Christ was tempted, the devil was tempting Him, showing Him stones to be turned into bread; and he led Him up a mountain to see all the kingdoms of the world in a flash. Dread, my soul, the scene; watch and pray at every hour to God.
The desert-loving dove, the lamp of Christ, the Voice crying in the wilderness sounded, preaching repentance; while Herod sinned with Herodias. See, my soul, that you are not caught in the toils of sin, but embrace repentance.
The Forerunner of grace dwelt in the desert and all Judea and Samaria ran to hear him; and they confessed their sins, and eagerly received baptism. But you, my soul, have not imitated them.
Marriage is honourable and the bed undefiled, for Christ earlier blessed both, eating in His flesh at the marriage in Cana and changing water into wine, and showing His first miracle so that you, my soul, might be changed.
Christ braced the paralytic and he carried his bed; He raised up the dead young man, the son of the widow, and the Centurion’s servant; and by revealing Himself to the Samaritan woman, He traced in advance for you, my soul, how to worship in spirit.
The Lord healed the woman with hemorrhage by the touch of His hem, cleansed lepers, gave sight to the blind, and cured cripples; the deaf and the dumb and the woman bent earthward he healed with His word, that you, wretched soul, might be saved. — Troparia from Ode 9, Tuesday of the First Week of Lent
But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake.
This will be a time for you to bear testimony.
Two recent events point to the fact that Jesus’ words ring true even in “democratic” countries that proclaim religious freedom.
From LifeSiteNews via Catholic Online: UK Catholic Bishop Brought Before Parliament for insisting on orthodoxy in Catholic Schools
LONDON (LifeSiteNews) – The Catholic Bishop of Lancaster UK today gave a spirited response to accusations by secularist MPs in a Commons Committee who accused him of trying to establish religious “fundamentalism” in his schools.
Bishop Patrick O’Donoghue told the Committee that schools in his diocese should see it as their prime duty to teach the Catholic faith and to evangelise and that this constituted neither “proselytism” nor “fundamentalism”.
Crucifixes in every classroom, “sex-education” based on the principles of chastity and the sanctity of marriage, no school fundraising for anti-life groups and religious education based firmly in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: it sounds like the dream world of most Catholic parents.
But the scenario is one that was ordered last year by the Bishop O’Donoghue in a 66-page document, “Fit for Mission? – Schools”. The document was circulated to all teachers, staff, governors and parents in the diocese.
But the document that received high praise from parents, Catholic lay organizations and the Vatican, has drawn the ire of the increasingly aggressive secularist wing of the British government.
Earlier this year, the Labour MP for Huddersfield, Barry Sheerman, told the media that this new document was a worrying sign of a new “fundamentalist” direction on the part of the Church. Sheerman, the chairman of the Children, Schools and Families Select Committee, called Bishop O’Donoghue to explain his intentions…
Of course there is the recent dust-up over Barak Obama’s Pastor. For example, from the NY Times: Obama Denounces Statements of His Pastor as ‘Inflammatory’.
The best line from the article was this one:
“If you’re black, it’s hard to say what you truly think and not upset white people,— said James Cone, a professor at Union Theological Seminary and the father of black liberation theology, who has known Mr. Wright since he was a seminary student.
Something easily said of Christianity ‘If you’re Christian, it’s hard to say what you truly think and not upset people.’
Opposing, and speaking against, racism, inequality, wars and insane foreign policies – spending billions per month while people starve, roads and bridges collapse, treating human beings as less than human… The sins are many – and good on Pastor Wright for speaking in witness against those sins.
—We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards,— he said. —America’s chickens are coming home to roost.— — Pastor Wright
Yes, we are guilty in our sins of commission and omission when our planes, guns, cluster bombs, and bulldozers are used against women, children, and innocent bystanders.
Thank you to the Young Fogey for some of the links in this post.
Having emulated Uzziah, my soul, you have his leprosy in you doubled. For you think disgusting thoughts and do outrageous things. Let go of what you are holding and run to repentance.
Have you heard, my soul, of the Ninevites, who repented before God in sackcloth and ashes? You have not imitated them, but appear to be more crooked than all who have sinned before and after the law.
You have heard of Jeremiah in the mud pit, my soul, how he cried out with lamentations against the City of Zion, and was seeking tears. Imitate his life of lamentation and you will be saved.
Jonah fled to Tarshish, foreseeing the conversion of the Ninevites; for, being a Prophet, he was aware of God’s compassion, and was anxious that his prophesy should not prove false.
You have heard, my soul, of Daniel in the lion’s den. and how he shut the beasts’ mouths. You know how the Children who were with Azariah extinguished the flames of the burning furnace by faith.
I have reviewed all the people of the Old Testament as examples for you, my soul. Imitate the God-loving deeds of the righteous and shun the sins of the wicked. — Troparia from Ode 8, Tuesday of the First Week of Lent
When the Ark was being carried on a wagon, and when one of the oxen slipped, Uzzah only touched it and experienced the wrath of God. But avoid, my soul, his presumption and truly reverence divine things.
You have heard of Absalom, how he rose against nature. You know his accursed deeds and how he insulted the bed of his father David. But you have imitated his passionate and pleasure-loving cravings.
You have enslaved your free dignity to your body, my soul, for you have found in satan another Ahitophel and have consented to his counsels. But Christ Himself scattered them, that you may at all events be saved.
