Monthly Archives: February 2023

Command the angels…

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This coming Sunday is the First Sunday in Lent. In yesterday’s post we considered the first temptation. Today will move on to the second: 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city, and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you and ‘with their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus answered him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.’”  Continue reading →

What’s next in your Lenten journey?

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Ash Wednesday has come and gone. I hope you were able to celebrate. Lent has begun and you’ve “40 days” in the journey. So…what’s next? Take some time today and make a plan (if you have not already). Don’t let this time quickly recede in the Lenten “rear view mirror.” If you blink again, it will be Holy Week and the “best of intentions” will have to wait for another year. So… what is your plan for Lent? And I ask about “your plan” because each of us are called to be intentional in our life of prayer and to create a place and space in our life to be in relationship with God. This is especially true in the Season of Lent. Now that Ash Wednesday has passed, what is your Lenten plan to make room in your life to be filled with God’s grace? How about a Lenten checklist to help you get started? Continue reading →

Command these stones…

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This coming Sunday is the First Sunday in Lent. In yesterday’s post looked the connections between the wilderness experience and two elements: in the OT for the anchoring of the scene in Dt. 6 and forward to the events at the end in Jerusalem. Today we consider the first temptation: 1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2 He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry. 3 The tempter approached and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.” 4 He said in reply, “It is written: ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.’” Continue reading →

Oat bran and ashes

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There was a couple who lived very strict lives of practices, diets and exercise. They would eat a healthy diet, watch blood pressure and cholesterol, get exercise and absolutely eat incredibly intentionally and purposefully. Perhaps the great symbol of all of this was the omnipresence of oat bran: cereal, muffins, the ever-imaginative addition to more recipes than can be remembered; Oat bran every day. They lived to the late nineties. Both died and went to heaven. One day while walking around and seeing all the wonders one said to the other, “Gee, I never imagined it would be like this.”   The other said, “Just think we could have been here years ago if it wasn’t for all that oat bran.”  Continue reading →

Sage Advice

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The first reading is from the Book of Sirach (also known as the Wisdom of Ben Sira or as Ecclesiasticus – not to be confused with Ecclesiastes). The book is part of the Bible the Catholic Church refers to as Deutero-Canonical, meaning “second canon,” while some parts of Reformed or Protestant Christianity refer to it as part of the apocrypha (from the Late Latin apocryphus “secret, of doubtful authenticity, uncanonical”). In other words, not accepted as part of Sacred Scripture. Why? That is a topic for another time. What is clear is that the book was widely used in early Christian communities and churches in presenting moral teaching to catechumens and to the faithful. This is likely the reason for the name “Liber Ecclesiasticus” meaning “church book.” Continue reading →

All in the name

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In Italian, Lent is quaresima or forty (days). In German, it is Fastenzeit or time for bodily restraint. Our English word comes from an older Anglo-Saxon word for spring—len(c)ten—whence our Lent. Italian tells us how long it will last (with its symbolic overtones). German tells us what to do in that time. But English tells us what is supposed to happen, that is, we are supposed to experience a springtime of faith, a time of growth and new life.

Ash Wednesday and Sundays in Lent 2023

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lent-2-heartlargeAsh Wednesday, the first day of the penitential season of Lent in the Catholic Church, is always 46 days before Easter Sunday. It is a “movable” feast that is assigned a date in the calendar only after the date of Easter Sunday is calculated. How is it calculated? I’m glad you asked.

According to the norms established by the Council of Nicaea (325 AD) and later adopted for Western Christianity at the Synod of Whitby, Easter Sunday falls each year on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox. This year the vernal equinox falls on March 20, 2023 and the first full moon after that occurs on Thursday, April 6th. Therefore, Easter Sunday is celebrated this year on April 9th. If you want to know the date of Ash Wednesday, just count backwards 46 days and you get February 22nd. Continue reading →