Category: Uncategorized

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Deuteronomy 30: 15-20

Moses said to the people:
“Today I have set before you
life and prosperity, death and doom.
If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God,
which I enjoin on you today,
loving him, and walking in his ways,
and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees,
you will live and grow numerous,
and the LORD, your God,
will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy.
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;
you will not have a long life
on the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and occupy.
I call heaven and earth today to witness against you:
I have set before you life and death,
the blessing and the curse.
Choose life, then,
that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God,
heeding his voice, and holding fast to him.
For that will mean life for you,
a long life for you to live on the land that the LORD swore
he would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

The Word of the Lord.

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In our first reading, Israel is on the brink of returning from exile – a punishment which God allowed because of Israel’s repeated infidelity. Now they have the opportunity to re-enter a covenantal relationship with God through Moses.

“I place before you life and death,” he says. “Choose life.”

These are two extremes. There is no returning from death, nor is there an end to life in the Lord. But Israel must make a definitive choice now – as we all must during Lent.

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Interestingly, the verb Moses uses in his appeal to Israel – “return” – implies the turning back of both parties, Israel and God. 

God is ready to receive Israel again, but Israel must also choose life.

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At the very center of Moses’ message is the circumcision of the heart. Just as physical circumcision lays bare a most sensitive part of the body, the circumcision of the heart means the removal of any covering that disables the sensitive perception of God’s will.

The Lord asks the same of us during Lent.

Now is our time to remove sin from our midst; to return to the Lord, forsaking the paths that led us astray like our ancestors. 

It’s also a time for us to return to one another, to beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks; to forgive our enemies; to work for peace.

These spiritual practices are a practical type of cross – the cross of Christian living – which no one can escape if we are to be genuine disciples of Jesus, as he commands us to be in today’s Gospel.

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Today the Lord tells us to take up our cross – the practical cross of Christian living – and to follow him.

By the end of Lent, what will be the state of your heart? And where will your cross be?

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Image credits: (1) Endofthematter.com (2) The Heaton File, WordPress (3) Cedric Poole Ascetics

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Gospel: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Take care not to perform righteous deeds
in order that people may see them;
otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.
When you give alms,
do not blow a trumpet before you,
as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets
to win the praise of others.
Amen, I say to you,
they have received their reward.
But when you give alms,
do not let your left hand know what your right is doing,
so that your almsgiving may be secret.
And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

“When you pray,
do not be like the hypocrites,
who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners
so that others may see them.
Amen, I say to you,
they have received their reward.
But when you pray, go to your inner room,
close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.
And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

“When you fast,
do not look gloomy like the hypocrites.
They neglect their appearance,
so that they may appear to others to be fasting.
Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.
But when you fast,
anoint your head and wash your face,
so that you may not appear to be fasting,
except to your Father who is hidden.
And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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If we venture into our kitchens this morning and do a “head-count” of all our dishes, we may find we have a few imperfect sets.

7 dinner plates, 5 saucers, 9 glasses, 3 soup bowls. But why?

Incomplete sets are the mark of a “lived-in” kitchen. Many of us have children or grandchildren running around. I myself am clumsy from time to time.

Maybe a bowl fell off the counter last week; a glass broke in the dishwasher; a wet plate slid from our hands.

What do we do when a dish breaks?

We sweep it into the garbage.

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That’s how we deal with most things when they’re broken. 

That space heater that fizzled out this winter; that wobbly wooden chair; that old couch the kids jumped on just one too many times. 

Toss it. Drag it out to the curb. Throw it in the dumpster.

But what about a broken heart? A weak marriage? A fractured friendship? A crumbling relationship with God? 

Are we to be disposed of like a broken bowl?

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The Japanese have a fascinating custom called Kintsugi. 

When a bowl is broken, they don’t throw it away; rather, they piece it back together using glue and gold.

They say that breakage and repair are all part of the history of that object. The focus is not on how the object broke, but that it was restored.

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Haven’t we all been broken like a bowl at some point in our lives? 

We’ve been diagnosed with cancer; we’ve struggled with addiction; we’ve lost our job, our home, our marriage, or even a child.  

Life has a way of breaking us. 

But broken hearts – and by extension, broken lives – can be put back together. That’s what our faith – and forgiveness – is all about.

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Throughout the Gospels, Jesus seeks out the sinful, the sorrowful, the possessed – and he heals them. 

“For I did not come to call the righteous,” he says, “but sinners.” The broken ones.

