A Message from the Pastor…………
As we begin now with Jesus in the desert: Why the Desert?
On my third retreat in the desert around Albuquerque recently, this became clear. To go to the desert is to leave a lot of things behind—people, personal routines, entertainment, cell phone and internet. All the people that give me affirmation (the good times, at least) and the things I rely on or piddle away time with, were gone. All that was left—as for Jesus—was the Father.
And with the community of prayer there, I reflected on how that was enough. It felt like enough. I sensed freedom, not deprivation.
The battle is against evil—make no mistake about that. And to make it more difficult, it’s the evil within us. That’s hard for me to say, because I respect and like each of you so much. Yet I feel that because we’re still here, because we haven’t been taken into heaven yet, we must not be perfect. There are ways that the tricks and lies of the ancient serpent still resound in us, and come out in our actions or our deficiencies.
The 1st Sunday of Lent, we see Jesus in the desert tempted by—and overcoming—usual human distractions: satisfaction, recognition, respect. He sought instead to be in complete union with his Father. He leads us through an exemplary human life into the fullness of his Father’s kingdom.
He accepted his suffering as part of this great fullness. We can journey with him for 40 days now, and grow to become more loving, more devoted, more secure in God.
So as for Jesus, “Giving things up” has no value in itself. But if making a few choices to not be
so automatic about food, diversions, or “passing time” instead of doing something valuable with it, can open us to focus on more satisfying things, then some “giving up” is worthwhile. Even some of our spiritual practices, reading our favorite formulas or prayers already written, can become automatic. We can spend time just offering our hearts to God, letting him speak to us.
This too takes some letting go, and suffering to grow into new territory.
In this bulletin, you’ll see a special offer to grow this Lent. being offered through today’s electronic means: We’re rebooting our Home FORMED series; and we have a special talk this Thursday from Msgr. Mike Witt, a former associate here and a now well-known historian. This will be followed by a special Spiritual Life talk by Dr. Paul Hogan of the Archdiocese. We also will finally promulgate our Pastoral Strategic Plan which will guide us the next several years, including into our grouping of several parishes under a shared pastor.
The word “Lent” is an old English word for “Springtime”, so it didn’t at least originally have such a dark tone as we may think of. That’s our goal: to be coming awake and alive now, so we’re more fully in the light of Christ at Easter. Remember that a classic Lent has 3 elements: Sacrifice (What are you giving up); Prayer (the simpler, the better; instead of continually talking to God, can you quietly listen for awhile?) and Almsgiving, (charity to the poor). It’s incomplete
to make it just a test of our will power; the other two elements bring us closer to God, and to other people. So use “giving up” something arbitrary, to train your will. Then fast from what harms you, and others: harsh words, neglect, insensitivity, carelessness in words or actions.
Fr Tom Wyrsch