The Lenten Season: The Lectionary readings for Lent fall into two basic themes broken into the first half of Lent and the second. The first half, beginning today and running through the Saturday of the third week of Lent, focuses on the model of discipleship. As we are confronted time and again with the demands of our call to be Christ’s disciples, we come to understand that, in spite of our best efforts, our perfect response to that call will always be out of our reach.
In the second half of Lent the Lectionary shows us Jesus the Christ in the Gospel of St. John. We review his ministry, not so much as a synopsis, but rather to come to a closer understanding of the salvation he alone provides.
Taken together, the first half of Lent is ethical and the second is Christological. The first half empties us the second fills us up. At the end lies the great gift of Easter.
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| “The Repentant St. Mary Magdalene” by Domenico Feti, 1617-21 |
Commentary:
Reading 1: Joel 2:12-18
Commentary on Jl 2:12-18
The land has suffered a great plague of locusts, and Joel calls the people of Israel to repentance. He calls all the faithful to return to the Lord and have faith in him because they were in despair, thinking the locusts were a punishment from God. Joel asks the faithful for an interior conversion, not just outward signs or ritual worship (“Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the LORD, your God.”)
CCC: Jl 2:12-13 1430
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 12-13, 14 and 17
R. (see 3a) Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Commentary on Ps 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 12-13, 14 and 17
Psalm 51 provides a call to repentance. “A lament, the most famous of the seven Penitential Psalms, prays for the removal of the personal and social disorders that sin has brought.”[4] We acknowledge our sinfulness and vow to return to the grace of God.
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Reading II: 2 Corinthians 5:20—6:2
Commentary on 2 Cor 5:20—6:2
St. Paul calls the Corinthians to reconciliation with God. He reminds them that through reconciliation, grace is received, and through grace, God pours out salvation. The Apostle also reminds the people why God came: as a sacrifice of atonement for sins (“For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin“). His urgent call tells his audience that now (not later) is the time for this to occur. “In an acceptable time: Paul cites the Septuagint text of Isaiah 49:8; the Hebrew reads "in a time of favor"; it is parallel to "on the day of salvation." Now: God is bestowing favor and salvation at this very moment, as Paul is addressing his letter to them.”[5]
CCC: 2 Cor 5:20 859, 1424, 1442; 2 Cor 5:21 602; 2 Cor 6:2 1041
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Gospel: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18
Commentary on Mt 6:1-6, 16-18
The Lord continues the Sermon on the Mount. In this selection, the Lord specifically addresses the pious acts of charity, prayer, and fasting, contrasting each with the spurious or pandering acts of the Scribes and Pharisees. He tells his audience that when they do these things, do them for God to see, not other people. They are to do what is right for God’s glory, not their own, not so that others will place them in high esteem because of their piety or generosity. In all three instances, almsgiving, prayer, and fasting, the same instruction is given. We are to give generously but in private, we are to pray fervently but alone, and we are to fast with purpose but hide our discomfort. (Omitted from this reading, Matthew 6; 7-15, is Jesus giving the disciples the Lord’s Prayer.)
CCC: Mt 6:1-18 1434; Mt 6:1-6 1430, 1969; Mt 6:2-4 1753, 2447; Mt 6:2 1063; Mt 6:5 1063; Mt 6:6 1693, 2608, 2655, 2691; Mt 6:14-16 2792; Mt 6:16-18 1430; Mt 6:16 1063; Mt 6:18 575
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Reflection:
We start our own Lenten journey with an apologetic statement. In the view of many Christian denominations, Catholics are said to be good at guilt. In their eyes our celebration of Ash Wednesday and even Lent exemplifies our faith. Those who have not taken a deeper look do not realize what truly happens each year. Ironically, those involved in modern manufacturing techniques would see very clearly what goes on. That is because the goal of the modern manufacturing facility is to produce quality parts with no defects. To get to that perfect system, there must be what is commonly called “Continuous Improvement.”
We do not embrace guilt over our failures, but we do not hide it from ourselves either. We do not believe that once we have accepted Christ and named him our Savior we can go on as we please, having been saved with no more effort than to say “I believe.”
The Church has set up for us a cycle of “Continuous Improvement.” Each year during our Lenten Season we hear those words: “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel,” as we accept the ritual ashes that have marked the repentant faithful since ancient times. Each year we accept the penitent role, and review in detail how we have succeeded in God’s call to holiness and how we have failed. The measure with which we measure ourselves is Christ the Savior, Zero Defects.
We believe that no one has achieved this state of perfection before or since the Lord took on his humanity and walked among us. We are not, however, dissuaded from trying to get as close to our model as possible. During our Lenten season we first hold ourselves up to the intense scrutiny that is only possible for one who understands the love Christ has for them and for all His creation. We see the flaws clearly. The deeper we are drawn in our relationship with the Lord, the more clearly those stains appear. It is like stain on a fabric, the closer to pure white a fabric becomes in color, the more clearly even the smallest stains can be seen. In Lent we strive for the snowy white of our baptismal garment.
As we see those flaws, we attempt to discover ways to change what we do, and the ways we behave to conform ourselves more closely to our Lord. We empty ourselves like a garage during spring cleaning, so we can clean out the junk and put only the good things back. The first half our Lenten Season is exactly that – emptying out all of what has accumulated in the past year or years. The second half is dedicated to filling ourselves with the love of Christ, so that when Easter arrives we rejoice, converted once more and ready once more to try for that perfect life in Christ.
Pax
[1] The picture used is “The Repentant St. Mary Magdalene” by Domenico Feti, 1617-21
[4] See NAB footnote on Psalm 51
[5] See NAB footnote on 2 Corinthians 6:2
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