children of God. Just as Christ did not discriminate or abide by all the rules of Jewish tradition and laws which it prescribed when He spoke with women who were not relatives, an ate with those who were considered unclean by the priests of His time.
If we truly accept Christ and want to follow Him we must not discriminate against anyone because of their marital status or sexual orientation and since Christ even spoke with those who were not followers of Judaism, we also need to be open to discussion with those who follow other religions beliefs and traditions.

God sent His only son to us to clarify the message of salvation. To let us know that the promise of eternal salvation is for every living person on the face of the earth. That message is one of hope, peace, love, compassion, mercy and forgiveness.

In the time of Christ, just as today, there were those who felt threatened by this message of hope. If people believed this message of Christ, those in positions of power would not be able to yield the control over them through threats and intimidation. Today we still see threats and intimidation being used to enforce rules that have been put in place by infallible humans, for no other purpose but to maintain power and prestige.

These rules hurt and cause people pain and to become disenfranchised and question religious teachings because what they see the preachers of Christ’s message doing are contradictory to what Jesus taught by His words and actions.
Our lesson is to listen to your heart, listen to what Jesus taught and labor hard to put Christ’s teachings into action in our every day life.

Make Lent a time of doing, not a time of giving up something but a time to put into practice the Corporal Works of Mercy; To feed the hungry; To give drink to the thirsty; To clothe the naked; To harbor the homeless; To visit the sick; To ransom the captive; To bury the dead.” And the spiritual works of mercy; “To instruct the uninformed; To counsel the uncertain; To caution sinners; To bear wrongs patiently; To forgive offences willingly; To comfort the afflicted; To pray for the living and the dead.”
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus gave us an indication of how people will react if we live by His teachings.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. The Sermon on the Mount closes with this statement, “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” That to me indicates that we have to become more trusting, more faithful, more merciful and less judgmental and narrow minded that those who profess to be the anointed ones of discerning God’s will.
In today’s reading from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians we are told “ Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children of God, live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God”.

The Holy Spirit is alive and well, the Spirit is attempting to open the hearts and a mind of all believers to God’s will and direct us to the promised kingdom. We need to open ourselves to listening to the Spirit as it talks to us.
These are some of the thoughts I have as I enter the final days of preparation for the Paschal Banquet and the celebration of our salvation in Christ Jesus. AMEN

Suggested Meditation For Second Week Of Lent

Reflection On The Our Father for Lent
By Rev. Robert Johnnene OFA
Mission Saints Sergius and Bacchus
www.missionstsergius.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EverlastingLoveOfChristMinistry

My suggested focus meditation point for the second week of Lent is found in the Gospel of Matthew 6: 7-15 where Jesus teaches the Apostles how to pray and then gives them the prayer we know as THE OUR FATHER. His first instruction is on how we should pray at all times, Jesus tells us “ In your prayers do not babble as the pagans do, for they think that by using many words they will make themselves heard. Do not be like them; your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
In this first part of the reading Jesus is telling us not to rattle off our prayers in a hurry and to actually take time to think about what we are saying. Prayer is not just a recitation of the words but is a conversation with Almighty God, Christ or Our Blessed mother. We are talking with them as though they were there in the room with us. This applies to all prayer especially the great prayer, the Mass. Christ reminds us that God knows what is in our hearts and our minds even before we speak them. The purpose of praying is not the words but in centering ourselves to and with God. I often tell people that taking time alone with God and talking to him as though He were sitting opposite them is a calming and centering exercise and it brings us closer to God.
By taking the time to actually focus on what we are saying and to speak the words that come from our inner being we enter into a reverent communication with Almighty God.
Jesus then goes on to teach us words that we should use when we pray which we now know as THE OUR FATHER.
"This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
In this simple prayer we sum up all our beliefs and our wishes. Christ reminds us again, in no uncertain terms, on what our request to God depends when he said; For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Therefore, when we pray the Our Father, we are acknowledging many of our beliefs as Christians because we concede:
1. God is our Father, in other words, like our paternal father whose seed brought us into being, God brought us and all things into being by willing them into existence.
2. We affirm that the name of Almighty God is Holy and needs to be revered above all persons and things.
3.. We are acknowledging that the kingdom of heaven is something to come and is not to be found in this mortal world.
4. We acknowledge that we agree that God’s will must be done in all things, not only in heaven but here on earth. God’s will, not our own desire and will. This is often very difficult for us to embrace and it is also one way that we so often find ourselves in troubling by insisting on getting our own way in spite of all other things.
5. We next go on to ask God to provide us with our daily necessities of life. The key in this part of the prayer is ‘DAILY NECESSITIES’. when we ask to win the lottery or get a flat screen TV or new car God may not consider them to be necessary for our existence and if fact, God may see that in getting them we would be endangering our eternal salvation.
6. In asking God to forgive us our debts we are asking Him for forgiveness of the things we might have done that separated us from Him and put us in debt to God. What we need to remember is that we also need to be willing to forgive those who have hurt us. That is a very important part of this prayer. If we are unwilling to forgive others how can we expect God to forgive us. Christ even reiterates this when He cautions “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
7. Finally, we then plead with God to not put us in a position of being tempted by the guiles of Satan, but to deliver us from all evils, those imposed upon us by others and those which come out of our own selfishness, greed, anger, prejudices and stubbornness.

When Christ repeated the caution a second time about forgiving others He did so, I am sure, because He knew how difficult it was going to be for us mortals. One of the most difficult things for people is to admit they are wrong. It is even more difficult to go to someone you have done wrong to and ask for their forgiveness and even more difficult to forgive someone who has wronged you. Many people just cannot admit to another they are wrong. We see this daily on the news and TV. Even when faced with overwhelming evidence that a decision one made was wrong, some people cannot admit it.

During this time of preparation for the Paschal Banquet, we might want to reflect on how we pray and whether or not we are doing all that we can to reach out to those we might have wronged and seek their forgiveness and even more especially have we forgiven those that have hurt us and extended to them the love of Christ.
I have suggested this meditation for the second week of Lent because it may require some time for us to digest. Lent is a time of cleansing and purification as we evaluate ourselves in preparation to follow Christ along the Via Dolorosa on the way to Calvary and on to His glorious Resurrection on Easter morning which provided us the promise of Eternal Life with God and all the heavenly elect. Amen