For the next forty days, the Church challenges us to dedicate ourselves to that extremely challenging work: “Refinishing” our hearts so that they will be resplendent in their baptismal glory in order to celebrate the Paschal mystery—the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. This forty-day DYI refinishing project will strengthen the power of love in our hearts to resist and hopefully ward off those evil forces that would otherwise tempt us to appear as “hardwood” Catholics—the genuine article of an “authentic Catholic”—when the truth is that we’re “veneer” Catholics—the false replica of “recreational Catholics.”
For this reason, Lent presents us the annual opportunity to refinish our hearts by stripping the veneer away, removing the glue, sanding the hardwood, and refinishing it. With the objective being to return the hardwood to its once former, resplendent glory, that requires turning from sin by engaging in some ascetic practices that will strengthen our spiritual immune system by disciplining ourselves—the “woodworking.” Getting down to the basics—to see the real world as it really is, encounter the living God, and allow the Holy Spirit to reorient our hearts to live in dignity and to experience the joy that is ours as God’s children—will assist us to be more “authentic Catholics.”
To this end, the Church suggests many penitential practices—partaking of the Sacrament of Penance, reading Scripture, prayer, holy fellowship, providing for the needs of the poor, and the like. Over the centuries, these practices have demonstrated their power to rejuvenate recreational Catholics.
As good and important as those ascetical practices are, if we’re to take Jesus’ teaching about fasting seriously this holy season of Lent, we should first consider what Lent is. According to Pope Francis, this season provides a time to renew and strengthen the virtue of hope despite the uncertainties we confront. About strengthening hope in particular, Lent provides forty days for practicing Catholics to fast from those behaviors that keep them from being people of hope who, having rediscovered how God loves them even before they realize it, the Pope observes, are then able to give others reason to hope. In this way, practicing Catholics find their fulfillment in God and, through God living in them and offering others hope in the midst of the uncertainties of the lives, they also find their fulfillment in God.
During the next forty days, it would be good to fast from those things that impeded us from giving others hope. But, let’s not forget that Lent isn’t just about “fasting”—it’s also about “feasting” if our hearts are to grow in love of God and neighbor so we’re able to offer others the gift of hope. Several examples pertaining to our voices come immediately to mind. This season of Lent 2021:
About that “hardwood” of authentic Catholicism: It’s the Crucifix and it represents what’s required if we’re to offer others hope amid the uncertainties of their lives. Like Jesus, Lent challenges us to pick up our cross, and follow in Jesus’ footsteps along the pathway that leads to Jerusalem if we’re to grow concerned and compassionate, offering others the kind of love which fuels hope.
As Pope Francis reminds us:
- We can fast from voicing criticism and feast upon praising others.
- We can fast from voicing hurtful words and feast upon speaking kind words.
- We can fast from voicing many words and feast upon listening to others.
- We can fast from voicing complaints and feast upon gratitude.
About that “hardwood” of authentic Catholicism: It’s the Crucifix and it represents what’s required if we’re to offer others hope amid the uncertainties of their lives. Like Jesus, Lent challenges us to pick up our cross, and follow in Jesus’ footsteps along the pathway that leads to Jerusalem if we’re to grow concerned and compassionate, offering others the kind of love which fuels hope.
As Pope Francis reminds us:
Love rejoices in seeing others grow. It suffers when others are anguished, lonely, sick, homeless, despised or in need. Love is a leap of the heart; it brings us out of ourselves and creates bonds of sharing and communion.
To be capable of offering the gift of hope to others requires accepting the truth revealed as Jesus left behind the crib of Christmas Day to journey to Jerusalem to embrace the crucifix of Good Friday. Opening our hearts to his authentic example of life not abstract concepts of about him, this is “a message all of us can receive and understand thanks to the wisdom of hearts open to the grandeur of God, who loves us even before we are aware of it,” Pope Francis has said, adding, “Christ himself is this truth. By taking on our humanity, even to its very limits, he has made himself the way—demanding, yet open to all—that leads to the fullness of life.
That represents our challenge from Scripture for the next forty days: To live a “childlike” faith that trusts in God by rending our hearts to become more loving people whose lives and witness give others hope. Let us spend these days stripping away the “veneer” by turning away from sin and “refinishing” our hearts so we’re able to speak words which comfort, strengthen, console, and encourage others, giving them hope that they too can experience the joy of living as children of God created in His divine image and likeness. All it requires is that each of us demonstrates interest in others.
As the prophet Joel reminded us in today’s first reading:
Or, as St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians in today’s epistle: Be an “ambassador for Christ” so God can appeal to them through us. Working together as the one body of Christ, St. Paul says, we won’t receive the grace of God in vain. Today is the “very acceptable time...the day of salvation.”
Even now, says the LORD,return to me with your whole heart....Rend your hearts, not your garments,and return to the LORD, your God.
Or, as St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians in today’s epistle: Be an “ambassador for Christ” so God can appeal to them through us. Working together as the one body of Christ, St. Paul says, we won’t receive the grace of God in vain. Today is the “very acceptable time...the day of salvation.”
Comments
Post a Comment