My friends, due to my hectic week of travel and illness—I have opted for some previously written comments with some update. Being that they were from nine years ago, some of you may be hearing them for the first time, and hopefully for the rest, a nice review.

We have completed a little more than a week of our Lenten discipline. Discipline is a good word I feel to describe what this time should evoke in each of us.  Whether we are concentrating on “giving up” something or “giving for” something, discipline is needed.  A reflection by Sister Joan Chittister entitled, “Why Give up Stuff for Lent?” speaks to this idea. And as is natural for Sister Joan, she lets us know the history of the practice within her comments.  Penance and sacrifice go way back, she says—in fact they are part of all religions.  Even though we may at times think negatively of doing penance and sacrifice, the purpose for such endeavors is really very positive.

Ascetics, those who practice austere disciplines of fasting and prayer, speak, she says, about conquering themselves and developing their souls—an admirable thing for any of us.  Joan continues, “Life, we come to understand, is not only about joy.  It is about the power to endure what is not joyful as well”—caring for a dying loved one and eventually laying them to rest as our family learned again this past week.  “How is it, that the notion of bridling the self can be as important as satisfying the self?” Joan asks. It seems that it is about balance in our lives.  Too much of anything is never good.

Even ascetics attest to the fact, Joan says, that the good things in life don’t have to be forgone, but simply held in balance.  The Talmud, that is, the oral tradition commentary on the Torah instructs, “If a person has the opportunity to taste a new fruit and refuses to do so, he [she] will have to account for that in the next world.”

It would seem that we are all on a journey to be our best selves. Lent, as I have said, is a gift of time to help us do that well. Asceticism, Joan goes on to say, is not about giving things up for the sake of it, but really it is about achieving more, like—making space in our lives for the better as opposed to the simply, good.  For me, spending actual, physical time with family and friends is better than a phone call, text or email.

For some of us, looking to the saints of old and perhaps even more present day saints—those who aren’t canonized, but we know to be saints just the same can be a help in being our best selves, by watching and listening to them and then, doing the same.  The month of March, on the 19^th, to be exact, looks at St. Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus.  The Italian community sets what they call, St. Joseph’s Table in honor of the saint.  This is a feast consisting of a heaped table of food that is then given to the poor.

Sister Joan related this story as a Benedictine commenting that St. Benedict instructed his community to partake in what he called, “reckless, magnanimous hospitality”—not just good, but better! A fine point that she puts on this idea is to say that we don’t empty ourselves just to trim our own lives…but to make the lives of others better.  In other words, to sincerely follow Jesus, there must be the responsibility to move beyond ourselves.

In our gospel today, we see the same kind of thing happening. Peter wants to remain in the glorious vision of the Transfiguration while the reality of ministry awaits him and the others.  The gift he and the others received is intended to help them more effectively share Jesus’ message with the people—it is never just about the person receiving the gift.  What they experienced was a theophany—Jesus’ self-revelation as God.  James, John and Peter shared something very special and with all such things for which we are not worthy and have done nothing to deserve, there comes a responsibility to use the gift for others.  The Three were entrusted with a special gift—Jesus’ expectation was that they would take the “good,” and use it for something even better–to draw many to follow in his path.

In the early days of my priesthood, there were those in positions of power within the Church and also other acquaintances of mine that accused me and other women priests of being after power and I could always answer truthfully that it was never about power for me personally, but about service for those who felt unserved within our Church.  My prayer then and now has been that I could always serve in this role with humility, knowing that the gift and privilege is not at all about me.  My hope in these disagreements with others, especially male priests is that they would likewise shine their light of introspection upon themselves with regard to power.

This brings us to our first reading today from Genesis.  Here again we see the theme of this entire Lenten Season—God’s gracious goodness lifted up for us in the exchange between God and Abram.  When we see what is being asked of Abram, who will later become, Abraham, we realize that there has to already be a strong relationship between him and God—why else would Abram be so willing without any question or argument to pick up family and basically leave all that he knows for a strange land and situation?  Even so, given the already existing relationship, it couldn’t have been easy for Abram to do.

It is good for us to remember that what God asked of Abram was momentous in the culture within which he lived. A person in this culture was closely connected to family—one’s people.  The place from which a person originated was seen as paramount—one didn’t leave that place lightly.  God was basically asking Abram to leave his past, present, and future behind!

