Getting My Affairs in Order

          No, I’m not dying.  Au contraire, Facebook just told me that I’m not going to die for another 48 years.  That said, the Goo Goo Cluster ice cream topped with chocolate-covered pretzels that I’m scarfing down in one last Fat Tuesday binge might hasten things a bit.  No, I’m getting my affairs in order for Ash Wednesday and Lent by thumbing through a little book made just for persnickety folks like me:  The Order of Prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours and Celebration of the Eucharist, a.k.a, The Ordo.  The Ordo may well be the priest’s, deacon’s and compulsive liturgist’s best friend.  It tells us pretty much everything we need to know about the liturgies for every single day of the year – what prayers to pray; what readings to read; what color to wear; and a whole host of other handy factoids that keep our liturgies in good order.

          Among my favorite features of The Ordo are the instructions and reflections that precede each liturgical season.  The instructions provide a nice synopsis of the liturgical celebrations along with the “do’s and don’ts” of each season, which are especially important during the decidedly-subdued season of Lent.  The reflections help direct my mind and heart by giving me a better understanding of the upcoming season spiritually and liturgically.  I can now attest that reading the reflections while eating the aforementioned ice cream and chocolate covered pretzels is particularly enjoyable, albeit somewhat messy.    

This year’s Lenten reflection speaks of how the weekday readings during Lent fall into two parts.  The readings for the first part of Lent are intended to bring us to compunction.  Compunction, The Ordo tells us, “is etymologically related to the verb ‘to puncture’ and suggests the deflation of our inflated egos.”  These readings force us to confront our illusions about ourselves and make us profoundly aware of our need for salvation.  The readings for the second part of Lent lead us to the only one who can save us from ourselves and the power of sin, Jesus Christ.  So the message of our Lenten readings in a nutshell is:  “Jesus can only save those who know their need for salvation.”  

   

Lent is a call to humility, a time to get our affairs in order.  It begins on Ash Wednesday with the imposition of ashes, an ancient act of penitence in the Judeo-Christian tradition.  Then, through the Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, we are called to confront our sinfulness, to deflate our egos, and to repent and believe in the Gospel.  By doing so, we get our affairs in order; we empty ourselves of self, and open ourselves to receive the gift of salvation.

          On Ash Wednesday, The Ordo tells us that the color is violet; the Mass is Proper; the penitential act is omitted; that there are Lenten prefaces, the blessing and imposition of ashes and a prayer over the people.  More poignantly, it offers two options for the words we recite during the imposition of ashes: “Repent and believe in the Gospel” or “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.”  I tend to use the latter formula, not as an admonition to those who present themselves to me for ashes, but as a reminder to myself.  If past is prologue, I will be blessed with the opportunity to impose ashes on the foreheads of several hundred humble, faithful people.  As I repeat those words over and over again on Ash Wednesday, I'll  pray that I will also heed them this Lent by deflating my ego, repenting and getting my affairs in order.

Saint Valentine's Day

It is pretty amazing, maybe even miraculous, that we have very little information about a Saint who is known throughout the world as the Patron Saint of Lovers.  The Church recognizes one Saint Valentine, who died for the faith in Rome on February 14, 269 AD, but it is unclear whether he was a Roman priest, a bishop of Terni, a man who lived in Africa around the same time, or whether these three Valentines are one in the same person.  What is clear is that Saint Valentine’s feast day is celebrated all over the world by Christians and non-Christians as the day we take time to do something special for the people we love. 

The man we honor as Saint Valentine probably was a third century Roman priest, a dangerous vocation to have at that time.  For the first three hundred years after Christ died, it was illegal to be a Christian in Rome, so Christians had to hide their faith and celebrate the sacraments in secret.  If they were caught, they would be arrested, beaten and sometimes even killed.  The story goes that Emperor Claudius II enacted a law that prohibited young men from getting married so he would have more young men to serve as soldiers in his army.  Because the sacraments are so important to the Church, Valentine kept witnessing marriages and celebrating the sacraments even though it was against the law.  He was arrested and sent to prison.

The story continues that while in prison, Valentine was questioned about his faith by a judge named Asterius.  Asterius challenged Valentine to prove his faith by curing Asterius’ blind daughter.  Valentine prayed for the girl, laid his hands on her, and she was healed.  Asterius was so moved by God’s healing power that he released Valentine and forty other Christians from prison and became a Christian himself.  Valentine was arrested again for continuing to serve Jesus and his Church, but this time he was sent to Emperor Claudius.  Claudius liked Valentine, but he became so angry when Valentine tried to convince him to become a Christian that he sentenced Valentine to death.  Legend has it that Valentine sent a letter to Judge Asterius’ daughter on the day of his execution, signing it, “from your Valentine.”

