Year A Lent Sundays
Ash Wednesday - Going up the Mountain
In a second hand bookstore, I found an interesting book by Fr. Edward Hays, "The Ascent of the Mountain of God." This is a book of Daily Reflections for the Journey of Lent. 1994. Forest of Peace Publishing, Leavenworth, KS. It is something I can use in my own preparation for Lent, and it gives me, at least, a starting point on which to begin a reflection. Obviously, I cannot use Fr. Hays writing as this would violate a copyright, but I do not think there is any harm in using a concept - traveling up a mountain. That makes sense to me, because I wrote about "Ascent to Interior Prayer," which is also a going up or reaching for a new plateau in the spiritual life. Fr. Hays notes that in Isaiah 2:3, we are invited to this mountain journey as the prophet writes: "Come, let us climb God's mountain.
Mountain climbers are never satisfied. They scale one peak, and the next time they want to better themselves by climbing a higher peak. For people who are into the Spiritual Life, who have invested time and effort into it, they too, desire to better their journeying experiences in time. We are speaking of the interior life, the life of the soul. Lent is an excellent time for a journey to better oneself, and at the same time to retreat to a fallback position, a position of humility, to get rid of distractions and serve Our Lord fully with strong commitment. There aren't many mountains in Florida where I live, in fact there aren't any. But in Palestine, there is Mount Tabor, where the Transfiguration took place. And, of course, in Jerusalem there is Golgotha where the Crucifixion takes place.
"Let us go to the Mountain of God" - Ash Wednesday prepares us for the journey through Lent. On this day, we pray in anticipation of leading a life with fewer distractions for 40 days. In order to go up the mountain of interior prayer which has a fuller life with God as its goal, we have to eliminate the confusion and frustrations of life so that we will become pure of heart. The ashes placed on our foreheads is a sign of going into penance. It is also a sign of leaving the world by preparing to go up the mountain. Have you done everything to make the trip? Have you received the Sacrament of Reconciliation so that you may receive Our Lord in Holy Communion more often during Lent?
It would be nice if you did not have to travel alone. Perhaps your spouse will want to make this journey with you. Or your brother or sister? On Fridays, some of us (depending on age) will have to fast. I hear people say - what difference does it make what we eat on such days, or being above the age limit, people talk as if a great weight has been lifted from them. Really, fasting, if you can, is all part of the trip up the mountain. Jesus would be so pleased if you did something you were not required to do.
We are always called to share what we have with our sisters and brothers, especially with the poor and homeless. In Lent that is even more important! While we seek a certain intimacy with God in our prayer life, this intimacy would go nowhere unless we learn how to say 'I am sorry, ' and 'I forgive you.' more easily. We also must be able to forgive ourselves. You go to confession and God forgives you. That means, you will not heal until you forgive yourselves - but some people are unable to do that.
Many parishes have Lenten homilies or special Lenten retreat programs. These are very useful for getting us on our way. Jesus invited us to "Come follow me." Let us say "Yes, Lord, your servant is listening."
We listen for instructions how to come closer to Jesus. In a world that is so much into speed, warp-speed, let's slow down just a bit and make a daily commitment each day of Lent that will lead, eventually, to a life-long commitment, to take the opportunity offered to us, to begin our trip. In olden days, the priest used to pray "Introibo ad Altare Dei." (Let us go up to the Altar of God) - it is an upward trip to become close to Jesus, every day. Becoming closer to Jesus has an immense amount of "Grace" attached to it, and it will help you along the more difficult passages up the mountain."
May this Lenten Journey inspire you, and May God bless you, and keep you!
Fred S. Schaeffer, OFS
First Sunday of Lent - Going up the Mountain
Going up the Mountain... beginning the journey - we did that on Ash Wednesday and now we've reached the first camping area, so to speak. The First Sunday of Lent, we find in Mt 4:10 the story of the devil who sees Jesus in the mountains and shows Him all the earth. He tempts Jesus three times. And each time, Jesus puts the devil in his place, "Get away, Satan! It is written: 'The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.'"
