Saturday, March 26, 2022

Gospel Acclamation: Fourth Sunday of Lent

I will get up and go to my Father and shall say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.

The youngest son in our Gospel for today has gotten himself into a real pickle. He thought he could be free of his father and his father's estate and all the work it entailed, so he demanded his inheritance and left. His father would not have had to give in to his demands, but he knew the young man needed to learn a tough lesson, and that is exactly what happens.

The young man squanders all his money and ends up starving and caring for pigs, about the worst position a young Jew could end up in. The young man sees his predicament and recognizes how good he really had it at home. In fact, his father's servants are much better off than he is at this point. He decides that he will go home, confess his sin, and ask to be a servant to his father because he knows he is not worthy to be a son.

In this acclamation, we are invited to make the young man's words of repentance our own. We are invited to recognize that, like the young man, we have gone away from our Father, God, to follow our own paths, and we must repent and return. The young man received a welcome and forgiveness beyond his wildest imaginings, and so will we when we get up, return to our Father, confess our sins, and find ourselves surrounded by love.

Saturday, March 19, 2022

Gospel Acclamation: Third Sunday of Lent

Repent, says the Lord; the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

Repent. Admit that we are weak, sinful people who offend God frequently.

Repent. Examine our consciences thoroughly.

Repent. Look straight at our sins realistically, and admit that we have done wrong.

Repent. Express contrition for our sins, deep sorrow that we have offend the God Who loves us more than we can ever imagine.

Repent. Confess our sins.

Repent. Deliberately turn away from sin, and resolve to sin no more.

Repent. Humbly ask for God's forgiveness, knowing that we do not deserve it yet that He is pleased to grant it in His great mercy and love.

Oh my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended You, and I detest all of my sins because of Your just punishments, but most of all because they offend You, my God, Who art all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve with the help of Your grace to sin no more and to avoid the near occasion of sin. Amen.

Saturday, March 12, 2022

Gospel Acclamation: Second Sunday of Lent

From the shining cloud the Father’s voice is heard: This is My beloved Son, hear Him.

Imagine that you are with Peter, James, and John on the mountain. You have come apart with Jesus for a while to pray, but you do not realize that Jesus has something truly remarkable in store for you. You pray for a while, as Jesus does, but then you get sleepy and start to nod off.

Something startles you, and your eyes pop open. Your jaw drops. Jesus is standing there before you, but He is glowing, radiating. His face looks different, and His clothes are so white they shine. Two men stand beside Him, and you somehow recognize Moses and Elijah. They are speaking to Jesus about His upcoming exodus. You have no idea what that means, and you don't even know what to say or do. You just sit their with your mouth hanging open and your eyes wide. Jesus is so beautiful, so glorious.

Peter, of course, is the one who speaks up, mumbling something about making tents. You know he is thinking about the Feast of Tabernacles and how Jesus is the Messiah, but he hardly seems to realize what he is saying.

Suddenly a cloud descends over you, and you are actually immersed in it. You fall on your face, terrified, for you know that this the shekinah, the glory cloud, the same one that led the Israelites out of Egypt, the same one that descended on the mountain as Moses received the law, the same one that descended on the Tabernacle and the Temple. It is a sign of the intense, overwhelming presence of God.

A voice rings out from the cloud. “This is My beloved Son; listen to Him.” Then when you dare to look up, Jesus is there alone. He touches you and tells you not to be frightened. But you are a little anyway, for you have just experienced something perfectly divine.

Saturday, March 5, 2022

Gospel Acclamation: First Sunday of Lent

One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.

Bread alone. The material world. All the stuff that we rely on to make our lives “good” and “prosperous” and “happy.” We need material things, and they are usually not bad in and of themselves. We humans are body and soul, and we must tend to the body. But we cannot let our body dominate. We cannot let the material world control us, for that is exactly what happens when we give it pride of place. Our stuff starts to own us.

Every word that comes forth from the mouth of God. This is life for our souls. It refers to God's grace, to the Scriptures, to Tradition, to the sacraments, to our encounters with God in prayer. We are to take in every drop, every word, every small bit of inspiration. We are to focus on God, putting Him first in our lives, above all else. This is true life. This is the beginning of eternal life that we can experience in part now and fully in Heaven.