The New Lent

“The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert.” (Mk 1:12)

The New Lent

February 26, 2012, 1^st Sunday of Lent

Genesis 9:8-15     I Peter 3:18-22      Mark 1:12-15

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark

Glory to you, Lord.

The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert, and He remained there for forty days, tempted by the Devil. He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to Him.

After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Good News from God. "This is the time of fulfillment,” He said. “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Good News." 

The Gospel of the Lord

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Introduction

Wednesday, Feb. 29, 2012 - Leap Day

This coming Wednesday, Feb. 29, is Leap Day. In a Leap Year February has 29 days instead of the usual 28. Accordingly, a Leap Year has 366 days instead of the usual 365. Leap Years are necessary for keeping our calendar in alignment with the Earth's revolutions around the sun. It takes the Earth approximately 365.242199 (!) days to circle once around the Sun. However, our Gregorian calendar has only 365 days in a year, so if we didn’t add a day on Feb 29 every 4 years, we would lose almost 6 hours off our calendar every year. After 100 years, our calendar would be off by approximately 24 days! -- For simpler folks, a leap year is simply a year that has 366 days instead of 365.

How we got Lent and Ash Wednesday

On Ash Wednesday, this past February 22, we liturgically left Ordinary Time and entered the Extraordinary Time of Lent. Green (the color for Ordinary Time) is now exchanged for purple -- the centuries-old liturgical color for penance. In honor of the forty days Jesus spent in the desert fasting, the Council of Laodicea in 360 prescribed a penitential season of forty days in preparation for Easter. That’s how we get the forty days of Lent.

This year Easter is April 8. So counting back forty fast-days from April 8 (Sundays not counted because they’re not fast-days) made Wednesday, February 22, the first day of Lent this year of 2012. And because the Church smudges our clean foreheads with ashes on the opening day of Lent (bidding us to remember “that you are dust and unto dust you shall return”), that’s how we get Ash Wednesday.

Mark’s very sparse account

Jesus’ forty-day ordeal in the desert is always recounted on the first Sunday of Lent in all three liturgical cycles.  (Mt. 4:1-11; Mk. 1:12-13; Lk. 4:1-13)  Mark's account, however, is very sparse. It simply states that Jesus was tempted for forty days in the desert. It says nothing about Him fasting and getting hungry. It makes no mention of three specific temptations or of any conversation between Jesus and the Devil. 
                    

The three temptations according to Matthew and Luke

Mark’ account of Jesus’ temptation is so brief as to tell us very little. On the other hand, Matthew and Luke’s accounts are much more detailed and enlightening. Both evangelists mention three specific temptations, and each temptation is rejected by Jesus quoting Deuteronomy. In the first temptation Jesus, who has spent forty days and nights in the desert without  food, is tempted by the Devil to change stones (lying nearby on the desert ground) into bread. Jesus quotes Deuteronomy to the Devil: "It is written, 'Man doesn't live on bread alone; he also lives on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" (Mt. 4:4; Dt. 8:3) 

Then the Devil takes Jesus to the highest point of the Temple, and challenges Him to prove He is God’s Son, by throwing Himself down, and trusting that God’s angels would rescue Him from smashing his feet on the rocky ground below. Jesus again quotes Deuteronomy to the Devil: "It is also written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" (Mt. 4:7; Dt. 6:16)

Finally, the Devil takes Jesus to a very high mountain, and shows Him all the glitter of the world’s kingdoms, and promises to give it all to Him, if He would only bow down and worship him. A third time Jesus quotes Deuteronomy to the Devil: "Get away from me, Satan! It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God. He is the only one you should serve.'” (Mt. 4:10; Dt. 6:13) Then the Devil leaves Jesus, and angels come to minister to Him.

Themes of the fast-fix and the gaudy

Scripture’s statement of Jesus’ three temptations in the desert is rich and artful, and there are as many interpretations of them as there are preachers. In Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky, the Grand Inquisitor asks Christ, “Dost thou think that all the combined wisdom of the world could have invented anything in depth and force equal to the three temptations put thee by the wise and mighty Spirit in the desert?” (Ch. V, Bk. V).  

This preacher sees themes of `the fast-fix’ and `the gaudy’ underlining the three temptations. In the first one the Devil tempts Jesus, saying, “Change these stones into bread.”(Mt. 4:3)  Changing stones into bread smacks, indeed, of the gaudy. What’s more, it’s a fast-fix for bread. There is no fast-fix for bread; there’s only the long haul: wheat ground into flour, flour kneaded into dough and dough baked into bread.

When that attempt fails, the Devil takes Jesus high up to the steeple of the Temple and challenges Him to prove He’s the Son of God by jumping from the Temple’s heights, and counting on God’s angels to snatch Him up before dashing his feet on the stones below. (Mt. 4:5-6; Ps. 91, vs. 12) That temptation also smacks of the gaudy and the fast-fix. Proving one’s self a Son of God comes only through the long haul.

