Faith

When dinner is not used for diplomacy- Saturday after Ash Wednesday- ISAIAH 58:9B-14/LUKE 5:27-32

So what’s with Jesus eating and drinking all the while? Consider this; His public ministry began in Cana at a wedding feast and ended in Jerusalem at the last supper. Both were meals! He was at Lazarus’ home, there were meals for the four thousand and five thousand. He was eating in the house of Zacchaeus, the home of the Pharisee and on the road to Emmaus. Some scripture scholars jokingly say that Jesus ate his way through the gospels.

And then there was the criticism of where He ate and with whom He ate. Shockingly, joining the never ending chorus of complaints from the Pharisees were the disciples of John the Baptist. “Your disciples do not fast!” they complained. In general, they were more than uncharitable to Jesus when they called him a glutton and friend of drunkards. How did He react? Simple, He ‘memorialized it,’ forever! “Take”, He says to us at every Eucharist, “and eat, for this is my body.”

But for a Jew, dinner was more than diplomacy. Sharing a meal was an invitation into one’s inner circle and hence you can see why the Pharisees saw red. Every Jew was well aware who he should or should not eat with. Jesus was eating with those whom the Pharisees had always condemned as sinners. Jesus, gentle as He is, merely called them ‘lost’ and over a meal, showed them the way to heaven.

 Jesus ate with ‘tax collectors’ and ‘sinners’, in fact He had a penchant for them; people like Zacchaeus and now this chap, Levi. Tax collectors were double trouble; they were perceived by their fellow Jews as colluding with the Roman Empire and to top it all they made their living by charging more than they passed on to the Roman rulers. For the Jews, such people were ‘sinners’ and were lumped in the same category of prostitutes and criminals.

But Jesus looks at the heart and He sees more than what the Pharisees saw. He sees beyond a scheming tax collector and recognizes a potential gospel writer. Yes, many believe that Levi is Matthew, the Gospel writer. So here is something we can learn. God sees a saint in a sinner; but like Levi, the choice of saying yes to being His disciple, must be ours.

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Faith

BE CALM AND FAST ON- Friday after Ash Wednesday-  IS 58:1-9A/MT 9:14-15

Seriously, can you guys make up your mind! I can almost hear this from the pew as I prepare this reflection. Well for starters, the clarion cry of the Church on Ash Wednesday was voiced by the choice of the readings; fast through Lent, albeit privately. Two days later, the Friday after Ash Wednesday, God seems to say in the first reading that He does not want our fast; or should I say almost abhors the fast of the Israelites.

Jesus compounds the matter by answering the disciples of John the Baptist, who strangely have joined the voices of the Pharisees, in asking why Jesus’ disciples don’t fast. His reply, “Can the wedding guest’s mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?” So why then are we fasting during Lent?

Put your mind to rest! ‘BE CALM and FAST ON’. I say this because all we need is a better understanding of the first reading. Taken from the final section of Isaiah, known as “Third Isaiah” (Isaiah 56-66), the first reading, was written to the residents of Jerusalem during and after Israel’s return in 539 BCE.  The Babylonian exile had lasted 50 years, and under prophets like Haggai and Zechariah the people have returned to rebuild their homeland. In the midst of this joyful return they were expecting a reward especially for their fasts. What they get is instead is God’s judgment.  They Israelites were genuinely confused. They think that by fasting they will please God and bring favour. Indeed, how could God not be pleased? And yet He was not!

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Faith

Christianity -No hidden clauses, no small print!

Thursday after Ash Wednesday- DT 30:15-20/PS 1:1-2, 3, 4 AND 6/LK 9:22-25

“IF”, says God! These two letters of the alphabet, when put together, make for a deadly combination with far reaching consequences for a Christian. And “IF”, is the operative word for Christian life.  Make no mistake; there is no force to follow Christianity even for a baptized Christian who lives with a million “what ifs” in his or her mind. But once you say ‘yes’ to the IF, then there is no BUT!

