Lent
2008:
A guide for spiritual preparation
Week
One
Our
Church and our world
By Janet Haggarty
Special to the CS&T
Catholic theology often addresses the relation between the Church and
the world. In his letters, St. Paul calls that relationship the struggle
between the spirit and the flesh.
For him, flesh refers to the world’s strong pull on us toward pleasure
and ease. Spirit, on the other hand, draws us toward holiness. But how
can spirit hope to compete with flesh? Flesh, the world, offers us so
much distraction and illusion; spirit is poor and comes with empty hands.
But the spirit, as St. Paul knows, is given to us to order the flesh toward
holiness, too. In this way, all is made holy. This is the fulfillment
and glory of the flesh: to be made one with spirit and placed at the service
of holiness.
St. Paul has seen the victorious union of flesh and spirit and sets it
before us as our hope. The victorious union that he witnessed is the Paschal
Mystery of our Lord. Our Lord Himself, then, is our hope that flesh and
spirit can be finally reconciled in us. For that reason, our hope is firmly
grounded.
This victorious union, this raising up of the flesh at the service of
holiness, is unveiled for us on Easter. It allows us to proclaim that
in our Lord the victory has already been won. Hope is the conviction that
there is communion between His flesh and ours, between His victory and
us.
When Catholic theology addresses the relation between the Church and the
world, it is to stress that the mission of the Church is to transform
the world.
We could just as easily say that the spirit transforms the flesh. They
are not simply intended to exist side-by-side. They certainly are not
intended to remain antagonists.
The Church draws the world to herself in order that the world may be put
at the service of holiness. The way in which the Church carries out that
mission is in the lives of her members. When we live our faith by placing
ourselves at the service of holiness, we carry out the Church’s
mission.
We are needed to transform the world. Knowing our participation in the
Church’s mission can bring a new and more fruitful perspective to
our lives. It becomes the substance of our spiritual lives. It is a fuller
way to live our faith.
The primary way by which the Church draws the world to herself in order
to transform it is by means of the Liturgy.
Real transformation can only happen through the liturgy. Only what is
drawn into the liturgy can be substantially transformed. Many celebrations
in the liturgical year sanctify man’s natural attempts at union
with God.
The liturgical year begins with an urgent sense of coming. This is Advent.
In ancient days, mankind observed that the daylight began to last longer
when the winter solstice arrived. Longer days and shorter nights in the
cold of winter caused much rejoicing.
Our Lady brought forth our Lord at the very time when the sun made its
triumphant return to the earth. Our heavenly Father allows the sun’s
return to direct our attention to the coming of another Son and the endless
Day He brings.
Harvest-time is another example of a celebration in the liturgical year
drawing the world into the Church.
In autumn, the harvest is ripe and the fruit of the earth is gathered
through the labor of the farmer, the same one who sowed the seed in the
spring. Through the sweat of his brow and the concerned anxiety of his
spirit, the farmer plants in order to reap.
The fruitfulness of his labor, which is revealed in the harvest, is the
joyful testimony he seeks. The fruitfulness gives meaning and purpose
to the labor. In this relation between the farmer and the fruit of the
earth, the Church recognizes the bloody sweat and labor of our Redeemer.
The threefold communion of saints — in heaven, on earth, and in
purgation celebrated at harvest-time — is the new fruit of the earth
giving joyful testimony to the victory of the Cross.
Dr. Janet Haggarty is a professor of systematic theology at St. Charles
Borromeo Seminary, Wynnewood. She has served on the Seminary faculty since
1995, after completing graduate studies at Fordham University, New York.
Fast
and abstinence and other acts of penance for Lent 2008
The Bishops of the United States prescribe, as minimal obligation, that
all persons who are 14 years of age and older are bound to abstain from
eating meat on Ash Wednesday, on all the Fridays of Lent and Good Friday.
Further, all persons 18 years of age and older, up to and including their
59th birthday, are bound to fast by limiting themselves to a single full
meal on Ash Wednesday and on Good Friday, while the other two meals on
those days are to be light.
