magnanimous

ezekiel 18:21-28; Psalm 130 If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand; Matthew 5:20-26

"Jesus said to his disciples: I tell you unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of Heaven."

The word "surpasses" can be translated as exceeds or more literal in the greek as "more superabundant."

The christian is the person who does not calculate; he does not count the cost; he does not seek the minimal; he does not just do what is correct in order to get by.

The christian is one who does something extra; he lives with a superabundance of goodness. He is the lover who always seeks goodness regardless; he is the lover who does not ask how much farther.

He never rides in the back seat asking are we there yet; rather, he looses himself in the goodness of living in love.

The christian is aware of his failings and short comings but is generous with God and other people because he knows how much he depends on the generosity of God and of his fellow man.

He is the one that St. Paul describes, as the one who owes no debt but love to all. His generosity is rooted in the generosity he knows he has first received.

He is magnanimous.

He realizes the goodness he has received and gives that goodness to others, superabundantly.

ask, seek, knock

Esther c:12,14-16,23-25; Psalm 138 Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me; Matthew 7:7-12

Today we encounter a very famous passage that almost everyone who has ever read the words of Jesus has memorized: "ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."

Sounds like a great deal. Yet it isn't what it seems.

First it does suggest that when we ask and seek and knock the Father wants to do our will. The heavenly Father makes our desires part of his plan.

This should be humbling and should caution us when we seek, ask, and knock. We should make sure what we are asking for has been purified by his divine love first.

The first petition to God should always be what do I need Lord, what is it that I really want. Then his good hand shall stir our desires and show to us what we should be seeking, asking, and knocking.

Secondly, it doesn't always work. We do not always get what we ask for, or what we seek for, and sometimes the wrong door opens. God never says we will get exactly what we ask for.

Yet, whether it be the wrong answer or no answer, we must remember the Good God's providential care reaches beyond our little world. God does want our personal private space to become part of a larger scope of living and loving.

Sometimes the answers we receive are meant to stretch us forth, to reach beyond.

We should never underestimate the providence of the Good God. Though we may not see it, yet, it doesn't mean it hasn't already been set in motion.

Thirdly, we too should spend our life responding to what God ask, seeks, and knocks for. Our door must open to him; we must seek to fulfill his request.

Our prayer should be, "Father, ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find; knock and our door shall be opened."

Only with all this does this passage truly come to life and become life giving for us and those around us.

Today for lent ponder the providential care of the good God.

sign of jonah

Flannery O'Connor was asked why her people and plots in the fiction she wrote were often outlandish, even grotesque, and she answered, "To the hard of hearing you shout, for the almost blind you have to draw large and startling figures."

Is there anything more startling or grotesque or outlandish than a man emerging from that as dark as a whale's belly. The sign of Jonah was quite the startling reality as he climbed out of the whale's belly and began to proclaim to the people.

No wonder the entire city repented. They not only saw the sign they recognized it for its value and responded with all their heart.

Is there anything more grotesque, outlandish, startling?

Perhaps, only one other thing, a man emerging from the tomb much darker than the belly of the whale. This is more startling yet. Is this not the sign of Jesus, the man standing outside the tomb, wounded by death yet victorious.

God has a way of writing with startling realities as well.

Flannery O'Connor was simply writing like God reveals, with grotesque and outlandish plots and large and startling figures. God uses figures larger than life, grotesquely beautiful in order to shout at the deaf and startle the almost blind: there is something greater here.

No matter what we do in life, the figure of Christ standing outside the tomb, wounded but victorious, shall always shout through our deafness and brighten our blindness: something greater is here.

sign to all

jonah 3:1-10; Psalm 51 a heart contrite and humble, O God, you will not spurn; Luke 11:29-32

Homily of Pope Benedict on Ash Wednesday 2010

A snippet

"...Salvation, in fact, is a gift, it is God's grace, but to have effect in my existence it requires my consent, an acceptance demonstrated in deeds, that is in the will to live like Jesus, to walk after him..."

"...understood in this perspective also is the penitential sign of the ashes, which are imposed on the head of those who begin with good will the lenten journey. It is essentially a gesture of humility, which means: I recognize myself for what I am, a frail creature, made of earth and destined to the earth, but also made in the image of God and destined to him. Dust, yes, but loved, molded by love, animated by his vital breath, capable of recognizing his voice and responding to him;"

Two realities on this lenten journey

1) we are invited to see ourselves as we really are. We have to take a long look into our life and remove the dross and remove the disguise and remove all that is not me. We must be stripped.

2)we are invited to see ourselves as God would want us to be. We must be cloth anew in the garment prepared for us in the gift of salvation. Our consent changes everything.

