Lent - Broken Hearts Mended Here

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;

and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.

There is no pain greater than a broken heart. When something touches us so deeply, to our innermost core, the pain can be more debilitating than a physical injury.  Break a leg, and in a matter of weeks, it is healed.  Break a heart, and the injury can last for the rest of your life! 

The hardest part about dealing with a broken heart, at least for me, is the feeling that no one understands the pain you are going through. Even your best friend may tell you to "toughen up and work through it."  The advice is well-meaning but hard to implement. 

We all have suffered a broken heart at one time or another in our lives. Each of us has felt that pain that turns into an ache that does not want to go away.  Some of us embark on a regimen of self-treatment. We look for answers in drugs or alcohol.  Some of us try to heal ourselves by trying to forget by keeping permanently busy in mind and body so we do not have to think about it. This works right up until the time we stop for a moment to rest. It is then that all of the bad feelings come flooding back in.  To deal with a broken heart by doing nothing at all is perhaps the most dangerous thing you can do.  A broken heart never mends through inaction.  

There is a sure cure for a broken heart. To cure a broken heart in the quickest amount of time possible you have to lay the burden down and ask someone stronger to pick it up for you.  There is only one person that can do this astounding feat.  This person is, of course, the Lord.  He is no stranger to a broken heart.  He knows what it is to be disappointed in those he loves.  He knows what it feels like to give His all, only to be rejected by us as we walk away.  I believe that the physical pain of the cross was not as bad as the thoughts that must of went through the mind of Jesus as he hung there. In the Garden, the previous night he sweated blood. So, if you ever need a friend who knows what a broken heart feels like, turn to Jesus, turn to God.  In Him, you will find a friend forever.  In Him, you will find healing for the hurts of life, especially the hurts that break your heart. It will take time but after all, it is better to walk the road of pain with a willing companion.  That willing companion is Jesus who will heal your broken heart. 

Lent = Healing and Being Healed

There was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate
a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes.
In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there
and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him,
"Do you want to be well?"
The sick man answered him,
"Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool
when the water is stirred up;
while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me."
Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your mat, and walk."
Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.

Once again, I am showing my age.  When I was a youth in beautiful Brighton Park on the Southwest Side of Chicago, you were hard pressed to find any stores open on Sunday. The National Tea grocery store was open so you could buy some things but the liquor was not for sale on Sunday and because the butchers, who had a very strong union back then, neither were the meats that they packaged.  Most stores were closed back in the early 1960's on Sunday. Taverns were not permitted to open until noon on Sunday.  People, by law, were kind of forced to keep the sabbath.   

Back in the time of Jesus, the Bethesda pool was a place that every so often, not on a regular schedule, an angel was said to appear and "stir up the waters" and the first one in the pool would be cured of whatever was wrong with him.  The man in our story had two strikes against him.  First, it appears he could not walk.  And secondly, he did not have a friend ready and willing to pick him and toss him into the pool when the angel stirred up the waters.  Those with more able bodies would surely get into the pool before him.  For him, however, there was the slimmest of chances that he could be first so he went every day and took up his place.  One day, Jesus appeared at the pool and took pity on the cripple.  Jesus asked the man if he wanted to be cured.  I could imagine what I, being a wiseass, and not a too bright one at that, would have said. "No I just come here every day to sit here and visit with my friends."  The man, showing more brains than I have, simply told his story.  He told Jesus, that he wanted to be cured but he had a problem because he could never be the first into the pool.  Jesus solved the problem and cured the man and told him to take up his mat and go home.   

Now, this took place on the sabbath.  The Jews were very strict about following the sabbath.  The man was accosted as he moved towards his home and was told he could not carry his mat on the sabbath.  Well, since he was at the pool already, he must have carried it there on the sabbath.  But he told the Pharisees that were on his case that the man who cured him told him to get up and walk.  They asked who told him to do this.  The man was not sure and Jesus had wandered off, out of sight.  Later the man caught sight of Jesus and went to the Pharisees and pointed Him out.  From that moment on they began to plot against Jesus. 