One last try: the Devil takes Jesus to a very high mountain, shows Him all the gold, glitter and glory of the world’s kingdoms spread out before them,, and promises, “I will give you all this, if you will drop to your knees and worship me. (Mt. 4:8) That temptation also smacks of the fast-fix and the gaudy.

The God of the new Lent

Some of us remember the God of the old Lent, who had gone into a deep pout or anger because of our sins, and needed to be appeased with forty days of glum and gloom. At the end of the day, such a God is not much better than the angry gods of ancient Greece and Rome, who needed to be placated. Before giving up meats, mints and movies, or anything else that makes life pleasant, the new Lent invites us to give up our pouting or angry God.

The God of the new Lent is the God described by Jesus in his immortal Parable of the Prodigal Son. An upstart son grabs his inheritance, takes off for a foreign land where he squanders his money on parties and prostitutes. When he’s reduced to slopping the pigs, he `changes his mind’ (the root meaning of repentance) and decides to return to his father’s house. When the father (who has been waiting and praying for his son’s return) spies him on the horizons, returning home, he’s overcome with joy and runs out to meet him. The son (prodigal with his inheritance) falls into the arms of a father (prodigal with forgiveness and love). The father wraps his son’s skeletal body in a rich robe, places a ruby ring on his boney finger, straps soft sandals to his son’s calloused feet, and orders that his fatted calf be slaughtered, and that a great banquet be prepared, to celebrate a son who was lost but now has been found. (Lk 15:1-24)

In the old Lent God needed to be appeased with Lenten penance. In the new Lent God is like the prodigal father looking to the horizons, hoping and praying to see his wayward son returning home. In the new Lent God is described as “rich in mercy, swift with forgiveness and slow with retribution,” as the first reading at Mass on Ash Wednesday, reminds us. (Joel 2:13) The new Lent is not about God changing His mind about us; it’s about us changing our own minds about matters that need to be changed.

The fast of the new lent

The fast of the old Lent concentrated on food. Only one full meal a day was allowed, plus a sparse breakfast and lunch. All eating in between meals was strictly forbidden. All Fridays were days of strict abstinence from meat. After Vatican II, the emphasis on food has been greatly toned down. Now there are only two obligatory days of fast: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. And only the Fridays of Lent are strict days of abstinence.

After Vatican II, the fast of the new Lent concentrates on something more important than simply cutting down on food (though cutting down on food is, indeed, important for us Americans; 33% percent of us are obese!)  In the first reading from the prophet Isaiah at Mass on the Friday after Ash Wednesday, the Lord God says,  

This is the kind of fasting I, the Lord, want from you: release those bound unjustly, untie the yoke of injustice and set free the oppressed. Share your food with the hungry, open your home to the homeless, clothe the naked, and do not refuse to help your own relatives. (Is 58: 6-7)

In days past, we used to add little penances of our own to the Church’s fast and abstinence -- like giving up candy or movies for the forty days of Lent. (Such little privations in some strange way always seemed to make God happy.) The new Lent does not concentrate on penances imposed on us either by the Church or ourselves but on those penances imposed on us by life itself. The new Lent spells out fasting in the same spirit of the prophet Isaiah.

This is the kind of fasting, I, the Lord, want from you in Lent 2012: You who have been bereaved of a beloved spouse this past year – that’s your Lenten fast. You who are coping with a serious illness - that’s your Lenten fast. You who have to carry the emotional and financial weight of a chronically ill child  – that’s your Lenten fast. You who have to deal with loss of job or home foreclosure in these hard economic times - that’s your Lenten fast.  Etc.

Conclusion

The new Lent

One of the many Prefaces for Lent prays: 

Father, all-powerful and ever-living God, we do well always and everywhere

to give you thanks through Jesus Christ our Lord. Each year you give us this joyful season when we prepare to celebrate the paschal mystery with mind and heart renewed. You give us a spirit of loving reverence for you, our Father, and of willing service to our neighbor. As we recall the great events that gave us new life in Christ, you bring the image of your Son to perfection within us. Now, with angels and archangels, and the whole company of heaven, we sing the unending hymn of your praise:

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts.

Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

The new Lent does not send us off on a glum and gloomy journey of forty days. Rather, it ushers in “a joyful season” peaking in spring and Easter. The new Lent is not for appeasing an angry God. Rather, it is to “bring the image of your Son to perfection within us.” The new Lent doesn’t say goodbye to the nice things of life. Rather, it says hello to “willing service to our neighbor.” The new Lent puts us prodigal children in touch with a prodigal Father who is “rich in mercy, swift with forgiveness and slow with retribution.” (Joel 2:13)

No Homily

No Homily

A Pope and a Priest with a Mother-in-law

Fr. Tom McMichael, husband, father and priest

A Pope and a Priest with a Mother-in-law

February 5, 2012, 5^th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Job 7:1-4, 6-7   I Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23    Mk 1:29-39

Alleluia, alleluia.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke

Glory to you, Lord.

