Lectionary Reflection: Ash Wednesday

Readings:

• Joel 2:12-18
• 2 Corinthians 5:20—6:2
• Matthew 6:1-6,16-18

Thoughts for Your Consideration: by Fr. John Bucki, SJ.

Lent is a time to make faith real in practices which are a source of growth, life and even joy. Growth and new life are possible. It is possible to move beyond earning religious credits or spiritual merit badges to freedom, joy, justice, peace and new life. It is possible to move beyond a spirituality of showing off to a spirituality of awareness and new life for the whole community. It is possible for the whole community to be renewed with a spirit committed to the common good of all God’s people – a spirit dedicated to justice and peace.  It is possible to live a spirituality which is in touch with the real world and its problems – especially the poor. The prophet Joel calls the whole community to renewal and writes: “Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart…”

What type of “return to God” is called for this year – in our generation – in this time and place – in the midst of our world’s issues?

• Is it a call to live more simply as we deal with the realities of our economic problems?
• Is it a call to change our way of living, so we stop human activities that are destroying the earth with global warming?
• Is it an end to greed?  An end to the greedy practices that created the “sub-prime mortgage crisis” and the “financial collapse of our banking system” and the loss of jobs and income for so many people?
• Is it an end to the practices that pay executives hundreds of times more than the average worker, even when their companies are not doing well?  [In his message for Lent last year, Benedict XVI writes “According to the teaching of the Gospel, we are not owners but rather administrators of the goods we possess. … In the Gospel, Jesus explicitly admonishes the one who possesses and uses earthly riches only for self.”]
• Is it an end to the use of torture and other such practices by various governments?  An end to practices like “extraordinary rendition” or “torture by proxy?”
• Is it creating policies and practices that give all men and women access to quality health care?
• Is it bringing to an end the excess power of lobbyists and wealthy special interests in and around our government?  Is it working to be sure that the needs of ordinary people are heard by our Congress?
• Is it bringing to an end the excessive spending for war and preparation for war by our nation and almost every nation in the world?  Is it working to bring to an end the wars in the Middle East?
• Is it changing the way we live so as to respect the environment and limit our over consumption of limited resources?
• Is it becoming more reflective and prayerful as we experience our world?
• Maybe returning to God will involve moving toward putting the common good before our own good!

In his message for Lent this year, Benedict XVI reminds us that “At the beginning of Lent, which constitutes an itinerary of more intense spiritual training, the Liturgy sets before us again three penitential practices that are very dear to the biblical and Christian tradition – prayer, almsgiving, fasting – to prepare us to better celebrate Easter and thus experience God’s power that, as we shall hear in the Paschal Vigil, “dispels all evil, washes guilt away, restores lost innocence, brings mourners joy, casts out hatred, brings us peace and humbles earthly pride” (Paschal Præconium).”

For Reflection in your Faith Sharing Group:

• What kind of fasting will help you get your values in order this Lent?
• What kind of prayer will help you be more aware of those in need?
• What kind of almsgiving and good works will help you move away from selfishness?
• In May of 2000, John Paul II said, “Solidarity is learned through ‘contact’ rather than through ‘concepts,’ and should permeate the sphere of being before that of acting.”  What events have helped you to have contact with those in need?  What events during this Lenten season will help you have a healthy contact with those who are in need?