I'll bet that at the very mention of the word 'Lent' most of us heave an inward groan. I wouldn't mind betting also that most of us try to give something up without really understanding the reasoning or logic behind it.
It might help if we were to look at two things:
- what the actual word 'Lent' means, and
- what the Church itself has to say
‘Lent’ … what does it mean?
The word 'lent' means 'springtime'. The seasons are deeply important to our spiritual life: just as nature needs a time of death and renewal so do we. For nature, the season of winter brings about a time of retreat and 'death' in order to make way for the wonderful new life that burgeons out in springtime. In just the same way our spirit needs a time of searching, of learning to 'die' to self and of repentance in order to bring about a new life, a life more open to the boundless possibilities of a life lived through the Spirit. It is always so exciting to see the first green tips of daffodil bulbs poking through the cold February soil, and it seems almost miraculous that, tucked away, deep down, is the potential for a big and perfect yellow daffodil. We need to see our spiritual lives in the same light - our full spiritual flowering will come about only when we have been brave enough - with God's help - to learn to say 'no' to ourselves and to our, possibly, self-centred ways. And that is where the Church's guidance on Lent comes in.
What does the Church say?
During the first three centuries most Christians prepared for Easter by fasting for only two to three days. In some places this was extended to the entire week before Easter. Eventually this developed into the 40-day period that we now know as Lent. It is no coincidence that Lent lasts for 40 days: this was the amount of time that Jesus spent in the desert prior to putting into full practice what His Father had sent him into the world to do. Lent is our opportunity to join Jesus in the desert in order that we, too, might emerge from the desert, freshly invigorated and empowered to carry out his work. Jesus' time of retreat empowered him to take up his ministry, and our time of retreat will do the same for us. This period, which he spent in the desert, was crucial: the springtime which flowered from it brought about astonishing feats of healing and holiness for those around him. The time he spent in the desert brought him closer to his Father and to a greater awareness of what work he had ahead of him. We need to enter into that desert too in order for ourselves to come closer to God and to arrive at a better understanding of what he wants us to do. It makes sense to me that if we want to follow Jesus through death and into eternal life, then we must try and follow him through life - his life.
The Church therefore emphasises Lent as being primarily a time of discipline and penitence.
The point of giving things up or challenging ourselves in some other (possibly physically) way is that, if one can discipline the body, there is every chance that we can learn to discipline that which is far more important to discipline: the mind. Without discipline of mind, humanity is liable to run wild, sometimes with devastating consequences.
Just as discipline is important for our salvation, so is penitence. To be penitent is to grieve, mourn, sorrow over and regret all that we have done which has come between us and God. I have a suspicion that, just as the word 'penitence' has gone out of fashion, so has the word 'sin', and society may have lost sight of what sin is and therefore what we really should be grieving and mourning over. On a personal level we should be grieving over our untruths, the unkind thoughts we have about others, the nature of our gossip, our pride, greed, vanity, our cynicism, our idolisation of material goods, impatience and so on. On a collective level, we should be grieving over the millions of unborn babies which are killed each year, our willingness to condone sexual immorality, our part in the enslavement of underpaid third-world workers, international greed and misuse of power, our slowness to act or speak out against the extraordinary cruelty of child trafficking (often into prostitution) and so so much else. There is a veritable mountain of things to feel sorry about, and Ash Wednesday is the point at which we can try to make some sort of a start.
What is the significance of the ashes on Ash Wednesday?
Ashes have strong biblical associations with repentance. When Jonah took his warning to the dissolute people of Nineveh that unless they changed their ways and repented then God would bring destruction upon them, he found them to have a ready ear. Their much-respected leader saw the error of their ways and led them in putting on sack-cloth and ashes as a sign of repentance. It is something of a relief that we don't have to go about in sack-cloth for the duration of Lent, but as the priest puts the ashes on our foreheads he will use one of two phrases:
"Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel", indicating our need to think carefully about our lifestyle and attitude to God, OR
"Remember, man, that you are dust and to dust you will return", in which we are reminded of our own mortality and the fact that we will, at some point in the future unknown to us, have to face our Maker and give an account of our lives
Lent is a great opportunity!
