The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today present the choices we contemplate during the season of Lent to transition to living a fuller life.
The reading from the Book of Deuteronomy presents the Choice Before Israel.
Psalm 1 describes the Two Ways
* [Psalm 1] A preface to the whole Book of Psalms, contrasting with striking similes the destiny of the good and the wicked. The Psalm views life as activity, as choosing either the good or the bad. Each “way” brings its inevitable consequences. The wise through their good actions will experience rootedness and life, and the wicked, rootlessness and death. (Psalms, PSALM 1, n.d.)
The Gospel of Luke presents the First Prediction of the Passion and the Conditions of Discipleship.
* [9:23] Daily: this is a Lucan addition to a saying of Jesus, removing the saying from a context that envisioned the imminent suffering and death of the disciple of Jesus (as does the saying in Mk 8:34–35) to one that focuses on the demands of daily Christian existence. (Luke, CHAPTER 9, n.d.)
Robby Francis comments that the season of Lent is a time for us to repent. Repentance doesn’t necessarily mean that we feel bad—though negative feelings may be a starting point for realizing we need to repent. Rather, it means that an internal change takes place that leads us to move in a new direction in our external life.
When we fast, we give up those things that have become barriers between us and God. Maybe we feel a stronger pull towards things that aren't necessarily good for us than we do toward God. Fasting is our way of sacrificing something to focus our eyes more on God and God’s desires for us.
When we give alms, we move outside of ourselves. We are made to be in community and care for others, yet selfishness can take over. When we choose to give from our excess, we become more aware of those around us and their needs. We may experience a deeper empathy for their situations. We may even experience seeing them as God sees them.
As we choose to pray more, we grow in our relationship with God. As in any relationship, the more time we spend with someone, the better we come to know the other. Perhaps when we first encounter someone, we immediately develop an impression of them, but over time as we learn about their life, our impression changes. It is no different with prayer. The more time we spend with God, the more unhelpful images drop, and we come to know the God who is Love. Further, we come to know what is important to God, and we desire to live as co-creators who bring that vision to life. (Francis, 2024)
Don Schwager quotes “God calls us to conversion,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 AD.
"God calls us to correct ourselves and invites us to do penance. He calls us through the wonderful gifts of his creation, and he calls us by granting time for life. He calls us through the reader and through the preacher. He calls us with the innermost force of our thoughts. He calls us with the scourge of punishment, and he calls us with the mercy of his consolation." (excerpt from Commentary on Psalm 102, 16) (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 9:22-25 comments that taking up our crosses requires denying our very human tendency to act out of our own self-interest. It means following Jesus’ example by loving God and our neighbor before ourselves. That, in turn, often requires a concerted effort to die to ourselves and our selfish desires.
Jesus wants us to follow him, even when that means taking up our crosses. Today, picture your Lenten journey as forty days of walking along behind the Lord, following in his footsteps, and carrying whatever cross he has given you. Know that he doesn’t just ask that you take up your cross. He gives you his Holy Spirit to make it possible.
“Lord Jesus, thank you for your Holy Spirit, who gives me the power and grace to carry my cross today.” (Meditation on Luke 9:22-25, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler comments on the very dualistic outlook of the Deuteronomy passage that presents two paths, life and death. We sometimes need this outlook to consider when we have compromised and tried to “hold two passports.” Friar Jude reminds us that Jesus referred to Himself as the Son of Man, a title familiar to Israel, that resonates with taking up the Cross and dying to self to serve God.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces Author and educator Belden Lane who recounts backpacking in the Ozark Mountains and finding inspiration in the work of Sufi mystic Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207–1273). For Rumi, the encounter with the holy is always anchored in earthy human experience. Knowing the Great Mystery—discerning the will of Allah—is, for him, more like falling in love than like receiving instruction from a written text.…
The heart of Rumi’s teaching lies in the Sufi concept of tawhid (or “oneness”). This is a longing for mystical union with the Beloved, with the divine lover from whom one has been separated.
To borrow another of Rumi’s metaphors, the shepherd has been “cooked” and softened—roasted over a fire so as to be transformed at last into the shape of love. This radical change can be excruciating. The chickpea screams when the cook throws it into the boiling water: “Why are you doing this to me?” But when he understands that the cooking is meant to give him flavor, vitality, and an altogether new life, the bean stops resisting and welcomes the process of conversion. “Boil me some more,” he cries. “Hit me with the skimming spoon. I can’t do this by myself.” [2]
Discipline is necessary to transition from the raw to the cooked. Only over time is the lover transformed into the image of the beloved…. Love is a school of fire, Rumi teaches. You embrace its mystery only in losing yourself, in finally becoming what you love. In the process, you discover that what you had thought to be entirely outside had been within you all along. (Rohr, 2024)
We are invited to the fullness of life in a special way in Lent by pondering the changes and transformation that the Spirit is calling us to accept as we move closer to Christ.
References
Deuteronomy, CHAPTER 30. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved February 15, 2024, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/deuteronomy/30?15
Francis, R. (2024, February 15). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved February 15, 2024, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/021524.html
Luke, CHAPTER 9. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved February 15, 2024, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/9?
Meditation on Luke 9:22-25. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved February 15, 2024, from https://wau.org/meditations/2024/02/15/896367/
Psalms, PSALM 1. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved February 15, 2024, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/1?1
Rohr, R. (2024, February 15). “Cooked” by Love — Center for Action and Contemplation. CAC Daily Meditations. Retrieved February 15, 2024, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/cooked-by-love/
Schwager, D. (n.d.). Take up Your Cross Daily and Follow Christ. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved February 15, 2024, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2024&date=feb15
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