Once again, we see Jesus doing something charitable and curing a person.  He brought hope where there was no hope.  The man who was cured had no chance of being the first in the pool. There were others, stronger than he, who would push him out of the way in their attempt to get into the water and be cured.  Jesus took the initiative and cured the man.  He could have told the cripple to come back the next day after the sabbath was over, and he would cure him. But, Jesus knew that the sabbath was made for man and not the other way around. He technically worked on the sabbath and cured the cripple. 

A work of charity has no day or time when it is not appropriate.  Jesus saw a need and he filled it.  Why did Jesus cure this man?  There were probably dozens of people at the pool, why didn't he just wave his arm and cure everyone at one fell swoop?  It was well within his power to do.  Instead, he took care of one man who had no one else who cared.  

For us too, we need to watch for opportunities to help.  We need to take the risk that others may scorn or laugh at us for tilting at windmills.  But if we love Christ, we love all of His people and are called to serve. 

Lent - Once Was Blind - Now I See

"Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature, 

because I have rejected him.

Not as man sees does God see, 

because man sees the appearance 

but the LORD looks into the heart."

Our readings this Sunday are all about vision. First, we read about David being anointed the king of Israel.  One at a time Jesse's sons came before the prophet and while each of them made a splendid appearance, none of them was the one God had in mind. Finally, they called the youngest one in from the field.  David had been out tending the sheep. When David appeared before the prophet, God made it known that this was His chosen one and David was promptly anointed king of Israel. 

Our Gospel reading is the one about the man born blind and how Jesus made a paste of clay, rubbed it on the man's eyes and sent him to wash and the man born blind could see! 

God's vision is perfect. He does not look at the exterior of a person. He reads what is in their heart. How often do we judge others using our myopic human vision?  Often times our judgment is clouded by our prejudices. We have to learn to see others as God sees them. God loves every one of his children without exception.  When we apply our judgment we should err on the side of charity.  There is a story I read once about Brother Bernard who lives in a monastery. Whenever someone criticized someone else in his presence he would answer:

"Wouldn't it be funny if he is closer to God than we are?"

Lent - Risking It All

Today, believe it or not, marks nine months from Christmas!  It is also the day we celebrate the Solemnity of the Annunciation.  This is an exciting feast day for all Christians, although many of those in Protestant denominations fail to see the full significance of it. The Angel Gabriel came to a young girl in a small, out of the way, insignificant town, and told her that she had found favor with the Lord. He uses these words, "Hail Mary, full of grace..."  With these words, the angel announced that Mary was full of grace.  When something is full, you cannot fit any more into it. The angel goes on to announce that Mary will be the mother of the Messiah. For her part, Mary, full of grace, with her heart fully turned to God, accepts.  Her "Yes" is the beginning of the life of Jesus on earth. No sooner had she given her consent, when inside of her Jesus began to take on human nature. 

Today we do not grasp the danger she put herself in. Today, our morals are more, shall we say relaxed.  In our world, nothing is thought of pregnancy before marriage.  I am not saying this to judge anyone, it is just a fact. In the time of the Messiah, there was a long courtship period when the couple was said to be betrothed to one another, in effect they were man and wife in the eyes of the law. This period would be used by the husband to prepare a home for his bride. The man and woman had the rights to sleep together but the normal thing was to wait until the wedding. 

From the moment of Mary's "Yes," she was pregnant. What did she do? She left to visit Elizabeth and stayed there three months, coming back three months along in her pregnancy.  She told Joseph and he must have almost died because the one he loved appeared to have been unfaithful. He could go to the priests and denounce her or he could pay to have her transported elsewhere to have her child. If he told the priests there would have been a quick examination of Mary and when found to be pregnant she would have been condemned to death by stoning.  Joseph was a man full of love for Mary and he resolved to have her sent away to have the child. He later was filled in by God in a dream and he took her into his home and they were man and wife.  Both of them risked everything but they also took God at His word and the story of our salvation and God's infinite love for his wayward children moved forward. 

Each of us is here on earth because there is a mission that we have to complete. This mission cannot be done by another.  We may be asked to take a risk for the Kingdom. The question is simply; "Are you ready?"  So many of our brothers and sisters have been asked to shed blood for the faith in the middle east where Christianity took up root and prospered from the earliest time. These modern-day martyrs risked their all in the name of God and His Son, Jesus.

