PASTOR’S MEANDERINGS 3 – 4 MARCH 2018 THIRD SUNDAY OF

SUNDAY REFLECTION Under the forms of bread and wine we receive Christ who is the Power and the Wisdom of God. Let us pray to Him that we may be transformed into Him and draw from Him that Wisdom and Power of God, not trusting any more in our own meager power and wisdom. Let us ask Him for true judgement and understanding, to see everything as God sees it, with understanding and love, free from the distractions of our own selfishness and blindness. Let us ask Him for His gentle power, so that we may further the kingdom and bring His purposes to fulfilment in our society.

In today’s Gospel Jesus throws the activities of the Temple into disarray just before the feast of Passover as He prophecies that His own body will take over from the Temple sanctuary as the place of worship. In a later year, according to the timing of the Fourth Gospel, Jesus is put to death on the hill of Calvary at the same time that the Passover lambs are being slaughtered in the Temple area. In this way the body of the Messiah was made ready to be the new Sanctuary. It is through His death on the Cross on Good Friday and His resurrection on Easter Day that it became possible for Jesus to give us His Body and Blood as our spiritual nourishment in the . It is through dying and rising that it became possible for Him to unite us to His mystical body, the Church. It is through the destruction and glorification of His human body that the new Temple the new location of worship came into existence. It is through carrying our cross and dying to self-daily that we become effective members of the household of God and true followers of the crucified Messiah.

STEWARDSHIP: “You shall not covet” is perhaps a difficult commandment to keep in our consumer-oriented society. But as Christian stewards, we know that we are the recipients and caretakers of God’s many gifts. May this understanding that all is gift help us be less resentful of the gifts of others.

In reference to the A Readings at the Sat. 5:00 p.m. Mas with the Scrutinies When Jesus asked the Samaritan woman for a drink of water, He opened the door for a life- changing relationship with Him. Scripture says her testimony drew many others to Him as well. We, too, must be ready to respond whenever and wherever the Lord speaks to us and be prepared for it to change our lives!

Hugo “People do not lack strength; they lack will.”

READINGS FOR THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT 11 MAR ‘18 B Readings 2 Chr. 36:14-16, 19-23: The kings and priests of Israel had led the people astray, and their punishment was exile. But a merciful God will cause a Persian king to set them free to return to Jerusalem. Eph. 2:4-10: Our salvation is not the work of our own hands, but a free gift of God’s grace. Jn. 3:14-21: God sent His Son to the world not to condemn it, but to save it. A Readings (Proclaimed at the 8:30 a.m. for the Second Scrutiny) 1 Sm. 16:1, 6-7, 10-13: Samuel is sent to anoint David as king. Eph. 5:8-14: The Ephesians are told to live as children of light. Jn. 9:1-41: Jesus heals the man born blind and reveals himself to him as the Son of Man.

E. Schillebeeckx “The man Jesus, as the personal visible realization of the divine grace of redemption is the sacrament, the primordial sacrament, because this man, the Son of God Himself, is intended by the Father to be in His humanity the only way to the actuality of redemption.

PAPAL INTENTIONS FOR EVANGELIZATION THIS MARCH That the Church may appreciate the urgency of formation in spiritual discernment, both on the personal and communitarian levels.

In Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple, Pope Francis sees a lesson about the Liturgy In March of 2015 Pope Francis’ words of reflection on the cleansing of the temple are worth considering today. He stated that Jesus’ cleansing of the moneychangers from the Temple is a reminder to Christians of the need for “authentic worship” and “conformity between liturgy and life,” Pope Francis said. The Pope warned against entering the “Lord’s House” while behaving in a way contrary to “justice, honesty, and charity toward one’s neighbor.” Worship and liturgical celebrations, he explained in a homily, are “a privileged environment for listening to the Lord’s voice, which guides us on the path of righteousness and of Christian perfection.” Pope Francis delivered his March 7 homily at Rome’s Church of Ognissanti--the Church of All Saints. He began with a reflection on the Gospel of St. John’s account of Jesus’ confrontation with money changers and merchants within the Temple in Jerusalem. Driving out the merchants and money changers, Jesus said: “Take these things away; you shall not make my Father's house a house of trade” (John 2:16). Christ’s words, the Pope said, refer not only to those conducting business within the Temple, but “above all a type of religiosity.” Jesus’ act of cleansing and “purification” is a reminder of the need for authenticity in worship. Pope Francis added that Christians do not go to church only to “observe a precept,” or to feel right with God but to “encounter the Lord” and discover the “strength to think and act according to the Gospel.” “The Church calls us to have and promote an authentic liturgical life,” the Pope said, explaining that this is “harmony between that which the liturgy celebrates and that which we experience in our lives.” More than a “doctrine” or a “rite to be executed,” the liturgy is “fundamentally a source of life and light for our faith.” Pope Francis cited “Sacrosanctum Concilium,” the Second Vatican Council's Constitution of the Sacred Liturgy, which he said “reaffirms the essential bond that unifies the life of Jesus' disciple and liturgical worship.” The Pope reflected on the liturgical season of Lent as a “time of interior renewal” and for remission of sins. He stressed the importance of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This sacrament “helps us grow in union with God, regain lost joy, and experience the consolation of feeling personally welcomed by the merciful embrace of the Father.” The Pope’s pastoral visit to the Church of Ognissanti marked the 50th anniversary of Blessed Pope Paul VI’s 1965 visit to the same parish. At that time Pope Paul VI celebrated the Mass in the vernacular for the first time there according to what were then the new norms of the Second Vatican Council. On his anniversary visit Pope Francis recalled Paul VI’s inaugural Mass in the “language of the people.” He expressed his hope that the anniversary would revive in everyone “love for God’s house.” “Hearing the Word of God, proclaimed in the liturgical assembly, sustains you in the journey of your Christian life,” he said. He concluded his homily with a call for a renewed commitment to the purification of the Church’s “spiritual edifice.”

St. Augustine here reflects on the famous conversation in the Gospel of John between Jesus and the Samaritan woman who came to draw water from the well. He sees her as a symbol for the Gentiles who are called to conversion and faith and who are promised the gift of the Holy Spirit in abundance. Awoman came. She is a symbol of the Church not yet made righteous. Righteousness follows from the conversation. She came in ignorance, she found Christ, and he enters into conversation with her. Let us see what it is about, let us see why a Samaritan woman came to draw water. The Samaritans did not form part of the Jewish people: they were foreigners. The fact that she came from a foreign people is part of the symbolic meaning, for she is a symbol of the Church. The Church was to come from the Gentiles, of a different race from the Jews. We must then recognise ourselves in her words and in her person, and with her give our own thanks to God. She was a symbol, not the reality; she foreshadowed the reality, and the reality came to be. She found faith in Christ, who was using her as a symbol to teach us what was to come. She came then to draw water. She had simply come to draw water; in the normal way of man or woman.

Jesus says to her: Give me water to drink. For his disciples had gone to the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman therefore says to him: How is it that you, though a Jew, ask me for water to drink, though I am a Samaritan woman? For Jews have nothing to do with Samaritans.

The Samaritans were foreigners; Jews never used their utensils. The woman was carrying a pail for drawing water. She was astonished that a Jew should ask her for a drink of water, a thing that Jews would not do. But the one who was asking for a drink of water was thirsting for her faith.

Listen now and learn who it is that asks for a drink. Jesus answered her and said: If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink”, perhaps you might have asked him and he would have given you living water.

He asks for a drink, and he promises a drink. He is in need, as one hoping to receive, yet he is rich, as one about to satisfy the thirst of others. He says: If you knew the gift of God. The gift of God is the Holy Spirit. But he is still using veiled language as he speaks to the woman and gradually enters into her heart. Or is he already teaching her? What could be more gentle and kind than the encouragement he gives? If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink”, perhaps you might ask and he would give you living water.

