- VATICAN CITY, FEB. 4,
2010 (Zenit.org).-
Here is Benedict XVI's message for Lent, which was
published today by the Vatican press office. The
message has as its theme: "The Justice of God Has
Been Manifested Through Faith in Jesus Christ."
Lent begins Feb. 17.
"The Justice of God Has Been Manifested Through Faith in Jesus Christ"
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
Each year, on the occasion of Lent, the Church invites us to a sincere review of our life in light of the teachings of the Gospel. This year, I would like to offer you some reflections on the great theme of justice, beginning from the Pauline affirmation: "The justice of God has been manifested through faith in Jesus Christ" (cf. Rm 3, 21-22).
Justice: "dare cuique suum"
First of all, I want to consider the meaning of the term "justice," which in common usage implies "to render to every man his due," according to the famous expression of Ulpian, a Roman jurist of the third century. In reality, however, this classical definition does not specify what "due" is to be rendered to each person. What man needs most cannot be guaranteed to him by law. In order to live life to the full, something more intimate is necessary that can be granted only as a gift: we could say that man lives by that love which only God can communicate since He created the human person in His image and likeness. Material goods are certainly useful and required – indeed Jesus Himself was concerned to heal the sick, feed the crowds that followed Him and surely condemns the indifference that even today forces hundreds of millions into death through lack of food, water and medicine – yet "distributive" justice does not render to the human being the totality of his "due." Just as man needs bread, so does man have even more need of God. Saint Augustine notes: if "justice is that virtue which gives every one his due ... where, then, is the justice of man, when he deserts the true God?" (De civitate Dei, XIX, 21).
What is the Cause of Injustice?
The Evangelist Mark reports the following words of Jesus, which are inserted within the debate at that time regarding what is pure and impure: "There is nothing outside a man which by going into him can defile him; but the things which come out of a man are what defile him … What comes out of a man is what defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts" (Mk 7, 14-15, 20-21). Beyond the immediate question concerning food, we can detect in the reaction of the Pharisees a permanent temptation within man: to situate the origin of evil in an exterior cause. Many modern ideologies deep down have this presupposition: since injustice comes "from outside," in order for justice to reign, it is sufficient to remove the exterior causes that prevent it being achieved. This way of thinking – Jesus warns – is ingenuous and shortsighted. Injustice, the fruit of evil, does not have exclusively external roots; its origin lies in the human heart, where the seeds are found of a mysterious cooperation with evil. With bitterness the Psalmist recognises this: "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me" (Ps 51,7). Indeed, man is weakened by an intense influence, which wounds his capacity to enter into communion with the other.
By nature, he is open to sharing freely, but he finds in his being a strange force of gravity that makes him turn in and affirm himself above and against others: this is egoism, the result of original sin. Adam and Eve, seduced by Satan’s lie, snatching the mysterious fruit against the divine command, replaced the logic of trusting in Love with that of suspicion and competition; the logic of receiving and trustfully expecting from the Other with anxiously seizing and doing on one’s own (cf. Gn 3, 1-6), experiencing, as a consequence, a sense of disquiet and uncertainty. How can man free himself from this selfish influence and open himself to love?
Justice and Sedaqah
At the heart of the wisdom of Israel, we find a profound link between faith in God who "lifts the needy from the ash heap" (Ps 113,7) and justice towards one’s neighbor. The Hebrew word itself that indicates the virtue of justice, sedaqah, expresses this well. Sedaqah, in fact, signifies on the one hand full acceptance of the will of the God of Israel; on the other hand, equity in relation to one’s neighbour (cf. Ex 20, 12-17), especially the poor, the stranger, the orphan and the widow (cf. Dt 10, 18-19). But the two meanings are linked because giving to the poor for the Israelite is none other than restoring what is owed to God, who had pity on the misery of His people. It was not by chance that the gift to Moses of the tablets of the Law on Mount Sinai took place after the crossing of the Red Sea. Listening to the Law presupposes faith in God who first "heard the cry" of His people and "came down to deliver them out of hand of the Egyptians" (cf. Ex 3,8). God is attentive to the cry of the poor and in return asks to be listened to: He asks for justice towards the poor (cf. Sir 4,4-5, 8-9), the stranger (cf. Ex 22,20), the slave (cf. Dt 15, 12-18). In order to enter into justice, it is thus necessary to leave that illusion of self-sufficiency, the profound state of closure, which is the very origin of injustice. In other words, what is needed is an even deeper "exodus" than that accomplished by God with Moses, a liberation of the heart, which the Law on its own is powerless to realize. Does man have any hope of justice then?