All the faithful are encouraged, when possible, to participate at Mass
and to receive the Holy Eucharist daily, to celebrate frequently the sacrament
of penance, to undertake spiritual reading, especially the study of the
Sacred Scriptures, and to participate in parish Lenten devotions as well
as Lenten education programs.
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is especially recommended.
All are encouraged to participate in “Operation Rice Bowl,”
which has aided countless hungry persons here in the Archdiocese as well
as throughout our nation and our world.
Lunches
offer glimpses of our human family in need
By NADIA MARIA SMITH
CS&T Staff Writer
PHILADELPHIA — The terrifying reality of human trafficking will
be the first topic for the annual Operation Rice Bowl Lenten speaker series
sponsored by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in the Archdiocese this year.
Pravin Parshuram Patkar, founder and chairperson of Prerana, an organization
committed to fighting human trafficking and assisting its survivors in
India, will speak at the Lenten lunch at 12:15 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 13
in the Archdiocesan Office Center.
India is the world’s most active clandestine source, transit route
and destination point for the trafficking of women and girls into commercial
sexual exploitation. In Mumbai, where Patkar’s organization operates,
hundreds of thousands of women and girls are trafficked annually. He will
talk about how and why human trafficking happens in his country and what
Prerana and its partner, CRS-India, are doing about it.
“Rice Bowl is so much more than just a [monetary] collection,”
said Anne Ayella, CRS archdiocesan director and the organizer of the event.
“It really embraces the traditional practices of Lent ….
“What we try to do in those Wednesday sessions is to pray for the
country being highlighted that week, learn something about the people
and projects, have a simple meal and make a donation — if you want
— rounding out the Rice Bowl spirit,” she said.
In addition to India, the series will highlight how Operation Rice Bowl
helps individuals in the Philadelphia region as well as in Guatemala,
Mali, Haiti and Cameroon.
The speakers will include Sister Barbara Tickner, I.H.M., social service
coordinator for St. Katharine Drexel Social Services and Food Cupboard,
who will describe her local ministry and the way Operation Rice Bowl helps
in that work.
In addition, Candice Harris from the CRS northeast regional office will
talk about Guatemala, where she visited CRS projects. Geraldine O’Hare
will share about her longtime work with the people of Haiti through Hospice
St. Joseph, which was founded in 1989 by the Sisters of St. Joseph.
All sessions will be held at the Archdiocesan Center, 222 North 17th Street,
from 12:15 p.m. to 1:15 p.m., with a simple lunch of soup and bread provided.
The Feb. 14 session will be in the ground-floor auditorium, and subsequent
sessions will be in the 13th floor conference room. All are welcome.
For more information contact Anne Ayella at 215-895-3486 x717.
CS&T staff writer Nadia Maria Smith may be reached at npozo@adphila.org
or (215) 965-4614.
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Lent’s
40 days of ‘death’
lead to life
By Janet Haggerty
Special to the CS&T
The liturgical seasons of Lent and Easter are a further way by which the
Church transforms the world.
Easter always falls when springtime is upon us and new life is seen on
the earth. Just as nature prepares for spring, the Church renews our faith
lives through the yearly recurrence of Lent.
Year after year, we see new life appear out of the deadness of winter.
At first, it seems as if this new life vanquishes winter. But in reality,
winter and spring are not opponents.
Instead, winter is at the service of spring. Winter is the way the earth
is handed over so that life can come forth. The death that we see in nature
during winter is how new life is formed in a hidden way.
Along with nature’s seasons of winter and spring, we can think of
winter and spring in a spiritual sense, as descriptions of the spiritual
life. The relation between the deadness of winter and renewed life in
spring thus takes on a fuller meaning.
Revelation presents the hidden formation of new life in winter by means
of the number 40.
One famous example is the 40 years the Israelites wandered through the
desert before entering the Promised Land. On a map, the distance between
Egypt and Canaan is not so very great and could be traveled, even on foot,
in a matter of weeks, not years. Did the Israelites simply have bad directions?
