tvc.dsj.org | March 19, 2019
13
COMMENTARY
The Radical Call of Lent
By Tony Magliano
Internationally syndicated social jus-
tice and peace columnist
[email protected]
Imagine you’re sitting in front of your doctor, and
he says that your health defi nitely needs to improve.
He then looks you square in the eyes and says, “If you
wish to live a healthy long life, you must stop eating
junk food and living a sedentary lifestyle, and start
eating plenty of healthy foods and exercise every day.”
Your doctor’s wakeup call to you here would de-
mand a radical physical lifestyle change. That is, if
you wish to live a healthy long life.
At Lent’s beginning on Ash Wednesday, many of
us were signed on our foreheads with a cross of ashes
and told to “Turn away from sin and be faithful to
the Gospel.”
That sign, and those words, from the Divine Physi-
cian are a radical spiritual wakeup call to all of us who
wish to live healthy spiritual lives now in this world
and to prepare well for the next world in eternity.
Being crossed with ashes is meant to alert us that
our bodies will soon be much like the ashes on our
foreheads. It should be a sober reminder that this life
is coming to a quick close and that we have no time
to lose in turning away from the evil of sin, that is, all
that hurts and separates us from God, others, creation
and ourselves. And to be faithful to the Gospel!
In t his year’s papal Lenten message (see:
https://bit.ly/2EfkGyc), Pope Francis warns us that
“Once God’s law, the law of love, is forsaken, then the
law of the strong over the weak takes over. The sin
that lurks in the human heart (Mk 7:20-23) takes the
shape of greed and unbridled pursuit of comfort, lack
of concern for the good of others and even of oneself.
“Prayer, which teaches us to
abandon idolatry and the self-
suffi ciency of our ego, and to
acknowledge our need of the
Lord and his mercy.”
It leads to the exploitation of creation, both persons
and the environment, due to that insatiable covetous-
ness which sees every desire as a right and sooner or
later destroys all those in its grip.”
But more than any other time, Lent is the season
for conversion – a radical change of mind and heart,
a time to walk out of the darkness of sin and into the
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Enjoying the Best Of Life
By Father Eugene Hemrick,
Catholic News Service
Has the news, weather or unexpected
disappointments gotten you down? St.
Ignatius of Loyola’s spiritual exercise of
the “examen” prayer may contain just
the lift you need.
The “examen” helps us to get into
spiritual action through fi ve practices
with which to start each morning:
1. Ask for the help of the Holy Spirit.
2. Be thankful.
3. Notice the presence of God.
4. Notice the lack of the presence of
God.
5. Look to the future.
It is often diffi
cult to see God’s pres-
ence in everyday life due to daily vio-
lence and the faith-shaking trials many
people endure. Their darkness shuts out
life-giving light needed to be positive
and joyful.
A closer look at the practice of thank-
fulness through the eyes of St. Gregory
Nazianzen reveals how thankfulness can
merciful, peaceful, joyful, loving light of Christ Jesus!
And the sacrament of reconciliation (confession) is a
wonderful heavenly gift to help us advance along the
lifelong process of conversion.
Additionally, the three holy practices of fasting,
prayer and almsgiving –especially stressed during
Lent – are indispensible to our growth in the life of
the Spirit – which is the Kingdom of God.
“Fasting,” Pope Francis astutely says, is about
“learning to change our attitude towards others and
all creation, turning away from the temptation to
‘devour’ everything to satisfy our voracity and being
ready to suff er for love, which can fi ll the emptiness
of our hearts.
“Prayer, which teaches us to abandon idolatry and
the self-suffi
ciency of our ego, and to acknowledge
our need of the Lord and his mercy.
“Almsgiving, whereby we escape from the insanity
of hoarding everything for ourselves”
Every day several thousand children die from hun-
ger and hunger related diseases. This is completely
preventable. The anti-hunger/anti- poverty Christian
organization Bread for the World is asking us to email
and call (capitol switchboard: 202-224-3121) our two
U.S. senators and representative urging them to sup-
port $250 million for global malnutrition programs.
And please consider a Lenten donation to our
starving brothers and sisters in South Sudan (see:
https://bit.ly/2H7wt5w).
“Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel!”
counter this and make our spirit soar.
“What benefactor,” St. Gregory asks,
“has enabled you to look out upon the
beauty of sky, the sun in its course, the
circle of the moon, the countless number
of stars, with the harmony and order that
are theirs, like music of a harp? Who has
blessed you with rain, with the art of
husbandry, with diff erent kinds of food,
with the arts, with houses, with laws,
with states, with a life of humanity and
culture, with friendship and the easy
familiarity of kinship?
“Is it not God who asks you now in
your turn to show yourself generous
above all other creatures and for the sake
of all other creatures? Because we have
received from him so many wonderful
gifts, will we not be ashamed to refuse
him this one thing only, our generosity?”
Three common denominators are
found in the wisdom of Ignatius and
Gregory: Get outside your own little
world, take global notice of your bless-
ings and, in gratitude, pledge to enhance
the world of those who need support and
uplifting.
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