What is this water that he will give if not the water spoken of in Scripture: With you is the fountain of life? How can those feel thirst who will drink deeply from the abundance in your house? He was promising the Holy Spirit in satisfying abundance. She did not yet understand. In her failure to grasp his meaning, what was her reply? The woman says to him: Master, give me this drink, so that I may feel no thirst or come here to draw water. Her need forced her to this labor, her weakness shrank from it. If only she could hear those words: Come to me, all who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Jesus was saying this to her, so that her labors might be at an end; but she was not yet able to understand.

This reflection on the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well (John 4:7-42) is used in the Roman Office of Readings for Sunday of the third week in Lent. It is taken from Augustine’s Treatise on the Gospel of John (Tract. 15, 10-12, 16-17: CCL 36, 154-156) written by St. Augustine in the early 5th Century.

ST. JOSEPH’S TABLE On the weekend of March 17-18, as we have done for several years now, a modified version of the St. Joseph’s table will be set up in the Commons. As in the past you are invited to donate baked good; breads and rolls, etc which will be given to the local food banks to aid in feeding the poor and homeless. Saint Joseph, even though he doesn’t speak a word in Sacred Scripture, has been deeply loved by Christians since the very beginning of the Church. It did not take long for Saint Joseph, on account of his role as the protector of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus, to become known as the principal patron of the Universal Church and by extension a quiet protector of all Christ’s faithful. Since the 15th century his feast day has been celebrated on March 19, a day that typically falls right in the middle of Lent, but that hasn’t stopped the laity from orchestrating a great feast in his honor. In particular, Italians have had a special love of Saint Joseph, and a famous miracle led the people of Sicily to begin a tradition known as the Tavola di San Giuseppe (Table of Saint Joseph). What is the origin of this practice? During a time of drought and famine, no rain fell on Medieval Sicily. Food crops for both people and livestock withered and died. The people prayed to St. Joseph for help. When the clouds opened, pouring the desperately needed rain, there was rejoicing. After the harvest, to show their gratitude, they prepared a table with special foods to honor St. Joseph and to share with the poor. After thanking and honoring the saint, they distributed the food to the less fortunate. In it’s most traditional form a parish St. Joseph’s Table would be a three-tiered display representing the Holy Trinity. A statue of St. Joseph is placed on the top tier. A special smaller table is set for the Holy Family at the front of the display. The tables are filled with food, flowers, candles and “zepolla,” pasta. Giving food to the needy is an important part of the tradition. Small at first, as time went by, the tables grew larger, more ornate, beautiful and bountiful. Brought here to America by Italian immigrants the practice has migrated out from those ethnic communities to be embraced by other groups and denominations, and so the tradition has been adapted, modified and continues. In its purest form the decorated tables are blessed by the parish priest, and the parish and larger community is invited to see the table and share a meal. Many symbols are found on a St. Joseph’s Table. Bread crumbs on spaghetti represent saw dust on a carpenter’s workshop floor. White lilies which are traditionally associated with St. Joseph, symbolize transformation and purity. Breads may be baked in the shapes of carpenter’s tools, canes or chalices. Wine recalls both the miracle at Cana and, with bread, the Last Supper. Pineapples on the table symbolize hospitality and 12 fish represent the 12 apostles. The wearing of red clothing is traditional, symbolizing charity and strength. Blessed fava beans are often given out at St. Joseph’s Tables. Once considered cattle feed, fava beans survived the Sicilian drought, sustained the people, and saved them from starvation. It is believed that if these beans are carried in a coin purse all year, one is never without resources. Blessed, dried beans are also kept in the pantry, so there will always be food in the home. The table’s breads, cookies and pastries are often sold to raise funds for the parish or for charity. A traditional spaghetti or pasta Milanese (fish sauce) dinner is often served. Today, St. Joseph is honored by Catholic communities worldwide as well as members of the Anglican and Lutheran faith communities. The saint is a patron of the Universal Church, unborn children, fathers, immigrants, workers, employment, travelers, carpenters, realtors, as well as against doubt and hesitation, and of a happy death, and his feast is honored in many parishes with a St. Joseph Table, pasta dinner and charity to the poor.