Lent, above all, is an opportunity to GROW. We need to GROW in our knowledge and therefore our love of God; we need to GROW in our knowledge of ourselves and - importantly - our faults. Our knowledge of God will increase if we take time to read the Gospels and if we give time over to prayer every day. Our knowledge of ourselves will increase as we grow in our knowledge of God. In order to see ourselves as God sees us, and therefore to grow in the knowledge of ourselves, there are some questions that we need to be asking ourselves …
Do I judge or criticise others?
Do I ever say anything that could damage another’s reputation?
Do I talk about others behind their back?
Am I compassionate when someone is suffering?
Am I helpful and considerate?
Do I tell untruths?
Am I ever unkind in thought, word or action?
Do I forgive those who have hurt me?
Do I idolise the famous because they are glamorous & rich?
Am I overly concerned with the way I look?
Do I make enough effort to understand the other point of view?
Am I impatient?
Do I want things to go my way all the time?
Do I condemn others who don't agree with me?
How much time do I spend thinking of myself?
Am I ungenerous with my time and possessions?
Am I ever envious of other people's things?
Do I try to trust in God, particularly in difficult circumstances?
Do I remember to give adequate thanks to God?
Do I try to keep Sunday special?
God of Wisdom be in my head and in my understanding
God who created all things be in my eyes and in my seeing
God of Truth be in my ears and in my hearing
God of Gentleness be in my mouth and in my speaking
God of Compassion and Love be in my heart and in my thinking
God of Mercy and Forgiveness be at my end and at my departing
Sunday, 31 January 2010
Thursday, 14 January 2010
Send forth your light
One evening, as I was reading the prayers of Evening Prayer from the Divine Office, one of the prayers really leapt out at me and caught my imagination. It went, “Lord, may your cross light up the darkness of the world:- may it lead everyone to you, the way, the truth and the life.”
Outside, it was the inevitable evening gloom typical of late winter, and I was stopped in my tracks, pondering the many forms of darkness and what form of ‘darkness’, particularly, to which this prayer was referring. My mind ran to all things physically dark: the moonless night, dark caves, the great depths of the ocean, unlit rooms and so forth. It seemed to me that these types of darkness are part of the created and natural world and, as such, are expressions of God and cannot, therefore, ever be thought of as evilly dark or the sort of darkness which has to be overcome.
If natural darkness is the work of God, then it stands to reason that the only true ‘darkness’, i.e. the darkness which is evil and is to be overcome, must therefore be the darkness of sin. Given that all things sinful and evil emanate from the heart, then the darkness of the night and of every black recess which exists upon this earth and in the entire universe cannot compare – in terms of darkness – to that which we find in our hearts when we think, say or do something which runs directly against God’s law of Love. All the evil and awful things of which humanity is capable are a direct result of what is in the heart: there cannot, therefore, be anywhere quite as dark as that of a human heart intent upon evil.
Jesus tells us very clearly that, “The things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and it is these that make a man unclean. For from the heart come evil intentions: murder, adultery, fornication, theft, perjury, slander. These are the things that make a man unclean” (Matt 15:18-19)
Our inner darkness takes many shapes and forms but, at its centre, are all those qualities which are the opposite of all that God is. If God is perfect tolerance, patience, peace, joy, truth, forgiveness, gentleness, humility, trust and love, then to be living out our lives in a state of – for instance – impatience, anger, untruth, pride, inability to forgive, selfishness, fear, and so on, is to live in darkness, and it is this darkness which has to be dispelled and overcome. In other words, we are to overcome our darkness by allowing the light of all that is Good, (i.e. God) to radiate into our hearts.
Both the Old and the New Testaments are full of references to the light as being directly linked to God. The psalmist begs of God to “Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell” (Ps 43:2-4); because he knows that “Even in darkness, light dawns for the upright, for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man” (Ps 112:4).