Ask any of those healed, Jesus has a way of filling those cracks and chips in our lives with the golden glue of his mercy.

In that sense, the Lord is the ultimate Kintsugi artist. He can piece anyone back together, no matter how much damage has occurred.

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Where are the cracks in my own life or spirit? Where do I need to be forgiven? Pieced back together?

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Often people associate Ash Wednesday with the passage of time; with death. 

But it’s about much more than that. It’s about new beginnings; forgiveness; restoration; resurrection.

As you come forth to have ashes traced on your forehead, remember these words: “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”

Turn to the Lord, trusting that he can – and will – piece us all back together, because no life, no circumstance, no person is disposable in the eyes of God. 

Spiritually, we’re all a composite of gold and glue.  Those cracks in our lives – and the healing that takes place – are all part of our story.

Repent, and believe in the Gospel.

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Image credits: (1) USA Today (2) LinkedIn (3) Walk on Water

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Gospel: Mark 10:28-31

Peter began to say to Jesus,
‘We have given up everything and followed you.”
Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you,
there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters
or mother or father or children or lands
for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel
who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age:
houses and brothers and sisters
and mothers and children and lands,
with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.
But many that are first will be last, and the last will be first.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Do you remember learning how to ride a bicycle?

I’ve seen pictures of myself peddling my plastic tricycle in our family driveway as a toddler. Then I became a “big boy,” graduating to a real bicycle with training wheels. Eventually, I outgrew those, too, and had to learn how to pedal on my own.

That’s the scary part.

I’m sure many parents have had that heart dropping feeling of watching your child wobble without training wheels. At first, you hold onto the back of their seat as they struggle finding their balance.

Soon enough, children develop a sense of confidence and insist on you letting go as they push and pedal on their own. For some, that command leads to a crash landing. 

For others, newfound freedom.

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That’s what Lent is all about.

Learning how to wobble. Pedal. Push. Balance.

Spiritually speaking, how to grow up.

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Most of the year, we fight with the Lord, trying to wrestle control of our lives, without really wanting God to let go. Think of a child trying to pedal on their own, while finding comfort knowing that Mom or Dad is still holding on.

But during these days of Lent, in a sense, God lets go.

He puts us to the test.

He allows us to pedal on our own, discovering for ourselves what we’re made of; how spiritually mature we are. 

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In today’s Gospel, Jesus is put to the test; tempted. 

At his baptism, God affirmed him, saying from the heavens, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” Then the Spirit drives Jesus into the desert, where he must learn how to resist the devil – and, you might say, pedal on his own.

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Generally, when we think of the word “temptation,” we think about it in a negative sense. Temptations are those people and things that are not really good for us, yet we allow them to exercise an unfair amount of control in our lives.

As Mark Twain once said, “The best way to get rid of temptation is to give into it.”

However, in the bible, the word “temptation” has a double meaning; it’s not only used in a negative sense, but also in a positive sense. 

While it does imply the trickery of the devil, or things that lure us away from virtuous living and the Lord, the word “temptation” also implies a divine “test.”

God tests our hearts – not to make us fail; rather, to strengthen us to do his will. In the case of Jesus, the desert is the place where he prepares for ministry.

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During the course of his public ministry, Jesus did many wonderful things for others, but own personal journey was riddled with difficulty. 

He was criticized by the religious authorities, misunderstood by his own family, betrayed by Judas, abandoned by his friends, and eventually left for dead, beaten and bloodied on a cross.

Yes, the devil attacked him. Yes, Jesus was confronted by evil. But through it all, he persevered and did his Father’s will perfectly because of the strength he cultivated during those forty days in the desert.

Humanly speaking, you might say, that’s where Jesus learned how to ride. He wobbled. Pedaled. Pushed his way through those initial temptations.

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As we prepare for yet another Lent, perhaps God is calling us to dive deeper. Not simply to give up chocolate, coffee, or social media for forty days, repressing a particular appetite, but to really examine our conscience, asking questions like:

How important is God in my life? How much control do certain temptations have over me? How rich is my prayer life? How considerate am I of others?

Spiritually, have I learned how to ride my bike? Am I truly free to choose good and reject evil? 

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May God cast out any fear from our hearts, allowing us to wobble our way through Lent. To push. Pedal. Strive. Balance.

To discover that freedom, which allows us to do our Father’s will, to Calvary and beyond.

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Image credits: (1) Christ’s Charge to Peter, Raphael (2) Pexels (3) Open Music Archive, University of Salford Art Collection