Christ, the Justice of God
The Christian Good News responds positively to man’s thirst for justice, as Saint Paul affirms in the Letter to the Romans: "But now the justice of God has been manifested apart from law … the justice of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction; since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith" (3, 21-25).
What then is the justice of Christ? Above all, it is the justice that comes from grace, where it is not man who makes amends, heals himself and others. The fact that "expiation" flows from the "blood" of Christ signifies that it is not man’s sacrifices that free him from the weight of his faults, but the loving act of God who opens Himself in the extreme, even to the point of bearing in Himself the "curse" due to man so as to give in return the "blessing" due to God (cf. Gal 3, 13-14). But this raises an immediate objection: what kind of justice is this where the just man dies for the guilty and the guilty receives in return the blessing due to the just one? Would this not mean that each one receives the contrary of his "due"? In reality, here we discover divine justice, which is so profoundly different from its human counterpart. God has paid for us the price of the exchange in His Son, a price that is truly exorbitant. Before the justice of the Cross, man may rebel for this reveals how man is not a self-sufficient being, but in need of Another in order to realize himself fully. Conversion to Christ, believing in the Gospel, ultimately means this: to exit the illusion of self-sufficiency in order to discover and accept one’s own need – the need of others and God, the need of His forgiveness and His friendship. So we understand how faith is altogether different from a natural, good-feeling, obvious fact: humility is required to accept that I need Another to free me from "what is mine," to give me gratuitously "what is His." This happens especially in the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist. Thanks to Christ’s action, we may enter into the "greatest" justice, which is that of love (cf. Rm 13, 8-10), the justice that recognises itself in every case more a debtor than a creditor, because it has received more than could ever have been expected.
Strengthened by this very experience, the Christian is moved to contribute to creating just societies, where all receive what is necessary to live according to the dignity proper to the human person and where justice is enlivened by love.
Dear brothers and sisters, Lent culminates in the Paschal Triduum, in which this year, too, we shall celebrate divine justice – the fullness of charity, gift, salvation. May this penitential season be for every Christian a time of authentic conversion and intense knowledge of the mystery of Christ, who came to fulfill every justice. With these sentiments, I cordially impart to all of you my Apostolic Blessing.
From the Vatican, 30 October 2009
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
© Copyright 2010 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Lent Events at Resurrection Parish
(Tentative Subject to change)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wednesday |
Ash Wednesday Mass
and Distribution of Ashes (A Penitential Service with Distribution of Ashes will be held at 12:00 noon) |
7:00 am 5:30 pm |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Take this link to the Holy Week Schedule at Resurrection Parish
|
||||
Preste Acontecimientos en Parroquia de Resurrección
(Tentativo sujeto cambiar)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tome este lazo al Horario Santo de Semana en Parroquia de Resurrección
|
||||
Traditions Practices of Lent:
(with excerpts from
Building Catholic Family Traditions
by Paul and Lisa Thigpen)
The season of Lent is one of the oldest traditions of the Catholic calendar. This period of time, beginning with Ash Wednesday (the Wednesday of the seventh week before Easter) and ending with Easter itself, has provided many generations of Catholics with a chance to deepen their spiritual lives through prayer, self-examination, and small acts of self-sacrifice.
At the heart of the Lenten custom is the idea of fasting, that is, of voluntarily giving up some kind of food or drink as a way of exercising self-discipline and concentrating on spiritual matters. Since Sunday is considered a day of celebration, the Sundays during this season are exempt from the fast. But the remaining forty days, recalling Jesus’ forty-day fast in the wilderness, offer us a time to give up something to God as a token of our love.
Requirements of Fasting and Abstinence During Lent
In 1966 Pope Paul VI reorganized the Church's practice of public penance in his "Apostolic Constitution on Penance" (Poenitemini). The 1983 revision of the Code of Canon Law incorporated the changes made by Pope Paul. Not long after that, the U.S. bishops applied the canonical requirements to the practice of public penance in our country.
To sum up those requirements, Catholics between the ages of 18 and 59 are obliged to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. In addition, all Catholics 14 years old and older must abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and all the Fridays of Lent. Pastors and parents are to see to it that minors, though not bound by the law of fast and abstinence, are educated in the authentic sense of penance and encouraged to do acts of penance suitable to their age.
