Fasting

Read more about the article Generosity

Generosity

“Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven“ (Mk 10:21)

Possession.  We usually think of Jesus curing the demoniac or movies about exorcism when we hear this word, but there are more layers and meanings than we realize at first glance. Everyone has possessions; simply having things, even a lot of things, is morally neutral.  It’s the value we place on these things in our lives that determines whether we possess things or our things possess us.  Of course, the more things we possess, the greater the challenge not to be possessed by them.  The sheer effort involved in maintaining, insuring, and securing our possessions grows as we accumulate more stuff. 

So where do we fall on the spectrum?  How closely do we resemble the rich young man in the Gospel who wants eternal life but is unwilling to part with his wealth to get it (Mk 10: 17-31)? We must ask ourselves: do we focus on gratitude for what we have been given, or do we focus on accumulating more possessions to elevate our status?  Do we appreciate the talent God has given us (or our ancestors) to amass things of beauty or do we get bored with what we have?  Are we genuinely happy for our friends and neighbors when they achieve what they have worked for or are we envious of their success?  Do we look for ways to share with others or do we assume everyone else wants to take our treasures?  If we are honest with ourselves, we are all in danger of being possessed by our things to some degree, so how do we break free of this?  More importantly, why should we want to? 

Breaking free begins with fasting and almsgiving.  Fasting forces us to focus on spiritual food.  If we cannot fast from a meal for health reasons, then we should fast from other things that occupy our time, for example, electronics, social media or binge watching sports on TV.  The whole point is to replace the time spent on eating (or surfing social media, etc) with prayer.  It is not so much a giving up of something we want, as it is of giving ourselves something better.  Fasting helps us to break free from envy and from our insatiable desires. It also gives us a chance to silence our self-criticism and the criticism of the evil one, who enumerates all our faults, to put ourselves in the presence of God who loves us and wants to heal our brokenness and strengthen our souls. 

Almsgiving gives us a chance to minister to Jesus in His beloved poor.  Jesus tells us, “The measure you measure with will be measured back to you.” (Mt 7:2)  Almsgiving requires us to trust God that we have enough for ourselves and enough to help others.  Almsgiving on a regular basis helps us to cultivate a spirit of generosity which moves us from worrying about our possessions to gratitude for our blessings. 

Once we break free of being possessed by our possessions, something amazing happens – we appreciate everything around us.  For example, I lost my favorite Crabapple tree to an early frost one year, but I always smile when I see the neighbor’s tree in bloom every spring because it is so beautiful. I can take walks and notice the gardens my neighbors have and appreciate their beauty without having to do all that weeding.   I can’t sing well, but listening to the beautiful voices of our choir profoundly touches my soul. 

Most importantly, when we are no longer consumed by thoughts of our possessions, we can focus our thoughts on Jesus. Our fasting and almsgiving enable us to surrender to the Holy Spirit Who assists us so that prayer becomes a joy and fills us with peace. We free up our mental space and our heart space to pursue our relationship with Jesus Who desires to make His home in our hearts. We open ourselves to the greatest possession of all: possessing God and being possessed by Him.

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Read more about the article What is Lent?

What is Lent?

From the Question Box: Why do Catholics have Lent and why do you fast?

Scripture tells us: “There is a season for everything, a time for every occupation under heaven: a time for giving birth, a time for dying; a time for planting, a time for uprooting what has been planted.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2)  We look to nature and the patterns that God created to understand the rhythms and cycles in nature and in our lives.  These cycles have a spiritual element as well as a physical element.  Just as God created cycles with day and night, the seasons, birth–life–death, our spiritual journey has a cycle as well.  God gave a time to plant and a time to harvest, and He also gives us a time for spiritual planting and spiritual harvesting.  Thus the cycle of Lent precedes Easter.

In our journey to become closer to God, we are often as consistent as the waves on the beach; the tide comes in, the tide goes out.  We experience the push and pull of having worldly demands as well as spiritual demands on our time.  There is a continual battle between our wants and our needs.  The gift of the seasons of the Church (and I mean all Christianity here) is therefore another sign of God’s great mercy and compassion for us.  He gives us the seasons in the Church to focus on different aspects of our spiritual progress.  Just as He gives us day to work and night to rest, He gives us Lent to really focus on drawing nearer to Him.

Lent maintains the Biblical patterns God set forth in Scripture.  Moses fasted for 40 days when he was with the Lord receiving the 10 Commandments (Ex 34:28). The forty days of Lent repeat the pattern of Jesus’ 40 days in the desert in which He fasted and prayed at the beginning of His public ministry (Lk 4:2-4). Lent is the time of spiritual planting through fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. 

