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Lenten Corner

Holy Father’s Message for Lent 

The following is the full text of the Holy Father Francis’ message for Lent 2017 on the theme “The Word is a gift. Other persons are a gift”.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Lent is a new beginning, a path leading to the certain goal of Easter, Christ’s victory over death.

This season urgently calls us to conversion. Christians are asked to return to God “with all their hearts” (Joel 2:12), to refuse to settle for mediocrity and to grow in friendship with the Lord.

Jesus is the faithful friend Who never abandons us. Even when we sin, He patiently awaits our return; by that patient expectation, He shows us His readiness to forgive (cf. Homily, 8 January 2016).

Lent is a favourable season for deepening our spiritual life through the means of sanctification offered us by the Church: fasting, prayer and almsgiving. At the basis of everything is the word of God, which during this season we are invited to hear and ponder more deeply. I would now like to consider the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (cf. Lk 16:19-31). Let us find inspiration in this meaningful story, for it provides a key to understanding what we need to do in order to attain true happiness and eternal life. It exhorts us to sincere conversion.

1. The other person is a gift

The parable begins by presenting its two main characters. The poor man is described in greater detail: he is wretched and lacks the strength even to stand. Lying before the door of the rich man, he fed on the crumbs falling from his table. His body is full of sores and dogs come to lick his wounds (cf. vv. 20-21). The picture is one of great misery; it portrays a man disgraced and pitiful.

The scene is even more dramatic if we consider that the poor man is called Lazarus: a name full of promise, which literally means “God helps”. This character is not anonymous. His features are clearly delineated and he appears as an individual with his own story. While practically invisible to the rich man, we see and know him as someone familiar. He becomes a face, and as such, a gift, a priceless treasure, a human being whom God loves and cares for, despite his concrete condition as an outcast (cf. Homily, 8 January 2016).

Lazarus teaches us that other persons are a gift. A right relationship with people consists in gratefully recognising their value. Even the poor person at the door of the rich is not a nuisance, but a summons to conversion and to change. The parable first invites us to open the doors of our heart to others because each person is a gift, whether it be our neighbour or an anonymous pauper. Lent is a favourable season for opening the doors to all those in need and recognising in them the face of Christ. Each of us meets people like this every day. Each life that we encounter is a gift deserving acceptance, respect and love. The word of God helps us to open our eyes to welcome and love life, especially when it is weak and vulnerable. But in order to do this, we have to take seriously what the Gospel tells us about the rich man.

2. Sin blinds us

The parable is unsparing in its description of the contradictions associated with the rich man (cf. v. 19). Unlike poor Lazarus, he does not have a name; he is simply called “a rich man”. His opulence was seen in his extravagant and expensive robes. Purple cloth was even more  precious than silver and gold, and was thus reserved to divinities (cf. Jer 10:9) and kings (cf. Jg 8:26), while fine linen gave one an almost sacred character. The man was clearly ostentatious about his wealth, and in the habit of displaying it daily: “He feasted sumptuously every day” (v. 19). In him we can catch a dramatic glimpse of the corruption of sin, which progresses in three successive stages: love of money, vanity and pride (cf. Homily, 20 September 2013).

The Apostle Paul tells us that “the love of money is the root of all evils” (1 Tim 6:10). It is the main cause of corruption and a source of envy, strife and suspicion. Money can come to dominate us, even to the point of becoming a tyrannical idol (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 55). Instead of being an instrument at our service for doing good and showing solidarity towards others, money can chain us and the entire world to a selfish logic that leaves no room for love and hinders peace. The parable then shows that the rich man’s greed makes him vain. His personality finds expression in appearances, in showing others what he can do. But his appearance masks an interior emptiness. His life is a prisoner to outward appearances, to the most superficial and fleeting aspects of existence (cf. ibid., 62).

The lowest rung of this moral degradation is pride. The rich man dresses like a king and acts like a god, forgetting that he is merely mortal. For those corrupted by love of riches, nothing exists beyond their own ego. Those around them do not come into their line of sight. The result of attachment to money is a sort of blindness. The rich man does not see the poor man who is starving, hurting, lying at his door. Looking at this character, we can understand why the Gospel so bluntly condemns the love of money: “No one can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or be attached to the first and despise the second. You cannot be the slave both of God and of money” (Mt 6:24).

3. The Word is a gift

The Gospel of the rich man and Lazarus helps us to make a good preparation for the approach of Easter. The liturgy of Ash Wednesday invites us to an experience quite similar to that of the rich man. When the priest imposes the ashes on our heads, he repeats the words: Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return”. As it turned out, the rich man and the poor man both died, and the greater part of the parable takes place in the afterlife. The two characters suddenly discover that “we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it” (1 Tim 6:7).

We too see what happens in the afterlife. There the rich man speaks at length with Abraham, whom he calls “father” (Lk 16:24.27), as a sign that he belongs to God’s people. This detail makes his life appear all the more contradictory, for until this moment there had been no mention of his relation to God. In fact, there was no place for God in his life. His only god was himself. The rich man recognizes Lazarus only amid the torments of the afterlife. He wants the poor man to alleviate his suffering with a drop of water. What he asks of Lazarus is similar to what he could have done but never did. Abraham tells him: “During your life you had your fill of good things, just as Lazarus had his fill of bad. Now he is being comforted here while you are in agony” (v. 25). In the afterlife, a kind of fairness is restored and life’s evils are balanced by good.

The parable goes on to offer a message for all Christians. The rich man asks Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his brothers, who are still alive. But Abraham answers: “They have Moses and the prophets, let them listen to them” (v. 29). Countering the rich man’s objections, he adds: “If they will not listen either to Moses or to the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead” (v. 31).