Fasting as explained by the U.S. bishops means partaking of only one full meal. Some food (not equaling another full meal) is permitted at breakfast and around midday or in the evening—depending on when a person chooses to eat the main or full meal.
Abstinence forbids the use of meat, but not of eggs, milk products or condiments made of animal fat.
The Code of Canon Law and our bishops remind us of other works and means of doing penance: prayer, acts of self-denial, almsgiving and works of personal charity. Attending Mass daily or several times a week, praying the rosary, making the way of the cross, attending the parish evening prayer service, teaching the illiterate to read, reading to the blind, helping at a soup kitchen, visiting the sick and shut-ins and giving an overworked mother a break by baby-sitting, all of these can be even more meaningful and demanding than simply abstaining from meat on Friday
Shrove Tuesday. The raucous behavior that some people engage in through the days just before Lent have earned Mardi Gras a bad reputation. But we need not let our disgust at such misdeeds keep our families from observing on this day the traditional feast one last time before the long fast. Pancakes have long been a customary food for Mardi Gras: In the days when not only meat, but also eggs, milk, cooking fat, and butter were given up for Lent, what was left of these goods in the pantry was used up in a pancake supper, which is still the tradition in many homes. At the same time, we should remember that the day is also called "Shrove Tuesday" because it was customary for Catholics to be "shriven" (to receive absolution in the sacrament of Penance) on this day. This healthy tradition encourages us to begin Lent by seeking to be reconciled with God.
Ash Wednesday. This first day of Lent receives its name from the penitential ashes imposed by the priest on our foreheads in the shape of a cross. Receiving the ashes, as well as the obligatory fasting and abstinence from meat, are all important Catholic traditions whose meaning can be deepened if we take time to discuss them with our families. In some homes, a further symbolic gesture is made to signify penance, such as collecting from around the house the blessed palms from the Palm Sunday of the year before, then burn them and bury the ashes. These actions remind us that we must be purged of our sin. They also teach children that objects which have become Sacramentals through the blessing of the Church should not be thrown away like other things, but should be destroyed by natural agents.
Lenten disciplines. The Lenten sacrifice that begins on Ash Wednesday varies from person to person and from year to year. In addition to the required abstinence, sometimes we give up favorite foods, sometimes pleasurable activities. For many of us, the choice may not be to give something up, but to add something to our daily lives during Lent. We may commit ourselves to extra prayer time. We may decide to do some service to the poor, once a week during Lent. We may choose to increase our almsgiving to the poor - perhaps related to something we choose not to do, e.g., some might choose not to go out to eat one night a week, and to give that total amount to the poor.
We take into consideration several factors when we each decide how we’ll fast, and we talk them over as a family:
• First, the thing we give up must be something we genuinely value, perhaps a dessert, a favorite beverage, or a cherished pastime. Otherwise, the sacrifice loses its meaning.
• Second, the sacrifice should be reasonable rather than extreme.
• Third, if possible, give up something that you’re better off avoiding for a season anyway. Sweets, soft drinks, and caffeine are foods that would fall into that category; television viewing would make a healthy choice as an activity to give up for Lent.
• The discipline of self-sacrifice is only part of the Lenten tradition. We set aside this season to bring us closer to God and to make us more like Him, so there should be a taking on of positive things as well as a giving up of others. For that reason, we make it a custom to spend extra time in regular prayer during the days of Lent, talking with God especially about the ways we need to change our lives. Families that can’t attend Mass every day throughout the year often make arrangements to do so throughout Lent. Eucharistic adoration and the Stations of the Cross are especially meaningful Lenten devotions for a family to practice together.
• One natural way to focus on positive acts of devotion is to dedicate to godly purposes whatever time or money we save from the things we give up. If we "fast" television viewing, for example, the extra time on our hands would be well spent in reading Scripture, praying, keeping a spiritual journal, or helping others. If we would normally spend a certain amount on items like dessert or soft drinks, we can collect that money in a jar on the family dining table and give it to someone in need at the end of the season.
Despite the subdued atmosphere of Lent, with its focus on repentance and its forgoing of pleasures, this tradition can bring your family a renewed sense of peace. By consciously cultivating personal spiritual growth for these few weeks, you can rediscover right priorities and the Easter celebration waiting at the end will feel more festive than ever!