We are beginning the second full week of Lent. Tempus fugit... time truly flies by us. Already, the second Sunday of Lent. Please take a minute with me and consider the true blessing of this holy season... and our need to enter into this time of conversion.
Holy Lent has a dual character. The foundation of this liturgical season is all about the preparation for baptism. In the early years of the Church, when disciples of the Lord Jesus were persecuted by the Roman Empire, when it was against the law to follow this Christos, the preparation for baptism was fraught with dangers. In those early years, as adults were attracted to the Way of Life seen in the lives of the disciples of the Lord and as they approached the members of the Church asking for catechesis, asking for the life, those inquiring about the Way entered into a period of intensive preparation... the catechumenate. The season we now know as holy Lent was that time of intensive preparation of adults seeking the sacrament of baptism at Easter... life in and through the Lord and his Church. At that time, baptism was a revolutionary act against the secular state, punishable by death. The preparation for baptism called on the catechumen to intensify their prayer, their fasting, and their works of mercy (almsgiving), so as to strengthen their resolve, to live a new Way of life.
The catechumenate lives today, and many seeking the life are part of SJN's catechumenates (children and adults in English, adults in Spanish); and this season of conversion prepares each catechumen to accept the invitation, to re-birth in the Lord Jesus, at the great Vigil of Easter.
But along with this foundational character of Lent, this season is also for all of us already living the life, the new Way of the Lord, though living it imperfectly, half-heartedly. The season of holy Lent is a gift to us, an invitation to turn away from sin and to be faithful to the Gospel. This holy season is all about conversion... metanoia. Consciously, intentionally, we are to turn away from every self-centered and self-destructive act or habit or mindset, and turn towards the Light of Christ... and a redeemed (healed) way of being human.
We need desperately the spiritual disciplines of holy Lent: prayer, fasting and works of mercy. Why? Just look around. Look in the mirror. See how you and I have come to live... within the "self", within our marriages, our families, our friendships. The first stage of spiritual renewal (conversion) is to see the truth, that we live with divided hearts. We come to Sunday Mass. We receive the very Presence of the Risen Lord, then... we spend the next six days acting as if we are the center of things, as if the world was made for us, to be used and abused by us. The first stage of renewal is a good dose of self-knowledge: we are created by the Creator to be image and likeness, to reflect God's being of love; we have been broken and scarred by the power of sin, our sin and the sin of others; but are offered redemption, in and through the Lord. What was broken and scarred can be made whole, holy... if we accept the invitation, and pick up that cross of selfdenial and seek the Other... the Lord... consciously, intentionally.
You and I are created in the Image and Likeness of God; you and I have been broken and scarred by the evil power of sin; you and I have been promised wholeness, holiness... the Kingdom... in and through the Way of the Lord. Will we accept the invitation? Will we seek conversion of heart? Will we seek metanoia... and consciously and intentionally say "no" to sin? Will we enter into this season of grace? These are the basics of the faith. How do you and I answer the Lord?
We are beginning the second week of Lent. Today is the day... to begin again... to seek first the Kingdom of God.
Msgr. David Talley
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The mission of SJN Career Ministry is to provide a support group, networking opportunities, job search resources, and job leads for members and non-members of the church community who are unemployed, under-employed or returning to the work place. It is comprised of dedicated, focused and results oriented volunteers with a common goal of providing a positive environment, spiritual enrichment, motivation and inspiration to the job search process.