The rich man’s real problem thus comes to the fore. At the root of all his ills was the failure to heed God’s word. As a result, he no longer loved God and grew to despise his neighbor. The word of God is alive and powerful, capable of converting hearts and leading them back to God.

When we close our heart to the gift of God’s word, we end up closing our heart to the gift of our brothers and sisters.

Dear friends, Lent is the favorable season for renewing our encounter with Christ, living in his word, in the sacraments and in our neighbor. The Lord, who overcame the deceptions of the Tempter during the forty days in the desert, shows us the path we must take. May the Holy Spirit lead us on a true journey of conversion, so that we can rediscover the gift of God’s word, be purified of the sin that blinds us, and serve Christ present in our brothers and sisters in need. I encourage all the faithful to express this spiritual renewal also by sharing in the Lenten Campaigns promoted by many Church organizations in different parts of the world, and thus to favour the culture of encounter in our one human family. Let us pray for one another so that, by sharing in the victory of Christ, we may open our doors to the weak and poor. Then we will be able to experience and share to the full the joy of Easter. 

From the Vatican, 18 October 2016,

Feast of St. Luke the Evangelist


40 Ideas for Lent

Each day of Lent, remove one item from your house that you no longer wear or need and put it into a trash bag. At the end of the forty days,
donate these items to a Catholic organization. They will be shared with those who can really use them!

Things to give up for Lent:

Chocolate Social media Video games
Unkind words Complaining Sarcasm
Sugar Phones Instagram
Facebook Twitter Texting
Soda TV Favourite foods
Gossip Road rage Debt (using credit cards)


Things to Add for Lent:

Making time for personal prayer with the Lord

Going to Mass more than one day per week 
Quiet time Devotionals
Exercise Spending more time with family
Bible stories Bible movies
Tithing Get more sleep
Serve someone Practice acts of kindness
Speak words of life Create a good habit
Read a Psalm a day Be on time

Lenten Resources Online


Bishop Robert Barron from Word on Fire: www.lentenreflections.com

Dynamic Catholic – Best Lent Ever, Video based reflections from Matthew Kelly: www.dynamiccatholic.com

Loyola Press (Ignatian) Living Lent Daily, based on the daily readings: www.loyolapress.com

Praying Lent Online Ministry from Creighton University, daily reflections as well as audio retreats and videos: www.onlineministries.creighton.edu

Wisdom and questions from different spiritual writers from C.S. Lewis to Henri Nouwen: ​www.uscatholic.org


Women at the Heart of Change

For Lent 2017, Development and Peace – Caritas Canada has chosen to put women at the forefront to highlight the very special importance and role they have in every aspect of development, whether it be social, environmental or economic.

This Lent, act in solidarity with and walk alongside the women and men who advocate for an equal and inclusive society, one in which women can participate hand-in-hand with men in building the world of tomorrow.

Click here to visit their website for a variety of Share Lent resources, including the annual Solidarity Calendar with ideas for every day in Lent.


Ash Wednesday, March 1

Resources

 The Little Black Book—Six-minute reflections on the Weekday Gospels of Lent ($2 donation).

 The Word Among Us—Lent ($3 donation)

Did you know that St. Benedict, back in the 6th century, required each of his monks to read a spiritual book during Lent? Why not take the opportunity to do the same this Lent?  The Diocesan Resource Centre has hundreds of books on spirituality, prayer, sacraments, the Bible, saints and much, much more, available to everyone free of charge.  

Check it out online at www.archregina.sk.ca, call Teresa at 306-352-1651 or drop by 445 Broad Street North. 


Pontifical Collection for the Holy Land

The Good Friday collection has a special relevance. It reminds us of our responsibility towards the land of Jesus’ birth, and our support of the Holy Land through these donations connects us with the sites where the salvific events of the passion, death and Resurrection unfolded. This collection attests to and abides as our “silent witness to our Saviour’s life upon earth.”

The absence of peace as well as the poverty afflicting the region where these Holy Sites are located adds to the many long-standing problems that beckon on us to help. Thus, the Holy Land and the Holy Sites are a priority that demands the attention of the entire Catholic Church and of all the other Christian Churches and ecclesial communities.

Our monetary contributions are used for the development and preservation of these Holy Sites and to support our Christian sisters and brothers who live in this land of our common spiritual heritage. Our prayers and donations are a sign of the communion of all Christians as we all hold the Holy Land as our common heritage. These sites rely on our donations to remain open and welcome pilgrims.


Feasting & Fasting in Lent

 

Why do we fast, but you do not see?  Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?  Look, you serve your own interest on your fast-day, and oppress all your workers.  Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. 

 

Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high.  Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself?  Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?  Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?  Is not this the fast that I choose:  to loosen the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free and to break every yoke?  Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own relatives? 

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rearguard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and  he will say, Here I am. 

If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.

Isaiah 58: 3-10

 

Fast from judging others;

feast on the Christ dwelling in them.

Fast from emphasis on differences;

feast on the unity of all life.

Fast from thought of illness;

Feast on the healing power of God.

Fast from words that pollute;

feast on phrases that purify.

Fast from discontent; feast on gratitude.

Fast from anger; feast on patience.

Fast from pessimism; feast on optimism.

Fast from worry; feast on hope.

Fast from complaining; feast on appreciation.

Fast from negatives; feast on affirmatives.

Fast from bitterness; feast on forgiveness.

Fast from self-concern

feast on compassion for others.

Fast from discouragement; feast on hope.

Fast from suspicion; feast on truth.

Fast from thoughts that weaken;

feast on promises that inspire.