The psalmist goes on to tell us that God is the source of all light when he tells us that, “Blessed are those who walk in the light of your presence, O Lord” (Ps 89:15) and that it is in the perfect light of God, a light which searches our hearts, that we will be measured and judged in our turn, for “You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence” (Ps 90:8). Later on in the Old Testament the prophet Isaiah foretells a time when “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” (Is 9:2), and that God “will turn the darkness before them into light” (Is 42:16)
The darkness referred to in the Old Testament is the darkness created by man due to his original disobedience towards God and the resulting expulsion from heaven. In the days of the Old Testament those who died went to ‘hell’, not the hell of our understanding, but a place nevertheless of darkness and marked by what must have been a dreadful absence of light and of God. Jesus’ death and resurrection was to overturn all of that: the gates to the underworld and to heaven were unlocked so that humanity could for ever avail itself of the unending mercy of God and a future spent in the light of his presence.
The darkness, therefore, of the New Testament and of our present day, is the darkness of sin from which humanity finds it so difficult to be free. Jesus tells us that, “Though the light has come into the world men have shown that they prefer darkness to the light because their deeds were evil. And indeed, everyone who does wrong hates the light and avoids it, for fear his actions should be exposed; but the man who lives by the truth comes out into the light, so that it may be plainly seen that what he does is done in God.” (John 3:19-21)
Therefore, if true darkness resides only in the human heart, then it is in the human heart alone that the ight of the cross must cast its radiance. Isaiah referred to Jesus himself as being the Light to light up the world. This light, through the power of the Holy Spirit, remains available to all who turn to him, and it is this light which enables us to be, in our turn, the light of Jesus in an otherwise dark world. When we turn to Jesus he pours light into our heart to enable us to play our own part in lighting up the world. We are to carry on the work of Jesus and of his original followers in carrying the torch which has been handed down, over the centuries, from one generation of believers to the next. But how am I to do this? How am I to dispel the darkness of my heart that I can be a person of light? How can the cross of Jesus, such a symbol of pain, torture and death, cast light into the darkness of my heart?
Well, as I write this now, looking forward to Lent and to Easter, we will soon be rejoicing in the fact that the cross, which will stand empty on Golgotha (it apparently having done its work in dispatching once and for all the Christ), will no longer be a symbol of death, but of Life. The cross, previously a symbol of fear, shame and death no longer has any power whatsoever over mankind: it has been made redundant for all time. We have been liberated to live in the light of the risen Jesus who calls us into his light. We can be absorbed into that light by, firstly, facing up to all that we have thought, said or done which has damaged our relationship with God and with others and by sincerely apologising. We can be further absorbed into Jesus’ light if we can, in the words of St Paul, “Fill your mind with everything that is true, everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure, everything that we love and honour, and everything that can be thought virtuous or worthy of praise.” (Phil 4:8).
Let us, therefore, open our hearts to all that is good and honest and truthful, whilst at the same time taking every possible care to reject all that is base and which runs contrary to love. Let us reject gossip, untruths, anger and impatience; let us turn away from our every ungenerous thought or reaction; let us overcome our pride by reminding ourselves how much we owe to God and that we could never fully repay him for his relentless goodness to us; let us open our hearts more fully to those around us who lack even the basic essentials for life. Let our lives, in other words, be governed by a desire for all that is Good
Outside, it was the inevitable evening gloom typical of late winter, and I was stopped in my tracks, pondering the many forms of darkness and what form of ‘darkness’, particularly, to which this prayer was referring. My mind ran to all things physically dark: the moonless night, dark caves, the great depths of the ocean, unlit rooms and so forth. It seemed to me that these types of darkness are part of the created and natural world and, as such, are expressions of God and cannot, therefore, ever be thought of as evilly dark or the sort of darkness which has to be overcome.
If natural darkness is the work of God, then it stands to reason that the only true ‘darkness’, i.e. the darkness which is evil and is to be overcome, must therefore be the darkness of sin. Given that all things sinful and evil emanate from the heart, then the darkness of the night and of every black recess which exists upon this earth and in the entire universe cannot compare – in terms of darkness – to that which we find in our hearts when we think, say or do something which runs directly against God’s law of Love. All the evil and awful things of which humanity is capable are a direct result of what is in the heart: there cannot, therefore, be anywhere quite as dark as that of a human heart intent upon evil.
