Bulletins by St. Clare Parish (Page 18)

The “water in the desert and rivers in the wasteland” that God promised through the prophet Isaiah was referring to forgiving the forsaken, the lost, and the hopeless. This is borne out in Jesus’ treatment of the woman caught in adultery, whom the scribes and Pharisees wanted to stone to death: “Has no one condemned you?. . . Neither do I condemn you.” In rejecting the penalty prescribed by the Law, Jesus chooses mercy. . . for the woman and for each of us. If we had been in the crowd that day, could any of us claim to be sinless, to be able to cast the first stone? Only in recognizing our own sins and failings can we also recognize God’s limitless forgiveness. . .and become that same forgiveness for one another. This coming Saturday afternoon, we will celebrate our Lenten Reconciliation Liturgy. During the pandemic – and for a good number of years previous to it – many have neglected celebration of the sacrament. As we heard on Ash Wednesday, “Now is the acceptable time. . .Now is the day of salvation.” Join us next Saturday at 3:00 pm, in the Church. We will have a number of visiting priests to serve as confessors.

The fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of Saint Luke is filled with stories of God’s relentless love. This is most particularly true of the gospel story we hear this Sunday. “The Prodigal Son” tells of the richness of God’s mercy, forgiveness and love. In fact, it may be more correctly titled as “The Parable of the Loving Father.” Some of us may mistakenly think that “prodigal” refers the repentant son when he decides to return to his father; however, “prodigal” actually describes the way the young man squandered his father’s wealth. The elder son could only focus on his brother’s misdeeds and had no room for forgiveness in his heart. His bitterness seems never to have gone away and he remains alienated from his brother and his father, in spite of his father’s pleading, “My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.” On this Fourth Sunday of Lent, may each of us not only experience a love that is like that of the father in this parable, but let us also extend that forgiving love to one another.

The readings this Third Sunday of Lent cover much ground in the history of salvation. In the story of Moses and the burning bush, we hear of God’s love for the people of Israel: “I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers, so I know well what they are suffering.” Psalm 103 declares that “The Lord is kind and merciful,” yet the reading from the first letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians warns against the kind of infidelity that Israel practiced in the desert with the caution that “anyone who thinks to be standing secure should take care not to fall.” Jesus warns of the need to repent, otherwise, “You will all perish,” telling the parable of the fig tree that had not borne fruit: “‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. So cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’ He [the gardner] said to him [the owner of the orchard] in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.’” Even for our kind and merciful God, revealed most fully in Jesus, there comes the day of reckoning. So let us hear the call of Ash Wednesday, and of all of Lent, to “repent and believe” and live in the Lord.

“Master, it is good for us to be here.” Peter did not understand the meaning of the Transfiguration; he wanted to prolong the moment of Jesus’ glory: “Let us erect three tents.” But Jesus was on His way to the Cross, and the purpose of the Transfiguration was to offer hope of what was to come and consolation in the midst of challenges – then and now. Later, when the apostles understood its significance, they found encouragement along the path that led most of them, also, to suffering and martyrdom. For us, on this Second Sunday of Lent, we can reflect upon “transfiguring” events in our lives: such powerful experiences that, although fleeting, affect us at the deepest levels. Although we cannot extend the time of such moments (such as the birth of a child, a couple’s marriage, etc.), those events have within them the power to transform the rest of our lives, even to give our lives added dimensions of meaning. God appears to us in the little things, the ordinary happenings of our lives. As we reflect upon them, may we all draw nearer to the Lord.

This First Sunday of Lent transports us to the desert where Jesus was tested by “every temptation.” In the course of His forty days in the desert, Jesus remained faithful to the Father. Our Lenten journey serves to strengthen us, also, to be faithful to the Baptism we share. During Lent, the traditional practices of prayer, penance and care for the poor are the means by which we strive to mature in Christian living. It is also a time of special prayer for those who will approach the waters of Baptism at Easter. May our efforts, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, encourage them on their way to union with Christ and the Church. In keeping with the Church’s traditional practice, the Fridays of Lent (except for March 25, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord) and Good Friday are days of abstinence from all meat and Good Friday is also a day of fasting, as was Ash Wednesday, for those between 18 and 59 years old.

The gospel reading this weekend is contains a number of sayings of Jesus, primarily about vision (“Can a blind person guide a blind person? . . . Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own? You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye”). For Christians, vision/sight refers to the vision of faith, insight. “Walking by faith, and not by sight,” we seek to walk in the light, in the way of the Lord. Doing so allows us to guide others, since we are then children of the light, not of darkness. As we move toward Lent, which begins this Wednesday, we have the luxury of six weeks to give extra attention to walking in the way of the Lord. During Lent, we will be called to works of prayer, penance and care for the poor. I invite you and your families to be with us for our celebration of Ash Wednesday. Together let us hear the words of the Lord who calls us to the fullness of life.

During the last decade (2015-2016), the Church celebrated the Jubilee Year of Mercy, proclaimed by Pope Francis, who teaches that “Mercy is the face of God.” The scriptural readings this weekend speak to us of this same mercy, as a constitutive part of the life of a Christian. Just as “The Lord is kind and merciful” (Psalm 103), we are instructed by Jesus: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you” (Luke 6:36-37). Mercy is love in action; it should be the way of our lives. And if it is difficult, it is even more a gift for the person to whom we show mercy. Sign up here for our March 6 (1:30-3:00) Listening Session: https://forms.office.com/r/XjU8uE5mKA