LENTEN THEMES The holiness of hunger Fasting – not eating (and sometimes drinking) for an extended period of time – is a practice that goes back long before Jesus. Ancient Jews fasted on certain days throughout the year. Mark 2:18-23 and Matthew 6:16-18, for example, both take for granted that fasting is a normal part of Jewish religious practice. Other Jewish texts from the Greco-Roman period depict fasting as an effective substitute for sacrifice. About a hundred years before Jesus, the Psalms of Solomon 3:8-9 describe fasting as a way to atone for sins and as a habitual practice of the righteous. In the earliest years of Christianity, Christians seem to have observed the same fast days that Jews observed. Some authors were violently opposed to this cultural and religious intermingling. John Chrysostom (c. 349-407), writing against Christians sharing anything in common with Jews, admonishes Christians who fast on the Jewish Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. Not eating and not drinking could be seen as a means of atonement, as with Yom Kippur, but it could also clear the way for an expected meeting with God. Moses, for example, fasted prior to going up the mountain to meet with God and receive the Ten Commandments in Exodus 34:28. Fasting is also prominent in other texts, closer in date to Jesus’s time, such as 4 Ezra. In this first century text, Ezra prepares to receive revelations from God by abstaining from food and drink for seven days. After his period of fasting, an angel tells him divine secrets. Jesus’s fast in the desert, then, would have been understood to prepare him to commune with God and to strengthen Him against the devil’s temptations. It is little wonder, then, that later Christians began to associate fasting with being close to God. Perhaps the most well-known development of fasting practice that emerges after antiquity is the so-called “holy anorexics” – women, such as Angela of Foligno (1248–1309) and Catherine of Siena (1347–1380), who refused all food but the Eucharist.

OUR LENTEN JOURNEY As we enter into the middle of Lent; How’s it going? Have we had a problem getting started, motivated? Did we get distracted in these past weeks? In these final weeks as the various liturgies and the associated readings intensify the focus on the events celebrated in the and Easter what can and should we do that will still provide a meaningful experience of these final weeks. What if, we look at these final weeks as a true journey? As with all journeys, first we need to know the destination and then make appropriate plans. The destination of the Lenten journey is Easter. Early in its development, Lent quickly became associated with the Sacrament of Baptism, which took place at Easter. In the beginning, only those who were preparing to be baptized at Easter participated in the season. Eventually, those who were already baptized considered it important to join these candidates. Here we are, centuries later, as an entire Church preparing for Easter during these final weeks of Lent as we journey with the members of the RCIA in their final preparation to be received into the Church. For Catholics, Lent is a spiritual journey from Ash Wednesday to the Triduum, which begins on the evening of Holy Thursday. As we prepare for journeys, we usually do our research regarding the route we will be traveling. Research shows that Lent, as we know it, was not as it was in the beginning. During the first three centuries of Christian experience, preparation for the Easter feast usually only covered a period of one or two days, perhaps a week at the most; short in comparison to our 40-day Lenten season. During the time of St. Irenaeus of Lyons (ca. AD 140-202) the preparation for Easter was only a 40-hour time period. The first reference to a period of 40-days preparation can be found in the teachings of the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. By the end of the fourth century, a Lenten period of 40 days was established and accepted. Once you have decided on a destination and did some research, it is time to pack. What tools do we need in order to have a productive and life-changing Lent? We all have been taught that Lent is a time of fasting, prayer and almsgiving. Through the practice of prayer, fasting and works of charity, we attempt to conform our lives to the life of Christ. When deciding what to fast from, one should examine their life and ask themselves whether what they are fasting from will bring them closer to Christ. Perhaps giving up chocolate or soda might not be the best choice. Ask yourself instead, what is standing in the way of a closer relationship with Christ? Give some prayerful thought to this. Is it spending too much time in front of the television? Or perhaps hitting the snooze button instead of getting up and spending time in prayer before you begin your day. With regard to fasting, currently the only two days the Church actually asks you to fast are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. The Church also asks you to abstain from eating meat on the Fridays during Lent. When you abstain from meat on Friday, it is good to remain in the spirit of fasting. In doing so, you might decide that eating a lobster dinner might be more appropriate outside of Lent. There are alternative meal suggestions available through Catholic Relief Services’ Lenten Rice Bowl campaign at www.crs.org. While prayer is always essential for Catholics, special attention should be paid during our Lenten journey. The Friday tradition of the is very popular during Lent. If you cannot make your parish’s Stations of the Cross, perhaps you can take time out of your day and meditate on the Passion of the Lord. Another suggestion is to learn a new form of prayer or change your prayer routine. Try meditation, contemplation, the daily Examen, or Lectio Divina. All of these forms of prayer can be found with a quick search on the Internet. Giving alms may be financial or it may also be giving of oneself for the benefit of another. Two saints that might be helpful to reflect upon are St. Francis of Assisi and St. Claire. They lived a life of poverty, penance and self-sacrifice. “To share in the life of Christ, one also had to die with Him.” Both wrote numerous themes for Lenten and Easter seasons; penance, conversion, self-sacrifice, service, embracing the cross, the humility and charity of Christ, joy, new life, and mission. Make the most of these remaining weeks of Lent. We all want to share in the Easter Resurrection of Jesus, but are we willing to walk the journey to Calvary with Him? Lent is a time to share in Jesus’ journey. If, for whatever reason, you break your fast or forget to do what you promised, just begin again. Don’t give up and quit. Going forward is the only way to get to your destination. Ask Jesus to help you. “For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sinning” [Heb. 4:15].