Maybe this is a good time to think about and reflect on the sort of friends we go around with. If they are people who tempt us or encourage us to do evil, maybe it is the time to jettison those so-called 'friends' and to see them no more. Seek out those who have your benefit and well-being in mind.
What would you do, if those type of friends accompanied you on your journey of going up the mountain, and if they tried, as the devil did to Jesus, to get you to do things that were not healthy for your health or your soul. I don't know what you would do, but I would tell them to get lost! There are so many human beings whose mental idleness gets them in all sorts of trouble, just for the heck of it. Just to exercise control. Some of such people are sick, but many are just evil. They weren't born evil, but through unfortunate circumstances in their lives they became evil. We can try to convert them back to become good people, but if, after a time, it appears this won't work, then the best thing is to just pray for them and distance yourself from them entirely. Jesus can put the devil in his place, and so must we!
At Holy Mass, and in Church the color of the vestments has gone from the Green of Ordinary time to the Purple of lent. It somewhat reminds me of the Northern winters (I live in Florida and here it is always green, so this analogy doesn't work down here), where they were muted grays and browns in the forested areas in a rather life-less landscape visible to most except to naturalists who always manage to find life. Still there is great beauty in that bleak landscape. I remember driving around in February and/or March, the traditional time of the beginning of Lent, in southern New Hampshire or Vermont, and finding there typical New England scenery amid bare trees. You might say, so what - but to me these shapes meant something in my meditations and reflections - a journey beginning when there was little or no life. And in Church, with purple or very dark blue vestments, that remind us of no life, our journey is just beginning.
We are the oppressed, the poor, often, the sheep and the goats, and many of us are worthy of eternal punishment and don't even know it. Many have lost the meaning of sin. And many sin every day, deeply offending God. Let us pray for them, but let us also pray that we, ourselves, will do everything to avoid the near occasion of sin in our lives! We can fight sin. Yes, we can. If you already start by saying "Oh, but it is so difficult," or "But - everybody does it (sins)" - what are you saying? You're saying yes negatively - you are condemning the effort before you have even started. It's like the glass of water is half full, or half empty. You CAN fight sin. I am totally sure of this! So let us take this week of Lent, beginning with the First Sunday, and really try to make an inroads into sinning less. Now's the time to examine what your biggest problems are. Go through the list of the ten commandments, and sort it out. Only you know which commandments you routinely break. Then pray that Our Lord give you the strength to fight these particular problems. If these sins are big sins, please go see a priest and confess your sins. The Sacrament of Reconciliation gives you the Grace to improve your relationship with God!
May this Lenten Journey inspire you, and May God bless you, and keep you!
Fred S. Schaeffer, OFS
Second Sunday of Lent
Going up the Mountain
With the first Sunday of Lent, we went from the assembly area to the first camp up the mountain of the Lord. On this second Sunday of Lent, we are going higher still. Life is like that, we are forever searching for a better place to be, as we generally go forward but through sin, backwards too. For the person who strives, honestly and with dedication, to sin less, going from station to station while ascending the mountain of the Lord, the spiritual life begins to blossom, the closer we come to Our Lord Jesus who is at the pinnacle.
As you may recall from reading the Gospels, on this Second Sunday of Lent, we observe Jesus, with Peter, James and John, going up the mountain (See Mt 17:1) where Jesus was transfigured before them. He glowed as the sun, and his garments became white as light, and we hear the Father say:
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased;
listen to him.”
"Listen to him," is the command from the Father, directly to us, to obey. This is a direct request from God to all mankind to obey him. So what is this Sunday all about? It is about saying, "YES Lord, I will do your will!"
Naturally, the Apostles were afraid. Wouldn't you be, if you stood on a mountain, and your friend was transfigured and a voice sounded from the heavens? I would be afraid, too. But Jesus tells them not to be afraid. Similarly, Pope John Paul II, from the very beginning of his Pontificate, told us all, "Be not afraid." There is no need for us to be afraid of Our Lord, of God; God gives us His love, expressed in healings, of body and soul. God does not withhold His love for any reason. But we, ordinary people, we continue on a well-trod path to do things our way, when it is clear that our way is not always God's way. We, alone, are responsible for the negative experiences we have because we do not trust in God when we should, and we do not listen to the Father.
