Notes from the Pastor

Christ is Risen! Indeed He has Risen! This proclamation, spoken since the first Easter, reminds us of what this day – the Feast of the Resurrection – is truly all about. In our modern world, Easter is often seen as a one-day event of bunnies, candy, pastel colored eggs, and a sumptuous family meal. But these things alone really miss the significance that this day truly holds.

Holy Week begins today and we should enter this week with reverence, enthusiastically embracing the rituals associated with it. To celebrate Holy Week is, after all, to celebrate who we have become through Christ’s Paschal Mystery. I hope that throughout the season of Lent you have prayed, fasted, and performed works of charity. Lent ends with the beginning of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday.

Like the prophets who preceded him, Jesus’ life and ministry was tied to the Temple in Jerusalem. It was there that he was presented by Mary and Joseph as an infant. It was there that he held the priests and scribes spellbound at the age of twelve. It was there, as an adult, that his ministry was centered, especially during the week leading up to his passion.

Today’s Gospel (Luke 15:1-3, 11-32) contains the parable of the prodigal son, and it highlights the essential elements of what true forgiveness and reconciliation is all about. In the parable, a man has two sons. One decides to ask for his inheritance, leave home, and have a great time. When all has been spent and he has nothing left, he decides to go back home and beg for forgiveness. The twist in the story is that his father welcomes him back instantly, not caring about what or how he lost everything. In fact, he does not even wait for the son to get back into the house; he goes out to him, welcomes him back, and celebrates his return.

Each of us is familiar with at least one – if not several – what we might call “God moments” in which God reveals himself in Sacred Scripture. We find one of those profound “God moments” in today’s First Reading from Exodus 3:1- 8a, 13-15. Here we read of Moses’ encounter with God speaking to him from a burning bush that was not being consumed by the flames! Wouldn’t we give anything to witness such a profound “God moment”?

In today’s Gospel (Luke 9:28b-36), Jesus wants to bring some focus to Peter, James, and John by having them witness the Transfiguration. The Gospel for the Second Sunday of Lent always includes the Transfiguration. Jesus begins by leading the three Apostles up a mountain – the traditional place to which one went to encounter God. Once there, Jesus is transfigured before their eyes. “…his clothing became dazzling white…”.

In today’s Gospel (Luke 4:1-13), Jesus is led by the Holy Spirit into the desert for forty days of prayer. Prayer was Christ’s usual practice to discern and obey the will of the Father, and to prepare himself for whatever momentous event was ahead of him. Sustained by only grace and prayer, Christ encounters the devil. Imagine the audacity of the devil as he tries to put God himself to the test!

Wednesday of this week is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent. There are some people who seem to have a mistaken understanding of the reception of ashes and assign more importance to receiving ashes on Ash Wednesday than they do to attending Sunday Mass. Do not be misled. The ashes are NOT a Sacrament. They are what is called a “sacramental” and are no different than blessing yourself with Holy Water when you enter or leave the church. What is exceptional about the reception of ashes is that it normally occurs only one day a year (on Ash Wednesday), and that it is an outward sign – a public declaration, if you will – that one is a sinner and is in need of God’s mercy and forgiveness. If we receive the ashes and then do not follow it up with a Sacramental Confession at some point during Lent, we have done nothing but condemn ourselves as hypocrites.