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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Faith

Sign with no sincerity- A reflection on Ash Wednesday

There is nothing magical in ash; it’s just an outward sign of what I willingly subject myself to in the season of lent. Yet I have observed that many Catholics come to the sacristy asking for ash to be imposed on members of their family who are housebound or for a working member of the family. Let us drill this in into our head, it’s only SIGN and no more, and making a virtue of it, is to treat a sign as if it had some magical power. Then why do we use ash in the first place on Ash Wednesday?

Ash is used because it has both, Biblical roots and significance. One of the many symbolic uses of ash was a sign of repentance. In the Old Testament, people did not have a pretty well-constructed artistic cross imposed on one’s head, as we do today. One would wear sackcloth and sit in ashes, sprinkling the same on one’s head. Now you know why we use ash and why on the forehead!

So we must understand that what we do symbolically, should not be turned ritually into a ‘magic show’. There is nothing magical about ash, for it is merely an outward sign. This brings us now to the inner disposition, and I would like to explain that with an analogy.

There is no danger in a red traffic light per se. No one skirts gingerly around a traffic light expecting the ‘red light’ to fall on one’s head if they stood below a traffic light. There is no danger in the colour red; it’s just a sign that if you don’t stop, there will be an accident.  A sign points to a greater reality. Similarly, ash is just a sign of what I choose to happen in my heart. What takes place in my heart is the greater reality, and that is the point of Lent.  No amount of Ash is going to transform you if repentance in the heart, is not the ultimate goal.

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Uncategorized

Love keeps no records- A pre-Lenten reflection

The words of St Paul, in 1 Corinthians 13, is a fair reminder of what the season of Lent is meant to be. Jesus died for us, period. There was no deal cracked between God and man; He loved us, plain and simple, no conditions applied. God kept no record of His love and most certainly does not ask for a trade in. Lent is a time when we do what we do, not to keep a record for ourselves in heaven or to trade it in at the pearly gates; lent is a time when we simply love because He loved us first. In Lent we keep no records we just love.

So to help you step into this joyful season may I offer a few thoughts?

Understand what Lent means not what it has come to mean

The very word Lent comes from the Ango-Saxon word “lencten” meaning “spring”. It is not therefore a season where one drives oneself into sadness or mourning. It is a time of new beginnings and new beginnings always bring joy. The Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting and abstinence are seen and marketed by a consumerist world as joyless activities for there is no financial gain for such a market; yet for the seeker of faith, hope and charity (love) there is much to smile about. Reorient your thinking this Lent and if it’s springtime in your heart then let it show on the outside. Put on a smile this Lent “not a gloomy look like the hypocrites”. (Matthew 6: 16)

Don’t be concerned by what others are or are not doing.

Lent is a sandwiched between two days of public fasting; Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. The rest of the season is a private affair. The tendency that we often indulge in, is to compare our Lenten discipline with that of others, as if salvation was won by a person who did more for Christ. Salvation is a free gift; God loves us unconditionally. To think that we can win His favour by out-beating our neighbour’s Lenten discipline, is folly, to say the least. Remember it is not what you do or not do in Lent that matters but the fruit of it that matters. When the time spent in not watching TV in Lent is given freely to an aged neighbour, then one begins to bear the fruit of the Lenten season. That may seem insignificant to you when you compare it to a person who fasts for all forty days; but remember what you do is not insignificant to God.

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Art/ Heritage

ILLNESS AND WELLNESS: ‘The Hundred Guilder Print’ by Rembrandt (1647 – 1649)

‘It is hard to describe the greatest painter of the north and the greatest printmaker of them all, because Rembrandt is so many people. Try to pigeonhole him anywhere, and he escapes. Call him a Dutchman, and he shows a deeper understanding of the essentials of the Italian High Renaissance than any northerner. Call him a master of shadows, and he draws a figure with three or four lines. Call him spiritual, and he throws grossness at you….’

-Hyatt Mayor, the Metropolitan’s Curator Emeritus of Prints

The indefinable Rembrandt Van Rijn (1606 – 1669) has made his mark in history more through his etchings than his paintings. His scratches and scribbles; his bizarre variety of lines from loose to quick, cross hatched to deep and from dark to blotty have succeeded in depicting the world through its black and white beauty . Rembrandt’s needle like a quill weaved lines of life and creativity. His secret weapon was the dry point technique. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM0qlQ0lyBc )

The most powerful print composed by Rembrandt is undoubtedly the Hundred Guilders Print. Rembrandt wiped the ink differently each time he printed thus creating 100 renditions of one image.

Famous since the 1700’s, the painting derives its odd nickname from the price once paid for a copy at an auction. It is also acknowledged as ‘Christ healing the sick’, ‘Christ Preaching’ or ‘Christ Ministry’

The plural scene is set with limpid fusion and high emotional intensity. Contrary to Michelangelo, Rembrandt was not obsessed with the muscular. His style is boundless representing the human being in all ages, statures and conditions. They are subtle and yet complex; detailed and yet bare; grouped and yet isolated. But like the musicians of an orchestra Rembrandt’s drawings symphonise to form one unique whole.    

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