LENT

For Lent, we will look at some excerpts from two different Lenten devotionals.

EXCERPTS FROM THE LIVING GOSPEL—Daily Devotions for Lent 2015

By Nicholas Ayo, C.S.C.*

“Introduction”

“This booklet might help each of us do a map-check. Where are we going? Are we on the way of God? …The devotions of this booklet lead us from silent stillness to an opening prayer and to the gospel reading for each Lenten day…

Give …prayer ten minutes a day and enter into the quiet of these devotions. We all have within us a center of stillness surrounded by silence. Stillness is pushing the ‘stop’ button. It is the peaceful eye of the hurricane of daily life. Stillness is the centering of clay on the potter’s wheel. Silence is not empty. Silence is the fullness of God, which is diminished by noise and thoughtless speech. Be still and be quiet for a few minutes each day of this Lent—and hopefully beyond it…”

“Better to Give than to Receive” “We think we want to receive rather than to give, but in truth it is better to give than to receive. Jesus wanted with all his heart to give his life for us… ‘No greater love has any man than to lay down his life for his friend’ (Jn 15:13). In our heart of hearts we seek such self-donation in love but we are often misled by the selfish culture of the world that surrounds us. We find ourselves wanting what others seem to want… rather than doing what… we were made by God to do and dearly want to do. The ‘one who loses his life will save it’ means that a person who gives his or her life will receive it and give it away in love again and again…”

“Love and Do What You Will” “Laws and rules have their place and we need them in our moral life much like banks of a river, which guide the water to find its way to the sea. A code of ethics and moral wisdom channels our behavior toward the good. It liberates us rather than restricts us, even if we may feel our desires must be disciplined, and indeed they must. St. Paul claimed we were free from the law; we were saved by faith and by grace and not by keeping in an external way a complex book of laws in the Bible. Ideally, the law should free us to follow the good by not wasting our time and energy on dead ends. St. Augustine said, ‘Love and do what you will.’

Love of God and love of neighbor know no bounds. Our hands and feet may be shackled by the burden of the law but never our hearts. ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath’ (Mk 2:27). Love trumps the law and the prophet for it is their fulfillment. Nonetheless, you would be a fool not to look at and take to heart the wisdom of the prophets and the experience of the community in living the Ten Commandments.”

EXCERPTS FROM BRINGING LENT HOME WITH ST. JOHN PAUL II

By Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle**

This book is filled with “prayers, reflections, and activities for families”. We will look primarily at quotations from St. John Paul II’s general audiences, with some attention to the author’s stories from the pope’s life, and a few quotes from her “Reflections”.

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“The holy season of Lent, which has always held deep meaning for the Christian people, recalls ancient biblical events such as the forty days of the universal flood, a prelude to the covenant that God made with Noah; Israel’s forty-year pilgrimage through the desert to the promised land; the forty days that Moses remained on Mount Sinai, where he received the tablets of the Law from Yahweh.

In particular, the Lenten season invites us to relive with Jesus the forty days that he spent praying and fasting in the wilderness before beginning his public mission, which culminated on Calvary in the sacrifice of the Cross, the definitive victory over death.”(General Audience, February 28, 2001)

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“A Story from St. John Paul II’s Life” “In 1939, Germany invaded Poland, and the Nazi occupation forces closed the university where Karol was attending. On the morning of the invasion, Karol was in the cathedral and could hear the warning sirens and then the sounds of gunfire and exploding bombs dropped by Luftwaffe aircraft. As the invasion was set in motion, Karol immediately ran for home. The next six years would be heartrending and tragic for Poland. Later, on the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the war, Pope John Paul II said the Nazi occupation was a period of ‘fear, violence, extreme poverty, death, tragic experiences of painful separation, endured in the absence of all security and freedom; recurring traumas brought about by the incessant bloodshed’.” (Message, May 8, 1995)

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“First of all, there is he, Christ, who sets out on the inexorable journey of the Passion without protesting against injustice and violence, without recrimination or outbursts, but entrusting himself and his sorrowful experience ‘to him who judges justly’ (1 Pt 2:23). This act of pure and total trust was to be sealed on the Cross with his famous last words, cried with a loud voice as his supreme abandonment to the will of the Father: ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!’ (Lk 23:46; cf. Ps 31:6).” (General Audience, September 22, 2004)

“Parent Reflection” “We don’t like to be wronged. We even fight against injustices toward others. But sometimes no matter what we do, our lives are spattered with insults and unjust acts against us. Can you be mindful, even in the smallest instances, of lifting up in prayer the culprits in your life: Take some time today to ponder who they are and maybe even why you think they do what they do. Do they need help? Are they hurting? They certainly need your prayers. Endeavor to pray for those who harm you or try to harm you in some way. Encourage the children to pray an Our Father for their “enemies” and to focus on the words “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

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“The fruit of … a courageous ascetical journey can only be a greater openness to the needs of our neighbor. Those who love the Lord cannot close their eyes to individuals and peoples who are tried by suffering and poverty. After contemplating the face of the crucified Lord, how can we not recognize him and serve him in those who are suffering and abandoned? Jesus himself, who invites us to stay with him watching and praying, also asks us to love him in our brothers and sisters, remembering that ‘as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’ (Mt 25:40). The fruit … will thus be a greater and more universal love.” (General Audience, February 28, 2001)

“A Story from St. John Paul II’s Life” “… In Mexico, the new pope addressed them saying that he wanted to be ‘the voice of those who cannot speak or are silent; the defender of the oppressed, who have the right to effective help, not charity or the crumbs of justice.’ “

“In the end, Christ himself, the slaughtered Lamb, calls to all peoples: ‘So come, you of all races of men who are ensnared by your sins and receive forgiveness, the Passover of your salvation; I am the Lamb slain for you; I am your redemption, your way, your resurrection, your light, your salvation, and your king. It is I who lead you to the heights of Heaven, I who will show you the Father who exists from eternity, I who will raise you to life with my right hand.’ “ (General Audience, March 31, 2004)

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“Lent will help us return to ourselves and courageously renounce whatever prevents us from faithfully following the Gospel. Especially in these days let us contemplate the image of the Father embracing the son who returned to his paternal home.” (General Audience, February 17, 1999)

“Parent Reflection” “As parents, you may at times just shake your head in amazement over your children’s antics. They are a work in progress, after all, as are we. Life is an interesting spiritual journey in which God in his loving providence gives us many opportunities to help others and ourselves by turning fully to God with all of our needs. St. John Paul II encourages us to courageously renounce whatever it is that separates us from God. Let’s take some time today to ponder our lives through prayer.”

“Christ chose to lower himself from glory to death on a cross.” (General Audience, August 4, 2004)

“A Story from St. John Paul II’s Life” “The Holy Father visited… New York. … In Yankee Stadium, [he warned] them during his homily of the dangers of excessive materialism. He told the crowd to break away from the temptation of involvement in mass consumerism, which he said is ‘exhausting and joyless’. He explained that to do so ‘is not a question of slowing down progress, for there is no human progress when everything conspires to give full rein to self-interest, sex, and power.’ Pope John Paul II spoke about the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, reminding them that God didn’t condemn the rich man because of his wealth but because he was selfish. ‘God curses selfishness,’ he said. He was surely not a man to mince words.”

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Easter Sunday “The proclamation of the Resurrection scatters the darkness of the night and the whole of created reality awakens from the slumber of death to recognize Christ’s lordship, as the Pauline hymn that has inspired our reflections brings to the fore: ‘At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord’ (Phil 2:10-11).”

*2014, Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame, Indiana

**2014, Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame, Indiana