REFLECTIONS ON THE WEEKDAYS READINGS FOR LENT Monday 5 March 2 Kgs. 5:1-15: We see here the importance of interventions by little people – it is a maidservant who lets it be known that Elisha could cure Naaman’s leprosy, and it is when a servant intervenes that he accepts the act of healing. Lk. 4:24-30: Jesus, finding Himself looked down on in Nazareth, reminds the people that it was not always the Israelites whom God favored in the Bible. Why is no prophet honored in his or her own country? Is the reason something like this: if I feel that I myself am nowhere , then any one who is next to me must be next to nowhere, or next to nothing! So I despise that person as I secretly despise myself. We know very well that people who despise themselves are capable of vast evil: ‘I am nothing and therefore I will reduce everything around me to nothing.’ Nazareth was a despised place. It was never even mentioned in the Old Testament, and when it was mentioned in the New, it was to ask, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (Jn. 1:46). This may be why the inhabitants were capable of throwing Jesus over a cliff.

They liked Him until He began to say things they didn’t like to hear. They liked Him while He seemed to groom their egos, but as soon as He rubbed them the wrong way they tried to kill Him. The individual ego is like a wounded animal, and just as dangerous. The corporate ego is still worse: the support of other angry people looks like moral support while being immoral. But the most poisonous of all egos is the religious ego. People do unspeakable horrors in the name of religion. Jesus was in the best position to see this, and warned His followers: “An hour is coming when those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering worship to God” (Jn. 16:2). H8is early experience in His hometown had taught Him that lesson. He teaches us how to have no illusions. We think ‘disillusioned’ is a bad word, but it’s a very good word – if you can then love from there.