Jesus tells us very clearly that, “The things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and it is these that make a man unclean. For from the heart come evil intentions: murder, adultery, fornication, theft, perjury, slander. These are the things that make a man unclean” (Matt 15:18-19)
Our inner darkness takes many shapes and forms but, at its centre, are all those qualities which are the opposite of all that God is. If God is perfect tolerance, patience, peace, joy, truth, forgiveness, gentleness, humility, trust and love, then to be living out our lives in a state of – for instance – impatience, anger, untruth, pride, inability to forgive, selfishness, fear, and so on, is to live in darkness, and it is this darkness which has to be dispelled and overcome. In other words, we are to overcome our darkness by allowing the light of all that is Good, (i.e. God) to radiate into our hearts.
Both the Old and the New Testaments are full of references to the light as being directly linked to God. The psalmist begs of God to “Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell” (Ps 43:2-4); because he knows that “Even in darkness, light dawns for the upright, for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man” (Ps 112:4).
The psalmist goes on to tell us that God is the source of all light when he tells us that, “Blessed are those who walk in the light of your presence, O Lord” (Ps 89:15) and that it is in the perfect light of God, a light which searches our hearts, that we will be measured and judged in our turn, for “You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence” (Ps 90:8). Later on in the Old Testament the prophet Isaiah foretells a time when “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” (Is 9:2), and that God “will turn the darkness before them into light” (Is 42:16)
The darkness referred to in the Old Testament is the darkness created by man due to his original disobedience towards God and the resulting expulsion from heaven. In the days of the Old Testament those who died went to ‘hell’, not the hell of our understanding, but a place nevertheless of darkness and marked by what must have been a dreadful absence of light and of God. Jesus’ death and resurrection was to overturn all of that: the gates to the underworld and to heaven were unlocked so that humanity could for ever avail itself of the unending mercy of God and a future spent in the light of his presence.
The darkness, therefore, of the New Testament and of our present day, is the darkness of sin from which humanity finds it so difficult to be free. Jesus tells us that, “Though the light has come into the world men have shown that they prefer darkness to the light because their deeds were evil. And indeed, everyone who does wrong hates the light and avoids it, for fear his actions should be exposed; but the man who lives by the truth comes out into the light, so that it may be plainly seen that what he does is done in God.” (John 3:19-21)
Therefore, if true darkness resides only in the human heart, then it is in the human heart alone that the ight of the cross must cast its radiance. Isaiah referred to Jesus himself as being the Light to light up the world. This light, through the power of the Holy Spirit, remains available to all who turn to him, and it is this light which enables us to be, in our turn, the light of Jesus in an otherwise dark world. When we turn to Jesus he pours light into our heart to enable us to play our own part in lighting up the world. We are to carry on the work of Jesus and of his original followers in carrying the torch which has been handed down, over the centuries, from one generation of believers to the next. But how am I to do this? How am I to dispel the darkness of my heart that I can be a person of light? How can the cross of Jesus, such a symbol of pain, torture and death, cast light into the darkness of my heart?
Well, as I write this now, looking forward to Lent and to Easter, we will soon be rejoicing in the fact that the cross, which will stand empty on Golgotha (it apparently having done its work in dispatching once and for all the Christ), will no longer be a symbol of death, but of Life. The cross, previously a symbol of fear, shame and death no longer has any power whatsoever over mankind: it has been made redundant for all time. We have been liberated to live in the light of the risen Jesus who calls us into his light. We can be absorbed into that light by, firstly, facing up to all that we have thought, said or done which has damaged our relationship with God and with others and by sincerely apologising. We can be further absorbed into Jesus’ light if we can, in the words of St Paul, “Fill your mind with everything that is true, everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure, everything that we love and honour, and everything that can be thought virtuous or worthy of praise.” (Phil 4:8).
Let us, therefore, open our hearts to all that is good and honest and truthful, whilst at the same time taking every possible care to reject all that is base and which runs contrary to love. Let us reject gossip, untruths, anger and impatience; let us turn away from our every ungenerous thought or reaction; let us overcome our pride by reminding ourselves how much we owe to God and that we could never fully repay him for his relentless goodness to us; let us open our hearts more fully to those around us who lack even the basic essentials for life. Let our lives, in other words, be governed by a desire for all that is Good
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
Peace ...
