Third Sunday of Lent 2021: Bulletin Cover Art, Column

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Dear Followers of the Christ,

On this Third Sunday of Lent, the Church proclaims this familiar gospel from John 2:13-25, the cleansing of the Temple. This gospel invites the disciples to realize that his death and resurrection will become the new temple, that his sacrifice will become worship itself. Here, Jesus is also trying to get the attention of his followers as well as those who sold goods in the Temple. Jesus challenges us to cleanse our perspectives, our motivations and our relationships in order to make room for his presence, his love. 

Jesus desires to clear away the obstacles in our hearts so we may be drawn to him alone.  In this Lenten season, our Church has traditionally suggested prayer, fasting and almsgiving to help us clear our minds, our hearts and our actions. Lent is a letting go of old patterns of sin and the crusty attitudes that have caused rage and ill will in our lives. Lent is a renewal of all life. In fact, the word “Lent” means springtime. So, what are the obstacles and the corroded patterns of life that need new life, healing and redemption in you? What areas in your heart need to be washed out, cleansed with the miracle of baptism and Jesus’ redeeming presence?

Jesus desires to clean us of sin so we may experience his eternal mercy. I wish I could change people’s attitude toward Lent. Every year, I hear from people how unworthy they feel. I hear folks say that they need to get their act together so that Jesus will love them. This is genuine heresy, and it pops up over and over again. We do not cleanse our own sins. We do not change so that God will love us. Instead, we must allow Jesus to do the changing within us. We must live lives of real prayer so that we are opened up to receive the grace to grow closer to him. There is no whip or cleaning product that Jesus can use to motivate us. What motivates us is that love changes us. A relationship with the Divine invites us into a solid ground of hope, love and fidelity. We have to stop thinking that the more we give up during Lent, the more God will love us. Our actions are not the hinge point for his love. Our actions simply do not change God’s mind about you and about me. Only his love cleanses the human heart so that we may freely love in our world, in every aspect of human life. What in our lives needs cleansing and renewal in him? How is Jesus calling us to start over again?

Jesus desires to reveal his death and resurrection as new hope for the world. In Lent, we are called to experience something new about God. This forms our actions and work in the world. It’s not that our piety, our not eating meat, or saying the Rosary more times, would change the world. What changes the world is when we realize that Jesus comes to us in his death and resurrection and allows us to change through him. If we relied on ourselves, nothing new would happen. We don’t save ourselves. We don’t redeem our own sins. We don’t prepare our way toward heaven. This is God’s actions and not ours to accomplish. God is God and we aren’t. This is the key that opens up our experiences in the Lenten season. This is the mystery of our powerlessness, our profound humility in faith. How is Jesus creating hope in our actions, in our lives and in our opinions toward others?

Jesus desires us to live in him alone. By the time we come to the Lenten season, I always amazed at how we have forgotten last Lent. We have had a year to get even more addicted to pornography, a few more drinks before dinner, a year of second helpings of food, and the ruts we run in trying to care for family and keep a job. We have so much that can take the place of God in our lives. In fact, sometimes, I think it is a national sport to find things to cling to so that we do not have to examine our own hearts. We stuff our closets with more junk we don’t use and fill up our inner spaces with destructive opinions about other people and damaging stories about our own lives. In fact, the Lenten season is meant to clear away the clutter that has covered our hearts, the selfishness, the false pride and the film of hatred on our words. Jesus, after all, even well beyond the Lenten season, desires to live in us as we ache to find our home in him. How can you know that Jesus desires you to live in him? What is he offering you?

God give you peace.

Fr. Ron Raab, CSC, Pastor

Second Sunday of Lent 2021: Bulletin Art, Column

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Dear Followers of Jesus Christ,

Today’s gospel Mark 9:2-10, reveals the Transfiguration of Jesus to his disciples and to our lives now. I love this gospel and this moment, always on the Second Sunday of Lent, when Jesus pulls back the veil and lets his disciples in on a secret. Jesus wants to show the disciples that he has the Father’s authority in his ministry on earth. 

First of all, Jesus tugs at their sleeves and invites them with him high on a mountain by themselves. As we understand living in Colorado, just going higher up the mountain is itself a transfiguration. Elevation brings a greater perspective; we can see things differently with a view from a higher elevation. 

So, all of a sudden, his clothing becomes white, dazzling white as the gospel says. Elijah and Moses appear to them. The disciples are being totally overwhelmed with joy. They now have a sense of Jesus’ authority and they find themselves belonging in this incredible religious history. They tell Jesus how cool this moment really is and they want to build some tents there so they can hang out with the prophets from ages past. 

Then something greater happens. A voice from a cloud opens up in their ears and in their hearts. This voice says, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” Wow. This must have been so spectacular to the disciples. We have lost just how marvelous this scene is on our Lenten journey. We can’t ignore this anymore. So, let’s push the pause button and dive more deeply into this moment with the disciples. 

Jesus desired to draw the disciples into the inner circle of love of the Trinity.  This is also where we are headed in this Lenten season if we take our faith seriously. Revealing the Trinity to the disciples opens the door to the authorityof Jesus to continue to his cross and ultimately to his resurrection. Our despair, our anxieties, our stubbornness, our hatred, and every aspect of our lives is being invited into the life of Jesus Christ. His authority heals us. We are also bearers of the mystery of the Trinity through our baptism. We are baptized, “In the name of Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” We must believe that Jesus has authority within us, within our human actions, to heal our sin and divisions. In other words, we are let in on a secret on this Second Sunday of Lent, along with the disciples, that if we, too, follow Jesus, he will lead us into a glorious relationship with the Holy Trinity.  

Jesus invites us to hear his voice and follow him.  One of the most important aspects of being a disciple of Jesus Christ is that we can listen to him still. The sacred Trinity resides within us through baptism. We find Jesus’ voice through the gift of the scriptures, especially within the gospels. We can listen to him lead us into places of love, into forgiveness, into his heart through the stories, parables, and images of these holy writings. We can also listen most carefully to the voice of Jesus Christ in our silence and in our self-giving in prayer. His voice leads us well beyond our ego. Our stubbornness is not the place where his voice comes through us. Our self-hatred and our hatred toward others is not where the voice of love enters our hearts. It is interesting that so often we resist such a silence in God because we can easily resist Him. Our egos our strong and we can be so hardened toward how he desires to be with us. Jesus took his disciples up a mountain so that they could hear for themselves the voice of the Father. Jesus claims his place within our lives through Easter and through our baptism. 

Jesus invites his disciples to go down the mountain and to get to work.  I believe Jesus in this moment was teaching the disciples to put love into practice. He was embracing his Father’s love for us in the world and showing us that in order to believe in Him, we must get to work lifting up the soreness of the world, the lack of encouragement to forgive one another. Love changes everything. The only problem is that most people think God only condemns them. I hear this all the time in my ministry. I hear such things as: I am not good enough or I am not worthy enough or I am not faithful enough or I am not pious enough or I am not holy enough. My prayer in this Lenten season is that all believers could put away these negative stories about their own lives and listen to the voice of Jesus leading us into the heart of the Father. The thoughts, the beliefs, the unworthiness of every believer is transfigured in love during this Lenten season. 

God give you peace. 

Fr. Ron Raab, CSC, Pastor