9. THE HOLY SEASON OF LENT: WITH JESUS IN THE DESERT

APPETIZER:  "The Gospels speak of a time of solitude for Jesus in the desert immediately after his baptism by John. Driven by the Spirit into the desert, Jesus remains there for forty days without eating; he lives among wild beasts, and angels minister to him.At the end of this time Satan tempts him three times, seeking to compromise his filial attitude toward God. Jesus rebuffs these attacks.  By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert. The interior penance of the Christian can be expressed in many and various ways. Scripture and the Fathers insist above all on three forms, fasting, prayer, and almsgiving,which express conversion in relation to oneself, to God, and to others." (CCC #538, 540, 1434)

MAIN COURSE:  The above quote from the Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us in a few powerful words both he meaning and the purpose of Lent. Notice that there is no mention whatsoever of Easter (which is how most of us would begin to define Lent).  This is because while Lent is a indeed period of preparation for the Easter Mystery of Resurrection, its focus is not on Easter Sunday but according tot he CCC, it is on Jesus in his 40 days in the desert. The purpose for this re-living is so that we, in and with Jesus, can be strengthened against temptation. Then, having applied ourselves sincerely to this task we hope to be able to celebrate Easter with stronger faith, greater hope and more genuine love.  The way we train ourselves for this spiritual battle is with the tools of prayer, fasting and almsgiving.  And it is from these that we have received our traditional Lenten project of "giving up" and "doing more" during this holy season. So, let's take a look at each one of these "good works of Lent".

1. Fasting. While this originally referred to abstinence from food (which remains its primary meaning), it is also correct to expand our understanding of fasting to include refraining from anything that promotes excessive self-indulgence.  The aim of fasting is to discipline ourselves for the sake of love. It's goal is to help us live the proper ordering o love that Jesus taught us in the Great Commandment: love and serve God first, others second, ourselves last.

2. Prayer. The age-old definition of prayer is "raising the mind and the heart to God." In other words prayer is simply our awareness of the divine presence around us and within us, as well as conversation with God.Prayer can be spoken or unspoken, formal or from the heart, in words and simply in thoughts. No matter what form it takes the point is this: by prayer we cultivate our relationship with God just as we use conversation to nurture our relationships with family and friends.

3. Almsgiving. Almsgiving simply means the sharing of our money with those who are in need. Like fasting, it has all taken on an expanded definition to include the various ways we can give of our time, talent and treasure to serve the needs of the poor and suffering. And quite often, especially in Lent, both fasting and almsgiving have a direct relationship: the money we save by fasting is collected and donated to support the various works of mercy. In this way our fasting is other-oriented and our almsgiving gives motivation to our fasting.

So by Ash Wednesday we should have in mind some personal plan for Lent that includes each one of these three spiritual practices. What kind of fasting will enable me to say no to selfishness and yes to generosity? How's my prayer-relationship with God and how can I improve it? What organization that carries out works of mercy will be my focus for Lenten almsgiving?

Lent is the Church's special season of penance. During this season we have days of abstinence from meat as well as two days of fasting from our regular form and style of eating. During the Fridays of Lent, Roman Catholics are to abstain from meat, in union with the fasting of Jesus, and in memory of Christ’s death on a Friday. All Catholics age 14 and older are expected to abstain from meat so as to be part of a “corporate” penance that we all offer to God as a sign of sorrow for sin. Of course, those who can’t do so for health reasons, along with pregnant and nursing women, are obviously exempted.

In addition to abstaining from meat on all Lent Fridays, there are two required days of fasting during Lent: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. All Roman Catholics ages 18-60 are required to both fast and abstain from meat on these two days (unless health reasons forbid it). In 1966, Pope St. Paul VI said that the Church’s “law of fasting allows only one full meal a day, but does not prohibit taking some food in the morning and evening.” This is often taken to mean that the most Catholics should eat on a day of fasting is one normal sized meal--with no meat--and two smaller snacks.

DOGGIE BAG:  Here are a few things to take away with you for spiritual snacking throughout your day.

Quote from Pope Francis: "Lent is a fitting time for self-denial; we would do well to ask ourselves what we can give up in order to help and enrich others by our own poverty. Let us not forget that real poverty hurts: no self-denial is real without this dimension of penance. I distrust a charity that costs nothing and does not hurt."