So, like Mary and Joseph, are you ready to turn your world upside down if God asks you to do something?  Do you want to remain safe and secure or are you a risk taker for the Kingdom?

Lent - Fish Sticks and Cheese

"If only my people would hear me,

and Israel walk in my ways,

I would feed them with the best of wheat,

and with honey from the rock, I would fill them."

Let's travel once again back in time to that bastion of learning, Saint Joseph and Saint Ann School deep in the heart of Brighton Park in the City of Chicago.  Lent at SJSA was a test of strength.  We all, kids and sisters alike, had to "give up something for Lent."  For kids, what could you give up?  Adults could give up cigarettes, I am not saying that the nuns smoked, but who knows? Us kids, almost everyone, boy or girl, gave up candy.  I hated the idea of giving up candy for forty whole days.  What I wanted to give up were the fish sticks and the lump of cheese that they fed us on Fridays in the SJSA Lunch Room.  Friday fare was the same the whole year round because we as Catholics were not allowed to eat meat on Friday, it was a church law.  So every week at lunch the fish sticks would be cooked up. If I were a fish and I tasted like these fish sticks, I would certainly be embarrassed.  I mean really to live my whole life as a fish, to fulfill my destiny and end up tasting like bait?  Oh, the shame of it.  To round out the platter we got a dollop of mashed potatoes and a lump of official US of A Government cheese which we called "The Rock."  This cheese was so dry that you had to use most of your half a pint of milk to get it to go down.  I thought it would be better if I gave up lunch on Friday.  Sister Emerita said that we could not give up something we hated.  So I gave up candy just like everyone else. 

Lent is the time when we are to turn back to the Lord.  "Giving up" is a good discipline.  It is good to say "no" to you body once in a while but perhaps a review of how we are living our life, where we are missing the mark would be better.  Then, once we see ourselves as we really are, we can view our lives more realistically, more like God sees us.  We can use this self-knowledge to turn around, to repent, to being anew.  Lent is a word that simply means spring.  Spring is a time when nature awakes from the sleep of winter. Lent, for us, can be a time when we do the same.  

Lent - I've Never Been Good At Math

Peter approached Jesus and asked him,

"Lord, if my brother sins against me,

how often must I forgive him?

As many as seven times?"

Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times 

but seventy-seven times."

Okay, I will  admit it, I've never been good at math.  It all started around 1960 or 1961 when my alma mater, St. Joseph and St. Anne School decided to teach it's inmates, I mean students, "The New Math."  Even today when I think about The New Math I shake my head and wonder why humans have a tendency to want to fix things that ain't broke.  Back then I was considered stupid by the good Sisters of Saint Joseph and the transition from arithmetic to The New Math seemed to prove them correct in their assumption. In first and second grades, after my father gave up trying to help his dope of a son and my mother took over trying to help me understand math.  She was able to make wonderful progress.  Through her tutelage  I was able to master the art of adding and subtracting which included the concept of borrowing. Then, without warning came The New Math and everything went to hell in a handbasket.  In the modern world given the same circumstances, I would be recognized as having a learning disability and modern techniques would be used to help me understand what to my mind was gibberish. Sister Emerita, if you are out there somewhere, none of my employers over the last forty-something years has asked me to subtract two negative numbers, just saying.  Today I can add, subtract, multiply, and divide with the rest of humanity.  

In today's Gospel, we are told to forgive our brother seventy-seven times. That is a number I can wrap my hands around.  On a number line, it is seventy-seven places to the right of zero, it is not a prime number, it is odd, and only twenty-three places on the number line from one-hundred.  But, Jesus is not giving us a math lesson here. He is giving us a life lesson.  Peter is being generous and asks if he should forgive a person seven times.  That was a lot back then where the law was still an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.  Peter may have been trying to score some points with Jesus by appearing generous.  Jesus wasn't having any of it.  I can imagine Him turning to Peter and saying ""I say to you, not seven times 

but seventy-seven times." 