Tuesday 6 March Dan. 3:25; 34-35: The Jewish people, in exile, are deprived of all that had sustained them. Mt. 18:21-35: This parable tries to waken us up to how hyper-critical we can be and how much we stand in need of mercy from God. The numbers are off the scale. Ten thousand talents would come to about 275,000 years’ wages for an average worker. Clearly, repayment is impossible. The point being made is that we are in infinite debt to God and we can never clear that debt by ourselves. We could imagine the older brother in Luke 15 thinking that he could do it by himself. Or the Pharisees with their extreme legalism, attempting to get even with God. But Jesus is expressing the grace of God. The word ‘grace’ means ‘gift’. “If you but knew the gift of God.” If I have never experienced this gift, I can’t believe in it. How could I? If my sense of God is still tangled up in what Meister Eckhart called “the merchandising spirit,” I will not be able to come into my inheritance, the gift of God. I will be measuring everything by my own reckoning; I will be totting up my account, instead of blowing figures away into absurdity, as Jesus did. I will have none of the expansive joy of the Gospel. And so I will be equally calculating in my relationship with other people. I will not know how to give or how to forgive. These two words seem to be twinned in many languages. A few words from the Zen Master Joko Beck, “Failing to grasp the importance of forgiveness is always part of any failing relationship and a factor in our anxieties, depressions, and illnesses – in all our troubles. Our failure to know joy is a direct reflection of our inability to forgive … Non-forgiveness is rooted in our habit of thinking self-centered thoughts. When we believe in such thoughts, they are like a drop of poison in our glass of water.”

Wednesday 7 March Deut. 4:1, 5-9: Before their entry into the Promised Land, Moses reminds the people that keeping the commandments is central to living by the covenant. Mt. 5:17-19: Christians must learn to interpret the Mosaic Law according to the mind of Jesus. A law is not necessarily ‘fulfilled’ when it is being observed to the letter; it is fulfilled when it is serving the end for which it was made. If He had said “Away with jots and tittles!” He would have looked like a reckless liberal to many, but notice that He would still be talking about the letter of the law! He would be in the same box as the scribes and Pharisees, though in a different corner of it. Jesus stands outside the box. He looks deeper than external observance, to the heart. He sees that the act of murder, for example, grows from a murderous thought, adultery grows from a lustful look. These inner states are the seed ground of human activity, the overt acts are just the development of them. He draws attention away from the letter of the law and to the origin of things, the heart of the matter, where all the jots and tittles in the world make no difference at all.

Thursday 8 March Jer. 7:23-28: Jeremiah presents God as being almost at the end of His tether with the people who show persistent lack of commitment to God or to the teaching of the prophets. Lk. 11:14-23: The Reign of God is at hand, and is expressed in the saving actions of Jesus. If the devil doesn’t seem as frightening as before, it could be due in part to some new translations of the Bible! The power of the King James version of 1 Peter 5:8 is retained in the NRSV: “Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour!” Such muscular English! All those ‘ow’ sounds almost take you into the jungle! Devour, and you almost see the bloody jaws! The Christian Community Bible and the NIV retain this power, but the JB has the devil seem quite civilized, like someone cruising around looking for a good restaurant, or perhaps politely choosing a cookie from the plate. Everything fades with time – our characterization of evil too. The old devils fade, once their cover is blown. But the reality is that there are always new devils. And our translations don’t always keep up with them. Some people tried to say that Jesus had power over demons because He was in league with them. This was calling good evil: it was the sin against the Holy Spirit (Mk. 3:29). There is no way back from this, because it turns the signposts around. We don’t have to imagine a creature with horns and a tail. This turning of the signposts is much more frightening. It is along here that we should look for new images of evil.

Friday 9 March Hos. 14:2-10: In lyrical language Hosea urges a return to God who will warmly respond. Mk. 12:28-34: Love of God and neighbor are the most important of all the commandments and include all of the Law. It was good to meet an honest scribe. This scene may have been put in the gospel to show that Jesus’ teaching was not necessarily in conflict with the best of what was before. In other words, a bridge between the two was possible. How important it is to construct bridges! A bridge is the other side made attainable; it enables you to hope. It was St. Catherine of Siena’s favorite image; she pictured Christ as a bridge. In her Dialogue, the Father says to her, “I made a bridge of my Son as he lived in your company. And though that living bridge has been taken from your sight, there remains the bridgeway of his teaching, which … is held together by my power and my Son’s wisdom and the mercy of the Holy Spirit.” A bridge is a connection. It is all too easy to make disconnections: it is the easiest thing for the mind to do. A disconnection is a negative, and many live naturally in negativity; they are people who cannot invest themselves in anything. But bridges! Let’s make bridges today!

