Reflection for the 1st Sunday in Lent 2024

The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert, and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan.

Welcome on this First Sunday in Lent. As many of you heard on Ash Wednesday, our theme for this Lent is struggle. 

This Lent we will consider the stories of those who have struggled to the point of giving up on God and faith in Him. We will see in these stories moments where people may have given up for a time, and who, in the end, were fortified because of their struggle. We may not see these people ever overcoming their struggles, but still committed to overcoming. 

Through these stories we will realize that our struggles are evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. The Holy Spirit moves in us and because of that we struggle against the things that separate us from Christ. We are not abandoned.

We hear of Jesus’ desert journey today. He fasts and is constantly tempted – the temptations did not just come at the end. The fast and journey were a struggle for Jesus, He did not just glide through it. He was spiritually and physically hungry and tired each day of the journey, beset by the same temptations we face in struggle – you’ll never make it, you’re not strong enough, give up. That is how we know He gets us, understands what we face, and why He gives us, through the Holy Spirit, the grace of perseverance.

I have printed and left for you the poem Ithaka by Constantine Cavafy. Please take it home and read it. Use it as an opportunity for prayer.

I first encountered this poem when it was read at Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ funeral by her longtime companion, Maurice Tempelsman.

Ithaka describes the journey of Odysseus, and in turn each of journeys, to our homeland. For us that homeland is heaven.

In the poem we encounter a prolonged journey. Along the way the good things in our life are increased if we keep our eye on the goal, face the struggles head on, refuse to focus on the negative, refuse to hurry, and relish each day necessary to get there. Along the way we encounter the unknown – making new discoveries about ourselves.

Each of us has their struggles on the road to our Ithaka and in Lent. In the poem’s epigram we hear: “Keep Ithaka always in your mind. / Arriving there what you’re destined for.” Let us hear that as “Keep heaven always in your mind. / Arriving there what we are destined for.”

In the end, as the poem speaks, we will understand what the struggle and journey has meant. 

Ithaka
C. P. Cavafy

As you set out for Ithaka
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope your road is a long one.
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you enter harbors you’re seeing for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind—
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to learn and go on learning from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you’re destined for.
But don’t hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you’re old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you wouldn’t have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you’ll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

Reflection for Ash Wednesday 2024

Working together, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says: In an acceptable time I heard you, and on the day of salvation I helped you. Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

Prawdą, Pracą, Walką – the motto of our Holy Church. It stands for Truth, Work, and Struggle – and by these we shall succeed or be victorious.

In our Epistle St. Paul writes to the Corinthians and calls them to conform themselves to the gifts they have received from Jesus’ sacrifice: namely justification and becoming God’s new creation in but apart from the world. Paul doesn’t stop there. He provides concrete instructions on how to accomplish this conformity. It is done through becoming God’s righteousness in real and lived ways, by living for others, not themselves, and by being reconciled where there is division.

Calls are time dependent and Paul notes that now is “an acceptable time.” God is bestowing favor and salvation at this very moment, as He is this very moment for us. Paul is saying – do it now. 

Lent has begun and we must start living our justification by being God’s new creation in but apart from the world. We are to be righteous, living for others, and reconciling ourselves with all we are in conflict with.

Brothers and sisters, we know that our Church’s motto is a call to all things that will lead us to establishing the Kingdom of God on earth at which time we will have the ultimate success or victory. It is a call to use our Church life as the guide to our personal success in living as God asks us to live. Of course, Lent is a perfect opportunity to realign ourselves to God’s way of life.

If we take the motto apart, we see that a couple of the statements in the motto are straight forward. Truth – we can all get onboard with God’s truth, rejecting the world’s version of things.  Work – we all know work is required to conform to God’s way, and especially in Lent where we pledge to do the work necessary – fasting, prayer, devotion, and charity. Then we get to struggle. That is a far harder concept and seems daunting.

What is it about struggle? If we look at its synonyms we can easily see that it is the taking of the much harder road: To fight, grapple, engage in conflict, compete, contend, contest, vie, fight, battle, clash, wrangle – and most perfectly in our case to strive, try hard, endeavor, make every effort, spare no effort, exert oneself, do all one can, and do one’s utmost.

Those definitions and synonyms are key to understanding our journey along God’s way. We have a call, we know the time is now, and if we are perfectly honest, we recognize it will be a struggle.

This is the part that is most difficult for us as Christians, the struggle to live in conformity to God’s will for us. The struggle to accept God’s love for us in a simple act of faith and confession. We have this great, all powerful, awesome God Who only desires our love, yet we struggle to give it fully. We want unity with God, to be His righteousness, to live for others, and to be symbols of reconciliation to all, yet we fail to do it. We try and try and try and come up short. We think this over and over and wonder if we should give up. We often get exhausted in the struggle.