It is especially poignant for me to reflect on Abram’s plight in light of our family’s laying to rest our daughter-in-law’s Dad this past week. Patrick O’Flynn left his homeland of Ireland to come to the U.S. to make a home and raise a family. Each year he returned to his beloved homeland and as his children began to arrive, eventually—three; he couldn’t afford to take all of them each year so, each year he took one with him so that they could know their roots.

In the above story we see the generosity of a human father toward his children and in the story from Genesis; we see the five-fold generosity of God toward Abram:

1) God will make him and Sarai, later to be called, Sarah, a great nation, 2) God will bless his family, 3) God will make his family a great name, 4) God will bless those who bless his family and 5) God will curse those who don’t. We see this continued in Psalm 33—the theme of the graciousness of God—“The Creator loves justice and right.” Not only is God gracious but we hear hesed, that is, lovingkindness, used in this psalm to speak of the God who we are dealing with.

This theme of God continually bestowing blessings on the Chosen People, which we really should see as all of us, is one that continues through all the readings today. Paul in his letter to Timothy speaks of this “lovingkindness” as pure gift—not because we have deserved it or earned it.  Paul uses a Greek word, to further explain this pure goodness—charis, which translates as grace.   Paul then moves us into the 2^nd theme for this weekend, which is, a new beginning.  Through God’s magnanimous gift of Jesus we have the hope of new life.   Our humanity is raised up and made perfect by Jesus becoming one of us and it is Jesus who calls us to holiness, to being our best selves Paul tells us.  Our choosing to walk in Jesus’ footsteps is the final theme for this weekend—in fact; choosing to follow Jesus is what we should always be about in our lives as Christians.

The Transfiguration is an event that is good for us to reflect upon on several fronts.  First off, if we needed something to confirm for us that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, there is much here to confirm it.  Jesus, knowing the culture and beliefs of his time, would have been aware that he needed to choose a high place for such a revelation.  Location is everything as the realtors, like my sister, tell us—high mountains were thought to be places where gods dwelt.

Jesus’ purpose was indeed to reveal himself as God while he was yet on earth.  The thinking at one time was that the Transfiguration occurred post-resurrection and was a foreshadowing of his future glory, but now most scholars believe his purpose to be the former—to help these first believers to know truly who he was.  Appearing glorified in the presence of Moses, the lawgiver, and Elijah,  who represented the prophets, and himself who completed the equation, of all that the people had waited for, had to have been a tremendous strengthening of faith for James, John and Peter!  Jesus shows himself to them as God incarnate.

These followers of his clearly can’t take it all in—they, at first glance don’t know the full significance of what they are seeing. Peter speaks out of his compulsive nature—it is what we all love about him!  “Master, it is good that we are here!” Yes, Peter, it is,  but you can’t stay yet—this is a respite, a time away to become solidified in what you are being called to and for.  God instructs them further—“Listen to his, meaning, Jesus’ words.”

That is our call too friends, we must listen, watch and keep our eyes on Jesus—keep our eyes too on those who have followed him well in life—the past and present saints.  If we keep our eyes open, strive to be mindful, present to each day and moment, if we can; there will be those times when we too are very aware that what we are seeing and witnessing is of God and we will again have the hope to keep on following him—giving of ourselves for not only what is good, but what is better. And we have opportunities, my friends, each and every day in our Church and country to do just that!  May we each be blessed today as we journey through these Lenten days of grace.  Amen? Amen!

My friends, as we begin the holy season of Lent, I am sure that within some of you, there is a sigh, an “ugh” feeling, or maybe for others, a sense of, ah, a new start for me to get right with myself.  For those of you who have the “ugh” sensation, that is understandable as the readings for this 1^st Sunday of Lent direct us to our sinfulness.  They also direct us to God’s graciousness, but those who have put together these readings seem more intent on lifting up our “sinfulness” than they do God’s graciousness and mercy.

Take the first reading from Genesis today—did anyone other than me think it strange that we start out with the “earth creature” whom we assume from other translations to be Adam, enjoying the beauties of the garden that God has created and then the jump of a chapter to introduce the woman just in time to bring “sin” into the world?

Granted that, “our sinfulness” is what is trying to be lifted up throughout the readings, but I also suspect that the ages-old tendency, “to blame the woman “ is afoot here as well.  And it is a subtle thing in a patriarchal culture, but it is one to note in any case.

In the reading from Romans, Paul seems to protest too much.  His intent in preaching to the Romans who know little or nothing of Jesus is no doubt to have them get a clear picture of Jesus, but I for one, object to the picture he is portraying here.  Why does the act of making a human choice have to be carried on through all of humanity? This is faulty reasoning if we are to believe in the graciousness and mercy of God.