Catholic Customs:  The Station of the Cross.  Also called the Way of the Cross this is a Catholic devotion that commemorates the first Good Friday. The Stations devotion originated when Christians could no longer go on pilgrimage to the actual sites of Jesus' Passion in Jerusalem due to Islamic threats to their safety and lives.  The14 stations that make-up this prayer-devotion focus on specific events of Jesus' last day, beginning with His condemnation by Pilate and ending with his Burial in the tomb.  At each station, the individual recalls and meditates on a specific event from the Passion.  The Stations of the Cross are commonly found in churches as a series of 14 small icons or images. They can also appear in church yards arranged along paths. Most parishes hold this devotion on Friday nights during Lent and many Catholics make this part of their yearly Lenten devotions.

Scripture Verse to Memorize: "Jesus understands every weakness of ours, because he was tempted in every way that we are. But he did not sin!" (Hebrews 4:15 CEV)

8. FOUR REASONS WHY THE WORD BECAME FLESH

APPETIZER:  "The Word became flesh for us in order to save us by reconciling us with God, who "loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins": "the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world"...The Word became flesh so that thus we might know God's love: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." The Word became flesh to be our model of holiness: "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me." The Word became flesh to make us "partakers of the divine nature": …"The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods."(St. Thomas Aquinas) (CCC #457-460)

MAIN COURSE:  Before taking a second bite of the Appetizer for this week, it might be good to point out that St. John the Apostle calls Jesus the WORD. His Gospel is the only one to use this title for Jesus.  It comes from a Greek word LOGOS, a word we use quite a bit today but in a very different way, yet with the same basic meaning: logo. A logo is a visible symbolic representation of someone or something.  It contains much information within it. For example, if we see a "Swoosh" logo on sports clothing we think "Nike" and the various athletics it stands for. If we see a  logo that consists of a piece of fruit with a bite taken out of it, our minds think "Apple" and all its varied technology. In the same way, when  we see Jesus we think "God" because everything Jesus says and does expresses how God thinks, feels, acts, and responds in various situations.The above quote from the official Catechism of the Catholic Church is worth reading and pondering for a while...until the reality of what it is saying sinks in.

1. We readily agree with the truth that God the Son came to earth as Jesus of Nazareth to die on the cross for us and then rise up from the dead. But while this is all very true...it is also very incomplete. Extremely incomplete. And actually it's an insult of sorts (though not at all intended to be such) to the love, humility, and self-emptying embraced by Word of God upon his becoming incarnate, that is, becoming the logo or visible human expression of God in the flesh.  The Crucifixion and Resurrection are indeed contained within that first reason given by the Catechism, and this is vitally important, but note that it is only one of four equally important reasons.  While never forgetting what Jesus did for us upon the cross and by rising from the dead, we need to also ponder and cherish the other three reasons his Incarnation.

2. The next reason given for the Incarnation is "so that we might know God's love".  The Word-become-flesh shows us what God's love looks like in action.  The Logos of God reveals the mind and heart of God when it comes to love.  In the Gospels we see that the outcast leper is embraced by Jesus and welcomed back into society. We see that both the adulterer and the multi-married Samaritan woman at the well are befriended by Jesus and offered a new life. We see that the greedy tax-collector Matthew is given the opportunity to turn his life around and live with Jesus as part of his intimate band of apostles. We see that cowardly Peter is forgiven his cuss-word-filled denial of Christ and is commissioned as the first pope of the Church.

In other words, we see through Jesus how God relates to us even in our worst moments and choices.  We see in Jesus what God really thinks about us even when we sin. And yet...how many of us still persist in feeling or believing that God wants nothing to do with us in our moral ugliness or is angry  and disgusted with us when we sin? Jesus' whole ministry shows us that this way of thinking is a lie. God's love is unconditional, enfolding us no matter what we have done, and calling us to love him in return simply because of who we are and not because we earned it by being good.

3. The Catechism goes on to inform us that the Incarnation took place so that Jesus could "be our model of holiness."  I think before we ponder what this means, we need to have a solid understanding of "holiness".  Holiness simply means to do our best to love God and others according to proper ordering of love in our lives as taught by Jesus: God first, others second, ourselves last. And as the New Testament informs us, we show our love for the God we cannot see precisely by showing our of love the neighbor whom we can see. It's quite simple to define...and quite challenging to attain! Jesus the Word and Logos of God became flesh so that he could show us in flesh-and-bone that this kind of love is possible for a human being. This is why the Bible and the Church have always firmly declared that Jesus shared our fallen, weak human nature upon his Incarnation. He did NOT take on a perfect pre-original sin humanity that was impenetrable to temptation and sin. And we know quite clearly from the Gospels that Jesus truly endured and struggled with temptation. The New Testament Letter to the Hebrews assures us that he was tempted in every way as we are yet never sinned. (Hebrews 4:15)

Yes, it is true that he never sinned, but that was because he remained faithful to God and grace as a human being. This union with God kept him true to his mission to love and serve. And these are the exact same ways in which we, too, are called to love and serve, called to become holy. This is why Pope Francis never ever tires of urging us to read the Gospels frequently, even daily, so that we can see, learn and be inspired by the human example of  Jesus, God-in-the-flesh. He is our model of grace-filled humanity, our model of holiness.