 Jesus instructs his disciples how to fast in a way that is pleasing to God: “When you fast . . . wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others you are fasting . . . and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.” (Mt 6:16-18) Jesus models for us the incredible power of fasting when the disciples fail to cast out a demon and turn to Jesus who casts it out and explains, “This kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting.” (Matthew 17:20)  In the Acts of the Apostles, Luke gives numerous examples of the disciples fasting to know the Will of God (Acts 13:2), for spiritual strength before a great undertaking (Acts 13:3-4), and for spiritual growth and wisdom (Acts 14:23).  While Catholics often fast throughout the year, the Church calls us to be united in our fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

Lenten prayer amplifies our spiritual growth by looking deeply at Jesus’ suffering starting at Gethsemane.  Contemplating His sacrifice makes us grow in gratitude for the gift of salvation and grow in our understanding of His love for us.  One of the most important Lenten practices to assist us in this is the Stations of the Cross.  The community comes together, usually on Fridays, and meditates on the Gospel passages that center around Jesus’s walk to Calvary and His crucifixion and death. In this contemplation we are touched at the core of our being by the depth of His Love, and we are encouraged to see the need to become holier ourselves — because God calls each of us to be holy. – “Be holy, for I, Yahweh your God, am holy.” (Leviticus 19:2) “Thus He chose us in Christ before the world was made to be holy and faultless before Him in love.” (Ephesians 1:4) 

When we desire to become holier, we examine the areas of our lives in which we fall short.  Realizing that we cannot do this alone, we ask for His assistance and enter into prayer that will lead us to these graces.  We also offer up little sacrifices such as abstaining from meat (the Orthodox Church does this as well).  These practices increase our sensitivity to the needs of those in our world who need our service in order to experience the love of God in their lives.

The third tool of Lenten practice is almsgiving.  In looking to serve the needs of the poor, we are responding to His call.  What He desires from us is mercy and compassion.  Focusing on the needs of others and bringing the love of Christ to them through our ministry is how we also meet Christ.  In seeking to bless others, Our Lord in turn blesses us; in sharing His love with others, He increases His love in us; in being the face of Christ to others, we encounter Christ in them.  The measure we measure with is measured back to us.  “Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap; because the standard you use will be the standard used for you.” (Luke 6: 38)  By reaching out to others in love, we live our Christian faith, grow in love, and are better prepared to receive the graces and gifts of the Resurrection.

The joy of the Resurrection is as necessary in our spiritual cycle as eating is to the farmer.   Just as God does not ask the farmer to toil without ever being able to harvest his crop, He does not ask us to continually focus only on Our Lord’s sacrifice. The joy of the Resurrection is a spiritual joy, a gift that God gives us.  The Easter season lasts 7 weeks and culminates in the Feast of Pentecost.  This spiritual joy which blossoms from our labor nourishes and strengthens us to continue our journey. 

The Resurrection is central to the Christian faith and sets it apart from all other religions.  In no other religion does God Himself die for His people.  In no other religion does God then resurrect Himself.  It is this celebration which Catholics relive at every Mass.  The Lenten and Easter seasons deepen our connection to and involvement in the Mass and ultimately lead us to a deeper relationship with Jesus in the Eucharist, the source and summit of our faith.

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Read more about the article Baptism in the Jordan

Baptism in the Jordan

When we think of John the Baptist, we tend to picture a “fire and brimstone” preacher telling people to repent.  But the Baptism in the Jordan leads us in a better direction to reveal who John the Baptist was.  John was present when the Blessed Virgin Mary visited his mother Elizabeth.  He recognized his savior and leapt for joy in his mother’s womb.  From this moment we know that John was special. Luke 1:15 says “he will be filled with the Holy Spirit in his mother’s womb.”  The Holy Spirit filled John with sanctifying grace and he responded to this grace throughout his life.

John spent years fasting and praying.  Fasting magnifies our spiritual life and deepens our relationship with God far beyond what prayer alone can do.  Fasting allows us to see the things of God more clearly and be more open to the direction of the Holy Spirit.  So when John preached to the people, there was no doubt he was responding to the Holy Spirit.  And how does a preacher convince people to repent?  By being a force so full of love that people respond to him and his message.  He speaks in truth, yes, but also in love and mercy, drawing people in and inviting them into a deeper relationship with God.  In order to do this, John radiated peace, love, and joy.  He also radiated humility, “I am not worthy to untie the strap of his shoe.”  The people came to him in droves and confessed their sins.  As Catholics, we often choose to go to priests who connect with us, respond with love and understanding, and give us spiritual guidance. The people of John’s time were the same.  They came in droves because he did not condemn, but offered them love, hope, and mercy. 

St. John the Baptist was able to offer these gifts because he was a man of humility, the most misunderstood of the virtues. Humility is not putting ourselves down or wallowing in feelings of worthlessness.  On the contrary, humility is the grace to understand who God is as Creator, to know who we are as His creatures, and to see our neighbors as beloved souls created in the image and likeness of God.  In true humility we grow to love God more and seek a deeper relationship with Him.  Just as fasting magnifies our prayers, it also enables us to grow in humility, and as a result, experience the fruits of the Holy Spirit.  Because of John’s great humility, the Holy Spirit revealed the Messiah to him and he proclaimed for our benefit: “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (Jn 1:29).  He knew what most of Israel did not; he knew the Messiah would restore the people to the intimate relationship with God they had lost through Adam’s sin.

John’s call was a call to love, a call to willingly transform their hearts so that God could make His home there. The words of John still speak to us today, inviting us to transform our hearts through prayer and fasting.  Our Lord loves us so much that He offers us the same grace that He gave John — to come before Him face to face and experience the love that surpasses all others.  He humbles Himself in the form of bread and waits for us to approach in Eucharistic Adoration so that He may speak to us in the quiet of our hearts. And if we invite Him, He will make His home here.

Continue ReadingBaptism in the Jordan

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