In struggling we reach a point where we consider giving up.

This Lent we will consider the stories of those who have struggled to the point of giving up – most especially giving up on God and faith in Him.

In those stories we encounter difficult struggles, some who perhaps gave up for a time, and in the end were fortified because of their struggle. What you may notice is I did not mention whether they overcame their struggles.

In the end what we will find is the realization that the struggle itself is evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. The Holy Spirit moves in us and because of that we struggle against the things that separate us from Christ. We will find that the struggle itself and our not giving up is evidence of the Lord’s work in our lives.

As we walk with Christ through Lent, and reflect on the struggles He faced, we will recall Jesus’ promise that those who followed him would face constant struggle (ref. John 15:19 and John 16:33). As we face our struggles now and, in the future, let us acknowledge that the struggle itself leads to ultimate success and victory and resolve to keep pressing on with faith and hope.

Bible Study for the End of Pre-Lent and Beginning of Lent 2024

This week’s memory verse: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

John 3:16
  • 2/11 – 1 John 4:16
  • 2/12 – Romans 5:8
  • 2/13 – 1 John 4:8
  • 2/14 – Galatians 2:20
  • 2/15 – John 15:13
  • 2/16 – Deuteronomy 7:9
  • 2/17 – Ephesians 2:4-5

Pray the week: Lord Jesus, Grant that I may love You and in doing so carry Your model of love into the world. May Your letter of love written on my heart draw many to salvation. Amen.

Reflection for Quinquagesima Sunday 2024

No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; And no one puts new wine into old wineskins.

In this third week of Pre-Lent, Quinquagesima, we consider the power of overwhelming love.

I remember my Kindergarten girlfriend, Donna, my 8th grade girlfriend Lori, and perhaps a few others before finally meeting and falling in love with Renee.

We may all recall that special person we were attracted to and perhaps fell in love with. If we really consider the difference between the girlfriends and boyfriends we may have had and perhaps the person we finally entered relationship with, we will note differences in the depth and breadth of our love. That is important to remember since we see today God calling out in love to His people, seeking response.

God says He will give His beloved people everything. He pledges Himself to them. Not only that, but those who are His people will respond in love. What a beautiful vision of mutual love – deep love that knows no limit, where no sacrifice is too great – even to the sacrifice of Jesus for all of us.

I will betroth you to me forever: I will betroth you to me with justice and with judgment, with loyalty and with compassion; I will betroth you to me with fidelity, and you shall know the LORD.

Some may say: If I only had that kind of love in my life! Let us not forget that we already have that love it in Jesus.

Paul reminds the Church in Corinth that the relationship of love within the Christian Church is a letter, written on our hearts. The Holy Spirit writes God’s love within us – within our entirety. That love written in us is to be known and read by everyone.

Our relationship with God, in the best way, is the model for our relationship with each other. God’s model allows us to love not with mere infatuation or passion, not only on occasion, but with the totality of our being all the time.

The covenant relationship Jesus came to establish with us is one of total love. It is a call to mutuality. He tells us that something new is among us – new wine that will not work in old systems of relationship. Our way of life is not like anything of old. He tells the Pharisees to see things with new eyes, with new hearts open to love.

As we prepare to enter Lent, let us focus on the grandeur of God’s love and offer Him our entire selves in love.

Bible Study for the 2nd Week of Pre-Lent 2024

This week’s memory verse: And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you..

Psalm 9:10
  • 2/4 – Luke 16:10
  • 2/5 – Proverbs 3:5-6
  • 2/6 – Isaiah 26:3
  • 2/7 – Psalm 56:3
  • 2/8 – Psalm 111:7
  • 2/9 – Hebrews 11:1
  • 2/10 – 2 Samuel 7:28

Pray the week: Lord Jesus, Grant that I may trust in You, that all Your promises are trues, and that in You there is no shadow of change. With this assurance help me to conquer my doubts and fears. Amen.

Reflection for Sexagesima Sunday 2024

For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us was not “Yes and no,” but in him is “Yes.” For however many are the promises of God, in him is the “Yes.” Therefore also through him is the “Amen,” to the glory of God through us.

In this second week of Pre-Lent, Sexagesima, we are presented with a view into the wonderful assurance of God.

In our gospel we see Jesus confronted by the hushed criticism of the Scribes. They were speaking to each other in whispers criticizing what Jesus was doing. They called His power and authority into question: “Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” – something that would later be part of their pretexts for His arrest and crucifixion.

Jesus confronts their whispering and conniving by showing that He had power to forgive sin by curing the incurable.