"lent lengthens our horizons and orients us to eternal life."

With every act of faith: praying a little harder, fasting a little more, giving to others, our horizon stretches outward and upward and we become the sign this generation longs for. We become the sign of Christ; we let the world know there is something greater.

A week ago today we were marked with ashes to let the world know the sign. the ashes are gone but we remain, our life, our heart shows forth that love is crucified, love is redeemed.

babble not

Isaiah 55:10-11; Psalm 34 From all their distress God rescues the just; Matthew 6:7-15

Today is the birthday of George Handel. When he was young he loved to play the organ yet his father wanted him to be a lawyer. So at night when his dad was asleep he would sneak upstairs and play the instrument, quietly and discreetly.

At the age of seven, a duke heard him play and was so moved that he gave Handel a fist full of gold coins. Upon arriving home with all this gold, his father decided that perhaps being a musician wasn't so bad after all.

Handel is known for his great composition the Messiah. He composed the piece in 25 days, seldom eating or sleeping. When he had finished he simply responded that he believed he "had been visited by God."

Many people have felt they have been visited by God when something extraordinary happens or occurs either at their hands or witness in another.

But we should not limit the visitation of God to those rare moments or high triumphs.

Jesus in today's gospel teaches us that prayer itself, when done correctly, is a visitation from on high.

God does not want us to babble, that is, he does not want us to talk at him. We do have a tendency to be a bit wordy with God. We talk and chatter and clatter about. But are we praying or justing seeking psychological consolation by getting it off our chest, whatever it may be.

Prayer is different. We do not talk at God but we learn to talk to him, with him. We let him talk in us. This is the gift of the "Our Father." It is a formula that guides our mind into the mind of God. We pray using God's words. We are caught up into the eternal prayer, that union between Jesus and the Father.

We are invited into the inner circle, the deep intimate embrace of sharing in the heart of God. We are invited to talk with, to talk to, to enter in.

It is a visitation, each and every time we speak those beautiful words.

In Christian faith the creature is invited to share in the life of the creator and talk to him, like a son speaks to his father, like the Son speaks to the Father.

A word from St. Cyprian

"So my brothers, let us pray as God our master has taught us. To ask the Father in words his Son has given us, to let him hear the prayer of Christ ringing in his ears, is to make our prayer one of friendship, a family prayer. Let the Father recognize the words of his Son. Let the Son who lives in our hearts be also on our lips...What more effective prayer could we then make in the name of Christ than in the words of his own prayer?"

Peter, the rock

1 peter 5:1-4; Psalm 23 The Lord is my Shepherd; there is nothing I shall want; Matthew 16:13-19

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Chair of Peter.

Intriguing feast dedicated not so much to a piece of furniture but to the office contained: cathedra of Peter, office of teaching in faith and morals given to Peter and his successors.

When in St. Peter's Basilica, by the final altar in the apse, we encounter the Chair of Peter.

What is most striking about the Chair is that the apostle Peter is missing; he is not present. The Chair floats above , supported by great teachers of the east and West and yet remains empty.

What is also striking is at the center of the chair is a window that is flooded with light depicting a dove symbolizing the Holy Spirit.

The dove reminds us that God is the source of light and illumination. The Church itself becomes a place of encounter, a window, where the world is permeated by his radiance, his light.

The Church becomes a meeting place, where God meets us and we find God. All this is empowered by the gift of himself.

The chair, the empty throne also reveals much. It reveals the abiding presence of the apostle, who as teacher remains present in his successors. It is the throne of truth and faith that recalls the words of Jesus in today's gospel,

"Blessed are you Simon, Son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father...You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church, the gates of the nether world shall not prevail. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven...what you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. What you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

The empty space of the chair recalls the authority Jesus gives to Peter and his successors, illumined by the Spirit and light from above, to lead the flock and to gather them to Christ the Good Shepherd.

The chair of Peter is not about Peter, primarily it is about Peter and his successors leading us to Christ and then back to God himself, who started it all.

In faith in God we allow Peter, the one Jesus chooses, to lead us to Christ himself so that Christ can lead us to the Father of lights.

The chair is not about who Lords over the people but it is the hard chair of service, primacy of faith and the primacy of love reign in service to mankind, in service to Christ.

Only where faith leads to love can we truly encounter hope and the three gather together around the chair upon which the church is built as a meeting place between God and man and back to God.

Here truth is made known in loving service to all.

Simon, son of Jonah...you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.

The church is the Father' s gift to the world. What a gift!

Fasting

Dt 26:4-10; Psalm 91 Be with me, Lord, when I am in trouble; Romans 10:8-13; Luke 4:1-13

Fasting is one of the three practice the church invites us to enter into during this lenten season, these 40 days, in order to deepen our conversion to Christ.