How does the Father communicate with us? The most obvious answer is by the Word of God, the Scriptures. Holy Scripture is alive, and by that I mean that whenever you read from it, the interpretation, the meaning of what you are reading comes clear to us through our prayer life, and out attention to the Word. That means that the meaning of what we are reading will become much clearer to us as time goes on. That is the beauty of Holy Scripture.
The Father communicates to us, Franciscans, in other ways. Through the Holy Spirit, the love or communion between the Father and Jesus, influences us to obey the Rule of Saint Francis, that wonderful guideline of Faith and Charity, written by St. Francis of Assisi, because St. Francis was open to the murmurings of the Holy Spirit, when he put pen to paper. If you follow the Rule, it will get you to Heaven. So, St. Francis has given up a wonderful gift, and just as we owe our allegiance and obedience to the Father, we are asked to obey St. Francis, who is God's representative on earth.
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased;
listen to him.”
May your answer always be:
"YES Lord, I will do your will!"
May this Lenten Journey inspire you, and May God bless you, and keep you!
Fred S. Schaeffer, OFS
Third Sunday of Lent
Going up the Mountain
On this Sunday, the Gospel tells the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus had to pass through Samaria, and when He passed a place called Sychar, near Jacob's well, He sat down. Then a woman came to draw water (ref. John 4:4 ff.) and Jesus asked her for a drink.
The woman replied: "How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?" (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered: "If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." Then she said, "Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where then can you get this living water?
And Jesus and the woman exchange more words, and he said to her, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." Jesus is referring to His Word, his teaching, and also to what is to come, His Crucifixion. If we obey the Word of God, we will go to Heaven. Yes, there will be mountains in our way, but if we do our very best, we will merit the eternal reward.
"He was promising the Holy Spirit in satisfying abundance. She did not yet understand. In her failure to grasp his meaning, what was her reply? The woman says to him: Master, give me this drink, so that I may feel no thirst or come here to draw water. Her need forced her to this labor, her weakness shrank from it. If only she could hear those words: Come to me, all who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Jesus was saying this to her, so that her labors might be at an end; but she was not yet able to understand." (St. Augustine)
Come to me, all who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you.
Just as Jesus tries to explain to the Samaritan woman what the significance of the water was, that He asked her for, we know that when we come to Jesus in prayer, He will refresh us, that is, He will hear our prayers.
May this Lenten Journey inspire you, and May God bless you, and keep you!
Fred S. Schaeffer, OFS
Fourth Sunday of Lent
The Pool of Siloam
On this Sunday, the Gospel [John 9:1-41]tells the story of the blind man who was healed by Jesus. Upon encountering this man, the Apostles asked Jesus if this man had sinned, or whether he or his parents had been born blind. And Jesus answered neither he or his parents had sinned, but that his healing may be made visible through him. So Jesus spat on the ground and mixed the clay with saliva. As He smeared this clay with saliva on the man's eyes, Jesus said: "Go wash in the Pool of Siloam. The man followed these instructions and his sight was restored.
As you continue to read the Gospel, or listen to it being read at Holy Mass, you will see that the Pharisees and Elders of the church in Jerusalem were upset with Jesus healing a man on the Sabbath, and so this is where unrest and doubt on their part becomes the foundation of Jesus suffering and, eventually, His crucifixion.
This is also Laetare Sunday, it is a Feast of some rejoicing at the midpoint of Lent because Easter is coming closer. The color for Laetare Sunday is Rose (not pink), but it may be optional.
The Pool of Siloam was re-discovered in the excavations of the ruins of Jerusalem in 2004. It is beautiful that this holy spot is still there - so that we can relive the healing of the blind man, by Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, present among us. The above picture is that of the Pool of Siloam as it is today, reconstructed, but there seems to be some controversy about it. There were a series of broad steps going down to the pool, that are not visible in modern pictures.