The number seven, of course, is "God's Number" it is a number of the day that God rested from His work of creation when He saw that all of what He made was very good.  What Jesus is telling us to do, is to forgive an infinite amount of times. We are to strive to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect.  We are to forgive as many times as the Father forgives us.  We can throw sand in the face of God every day of our life and repent just before we die and be forgiven. There is no circumstance in life that precludes forgiveness.  I know, I know, it is hard to forgive what he did, what she said, what they did.  We are called to forgive and to bring ourselves the peace that forgiveness of those who offend us will bring here on earth.  It is not easy to be a Christian.  It is not easy to forgive.  But we must imitate Christ who, from the cross, said, "Father forgive them, they know not what they are doing."   If Jesus can do that from the Cross, can we not do it as well as safe on the ground, eating an apple, we watch Him die?

Third Sunday of Lent - Heart Attack!

When I graduated from High School, part of the program, actually, the administration's last attempt at controlling our class, was to sing "The Age of Aquarius"  which was made popular by the Mammas and the Pappas, if my mind serves me right.  If you are not familiar with the tune, it is a tune that glorifies astrology.  The age of Aquarius is supposed to usher in a time of peace and tranquility.  Well, I graduated in 1970 so we see how well that worked out, peace and tranquility indeed!  But Aquarius is the water bearer. Today's first reading tells of the Hebrews who have a lack of water and they were concerned about this. Moses is at his wit's end.  Here were a people who had seen the Red Sea open up allowing them to pass over dry land with water like a wall on the left and on the right.  This was a people who had been eating free food, manna in the morning and quail at night. Now, they were thirsty.  They begin grumbling and forgetting what God had already done and had the unmitigated gall to ask Moses if he had dragged them out to the desert just to see them perish from thirst.  Moses went to God and told his tale of woe about the stiff-necked people. God provided water when Moses struck the rock. The issue here was one of trust.  The people, who had been given abundance and plenty still failed to trust in God when the going got tough. The people needed water.  This was not an optional thing as they would die without it. God was well aware of their needs and would have met them without all of the grumblings. 

Are we any different than the Hebrews at Meribah? On the day of Massah when our fathers tempted God although they had seen His works?  In our lifetime have there been times when we have had needs and have forgotten the times when God has been there? Do we grumble as the Hebrews did in the desert?

It is more than a matter of trust. It is a matter of giving up control.  We want control of our lives, every day and every minute.  As one who has had a heart attack, I can tell you that each of us will come to a point when all control is lost. Here is my story. 

If you ever want to beat the crowd in the emergency room simply follow these instructions. Step one, Be a past middle-aged man who is overweight. Step two, go up to the counter and say just two words, "Chest Pain."  The doors swing wide open and the medical community descends on you in force and in little more than two minutes you are in a bed with a central line in and hooked up to a monitor and munching on an aspirin.  All control was wrested from me. I sunk into a moment of self-pity, which was my version of what the Hebrews did at the rock, Then, recovering my senses I turned my plight over to God. I have to tell you it was hard to give up the illusion of having complete control as just one hour before I was seemingly in charge of my life, then, suddenly, I was not in charge or control of anything. Strangers all dressed in white were coming in, checking this and that, injecting medicine all without asking my permission. I prayed and turned it over to God. Things improved for me from that moment on.  By this I mean my mind stopped racing and I knew that no matter what happened from this point on, good or bad, I would be okay. For a few moments, I was just like the Hebrews. When I sunk into self-pity I forgot all of the things God had done for me in my life to that moment.  Long story short, four stents later I was sent home after a couple of days in the hospital.  The doctor said that there had been no damage to my heart.  He likened it to getting a scratch on a new car.  The car still worked, it just had this scratch. 

Water, a simple thing. Our bodies are about sixty percent water. Water refreshes the body when we drink it.  It cleanses the body when we wash with it. It cleanses the soul at Baptism.  Water is just another example of God's love and care for His children. Don't be surprised if when something happens in your life and you lose control. Your first reaction may well be to grumble and say "why me?"  Later, when you come to your senses and you realize that God is in control, you will surrender to Him, secure in the knowledge that he will not disappoint you.