In our readings of today, Moses, reflecting the mind of God, says precisely that. ‘If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, then you receive from his hand the gifts of life.’ He also says, ‘If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen, but are led astray and adore and serve other gods, I tell you now that you will certainly perish. While some may see in it a pressure to conform, that most certainly is not God’s mind. He wants the choice to be our and so He places the consequences of our choices before us when he says, “I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then.

But here is what God won’t do. He won’t make the choice for us. He will suggest what He thinks is right, He will plead that we make the right decision; but he won’t choose for us. That stretching forth to choose, especially during Lent, is a choice we have to consciously make.

Jesus too, offers us that very same choice. He says “IF you wish to be my disciple, deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow me”. Unlike the gospel of Matthew and Mark, the gospel of Luke uses the word ‘daily’. Not only is Jesus offering us a choice to follow him, He also lays the conditions of discipleship squarely on the table. There are no hidden clauses for a Christian, there is no small print and the cross looms large in the contract. Luke wants to stress that the day- to- day following of Jesus involves “the cross”.

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Faith

Ash Wednesday-Loose hypocrisy, not the discipline!- Joel 2: 12-n 18/ Mt 6: 1-6, 16-18.

Ash Wednesday ushers in the Lenten season, with readings that set the tone that reflect the mind of the Church. A Christian by his or her very calling, is invited to fast, pray and give alms. For most people, Lent is a time when we ‘begin once again’ these spiritual disciplines as disciples. In truth, Lent is a time when we heighten them!

In the Gospel of Matthew, we will hear Jesus say three times, “WHEN you fast, WHEN you pray, WHEN you give alms.” Jesus does not say IF you fast, IF you pray, IF you give alms. Jesus expects us to fast, pray and give alms at all times.  So our spiritual discipline of prayer, fasting and almsgiving must be practiced all through our lives, all year long. Lent is merely an intensive period.

In the first reading, prophet Joel calls for a fast with trumpet blasts. Paradoxically, Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew says not to trumpet your almsgiving. So what should we do? Let’s place this in perspective. The Jews fasted publically only on Yom Kipur (the Day of Atonement), which was the last day of a ten day penitential period. Yom Kipur was a public fast which was called to unite all penitents. The Jews would also have other days of public fasting; for example they would fast in the face of invasion or famine, and they also had their own traditional days of fasting, namely Tuesdays and Thursday like we Christians do on Wednesdays and Fridays.

In the first reading, prophet Joel calls for a public fast in the face of both, a locust devastation and an invading army. It is his hope that God will spare His people, which God does. The prophet invites the whole assembly, from priest to people, to join him in a fast. Picking up from these Old Testament traditions, the Church too invites us to fast, and flanks the season of Lent with two days of public fasts – Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

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Art/ Heritage

PICTURING THE PASSION: ‘Christ taking leave of his Mother’ by Lorenzo Lotto

The mystery of a fragile limpid God meekly nailed to a humble piece of wood out of His extra – ordinary love for fallen mankind is way too powerful an image to be ignored by art!

The Passion Narrative of Christ has dominated the world of painting, sculpture, music, theatre and other forms of art for ages. From Giotto to Rembrandt, every artist imagined and represented the betrayal, flagellation, humiliation, affliction and the brutal execution of Jesus in a unique way. Through their painful emotions they evoked the faithful to identify with Christ in His suffering and thus share in His salvation. Let us then journey with Jesus through His passion through 12 paintings during this season of Lent.

The first in this series is a heart wrenching farewell between Christ and His Mother. This event is brought to breath by Lorenzo Lotto, an Italian painter, in the year 1521. It marks the beginning of the impeding climax of Christ mission i.e. His passion, death and resurrection. This episode is not accounted for in the Gospel but rather it is narrated at length in the ‘Meditation of the Life of Christ’ by Pseudo Bonaventure.

The sun is low on the horizon and dusk has settled over the land. After His supper at Bethany in the house of Martha and Mary, Christ visits His Mother in order to announce that His time had come. He kneels before her in filial obedience and with solemn sadness says ‘Most Beloved Mother…..the time of redemption is coming. Now all things said of me will be fulfilled and they will do to me what they wish.’ (Chap 72 of the Meditations of the Life of Christ).

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