The Fourth Sunday of Lent is about "Light" (gaining sight). Let us anticipate Easter - and what happened in Holy Week, as we begin to prepare for Christ's suffering and death. Our sins, are to blame for the Death of Jesus: you, me, everyone bears some responsibility. Repent, and sin no more. Make this Inner Conversion now, before it is too late. We do not know when death comes. By then it may be way too late. I pray that all people will have the presence of mind to be able to pray: "Lord forgive me and heal me" when death is at hand. And that you then will be able to see!
May this Lenten Journey inspire you, and May God bless you, and keep you!
Fred S. Schaeffer, OFS
Fifth Sunday of Lent
Father, I thank you for hearing me.
In today's Gospel (Jn. 11:1-45), Jesus hears of the death of Lazarus, the brother of Mary, and Martha who tended to Jesus at an earlier time, washing His feet with perfumed oil and drying them with her hair. So Jesus and His Apostles travel a good part of the day to reach the residence of Lazarus.
"Where have you laid him?" Jesus asked after they told him what had happened, that he died, and Jesus wept. As the Gospel unfolds, we find Jesus asking the stone be rolled away. Martha suggests to Jesus that Lazarus has been dead for four days, and that there will be a stench.
Jesus raised his eyes, and prayed: "Father, I thank you for hearing me. I know that you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me." Then he spoke loudly, commanding Lazarus to come out. Because of this healing, many came to believe in him.
When we pray for healing of a person before us, or even someone not present, we should take Jesus' example and thank the Father for hearing us, for listening to us. And we should praise Him. Only then ask the Father for healing the person you're praying for and laying hands on. Think of Lazarus ... he was healed. If you believe, "you will see the glory of God."
May this Lenten Journey inspire you, and May God bless you, and keep you!
Fred S. Schaeffer, OFS
Palm Sunday
Jesus Christ, the King is here. As he enters the city of Jerusalem, he is heralded as a King, even though in the days that follow, he will be humiliated, accused, scourged, spit upon, crowned with thorns, and crucified. Through His suffering He blesses us, and now that we have learned more about Him, we know that He did all this to redeem mankind. We have also learned that in order to draw closer to Jesus in an ongoing relationship there is much suffering. We should examine our experience of sorrow and distress. Of humility and even of being exalted, as Jesus was on Palm Sunday as He entered Jerusalem.
Can we, on this Passion Sunday, sharpen our understanding of Jesus as the suffering one, and also probe our hearts as we deal with the suffering we experience today? Maybe we have relationship problems with others in our family, or we cannot see eye-to-eye with something done in Church. Or you find yourself in a situation where medicine you are receiving is not lessening your pain?
As we explore our capacity of suffering, can we rejoice in Christ's mystery of suffering and pain? Or do we try to go it alone? When we place our pain at the foot of the Cross, we do not feel abandoned and we do not worry. We know Jesus is with us, and that He'll take care of us because He knows what real suffering is all about.
He still suffers, every day, as we, brothers and sisters, are sometimes misguided and as we get ourselves into trouble. When we forget Him, and His Father, we cannot experience His great Love. We are closed to love, and nothing that can be said seems to get us out of our predicament. So, share your sufferings with Jesus in a prayerful attitude and allow Him to shower you with His Graces, as He thanks you for sharing His Cross.
As this Holy Week unfolds, I wish all of you a very holy time. A time of reflection and prayer. A time where you could especially be helpful to others, to those who suffer, to members of your Franciscan or Parish community.
In the Mirror of Perfection, § 92, we read about St. Francis: "A short while after his conversion, as he was walking alone along the road not far from the Church of S. Mary of the Portiuncula, he was uttering loud cries and lamentations as he went. And a spiritually-minded man who met him, fearing that he was suffering from some painful ailment, said to him, 'What is your trouble, brother?' But he replied, 'I am not ashamed to travel through the whole world in this way, bewailing the Passion of my Lord.' At this, the man joined him in his grief, and began to weep aloud. We have known this man and learned of this incident through him. He is one who has shown great kindness and compassion to blessed Francis and to us who were his companions."
We wish all of you, a very spiritually meaningful celebration of the Liturgies in Holy Week.