Foretaste of the Kingdom of God during Lent

No “gloria” singing at the beginning of Mass.  No “alleluia” before the Gospel reading.  Veiling crosses and statues in the sanctuary from the Fifth Sunday  of Lent on.  These are just a few changes you notice about Lent, if you pay attention at Mass. 

Certainly, Lent is filled with sober penitential mood, which is symbolized with purple liturgical color – except for Laetare Sunday (Fourth Sunday of Lent).  As we began Lenten journey on Ash Wednesday, we were humbly reminded of our sinfulness and sins, with these words from Genesis 3:19, “Dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return”.  What precedes these words when receiving ashes on our foreheads from Genesis 3:19 are, “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken”.   We labor to sustain our lives by plowing earth, as a result of the Original Sin, committed by Eve and Adam, and losing Eden.  Thus, sweat symbolizes the loss of Eden because of the Original Sin. Having been evicted from Eden, we are mortal and return to earth as dust after our death. This is a consequence of the Original Sin, and reflecting our perpetual sinfulness. 

What a depressing way to kick off on our Lenten journey!  

Throughout Lent, we are constantly reminded of what we should abstain from, what we cannot do…., as if we should not have anything to smile for. Because of this, people often ask each other, “What did you give up for this Lent?”. 

Penance and abstinence…..these represent the reality of our Lenten journey. However, Lent is not all about lamenting our own sinfulness and giving up on something as a sign of our penance.  Remember Jesus’ advice on our Lenten attitudes, in regard to almsgiving, prayer, and fasting, from Ash Wednesday Gospel reading (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18)?  Our Lenten commitments are not to be practiced obligatorily. We need to put our sincere heart in our Lenten actions, whether it is prayer, fasting, or almsgiving.  As our Lenten actions spring from our hearts, reflecting our deep hearts desires, then, we neither feel burden nor need to boast about what we do for Lent.  A healthy Lenten attitude should be sincere penance and joy.    

Yes, joy! Lent is characterized, not only by penitential and prohibitive mood, but joy!  

What our Lenten journey teaches us is this pattern: Through our humble and honest self-examination, like Examen in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, we recognize our own shortfalls and sins.  Then, we realize how thirsty we have been for God’s mercy – not something that gives a temporary relief.  This is an opportune time to meet the Lord, who can forgive us, through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, remembering that Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi.  Because Christ our Lord is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the word, we earnestly pray, “Miserere nobis, dona nobis pacem.  Upon absolution, we are at peace within ourselves and with God. Then, this peace brings joy. Thus, what the Lord gives us, upon taking away our sins, are “pacem et gaudim” .  Together with “justitia”, “pacem et gaudim” in “Spiritu Sancto”, characterize “Regnum Dei” (Romans 14:17). Therefore, our Lenten journey of sincere penance shall express our desire for “metanoia”  and lead us into a foretaste of “Regnum Dei” as Agnus Dei  will take away our “peccata ” , as a priest in persona Christi the dispenses the Sacrament of Reconciliation. 

On Cycle A, we have long Gospel readings from John for three consecutive Lenten Sundays: 3^rd (John 4:5-42 ), 4^th(9:1-41 ),  and 5^th.( 11:1-45).  These Johannine Gospel narratives read in the middle of Lent address our problems and how Jesus intervenes.  At the same time, these Gospel narratives also assure of us the immeasurable salvific power of Jesus the Christ, as it touches us in various problems. In the Johannine narratives for these Lenten Sundays, these problems are symbolically represented by the thirst of a Samaritan Woman (John 4:5-42), contrast of the blindness of an innocent man and the blindness of hypocrites (John 9:1-41), and death of Lazarus (John 11:1-45). 

What is common through these Johannine narratives for these three Lenten Sundays on Cycle A is that Jesus is not judgemental to the Samaritan woman, though she had lived a sinful life. Likewise, he was not judgemental to the man who had congenital blindness, though the disciples had thought of his blindness as a consequence of sin.  On Lazarus’ death, he dispelled people’s misconception about death.  Through the salvific power of Jesus, the power of God’s mercy, the sinful Samaritan woman’s thirst was quenched for good, as her heart was converted. Then, joy filled her heart and mobilized her to evangelize the Good News to those in her village, even though she used to avoid them out of her shame due to her sins. As God’s mercy in Jesus worked on the blind man, not only that his eyes opened and made him see, but he became a believer. Jesus called this miracle on the blind man a manifestation of God’s work (John 9:3). Then, on dead Lazarus, Jesus assured that his death was not the end, as he described it with a metaphor of sleep.  As he made the blind man see, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, as if a sleeping man were awaken, by the divine salvific power in him. Then, everyone who witnessed this no longer think that death is the end of life, as they came to believe that resurrection is true and made possible by God.  Imagine how joyful those who became believer of Jesus, experiencing and witnessing the astonishing salvific power of Jesus.  This power opened a heart of stone in the Samaritan woman, opened the blind eyes, and opened the grave of Lazarus, to give them new lives.
We, too, receive new lives upon the Sacrament of Reconciliation. As touched by the same salvific power in Jesus, our penitential Lenten journey will sure to lead us into joy with justice and pace. 

