Pope Francis in a recent Papal Audience talked broadly about the nature of fasting during the Lenten season. It is a good reminder that we are able to “fast” from many things and not necessarily just food. Take a few minutes to watch/listen to the teaching from the Pope.
In most commentaries there are discussions focused on the unity of composition (i.e., were there later editors?), date and purpose of the writing, questions of text preservation (consistency among known copies), underlying theology, and the “Sign of Jonah” from Matthew 12:40. If you are interested in a “deep dive” into some of these topics, any scholarly text will provide lots of details. Let me just provide a few thoughts – not trying to rehearse all the opinions and arguments, but simply offering what makes the most sense to me.
Ash 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 Saturday, March 20, 2021 and the first full moon after that occurs on Sunday, Mach 28th. Therefore, Easter Sunday is celebrated this year on April 4th. If you want to know the date of Ash Wednesday, just count backwards 46 days and you get February 17th. Continue reading
In today’s readings for Ash Wednesday, we encounter Jesus in the midst of the “Sermon on the Mount” from the Gospel of Matthew. As my friend, Fr. Bill points out, the entire context of these verses is that prayer, fasting, and alms giving are a “given.” Jesus is operating out of the understanding that faithful people already are doing those things. In other words, Jesus doesn’t recommend a new set of practices, rather he addresses the underlying attitude about those practices.
Before we dive into the Book of Jonah, we need to understand what we are reading, in other words, the literary genre. Why? Simply put, you read a newspaper differently than a novel. You read poetry different than history. It is good to understand what the literary genre of Jonah is because there are many different literary types in the OT, including laments, love songs, parables, apocalypses, and histories. Jonah is generally included with the so-called “Minor Prophets” such as Joel, Obadiah and Micah, so perhaps it straight-up prophecy?
The opening of the book is classic: “This is the word of the LORD that came to Jonah, son of Amittai” (Jonah 1:1; also again in 3:1). This is the classic introduction of a prophetic work. Consider the Book of Micah that immediately follows Jonah in your Bible. Micah is seven chapters of his poetic word oracles, speeches and accounts of visons. But Jonah is not a collection of poetic word, visions, etc. It is a narrative.
Lent is a penitential season when we’re encouraged to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation: to go to confession. Some people look forward to doing this – others, not so much! Many just don’t think they need to go – for lots of reasons. Don’t plan to celebrate the sacrament this Lent? Here are a dozen reasons you can choose from!
Today’s first reading continues with the accounts in the Book of Genesis. We move from the story of Cain and Abel at the beginning of Genesis 4 to the story of Noah in Genesis 6. Let me fill in the highlights in between. The descendants of Cain are described in terms of violence (Lamech) and yet at the same time as craftsmen, nomads, and minstrels. We also learn that Adam and Eve have another son, Seth, who is described – not in terms of occupation – but in terms of the practice of worshiping God as Seth’s lineage “began to invoke the LORD by name.” (Gen 4:26). Genesis 5 is a genealogy of the generations from Seth to Noah. – and his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Taking the text literally, between the sin of Cain and the Flood is a period of 1,600 years. Quite a long time to let things play out, so to speak.
Do you know the book of Jonah? Everyone knows the story, right? Jonah was a disobedient prophet who rejected his divine commission, tried to run away, was cast overboard in a storm and swallowed by a great fish, rescued in a marvelous manner, and returned to his starting point. Lots of people know this much of the story. But that is the briefest of summaries of just the first chapter. The summary above does not include a lot of information and perspective from the beginning verses. It ends up missing the point and trajectory of the first chapter and the whole book itself. There are three more chapters after the great fish and the subsequent rescue – and a lot more to know about the Book of Jonah.
In today’s first reading, the brothers Cain and Abel have just brought an offering to the Lord. Abel brought his best lamb to offer to God in sacrifice. Cain brought some of the first fruits of the harvest, but pointedly not the best. “The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not.” (Gen 4:5-6a)
Several commentaries offer that what follows in Genesis 4:6-7 is perhaps the most challenging verse facing translators in the Book of Genesis, or perhaps all of the Hebrew Scriptures. “So, the LORD said to Cain: “Why are you so resentful and crestfallen. If you do well, you can hold up your head; but if not, sin is a demon lurking at the door: his urge is toward you, yet you can be his master.”
“He shall dwell apart, making his abode outside the camp” – frightening and dreadful words. Spoken to leprous people in the wilderness, a people on the Exodus betwixt and between the slavery of Egypt and the promised land of Palestine. Words that ban, isolate, shun, and place someone beyond the connection to the community. These are words spoken to loved ones that pushed them from the routine of life into the wilderness. In modern life, we have our own words or lack of words that push people into a more modern wilderness where our loved ones are ghosted, cancelled, deleted, blocked and isolated – all this is a time when we all feel the effects of pandemic fatigue. Perhaps “outside the camp” sounds tempting during these safer-at-home days of the covid-19 pandemic. But this is different.
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