That kind of grumbling also occurred in the early Church. Paul had planned to visit Corinth, but then had changed his travel plans. Luckily in changing his itinerary he didn’t have to deal with trains and planes. What he did have to deal with though was grumbling among the Corinthians. They started to think he was fickle, couldn’t make up his mind, and that led them to question all he taught about Jesus.

It seems silly, doesn’t it? Even so, Paul confronts the grumbling, and their resulting lack of confidence head on. Paul does this in a remarkable way, not by laying out some record of all the great things he had done, the accomplishments he had on his Apostle resume, but rather by going to the source of all assurance and confidence – Jesus.

He declares the absolute yes that is in Jesus. That is the yes of God Who does not vacillate or change in His declaration to us or in His promises. In Christ is also the Amen – which beside meaning ‘so be it’ also means ‘steady’ and ‘trustworthy.’ 

As we continue in our Pre-Lenten journey of preparation let us be assured of the yes and amen that is in Christ Jesus who welcomes the contrite, grants grace for needed change, and who has the power to forgive. Again, let us resolve to meet Ash Wednesday and the Great Lent head-on going to the source of all assurance and confidence – Jesus – Who is ready and able to cure what we think incurable in us.

Bible Study for the 1st Week of Pre-Lent 2024

This week’s memory verse: Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.

Proverbs 6:6-8
  • 1/28 – Luke 14:28
  • 1/29 – Romans 13:11
  • 1/30 – Luke 12:47
  • 1/31 – Ezekiel 38:7
  • 2/1 – Hebrews 11:7
  • 2/2 – 1 Corinthians 16:13
  • 2/3 – Romans 12:2

Pray the week: Lord Jesus, Grant that I may use this time of preparation wisely, getting ready to meet head-on the call of Lent. Amen.

Bible Study for the Fifth Week of Christmas 2023/2024

This week’s memory verse: Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.

Colossians 4:5
  • 1/21 – John 9:4
  • 1/22 – Psalm 90:12
  • 1/23 – Ephesians 5:16
  • 1/24 – James 4:13-15
  • 1/25 – Proverbs 16:3
  • 1/26 – 2 Corinthians 6:2
  • 1/27 – Romans 13:11

Pray the week: Lord Jesus, Grant that I respond to Your Father’s demands on my life. Provide me with the wisdom and strength to use my time wisely in proclaiming Your Kingdom. Amen.

Reflection for the 3rd Ordinary Sunday 2024

God has overlooked the time of ignorance, but now He demands that all people everywhere repent. 

Today we hear the account of the start of Jesus’ public ministry from St. Mark. We heard the account from St. John last week.

As you may recall, we did a bit of a riff on the age-old group dance, the Hokey-Pokey, wherein we were urged to put our whole selves in and to not just leave them there, but to get to work announcing God’s Kingdom. To be active in calling others for the Lord.

Our active engagement follows the model which we heard in the gospel: Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

Jesus, as he consistently does, wastes no time. His mission was urgent and His time limited. So is ours. We have much to do for God.

In our readings and gospel, we see people responding exactly that way. They drop everything to do as God asks. The people of Nineveh repent. Paul urges the Corinthians to focus on Kingdom tasks and not to be distracted by anything else. The people Jesus calls respond by leaving the worldly behind to focus on the work of the Kingdom, to be “fishers of men.”

In each of these cases there is an urgency that the people get. In the aha moment they are saying: ‘I get it, I must do this now. No time to delay. Nothing else is important.’

I would like to focus a bit on our Alleluia verse because it wraps this all up very well. 

The verse comes from Acts 17:30. Paul is in Athens, not one of his most successful missionary journeys. Yet on a hill near the Acropolis which was a public meeting place he calls people to Jesus and speaks of Jesus’ promised resurrection. He speaks of God’s demand on them.

Paul, like always, is being bold and the people, like those nowadays, want nothing to do with a God Who has demands. In fact, we can practically hear them whispering – who is this God to demand anything of me! Even among those who were kind of receptive their response speaks volumes: “We should like to hear you on this some other time.”

God does overlook the past, but once we are converted, have come to faith in Jesus, He places a demand on us, to announce the kingdom and bring people to repentance and salvation. ‘I get it, I must do this now. No time to delay. Nothing else is important.’

Bible Study for the Fourth Week of Christmas 2023/2024

This week’s memory verse: And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28
  • 1/14 – Jeremiah 1:5
  • 1/15 – 2 Timothy 1:9
  • 1/16 – 1 Peter 2:9
  • 1/17 – Matthew 22:14
  • 1/18 – John 15:16
  • 1/19 – Isaiah 6:8
  • 1/20 – Galatians 1:15

Pray the week: Lord Jesus, Grant that I respond to Your call and act upon it with immediacy. Assist me by Your grace to proclaim and acclaim You above all else. Amen.