As the Holy Week is fast-approaching, let us be sure to experience a foretaste of the Kingdom – joy, peace, and justice in the Holy Spirit, being affected by God’s mercy in Jesus, before Palm Sunday.

Lenten Journey Middle Point Check-Up on Cycle A

40 years of wondering in wilderness between the land of bitter suffering in Egypt and the promised  land in Canaan characterize Exodus.  This long challenging journey was, in a way, a spiritual refinement, as it was to show the survival of only the spiritually fittest.  Those who were not had perished. 

As Lent  is a spiritual journey from a sinful life to turn to the providence of God, just as a wondering lost sheep is returning to his or her original herd, from which he or she went astray, by a sinful temptation.  We spend 40 days and 6 Sundays, including Palm Sunday, to return to God, for our Lenten journey. 

40 days of Lent and 40 years of Exodus – they certainly make a meaningful juxtaposition for our Lenten journey to be more meaningful.  Perhaps, reflecting the First Reading of the 3^rd Sunday of Lent on Cycle A (Exodus 17:3-7) upon the Gospel Reading of the Sunday (John 4:5-42) helps us to connect Exodus with our Lenten journey.  Through this parallel reflection, we can draw thirst as a common theme that is drawn from Exodus experience and our Lenten experience.  Then, we can see the Israelites, who grumbled and complained to Moses about thirst on Exodus 17 in the First Reading and the Samaritan woman, who came to the Jacob’s Well to draw water around the noon time in John 4 represent us as sinners, who needs to hear God’s voice and return to God by way of His immeasurable mercy. 

The thirst that the Israelites grumbled and complained from an early phase of Exodus, shortly after successfully crossing the Red Sea and saved from the danger of the Pharaoh’s army, is associated with their lack of appreciation for God’s providence.  The Israelites must have taken God’s care for granted, though Moses and Miriam praised God’s marvelous saving work for the Israelites, upon crossing the Red Sea.  This is a lesson we can reflect upon ourselves, as we tend to take things for granted and complain for a lack of things. Our lack of gratitude not only results in complaining of our thirst but makes us more vulnerable to sinful temptations, which often lead us into a vicious cycle of addiction.

The thirst of the Samaritan woman, on the other hand, as not just for the water drawn from the Jacob’s Well but much deeper spiritual thirst – thirst for true love.  She had been so thirsty for true love.  That is why she kept chasing men after men but never able to have a lasting committed relationship, called matrimony.  She had been, indeed, in a vicious cycle of bad relationships. As a result of this, she had been also living in shame and guilt, as she avoided to come to the Well, early in the morning, when people usually come to draw and socialize.  The fact that she came to the well around the noon time, when she knew nobody would be around, shows that she had been suffering from loneliness, which St. Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa) sees as the most terrible poverty and spiritual suffering.  As St. Teresa of Calcutta has said, the only way to be healed from this is love, in fact, the love that Christ teaches and embodies.  In John 4, this love is the Living Water that Jesus offered to the Samaritan Woman. 

If we are like the Israelites in Exodus 17: 3-7, we may seek something like alcohol to quench our thirst, only to be thirsty again to a greater extent, to drink more. This way, we can let our life sink into a vicious cycle of addiction.  On the other hand, if we are like the Samaritan Woman in John 4: 5-42, we recognize our spiritual thirst for Christ’s love, which is the Living Water, so that we can be truly quenched and live a Holy-Spirit-filled joyful life. 

The 3^rd Sunday of Lent is the middle point on our Lenten journey – on our Lenten “Exodus”.  It is a good time to check our journey has been.  Have we been like the grumbling Israelites in Exodus 17 or been like the Samaritan Woman in John 4, receiving the Loving Water to be quenched spiritually – being healed from loneliness by Christ’s love? 

We shall become more grateful of Christ’s love – God’s mercy, not grumbling, as we further advance on our Lenten journey.  We we move on this journey, we grow in faith to willingly cite "suscipe" prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola.

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding,
and my entire will,
All I have and call my own.

You have given all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.

Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace,
that is enough for me.

All we need on our journey is grace of God, as its best form is His love. It is wise to travel light to be drawn more closer to God during Lent. Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are to aid us to say that God's grace is enough.