We also do not know how Valentine’s Day began to be known as a day we celebrate love.  Some say that the tradition came about around the 5^th century when several Roman priests encouraged the celebration of Saint Valentine’s feast day in place of a Roman holiday that fell on February 15.  Others say that Valentine’s Day has its origin in the medieval belief that birds choose their mates on February 14^th.  Whatever the origin, there is no doubt that the popularity of Valentine’s Day is a tribute to the power of love.  The stories tell us that Saint Valentine lived a life of love – love for God and love for God’s people.  When we celebrate Valentine’s Day, we celebrate love, the greatest gift we receive from God, and the greatest gift we can share with others. 

Let us Pray:  Saint Valentine, pray that we may always love God and all we hold dear in our hearts.  Amen

Feast Day – February 14

Patron Saint of lovers, engaged couples, courtship

Symbols – Heart, roses, birds

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Spirit of the Law - Homily for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

          On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing more than 3 million slaves in the ten Confederate States.  Many historians see Lincoln’s bold act as a “Second American Revolution.”  Professor Joseph Fornieri agrees, but only to the extent that it “means that Lincoln completed the unfinished work of 1776.”[1]  According to Fornieri, Lincoln didn’t abolish or supplant our nation’s founding principles; he clarified and extended them to all.  Abraham Lincoln did the right thing because understood both the letter and the Spirit of the Law.  Today’s readings challenge us to do the same.  

          Today’s readings seem to contradict each other.  On the one hand, our first reading and our Psalm urge us to “keep the commandments,” to “walk in the law of the Lord.”   But in our Gospel, Jesus seems to be rewriting the very law that the Old Testament authors encourage us to uphold while telling us that he has “come not to abolish but to fulfill” that law.  What does he mean? 

Well, we first have to understand that God communicates his “mysterious and hidden wisdom” to us gradually.  God didn’t just dump the whole of Revelation on us all at once; he prepares us to welcome his supernatural Revelation in stages,[2] in the manner and at the times that he knew were best for us to receive them.  God’s Revelation culminates in his incarnate Word, Jesus Christ.  In other words, Jesus came to finish the story.  So when Jesus tells us that he has come not to abolish but to fulfill the law, he does so by adding himself to it.  Jesus perfected the law by imbuing every action under the law with his very love.  Jesus’ life, passion, death and resurrection teach us the true meaning, the Spirit of God’s law, which is love.    

          In our Gospel, “Jesus looks for the spiritual intent behind the commandments and tells people that this is what the law really means.”[3]  While the commandments focus on the final act, Jesus focuses on the origin of each sinful act, what the rabbis called ‘evil imaginings.’[4]  When Jesus speaks against killing, he identifies anger at the root of this sin and commands us to cure it with love through forgiveness and reconciliation.  When he speaks against adultery, he points to lust at the root this sin and commands us to cure it with love even by drastic means, if necessary.  When he speaks against swearing oaths, he calls out our propensity to lie as the underlying sin and commands us to cure it with love by simply telling each other the truth.  “While the Pharisees kept the external requirements of the law, Jesus teaches us to interiorize the law and observe its spirit.”[5]  In each instance, Jesus teaches us to follow the commandments in letter and Spirit by curing the root cause of our sins with his love.  

          Therein lies our challenge.  To understand and follow the Spirit of God’s law, we have to dig deeper; we have to take the words of the commandments to heart, find Jesus in them and act on them with love.  As we examine our consciences in light of God’s law, we have to identify the root causes of our sins and discern Christ’s loving approach to curing them.  Discernment requires faith, self-awareness and a lot of courage.  It isn’t easy to find fault in ourselves, let alone to fix it.  So we pray together with the psalmist, “Give me discernment, that I may observe your law and keep it with all my heart.”  If we address every moral issue we face from the heart, if we discern Christ’s loving approach in all of the challenges we face, we will always follow God’s commandments in letter and in Spirit, just as Abraham Lincoln did in issuing the Emancipation Proclamation.

President Lincoln didn’t see himself as a revolutionary.  He didn’t set out to abolish or supplant the principles of our founding with the Emancipation Proclamation.  Through discernment and, no doubt, a lot of prayer, Lincoln grew to understand that there was more to our founding principles than mere words.  He “recognized the incompatibility between the principles of the Revolution and the practice of slavery.”[6]  Abraham Lincoln understood both the letter and the spirit of the law, and he acted upon them with love, freeing more than 3 million people from slavery.  Christ calls us to uphold both the letter and the Spirit of God’s law and to act on them with love so that we can free ourselves from slavery to sin.

Readings: Sirach 15: 15-20; Psalm 119; 1 Corinthians 2: 6-10; Matthew 5:17-37

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[1] Joseph R. Fornieri, Abraham Lincoln:  Philosopher Statesman (Carbondale, Southern Illinois University Press, 2014) at 23.

[2] See Catechism of the Catholic Church 53.

[3] Jude Winkler, New St. Joseph Handbook for Proclaimers of the Word, Liturgical Year A, 2017 (New Jersey, Catholic Book Publishing Corp., 2016) at 75.

[4] John Shea, The Spiritual Wisdom of the Gospels for Christian Preachers and Teachers: On Earth as it is in Heaven, Matthew, Year A (Collegeville, Liturgical Press, 2004) at 77.

[5] Winkler at 74.

[6] Fornieri at 24.