On leaving the synagogue Jesus went to Peter’s home, and there he saw Peter’s mother-in-law sick in bed with a fever. When He heard she was sick, He went to her bedside, grasped her hand and helped her up.  The fever immediately left her and she began to serve lunch.

By sunset the courtyard was packed with people who were sick and possessed by demons, who were brought to Him for healing. A huge crowd from Capernaum gathered around to watch.  He healed many of the sick and drove out many demons. (But He refused to allow the demons to speak, for they knew perfectly well who He was.)

Jesus rose very early the next morning and went off by Himself into the wilderness to pray. Later on Simon and the others went looking for Him.  Finding Him they said, “Everybody is asking for you.” He said to them, “We must go to other towns as well and preach the good news there also, for that is why I came.” So He traveled throughout the province of Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and driving out demons.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Introduction

A super event: a nesting robin

Here it is February 5 --the first Sunday of the second month of the new year. Robins have already arrived here in southern Texas. They will pause here a few days before continuing their journey north. By early March they will arrive in Wisconsin. After building their nests according to an eternal blue-print, marvelously imprinted within them, they lay their nifty blue eggs in very fluffy nests made from nature’s scraps. And when a late spring snowstorm strikes, mother robin protects her eggs or newly hatched chicks with her extended wings. For some the yearly return of robins with their nesting routine is a super event to behold. For some it even beats Super Bowl XLVI which takes place today.

A full day in the life of Jesus

St. Mark’s gospel (written before the others – sometime between 66 and 70 AD.) is the shortest of the four gospels. It is fast-moving and begins not with Jesus’ birth as a babe in Bethlehem (as Matthew and Luke’s gospel begin) but with Jesus’ baptism as an adult. The healing of Peter’s mother-in-law is related in this first chapter of Mark, while it is found much later in chapter four of Luke and chapter eight of Matthew.

Early one Sabbath Jesus and his disciples went to the synagogue in Capernaum, where He taught with the ring of authority and not as the scribes. There He drove out a demon from a possessed man. Then He and his disciples left the synagogue around noon and went to Peter’s home nearby for lunch. Peter’s mother-in-law, however, was sick in bed with a high fever, and was in no condition to serve a meal. After Jesus commanded the fever to leave Peter’s mother-in-law, the happily healed woman got up and immediately served them lunch.

At sundown, however, the day was not yet over. Since healing on the Sabbath was forbidden by the Law, the townspeople had to wait till sundown (when the Sabbath ended) before bringing their sick and possessed to Jesus for healing. By nightfall, Jesus had put in a really full day, and He was exhausted. He who had no pillow of his own upon which to rest his head (Lk 9:58) found one that night in Peter’s house, where at long last He fell into a deep but short sleep. He rose early the next morning to find a place where He could be alone and pray, and make some sense out of his very busy life.

A full day in many people’s lives

For the sake of their families, people rise at early dawn to go to work. After a busy day at work, they wearily rush home on crowded city streets or express-ways, to replenish themselves with family, food and sleep. At home they might find a sick family member who needs attention, or a nagging problem waiting to be solved, or an unexpected eventuality to be dealt with. Early the next day they rise to start the round all over again. Some, exhausted like Jesus, seek a place where they can be alone and pray, in order to make some sense out of the race which daily they’re forced to run. The race becomes even more stressful in economically depressed times. The gospel account of a full day in the life of Jesus resonates well with a full day in many peoples’ lives.

A pope with a mother-in-law

The gospel relates that Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law.  Peter (the man who in Catholic tradition is considered to be the first pope) had a mother-in-law. In order to have a mother-in-law Peter had to have a wife. The first pope not only had a mother-in-law, he also had a wife! That, indeed, sounds strange to some Catholic ears. For some it even sounds irreverent or blasphemous. It shouldn’t sound irreverent or blasphemous.  Peter and the other apostles were real people with wives, mother-in-laws, kids, and family dogs and cats. The fact that Peter, the first pope, was a married man with a family immediately dismisses any claim that celibacy is a strict theological requirement for ministry in the Church.[1]

A priest with a mother-in-law

In November of 2005, Pastor McMichael, a married man with two sons (19 and 21), who served in Lutheran churches in Washington and Oregon for two decades, informed his Lutheran congregation that he was resigning to become a Catholic. He took that bold step without any assurance he would be able to continue his clerical calling which he greatly cherished. He later remarked, "Perhaps the most difficult part of this was giving that up, and not being sure if I would be able to continue [to minister]. There was no guarantee that this door would open." That door, indeed, did open. McMichael finally got word that the Vatican approved his ordination to the priesthood, after a three-year process of tests and interviews.