Saturday 10 March Hos. 5:15-6:6: The God who humbled the people loves them with a love deep enough to heal them. Lk. 18:9-14: The parable of the Pharisee and the tax-collector demonstrates the nature of true repentance. A priest working in Soweto in 1981 told of a white woman going into a church near Bloemfontein, in the very heartland of apartheid. She was horrified to see – in this ‘whites only’ church – a black woman kneeling at the altar rail. She marched up the aisle, shouting: “Excuse me!” then noticed that the woman was polishing the brass rail with a cloth. “Thank heavens, “ she sighed, “for one awful moment, I thought you were praying.” Strange things have been done in temples and churches: the very Gospel itself contradicted from pulpit and altar. We are at our worst when we pretend to be good: when we dress like angels to do the devil’s work. Hypocrites are the real atheists, because they inflate the currency of religion and make it worthless. The Greek word from which we derive ‘hypocrite’ means ‘to play a part’. From there it came to mean an actor in a play. And from there it came to mean anyone who is insincere in speech or action. Incidentally the word ‘person’ also has a stage connection. This one came from Latin, per (through) and sonare (to sound). In ancient times actors wore masks over their faces, and ‘spoke through’ them. In this strict sense, every person is an actor hiding his or her real self and displaying a mask that makes them look like a hero or a god.

PRAYERS Lord, I have come to worship in your house; but now in this communion I find that I myself have become a house for you! You are deep within me, and I am amazed by your presence. But also I am ashamed of how unworthy a dwelling-place I am for One so great and good. Help me by your very presence to cast out what is sinful in me. Teach me what I need to change in my life, make known to me your will, then grant me the grace to act accordingly.

PRAYER BEFORE A Behold, O good and sweetest Jesus, I cast myself upon my knees in Thy sight, and with the most fervent desire of my soul I pray and beseech Thee to impress upon my heart lively sentiments of faith, hope and charity, with true repentance for my sins and a most firm desire of amendment: whilst with deep affection and grief of soul I consider within myself and mentally contemplate Thy five most precious Wounds, having before mine eyes that which David, the prophet, long ago spoke in Thine own person concerning Thee, my Jesus: “They have pierced My hands and My feet, they have numbered all My bones.”

A THREE O'CLOCK PRAYER

Dear Lord, remembering the hour when You experienced death So that we might have Eternal Life, May we appreciate in our hearts the necessity of Your sacrifice for us And with Your help, Your guidance, and Your grace, May we be made worthy of it.

LIVING THE EUCHARIST THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT

EUCHARIST: MEAL or SACRIFICE?

In the period before the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), Catholic Mass was often called “the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.” The altar was viewed as a place of sacrifice. Church vocabulary for the Eucharist was filled with expressions like “sacred victim,” “unbloody sacrifice,” and “Christ the priest” – phrases hallowed by the Council of Trent.

The Second Vatican Council reminded Catholics, however, that the Mass is also a meal. Our church vocabulary began to include expressions like “the feast of the Eucharist,” “gather at the table of the Lord,” and “sharing the paschal banquet.” So popular was this, in fact, that people began to wonder if the idea of sacrifice was becoming outmoded. If the Eucharist is a gathering at a dining table, how can it also be a sacrifice on an altar?

These two themes – sacrifice and meal – bring up different associations. Sacrifice calls to mind things that are hard, scary, distant. Blood, guts, fear. Meal brings associations that are warm, convivial, ordinary. Food, drink, family. In the background of a meal, you see women with rolling pins. In the background of a sacrifice, you see men with knives. So which one is it? Is the Eucharist a sacrifice or a meal?