Fasting doesn't mean starving but it does mean being hungry. It is often connected to abstinence, which simply means to go without.

The official rules for fasting and abstinence are as follows: at age 14 and up we are asked to abstain from meat on fridays. Between the ages of 18 and 59 we are invited to fast on those days prescribed: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

But, we should practice fasting often in our own life. We can fast from many things: food, drink, Tv, Radio, Our cell phone, texting etc... anything sensual

But primarily we fast from food and drink.

In the world many people fast for different reasons.

People fast to lose weight. They want to achieve a desired look and work on their figure. IT usually deals with beauty though sometimes, vain glory.

People fast for health reasons. There are times in our life when we should not eat certain foods for it is bad for our health, thus we abstain. When we have procedures or surgery, the doctor will prescribe fasting. Fasting is also a way of cleansing our bodies from toxins.

People also fast for political purposes. They fast in order to bring attention to particular problems in our society. Ghandi would be a prime example. In this case it is fasting in order to bring about change.

When you look into the biblical record, you find many biblical figures fasting.

Moses fasted for forty days prior to receiving the ten commandments; Elijah fasted forty days before climbing the mountain and hearing the whisper of God; the Ninevites fasted in order to change and seek God's favor; Isaiah speaks of fasting as a way of reaching inward in order to reach outward to neighbors; St. Paul fasted after his conversion and throughout his ministry; Jesus fast today in the gospel.

Jesus fasts and prays for forty days prior to being tempted. Fasting and prayer seemed to be a vehicle to prepare for battle. Jesus prepares his humanity for the confrontation; he prepares for his mission. Fasting and prayer deepen his communion with the Father in the Spirit which strengthens him for the ministry ahead.

Jesus leaves nothing to chance.

Jesus prepares for the temptation and thus overcomes them.

Do we prepare? Or do we leave everything to chance?

If the Son of God prepares, how much more do we need to prepare.

The problem is we often think we are stronger than we are.

Fasting has always been a hallmark of the catholic faith. It has also been a hallmark of man's relationship with God. From the beginning, Adam and Eve, in paradise, in the Garden of eden were asked to fast and abstain. In fact fasting and abstinence was at the heart of their communion with God. They were told not to eat of the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

It reminded them that the created world, as good as it was, was not to fill them completely. IT was never meant to fill them fully. It also was an invitation to let God direct their life rather than running their life themselves.

As we look at fasting today in our life, the question arises, "what good comes from it?"

* fasting is a prayer for the body, of the body. When we fast our body begins to experience a longing that our spirit endures continually. We practice in our body what we proclaim in our faith: we want more. Fasting is a way of unifying our body and soul, integrating our life before God.

*Fasting shows that we are sincere. We put our money where our mouth is. Sincerity is more than words, for talk is cheap. When we fast it becomes a lived reality. Our sincerity means more.

*the hunger we experience invites us to look beyond. It deepens our longing for the kingdom and helps us to realize the kingdom is both spiritually and physically breaking through. We realize that we do not live on bread alone. Thus, we are empowered to build the kingdom in our life, our relationships, in our society. It gets us moving. We realize we need more.

*fasting is about liberation. We are liberated from our appetites. Our cravings and desires often want to rule the roost, but fasting puts them back in order. We discover we are no longer earth bound but rather we are disposed to heaven and we can do more.

*Fasting is an entrance into humility. The first thing we discover when we fast is we are not as strong as we think we are. We encounter our weakness. When accept our weakness, we are able to look at the weakness of others differently. We can now be compassionate as opposed to judgmental. Living without enables us to live for others. We are able to be more welcoming to our neighbors in need.

*Fasting keeps us awake and attentive and alert. Think about thanksgiving. After we eat our turkey and dressing and pies and the like, we normally are so full that all we want to do is sleep, slumber. We lose sight of the race we are on. The devil wants nothing more than to catch us napping. The scripture often tells us to stay awake. Fasting helps us be alert and watch for more. It is better than any 5 hour energy drink.

*fasting gives us confidence in God. Any time we give up something, we make an act of faith that God will provide, he will see us through. We put our trust in him. Every 'no' we make is a 'yes' to something greater. Self-denial is really about self-fulfillment. When we fast we are able to take possession of ourselves and truly give ourselves to God and neighbor more fully: free, total, faithful and fruitful.

*St, Augustine says if we want our prayer to fly to God then we must give it two wings: fasting and almsgiving. But we must remember it is not about getting what we want but rather accepting what God gives. Thus, we become who we were meant to be and we are meant to be so much more.

This is what our fasting these 40 days is about.