It is probably this reading where the notion of original sin comes from and the need for God—and not a loving God, at that, to be appeased through the death of Jesus.  This so-called “theology” is so flawed, as it makes God so small-minded, so small-hearted, as Sister Joan Chittister would say of such theology, so vindictive—more like us than God, who in other places—we are told, “is all-loving and all-merciful.”  We can’t believe both narratives—that of a vindictive God and that of an all-loving, all-understanding God—the God of the “Prodigal,” a story of over-the-top love which we will read later on in Lent.

The Good News that we should celebrate this Lent and every year at this time is not that Jesus died for our sins—“mea culpa, mea culpa, mea culpa”—or as a friend recalls feeling, “I am scum, I am scum, I am really scum,” but the fact that Jesus came and lived for us to show us the best way to live.  Granted, his advocacy for the poor and down-trodden, kept in place by the powers-that-were in his time, and his demand that these same powerful ones do the right thing, caused his death, but certainly, not because our humanity needed reparation.

Why would a God who made humanity imperfect then demand reparation for their flawed natures? No, it makes no sense that a loving God, wanting only the best for these creatures, enough so to be humbled in Jesus, living among us, showing us the way, the best way through life, death and resurrection would then demand the life of Jesus to appease God’s vindication.

Even the terminology that we use in the ritual of distributing ashes, “Remember, that you are dust and unto dust you shall return” has the wrong tone.  I asked Robert the other day when he hears those words, what does he think of—how in fact does it make him feel? His response: “Like dirt!”  So, you may have seen my Church Facebook title for Ash Wednesday where I said, “Remember, you came from the good earth and will return to it one day!”

As our family lost a good man this past week, our daughter-in-law’s father, Patrick O’Flynn, I think of this adage—he came from the good earth and we will return him to it this next week. Over the years that I knew him, Patrick and his good wife, Elizabeth, were always so gracious to those that they welcomed to their home. So friends, when I distribute ashes today, I will remind each of you that you came from the good earth and will return there one day. The true intention in marking us each year with ashes should be to simply help us know our place in relationship to our loving God—that we have been gifted with life from our good earth and all that this entails—no more, no less.

The Gospel from Matthew today is all about Jesus’ preparation for ministry—anyone called to leadership will always be tempted by the power that can come with the role.  Jesus is aware of this and thus tries to make himself strong through fasting and prayer, in order to avoid this very strong temptation and keep focused on his mission.  Fasting from food has its place in our lives if it prepares us to better focus on moving out of ourselves to see the needs of others, to in fact be better people.

I personally tend to shy away from fasting as prescribed by the Church during Lent as I can’t seem to separate it from the notion of “dieting” and this conundrum was validated for me this week in a piece that I was reading in the National Catholic Reporter (NCR) on fasting and the different take that many women have on the topic.  Of course this article was written by a woman! Because many women have grown up with the false impression, created by our male-centered culture, that women are only acceptable if they have a certain body type and shape, fasting takes on a whole different notion for women than it does for men, the writer said.  There is a reason friends, why more women than men, in our culture, suffer from anorexia and bulimia.

The men in charge say that you can’t unite the two, that is, using a time of fasting to lose a few extra pounds, the writer continued.  And that is why I have stopped trying.  If I happen to be dieting during Lent, (when am I not trying to lose those extra pounds?!), I call it “dieting” and forget about fasting, for what that is worth.

So, my dear friends; I see Lent as a gift our Church gives us to grow closer to Jesus and we will—if we keep our eyes on him.  If fasting from food helps you to do that, I am not discouraging it, but if it simply leaves you with an “ugh” feeling, then you may want to “fast” in a different way:  you can fast perhaps from nagging a loved one, or from using your sharp tongue to denigrate another, or from selfishness with your time, or from judgmentalism, or snobbishness, or the need to have things done your way, and the list can go on.  This discussion always makes me think of someone in my extended family that did a perfect job of fasting and abstaining from food during Lent but might have been better served, herself and her immediate world, if she had instead, fasted from her negative ways.

I think if we don’t come out on the other side of Lent knowing that we are mightily loved by our God, then, I would think we had missed something important.  When you really look at Jesus’ earthly life, you have to conclude that he was a really astounding fellow—to follow in his ways—actions and words—we certainly could do worse!  So, let us pray for each other during these days that each of us can more fully follow our brother Jesus’ ways in gratitude to our God who has given us this awesome opportunity to become more of whom we are called to be! Amen? Amen!