The Hope and Joy of Lent
Today we begin the great journey of Lent, a name derived from an olde-Germanico-English word for ‘spring’, as in renewal, rejuvenation, a pruning and winnowing, so that new and vibrant growth may take root and flourish. We deny our insatiable souls the pleasure of certain permitted but not necessary things, re-attune ourselves in our relationship with God through the dialogue of prayer, and force ourselves to go a bit out of our comfort zone in helping others, not least in little, daily things.
The ashes we receive at Mass signify the inevitable prospect of our death, at the time and place and manner that God so wills, the effect of our first parents’ sin, but a path to a greater and more perfect life. In his homily for the liturgy on this day in the Jubilee Year 2000, Pope Saint John Paul II declared
Earthly life is marked from its beginning by the prospect of death. Our bodies are mortal, that is, subject to the inevitable prospect of death. We live with this end before us: every passing day brings us inexorably closer to it. And death has something destructive about it. With death it seems that everything will end for us. And here, precisely in the face of this disheartening prospect, man, who is aware of his sin, raises a cry of hope to heaven: O God, “create in me a clean heart and put a new and right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your holy Spirit from me”.
In Man’s prayer to his Maker, there is hope, even joy, in the midst of this vale of tears. It is one of the many paradoxes of Catholicism (for deeper truths are often signified by lesser truths) that the ashes, the ultimate effect of dissolution and entropy, are also the sign of our reintegration at the end of time, when our bodies will be returned to us, glorious, perfect, radiant, enjoying the very beatitude of God Himself. The Second Law of Thermodynamics, pace the pessimism of the likes of Richard Dawkins, shall not have the last word:
Today too, the believer who feels threatened by evil and death calls on God in this way, knowing that he has reserved for him a destiny of eternal life. He knows that he is not only a body condemned to death because of sin, but that he also has an immortal soul. Therefore he turns to God the Father, who has the power to create out of nothing; to God the Only-begotten Son, who became man for our salvation, died for us and now, risen, lives in glory; to God the immortal Spirit, who calls us to life and restores life.
A final note: Father George Rutler has a very good meditation this morning, in his own inimitable way, which I highly recommend.
A blessed and joyous Lententide to all!
Carney’s Amoral Majority
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Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress
This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→
A Tale of Two Benedicts
A grace-filled Holy Week to all our readers! As we await and prepare for the Resurrection about to dawn upon us, we might keep in mind two Benedicts: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, requiescat in pace, elected on this day in 2005; and today’s commemoration of the mystic pilgrim, Benedict Joseph Labre, who died on this[…]Continue reading→
My Name is Bernadette
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Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully
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The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus
As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→
Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów
We celebrate Saint Stanislaus today (+ April 11, 1079), in light of this Easter Octave, a bishop and martyr who accepted the episcopacy only at the direct order of Pope Alexander II. He proved a wise and courageous leader of his flock, put to death by his own king, Boleslaus, for rebuking the monarch’s ‘immoral[…]Continue reading→
Saint Gemma Galgani
On this April 11th, in 1903 – the same year that the Italian Guiseppe Sarto was elected Pope later that summer as Pius X – a lovely, young Italian woman died, by the name of Gemma Galgani. She lived a brief life of 24 years, as did a number of other young saints, including Pier[…]Continue reading→
An Ideological and Improper Translation
I noticed something odd with the psalm reading at Mass the other day. Our bishops’ conference here in Canada has decreed that the Mass in English – Novus Ordo – use the ‘NRSV’, the ‘New Revised Standard Version’, an ‘updated’ translation of the original RSV, first published in 1952. This ‘new translation’ has the tendency[…]Continue reading→
Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle: A Teacher for Teachers
Jean-Baptiste de la Salle (1651 – 1719), a French nobleman, ordained a priest, founded the first order in the Church’s history entirely without priests, and this came about almost by accident. I say ‘almost’, for, of course, there are no accidents with God. Destined for ordination from an early age, Jean-Baptiste never looked back, even[…]Continue reading→