That cannot be the case because God, Himself, dwelled at the head of the
people and guided them to the Promised Land.
Forty years in the desert and steady guidance from the Lord are not incompatible.
The purpose of the journey was not to get through the trip as quickly
as possible — new life awaited the Israelites, and that life was
formed through their 40-year journey.
Without those years in the desert, new life with the Lord could not have
happened. Their experiences during the 40 years revealed God to the people
in ways they would not have known without this extended “winter.”
The years also revealed the people to themselves: their sin and hardness
of heart.
For Noah and his clan, the deadness of winter happened as a 40-day flood.
Of course, a flood is very different from a desert, but the same pattern
applies: The Lord invites His people to cooperate with Him in bringing
forth new life.
Noah’s submission to the Lord’s command and the days of flooding
that followed purified the earth of sin, even if only temporarily and
in a limited way. The dove carried back testimony of new life from the
earth as the waters receded.
Also during the Israelites’ 40-year exodus, the Lord called Moses
up Mount Sinai, where Moses remained for 40 days and 40 nights.
The Lord described to Moses how he was to construct the dwelling place
of the Lord, the Ark of the Covenant, and the consecration of His priests
and their vestments, placed at the service of the altar.
The life coming forth from those 40 days was the presence of the Lord
in the midst of Israel and the call of faithfulness to the Law.
New life is also seen on the earth in the continued formation of the Chosen
People and their worship of the true God. They achieved renown as a people
through the 40-year reign of King David.
For Mary, as for all mothers, 40 weeks pass from the conception of our
Lord to His birth. And 40 days after Christmas, Jesus is presented in
the temple — the life that was formed in secret becomes the Light
of the world.
Forty days pass between Jesus’ resurrection and our celebration
of His ascension to heaven. Forty hours of Eucharistic devotion celebrate
the hidden work of redemption from the hour of our Lord’s death
to the hour of His resurrection from the dead.
Within that clearly established pattern, then, the Holy Spirit drives
our Lord into the desert for 40 days of prayer and fasting before He enters
into His public life.
Now, the 40 days of Lent place us in that saving tradition.
Dr. Janet Haggerty is an associate professor of systematic theology
at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Wynnewood. She has served on the Seminary
faculty since 1995, after completing graduate studies at Fordham University,
N.Y.
Operation
Rice Bowl addresses local needs
By NADIA MARIA SMITH
CS&T Staff Writer
Thirty million people live below the poverty line in the United States
— which means 30 million people cannot afford adequate food, housing,
health insurance or a good education.
That’s why contributing to programs such as Operation Rice Bowl
is so important: Twenty-five percent of the donations address local needs
such as stocking emergency food cupboards and soup kitchens, including
St. Katharine Drexel Social Services and Food Cupboard in Chester.
“We get 500 pounds of food a month [from Operation Rice Bowl] …
a great help to us, because we have a large number of poor here in Chester
— 300 people a month come here,” said Sister Barbara
Tickner, I.H.M, who is social services coordinator for the agency and
food cupboard.
Sister Barbara will speak about the history and work of the parish food
cupboard at 12:15 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 20 at the weekly Operation Rice
Bowl Lenten lunch series at the Archdiocesan Center. The lunches are sponsored
by Catholic Relief Services.
“[The] Rice Bowl is so much more than just a [monetary] collection,”
said Anne Ayella, the CRS diocesan director and organizer of the event.
“It really embraces the traditional practices of Lent.”
The Lenten lunch series aims to bring Catholics together to pray, fast
and experience solidarity as they learn about the plight of the poor in
Philadelphia and abroad.
The lunches are held on at 12:15 p.m. Wednesdays in the 13th floor conference
room at the Archdiocesan Center, 222 North 17th Street. They consist of
a meal of soup and bread, and will run through March 12. All are welcome.
For more information contact Anne Ayella at (215) 895-3486, ext. 717.
CS&T staff writer Nadia Maria Smith can be reached at npozo@adphila.org
or (215) 965-4614.
