Mountain of Temptation

Posted on February 26, 2020 by Friar Musings

Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan river and then “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (Matthew 4:1). Both the Gospels of Mark and Luke have a similar narrative, placing Jesus at the Jordan River immediately before his temptation in the wilderness. While Christian tradition often describes Jesus’ temptation as occurring in a “desert,” the Greek word eremos primarily means a location that is isolated, uninhabited and unfit for pasture. Continue reading →

40 Days of Lent?

Posted on February 25, 2020 by Friar Musings

Ash Wednesday marks the first day of this penitential season in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church and 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. 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 Thursday, March 19, 2020 and the first full moon after that occurs on Tuesday, April 7, 2020. Therefore, Easter Sunday is celebrated this year on April 12. If you want Ash Wednesday, just count backwards 46 days and you get February 26, 2020.

But why 46? Why not the traditional 40 days? Short answer: the six Sundays in Lent are not considered part of the official “Lenten fast” (every Sunday is a special remembrance of the Resurrection of Christ), and so if you subtract six from 46, you get the famous 40 days of Lent. And so…Lent begins on February 26, 2020.

The Fourth T

Posted on February 25, 2020 by Friar Musings

The playwright Oscar Wilde once wrote, “I can resist anything except temptation.” The humor of the remark is mixed with a sad recognition that we fail so often to resist the temptations that come our way each day and from every direction. Of course, there are temptations and then there are temptations writ large. What are people’s greatest temptations? Why? What are their “favorite” sins – indicated by frequency and repetition? Why do we so often find ourselves in the same position as St. Paul? “What I do, I do
not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate.” (Romans 7:15) Each of us is called to name our temptations as part of a moral and ethical struggle in trying to live a holy and righteous life. Then once we name that temptation, to begin to unfold and inspect, to then start to answer what it is about this temptation that becomes especially alluring. Such are the first steps to healing. Continue reading →

RCIA in the Lenten Season

Posted on February 22, 2020 by Friar Musings

Word gets around. Visitors or parishioners will sometimes stop me on the sidewalk in front of church and remark, “I heard you were in the Navy…” This is, of course, a prelude to reminisce, tell sea stories, recount homeports and ports-of-call, and all manner of things true and…. well, sea stories. Back in the day I was conversant in all the acronyms of naval service. If someone asked if I ever did a loop through AUTEC, I knew what they were talking about. If someone said, “Bravo Zulu,” I understood. “COMNAVSEASYSCOM” – got it… but this century has a whole lot of new acronyms that just evade my comprehension. Continue reading →

A morning in church

Posted on February 20, 2020 by Friar Musings

From today’s first reading, we hear: “For if a man with gold rings and fine clothes comes into your assembly, and a poor person with shabby clothes also comes in, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say, ‘Sit here, please,’ while you say to the poor one, ‘Stand there,’ or ‘Sit at my feet,’ have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil designs?” (James 2:2-4). I wonder how many church communities find themselves with such a demographic diversity or even if they might, experience the dynamic that James seems to be warning against. Continue reading →

Opponents but never enemies

Posted on February 19, 2020 by Friar Musings

During the school dances, the slow ballads would arrive and wooohooo! You got to slow dance… real close. The sisters would literally come over with a 12-inch ruler, but it between you and your dance partner, gently smile, and say “Leave room for the Holy Spirit.”

That is good advice in life, especially these days when something wicked this way comes. It is called anger and we Christians are specifically warned about it in the first reading from today’s Mass: “everyone should be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath, for the [anger] of a man does not accomplish the righteousness of God” (James 1:19–20). Continue reading →

Being one of the good guys

Posted on February 18, 2020 by Friar Musings

From this morning’s gospel: “Jesus enjoined them, ‘Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.’” (Mark 8:15). Poor Pharisees; they really get a bad name and reputation. If you asked them, they would describe themselves as one of the good guys. They were born out of a movement of desire among the non-priestly class and the experience of the Babylonian Exile and centuries of foreign rule: “How did this happen to us?” It was a movement that understood the path to holiness as a people, as a nation, was through the individual living holiness in every aspect of their lives. To be fair, St. Francis of Assisi was part of a larger lay-led spirituality movement of the 12th century that emerged in many countries across western Europe as the western world emerged from the dark age. There are many modern biblical scholars that would see many similarities with Jesus and the Pharisaic movement. Continue reading →

Trust and Signs

Posted on February 17, 2020 by Friar Musings

In today’s gospel, the Pharisees ask Jesus for a sign from heaven. They are testing him because they have no faith nor trust in him. Interestingly, faith-belief-trust, etymologically it is the same word in Greek. So rather than think about “faith” which sometimes befuddles people, let’s consider “trust” and our own experience of trust. Why do we trust some, not others? Continue reading →

What’s Going On – Part 2

Posted on February 15, 2020 by Friar Musings

Last week this column space was dedicated to “what’s going on” with the Annual Pastor Appeal and a new parish communications system, Flocknote. There was enough to say that it took up the whole page, but there is still a lot more “going on.”

Destination: True North Fun-raiser. There is more information in this bulletin about the event on page 4. I would so like you to be there – and, trust me, you want to be there. Last year was so much fun. It was great to see the marvelous cross section of our parish there – from the Young Professionals to “seasoned” Professionals, the young families to the empty nesters, and every other way you might think about parishioners. Even some of our more mature, experienced parishioners were there – and they were able to enjoy the full range of the ship because there is an elevator! Continue reading →

Plugged In

Posted on February 14, 2020 by Friar Musings

I am currently reading a biography of Thomas A. Edison by Edmund Morris (who also wrote the Theodore Roosevelt trilogy). Although Edison was profoundly hearing-impaired, he nonetheless had an amazing ability to sense/detect sound distortions in recording that astonished sound and electrical engineers of his day. It was as though he was “plugged into” a new level of hearing and discernment – at least in that one area of his life. Continue reading →

friarmusings

the musings of a Franciscan friar…

Category Archives: Musings