4. Finally, the Church teaches us that the Incarnation happened so that we human beings "could become partakers of the divine nature." Wow! Did they really mean that?!! If I had to guess, I would say this is one of the least known and least understood of all Christian teaching. It is actually one of the most frequent and solid teachings of the New Testament.  If you don't believe it just read 1 John 3:1-3, 2 Peter 1:3-4, or many of Jesus' words in the Gospel of St. John when he talks about God living within us, or the Eucharist transforming us and bringing us into the life of God. The Church calls this "divinization" which means "the process of becoming more and more like God." And this happens only by God's gift of sanctifying grace which we ordinarily receive through sincere prayer and faith-filled reception of the sacraments. Sanctifying means "made holy" and grace means "a gift freely given".

Now before we go too far and risk misunderstanding this teaching, let's make it clear that it does NOT means some weird kind of mystical change such as Mormons believe: that we somehow shed our humanity and actually become gods. What is DOES mean is that somehow we become more and more like God because we share by grace in his divine life.  Now, what is God's nature above all else?  The Bible tells us it is love.  So, sharing in divinity means that we are able, bit by bit as we grow in sanctifying grace,  to love as God loves. It really means that our human nature "created in the image of God", as the Book of Genesis tells us,  reaches its supernatural completion.

All of this seems too good to be true! And the apostles were well aware that this would be the incredulous response of many to the Good News about Jesus and the Incarnation. And so in closing one of the last books of the Bible, the apostle St. John, who had been Jesus closest friend, uses these words to encourage us to believe that what they all experienced and wrote about Jesus is indeed the truth. "We write to you about the Word of life, which has existed from the very beginning. We have heard it, and we have seen it with our own eyes; yes, we have seen it, and our own hands have touched it. When this life became visible, we saw it; so we speak of it and tell you about the eternal life which was with the Father and was made known to us. What we have seen and heard we announce to you also, so that you will join with us in the fellowship that we have with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ." (1 John 1:1-3)

DOGGIE BAG:  Here are a few things to take away with you for spiritual snacking throughout your day.

From the Liturgy:  The Eucharist is a primary way of participating in the process of divinization. Jesus tells us this in John 6:53-57 (find time to read it). As a matter of fact, when the deacon at Mass prepares the chalice for the priest he says a short prayer of that honors both the incarnation and Eucharistic divinization: "By the mystery of this water and wine, may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity."

Quote from Pope Francis: "How many people, how many saints, reading the Gospel with an open heart, have been so struck by Jesus that they have converted to Him...The Gospel lets you know the true Jesus, it lets you know the living Jesus; it speaks to your heart and changes your life. You can effectively change the type of life you lead, or continue to do what you did before, but you are different, you are born again: you have found that which gives meaning, flavor and light to everything, even to hardship, suffering and death. Reading the Gospel means finding Jesus and receiving this Christian joy, which is a gift from the Holy Spirit.” (July 27, 2019)

Catholic Customs: The ANGELUS (from its Latin first word  meaning "Angel") is a prayer honoring the Incarnation that dates back more than 1,000 years in Catholic tradition. For many centuries has been the custom to pray it morning, noon and night. Few people realize that just as Muslims have a prayer to be recited 5 times a day, so we Christians have the Angleus to be recited 3 times a day in honor of God becoming human through Mary.  It is a simple and awesome custom for a Catholic to take up and practice faithfully every day.

V/. The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary,
R/. And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.
Hail Mary, full of grace…

V/. Behold the handmaid of the Lord,
R/. Be it done unto me according to your Word.
Hail Mary, full of grace…

V/. And the Word was made flesh,
R/. And dwelt among us.
Hail Mary, full of grace…

V/. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God,
R/. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray. Pour forth, we beseech you, O Lord, your grace into our hearts: that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ your Son was made known by the message of an Angel, may by his Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of his Resurrection. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Scripture Verse to Memorize:  "And the Word became flesh and lived among us." (Jn 1:14) or "Jesus understands every weakness of ours, because he was tempted in every way that we are. But he did not sin!" (Hebrews 4:15)