Peace ….. what a lovely word that is and how appealing is the whole idea of peace: personal inner peace, peace in our families, peace in our community and, ultimately, peace across the world. The desire for and love of peace are deeply embedded into the lives of every human being, so it is extraordinary that, given this desire, humanity has been singularly poor at establishing it.
Why is there so little peace? One of the primary reasons must be because individuals are not at peace within themselves. In order to establish world peace, we need to work backwards: from the world to community, from community to family, from family to the individual.
Have you ever noticed how a peaceful person radiates peace in such a way that it is catching? It seems to me that if we want to be part of a peace-making process, we need to take responsibility for finding peace within ourselves in order to allow that peace to radiate out and affect those around us. It is like a ripple effect: a peaceful person encourages peace in another, and another and another. St Francis loved to greet people with the words "The Lord give you peace!" and he told his followers, "When you proclaim peace by your words, you must also carry an even greater peace in your hearts. Let no one be provoked to anger by you, or be scandalised, but let your gentleness encourage all men to peace, good will and mutual love".
What causes us to lack or lose peace?
There are many reasons why we lack peace. For many - in fact, for most of us - it may be a hurt we are carrying around with us, something that we are finding hard to forgive or understand. It would be true to say that I don't know anyone who has not been damaged to some degree: that is part of the human condition. It would be worth remembering that God is passionate about us in our humanity. He knows who has damaged us, how they have damaged us and, most importantly, how to heal us.
Many of us find it hard to be at peace with ourselves because we have not yet learned to love ourselves as God wishes that we would. God would want us to be happy with the way he has made us, warts and all. He would want us to be grateful to him for our very being and for the gifts that he has - and hasn't - seen fit to give us. Sadly, we live in a culture which encourages us to find fault with the way we look, with the way we do things, with the way we do our house up and so much more.
When Jesus tells Lazarus to come out from his tomb and then releases him from his death shrouds, he is also taking the opportunity of saying to us: I want you to be free, I want you to be free from all that separates you from my peace.
What is separating us from this peace that Jesus wants us to have?
- are we inclined to be quick-tempered?
- are we harsh with others in our thoughts and words?
- do we judge and criticise those around us?
- do we fear criticism of ourselves?
- are we greedy?
- are we fearful and anxious?
- are we quick to argue without taking the trouble to see the other point of view?
- are we slow to forgive?
Despite all of these things: our natural flaws and insecurities; our sadnesses and general damage, Jesus would still tell us - you can be at peace, it is what I want for you!
In the Mass, just after we have said the 'Our Father' and we have the very person of Jesus right there, with us, on the sanctuary, I am always reminded of Jesus' first appearance amongst his friends after he had died. What were his first words? They were quite simply "Peace be with you". "Peace be with you…. I leave you peace, my peace I give you". I do urge you to spend time pondering these words which were not just addressed to his friends at that time, but to you and me. “I want you to be at peace, I will give it to you, I have the means of giving it to you. Turn to me and find peace.”
Peace is within our reach.
A truly peaceful person is someone who is at peace with themselves, others and God. At the heart of that peace is forgiveness, forgiveness of ourselves (the hardest part), forgiveness of others (not easy either) and God's forgiveness of us.
As we examine ourselves we need to be as gentle with ourselves as God is with us. If we turn to him he would lead us….
- into a life of patience and gentleness
- into a way of dealing with people without judging or criticising them
- to a humility and freedom where we won't mind what people think of us or say about us
- to a gratitude for all that we have which will free us from greed
- to a loving trust of him which will put to free us from all our fears and anxieties
In a mind that is full of Love and Wisdom, there is no room for either fear or ignorance;
In a mind that is full of Patience and Humility, there is no room for either anger or annoyance;
In a mind that full of Poverty and Joy, there is no room for either avarice or cupidity;
In a mind that is full of Peace and Contemplation, there is no room for either worry or restlessness;
In a mind that is full of Mercy and Prudence, there is no room for either harshness or excess;
Where there is the fear of God to guard the dwelling, there no enemy can enter.
(Adapted from St Francis' verse of Virtue & Vice)
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