The Wrong Question The problem with these alternatives, however, is that they are not really alternatives. What we have before us is a both/and situation, not an either/or. The Eucharist is both sacrifice and meal. To worry about which one takes priority is to miss the point. We need both. Our understanding of the Eucharist must hold together both sacrifice and meal for three reasons. First, the origins of the Eucharist in the life of Christ demand both. Second, the two ideas belong together in human life and sacred history. Third, we need both of them to ground us in the reality of God’s work here on earth today. Let us look at each in turn.

Origins In The Life Of Christ At every Mass, we recall what Jesus did at the Last Supper. He gave His disciples His Body and Blood as food and drink. Yet the Mass is not a memorial of the Last Supper. It is the death and resurrection of Christ that we remember and encounter in the Mass. If Jesus had not died on Calvary and risen again, no one would even remember that meal in the upper room. Similarly, if Christ had died for us on the Cross but never instituted the Eucharist, we would have no dining ritual like the one we actually have. Jesus Himself linked His suffering with a meal. That’s why we do the same, in memory of Him.

Human Life And Sacred History Sacrifice and meal are also linked in nature. We may not like to be reminded of it at the dinner table, but every delectable roast was once a live animal. Even vegetarian meals involve cutting down or pulling up some living thing so we can eat it. There is death-for-the-sake-of-life in the background of every meal, no matter how safe and serene the setting may be. Beyond this, the sacred history of the people in the Old Testament brings together sacrifice and meal in a crucial way. God saved His people from the tenth plague in Egypt by having them sacrifice a lamb and paint its blood on the doorposts of their houses. The angel of death would “pass over” the houses marked by the blood of the lamb. No one within would be harmed. This same sacrificed animal then became the main dish of the meal they would eat as they prepared for the Exodus. The lives of the Chosen People were safeguarded by the blood of the lamb. Its flesh, shared as food, nourished them for the journey that lay ahead – the journey from slavery to freedom. Both meal and sacrifice are necessary parts of the story.

God’s Work On Earth Today As the story of the Passover suggests, there is a purpose to the signs God uses in dealing with His people. The slaying of the Passover lamb, and the eating of it, are part of the great story of the Exodus. The people were being led into freedom. They w ere on their way to the Promised Land. For Christians, the sacrifice of Jesus and the sharing of bread and wine are also part of a great story – the story of our redemption. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ leads to resurrection and eternal life. We eat the bread of life and drink the cup of salvation to strengthen us for the journey of faith. Even death cannot harm us when we are signed with the cross of Jesus. But that’s not all. Living for others, as Christ taught us – outside of Mass – is both a sacrifice and a feast. We give ourselves in sacrifice when we love, labor, and suffer to do what is right and good every day. We prepare a meal of justice and peace when we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and share the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ in our world.

Reflect Are you willing to make sacrifices in your everyday life, for love of God and neighbor? Sometimes a sacrifice means going out of your way to help somebody, or taking a humble attitude, or doing something good when it’s inconvenient. Think about the week that just passed. What opportunities were presented to you? How did you respond? Act Make time to share a meal with someone. Maybe invite a family member whom you don’t see often, or a friend or colleague you’ve put off because of your busy schedule. Make it delightful. Let “living the spirit of Eucharist” be the hidden agenda of the meal. Pray Jesus, you are the true Lamb, whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers. Thank you for giving your life for me. You are the Good Shepherd, who spreads a banquet before us. Thank you for feeding me. How can I bring you to this hungry world? Show me the way!

Author: Rita Ferrone is an award-winning writer and speaker in the areas of liturgy, catechesis, and renewal in the Roman . Copyright 2011 by Paulist Evangelization Ministries. All rights reserved. Nihil Obstat: Rev. Christopher Begg, S.T.D., Ph.D.., Censor Deputatus. Imprimatur: Most Rev. Barry C. Knestaut, Auxiliary Bishop of Washington, Archdiocese of Washington, February 7, 2011.