Daily Retreat 02/26/06

2006 Feb 26 SUN: EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Hos 2: 16b. 17b. 21-22/ Ps 102(103): 1-2. 3-4. 8. 10. 12-13 (8a)/ 2 Cor 3: 1b-6/ Mk 2: 18-22

From today’s readings: "Thus says the LORD: I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart... As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.... Such confidence we have through Christ toward God.... As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast...."

Warning - Lent Approaching!

Generally, the penitential season of Lent has already started by the end of February, but this year, Ash Wednesday is coming this week on March 1^st. Some years, it’s even later - in 2011, Ash Wednesday won’t be until March 9^th!

The date of Ash Wednesday changes year-to-year because the date of Easter is determined each year as the first Sunday following the Paschal full moon. This means that Easter Sunday can be as early as March 22 or as late as April 25.

By coincidence, this Sunday’s scripture readings serve as a most fitting lead-in to Lent. It’s "by coincidence" simply because this is not always the case - usually, it’s hard to detect a "pre-Lent" theme in the lectionary selections for the Sunday before Ash Wednesday, so perhaps, it’s more than coincidental - perhaps it’s Providential!

The first reading, from the Book of the Prophet Hosea, recounts the Lord’s plan to lead His espoused people into the desert, so that they abandon their idolatrous attachments and re-learn their utter dependence on God, who stands ready to speak tenderly to the heart. For all of us, Lent can and should be such a "desert experience," when we intentionally renounce and forsake all that we have put before God in our lives, in order to listen more attentively to His words of life, and follow more faithfully His will for us.

The responsorial psalm’s refrain, "The Lord is kind and merciful!" reminds us of the basis of our Lenten hope: we should not deny or hide our sins - instead, we can have the courage to face our sins only because "merciful and gracious is the Lord, slow to anger, and abounding in kindness. Not according to our sins, does He deal with us, nor does He requite us according to our crimes."

In his second letter to the Christians in Corinth, St. Paul claims the Corinthians themselves as his premier "letter of recommendation." You see, Corinth was the "Sin City" of that day - for a modern comparison, one might think of Las Vegas in its sleaziest aspects. And yet, in spite of such an inhospitable environment, Paul was able to establish there a truly vibrant and faithful Church, worthy of the name of Christ. The Church’s ability to thrive there proves the Church can flourish anywhere! So Corinth is an inspirational benchmark for our own parishes - are they alive with a vigorous counter-cultural faith, with incarnated biblical morals, and with apostolic zeal to spread the Gospel? Or, do our parishes just complacently reflect the hedonist and materialist values of our modern world? Lent is certainly the season to insure that our Church is in every way a compelling letter of recommendation for the new covenant of following Christ faithfully.

The Gospel passage to be read this coming Ash Wednesday commends to all the penitential practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. In the Gospel reading today, Jesus explains that penance should never be a matter of mere routine. You see, Lent is the premier season of penance, inspired by the Lord’s own desert experience of 40 days at the beginning of His public ministry. In our preparation for Easter, we likewise commit ourselves to a desert experience of 40 penitential days, but if you count carefully on a calendar, you’ll note that Ash Wednesday is actually 46 days before Easter. This reflects our Christian awareness that every Sunday is the Lord’s Day, a celebration of His Resurrection, the joyful commemoration of His Easter victory over sin and death, the feast of our Bridegroom’s real presence. And as Jesus Himself said, "As long as they have the Bridegroom with them, they cannot fast," so the Sundays of Lent cannot be days of fasting, and thus they don’t count in the Lenten tally of 40 penitential days.

Too often, Lent sneaks up on us, and Ash Wednesday finds us unprepared to wholeheartedly address our sinfulness with the prescribed annual desert experience of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. But this year, this Sunday, the Scriptures have providentially offered us a perfect lead-in to Lent, so that each one of us can profit from that most compelling letter of recommendation!