LENT 2015
Dt 30, 15-20
Ps 1
Lk 19, 22-25
The Catholic Peace Fellowship
Deacon Tom Cornell
“I have
set before you life and death, a blessing and a curse. Choose life, then, that you and your
descendants may live,” the parting words of Moses to the Hebrews as they
prepared to cross the Jordan into the Promised Land. “Choose life!”
Today’s psalm doesn’t
square with our experience. “Happy the
man who follows not the counsel of the wicked. ...He is like a tree planted
near running water. . …Whatever he does
prospers. …Not so the wicked. They are
like chaff which the wind blows away.” Would
that it were so. Often good people
suffer and the wicked do just fine; we know it.
Look at the halls of power anywhere.
In our own country a council of the wicked invites a mass murderer to
address a joint session of Congress to instigate war against Iran! They all ride in state, so far! “Pride goeth before a fall.” In the end, the First Psalm will be
vindicated.
There
are contradictory themes in the Bible. The
trials of Job and Ecclesiastes’ cry of, “Vanity of vanities and all is vanity”
tell a different story than the First Psalm.
We read in Exodus that “The sins of the fathers will be visited upon
their sons…. The fathers eat sour grapes and the sons’ teeth are put on edge
(Ex 34,7). On the other hand, “Each is
to die for his own sin. Every man who
eats sour grapes is to have his own teeth set on edge” (Jer 31, 10 In the
end, all will be put right. That is our
hope. Christ is our hope, who broke down
the wall that separated us, Jew from Gentile. “Happy are they that hope in the
Lord.”
We
have to hope and trust in the Lord in the face of all that threatens life today. The nuclear threat has never receded; we
can’t bear to face that reality. The Cold War is back, and a real danger it
will turn hot. Who could imagine in this
day and age horrors such as IS and Boko
Haram visit upon innocent people? Then
there is climate change. The
overwhelming consensus of scientists from all over the world blames human
activity for environmental degradation and predicts extinction of species, even
our own unless drastic steps are taken to reduce green-house emissions. Our hyper-individualistic culture calls for
abortion on demand, at any stage of pregnancy or even delivery. “If we will not spare our children, whom will
we spare?” asks Mother Theresa. We are all affected by a spreading culture of
death. We don’t have to go far to look for
crosses to bear.
We enter Lent today, a
somber time of fasting and prayer and almsgiving in anticipation of the joy of
Easter. Here are some suggestions for fasting,
prayer and almsgiving. Fasting: no meat
on Fridays of Lent, and on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and only one full
meal and two light meals for those between ages 18 and 59 and who are
well. You might voluntarily adopt a
stricter discipline, especially if that will help you get back into clothes you
have outgrown in girth. You can fast
from other things than food. Fast from
distraction. Turn off the TV and the
radio. Establish a zone of quiet around
you that will facilitate prayer. Prayer:
try reading The Liturgy of the Hours, especially the Office of Readings every day, with selections from the ancient
Fathers; they are so very rich. Or plan to go through the New Testament by Holy
Week.
Read the works of Fr.
John L. McKenzie, the foremost Catholic biblical scholar of his time and
unsurpassed to this day. He was an
original sponsor of the Catholic Peace Fellowship. I keep his Dictionary of the Bible by my bed.
His The Two-edged Sword: An
Interpretation of the Old Testament and
The Power and the Wisdom: An Interpretation of the New Testament will
deepen your insight into Christian radicalism.
It was he who said that if you can’t understand from reading the New
Testament that Jesus was nonviolent, then you can’t understand anything about
him. Dorothy Day said of Fr. McKenzie, “I thank God for sending me men with
such insight as Fr. McKenzie.”
Almsgiving: dig deep and
help the Catholic Peace Fellowship. I
will not embarrass our staff people but just let me say they work hard for what
we all believe in so deeply at real personal sacrifice. Help them to help those who call upon our
services. Pray about it. And choose life! W