Lent:
Season of remembering
Guest
Columnist
By Father Leonard Peterson
Being old enough to remember the thrill of watching a steam engine go
past at the head of a train, for me the very mention of the word Lent
causes memory cells to stir with what are now dated images.
From the perspective of a 1950s kid, Lent was a long, dreary season. There
was, for example, the volunteered absence of candy in my life. (After
all, “What are you giving up for Lent?” was a perennial Catholic
question.)
Then came Fridays, marked with tuna sandwiches for lunch, and macaroni
and cheese for supper. Neither of those was that bad — but, ah!
when mackerel came out on the main plate, complete with bones, or canned
salmon with its pink and charcoal tones, then the idea of penance hit
home. Along with all that I would overhear adult conversations about what
constituted “breaking the fast,” although that wasn’t
yet my problem.
Another experience to be endured was Stations of the Cross for children
on Friday afternoons. There we were — 10 young Americans crammed
into a pew made for six, smelling of school and tuna, bouncing up and
down 14 times to the beat of our metal lunch boxes.
We never really understood St. Alphonsus’ foreign-sounding text,
with its “infamous gibbet,” but at least we had the artwork
of Christ’s suffering to follow. We all dreaded being caught being
less than devotional because the punishment was a forced kneeling in the
aisle as the priest and three altar boys processed around us. Lent ended
at noon on Holy Saturday, and one could potentially hit the bag of jelly
beans early, if they were available.
Ours was not an overly religious family, although our lives did center
around the parish and its school. The Friday arrival of this newspaper
in its old form was just as much a part of the routine as Sunday Mass.
The crucifix hung in our living room. My siblings and I all had our statues
of Mary. It fell to Mom to explain the origin of the ashes on Good Friday,
and the meaning of the “Mass of the Pre-Sanctified.” I was
an altar boy, and among other good deeds, Dad faithfully woke me and then
drove me to church in the dark when it was my turn to serve the early
Mass.
Present-day Lent offers a clear but soul-satisfying contrast to any negatives
of those bygone days. The Church presents the season as a kind of retreat,
or journey toward Easter, with an attendant purification of our souls
from all the post-baptismal clutter that accumulates over the course of
a year, or years.
Fasting is now largely an option, except on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday
— merely two mandated days out of 365 (or 356). Books have been
written about the health advantages of fasting. But the greatest book,
the Bible, speaks often about that way of recalling our dependence on
God for everything. Fasting also stands in stark contrast to the current
culture of ease, and answers the health problem of obesity.
The Stations of the Cross prayers have been beautifully expanded and adapted
for many age groups. I now find it my favorite Lenten devotion because
it recalls dramatically how far God’s love is prepared to go for
us.
The one remaining obstacle to a profitable, adult living out of Lent for
many people is the sacrament of reconciliation. There are several reasons
for that, I know. Some ask, for instance, “Why should I have to
tell my sins to a man?” Allow me to try a little logic. Jesus gave
His Apostles the power to forgive or retain sins. How would those simple
fishermen be able to judge what to do? Only by hearing the penitent’s
expression of sorrow and desire to reform. Their ordination did not make
the Apostles mind-readers. Nor did it erase their own personal failures.
It was Christ’s choice of them that gave them the task.
Does going to confession take faith? Absolutely. It also takes humility,
and sometimes not a little courage. Allow me to say that I have great
admiration for a person who has both.
Let me add that hearing confessions is one of the most satisfying and
rewarding of my priestly duties. To those who are fearful, allow me to
quote Pope John Paul II, who said at his installation, “Be not afraid!”
So here is Lent 2008, a long way from the 1950s. Trains can now travel
at more than 200 m.p.h. without a steam engine. Along with so much progress,
we now have a refined understanding of Lent as an invitation as well as
a grace — a time to take stock of our spiritual progress.
It’s a chance to trek down memory lane not so much for nostalgia’s
sake but to evaluate our previous year with Christ, and to be grateful
for a living Church that helps make life worth living.
Father Peterson is pastor of St. Maria Goretti Parish in Hatfield.
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