With his wife of 23 years and his two sons at his side, Tom McMichael was ordained a priest on January 10, 2009, in St. James Cathedral, making him the first married priest in the Seattle Archdiocese. Father McMichael, who doesn't want to be a poster child for the married priesthood, is careful to tell us, “This is not the first step into married clergy." He makes it a point to emphasize that he's simply “an exception to the celibacy rule.”

On Jan. 11, Father McMichael celebrated his first Mass at Assumption Church in Bellingham, WA -- a parish which is a rainbow of ethnic groups, income levels and theological viewpoints. After Mass he stood in front of the altar, and the diverse congregation was united as it clapped its hands in heartfelt acceptance and blessing.

‘Tea-pot-tempests’

Some Catholics might find it hard to interiorize the idea of a married pope or a married priest. Many of us remember the not-very-long-distant past when we found it very difficult to interiorize married deacons who could baptize our children, or lay people (male or female!) who could be ministers of the Eucharist. More importantly, we recall now how easily and how quickly most of us have weathered those storms – those ‘tea-pot-tempests.’

It is not possible.

The ordination of McMichael, husband and father, took place in 2009. Sixteen years before, in 1993, Archbishop Rembert Weakland OSB of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee went to Rome for his ad limina[2] visit to the Pope. Two years before in 1991, Archbp. Weakland, wishing to address the problem of priest-shortage afflicting his archdiocese and the Church at large, wrote a pastoral letter to his archdiocese. In it he courageously wrote:

If it became evident that no resident priest would be available for a parish, and that there was no prospect of getting one in the near future, I would be willing to help the community surface a qualified candidate for ordination to the priesthood – even if a married man - and without raising false expectations or unfounded hope for him or the community, present such a candidate to the Pastor of the Universal Church [the Pope] for light and guidance. (Catholic Herald, January 10, 1991) 

On the occasion of Weakland’s 1993 ad limina visit, a letter was hand-delivered to him from the prefect of the Congregation for Bishops. The letter scolded Rembert for suggesting that the Church should ordain married men to solve its critical shortage of priests. The letter made it clear to Weakland that “Among the requirements of Catholic unity there is the need [for you Rembert Weakland] to accept the tradition of the Church. According to ecclesial practice, reinforced by a Synod of Bishops, it is not possible to present married men for ordination to the priesthood.”

It is possible.

That was in 1993. Sixteen years later, strange to say, it suddenly is possible to present married men for ordination to the priesthood! On January 10, 2009, Tom McMichael, husband and father of two, was ordained a priest!

The voice of the people

An old dictum says Vox populi – vox Dei – “The voice of the people – the voice of God.” Both truth and untruth lurk in every proverb, and this one is no exception. We remember, because we cannot forget, that the voice of the people in Germany shouted “Heil Hitler.” That could hardly have been the voice of God, as the Nazi proceeded to put to death six million Jews. At most and at best, Vox populi – vox Dei means that sometimes in the voice of the people there is, indeed, an echo of the voice of God, and we must discern and heed it.

The voice of one of God’s people reacting to the ordination of Tom McMichael (husband and father) said,

This is a good thing. It’s a start and a good argument for ending the celibacy rule. Suppressing one’s natural sexual tendencies is not healthy, and it leads to evil acts committed against children. Only the Roman Church has a celibate priesthood, and it’s time to stop.

Another voice said,

I don’t see the Church surviving without changing her ways. There are places where one priest has to drive 50 miles to serve 4 or more churches on a typical weekend where there used to be at least 3 full-time priests. It is not possible to get the spiritual support you need in these conditions.

Still another voice said,

The first married priest in the Archdiocese of Seattle and one of only about 100 in the whole US – I never thought I’d see the day!  Like Obama’s inauguration which gave me hope for our nation, I have great hope again for the Church. Change comes slowly, painfully slow for many, including myself, but change is happening, has happened and I couldn’t be prouder.

Conclusion

No such thing as married or unmarried

After his first Mass Father McMichael stood in front of the altar and before a congregation which was a rainbow of ethnic groups, income level and theological viewpoints. Despite that great diversity, the whole congregation broke out into a resounding applause, clapping its hands in heartfelt acceptance and blessing. That congregation had Paul’s word to the Galatians ringing in its ears: “There is no such thing as Jew or Greek, slave and freeman, male and female, [married and unmarried], but all of you are one in Christ Jesus. (Gal 3:28)

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[1] The merit of celibacy as a disciplinary requirement is another question.

[2] Ad limina is Latin for “To the threshold” Every five years a bishop must  make a visit to the Pope’s threshold  to give a report about his diocese .