Wonderful Solomon, who was full of the grace of wisdom, at one time did evil in God’s sight and fell away from Him. And you, my soul, have resembled him by your accursed life.
Carried away by the pleasure of his passions, he defiled himself. Alas, the lover of wisdom is a lover of loose women and estranged from God! And you, my soul, have in mind imitated him by your shameful pleasures.
You, my soul, have rivalled Rehoboam who would not listen to his father’s advisors, and that vicious slave Jeroboam the apostate of old. But shun such mimicry and cry to God: I have sinned, have compassion on me. — Troparia from Ode 7, Tuesday of the First Week of Lent
Per Reuters (and others) the body of Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho has been found.
MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) – A Chaldean Catholic archbishop who was kidnapped in Iraq last month was found dead on Thursday, his body half-buried in an empty lot in the northern city of Mosul, police said.
Paulos Faraj Rahho, the archbishop of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, was abducted on February 29 after gunmen attacked his car and killed his driver and two guards…
From the Litany for the Dead:
All you holy Martyrs, Pray for the souls of the faithful departed.
All you Bishops and Confessors, Pray for the souls of the faithful departed.
That Thou would be pleased to receive him into the company of the Blessed, We beseech Thee, Hear Us!
Merciful Lord Jesus grant him everlasting rest. Amen.
Lord have mercy on us for what we have wrought in Iraq.
The waves of my sins, O Saviour, as in the Red Sea recoiled and covered me unawares, like the Egyptians of old and their charioteers.
Like Israel of old, my soul, you have had a foolish affection. For like a brute you have preferred to divine manna the pleasure-loving gluttony of the passions.
The wells of Canaanite thoughts, my soul, you have prized above the Rock with the cleft from which the river of wisdom like a chalice pours forth streams of theology.
Swine’s flesh and hotpots and Egyptian food you, my soul, have preferred to heavenly manna, as of old the senseless people in the wilderness.
When Thy servant Moses struck the rock with his staff, he mystically typified Thy life-giving side, O Saviour, from which we all draw the water of life.
Explore and spy out the Land of Promise like Joshua the Son of Nun, my soul, and see what it is like, and settle in it by observing the laws. — Troparia from Ode 6, Tuesday of the First Week of Lent
You have heard, my soul, of Moses’ ark of old, borne on the waters and waves of the river as in a shrine, which escaped the bitter tragedy of Pharaoh’s edict.
If you have heard of the midwives, wretched soul, who of old killed in infancy the manly issue and practice of chastity, then like the great Moses, suck wisdom.
You, wretched soul, have not struck and killed your Egyptian mind, like great Moses. Say, then, how will you dwell in that desert solitude where the passions desert you through repentance?
Great Moses dwelt in the wilds, my soul. So go and imitate his life, that you too may attain by contemplation to the vision of God in the bush.
Imagine Moses’ staff striking the sea and fixing the deep as a type of the divine Cross, by which you too, my soul, can accomplish great things.
Aaron offered to God the fire pure and undefiled; but Hophni and Phinehas, like you, my soul, offered to God a foul and rebellious life. — Troparia from Ode 5, Tuesday of the First Week of Lent
Watch, my soul! Be courageous like the great Patriarchs, that you may acquire activity and awareness, and be a mind that sees God, and may reach in contemplation the innermost darkness, and be a great trader.
The great Patriarch, by begetting the twelve Patriarchs, mystically set up for you, my soul, a ladder of active ascent, having wisely offered his children as rungs, and his steps as ascents.
You have emulated the hated Esau, my soul, and have given up your birthright of pristine beauty to your supplanter, and you have lost your father’s blessing, and have been tripped up twice in action and knowledge. Therefore, O wretch, repent now.
Esau was called Edom for his extreme passion of madness for women. For ever burning with incontinence and stained with pleasures, he was named Edom which means a red-hot sin-loving soul.
Have you heard of Job who was made holy on a dunghill, O my soul? You have not emulated his courage, nor had his firmness of purpose in all you have learned or known, or in your temptations, but you have proved unpersevering.
He who was formerly on a throne is now naked on a dunghill and covered with sores. He who had many children and was much admired is suddenly childless and homeless. Yet he regarded the dunghill as a palace and his sores as pearls. — Troparia from Ode 4, Tuesday of the First Week of Lent
In Thee the Conqueror of death, I have found the Source of Life, and from my heart I cry to Thee before my end: I have sinned, be merciful, save me.
I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned against Thee. Be merciful to me. For there is no one who has sinned among men whom I have not surpassed by my sins.
I have imitated those who were licentious in Noah’s time, and I have earned a share in their condemnation of drowning in the flood.
You have imitated Ham, that spurner of his father, my soul. You have not concealed your neighbour’s shame by returning to him looking backwards.
Run, my soul, like Lot from the fire of sin; run from Sodom and Gomorrah; run from the flame of every irrational desire.
Have mercy, O Lord, have mercy on me, I implore Thee, when Thou comest with Thy Angels to requite us all as our actions deserve. — Troparia from Ode 3, Tuesday of the First Week of Lent
But you are not in the flesh;
on the contrary, you are in the spirit,
if only the Spirit of God dwells in you.
It is Passion Sunday. Today we enter into the Passiontide, the two weeks leading up to Easter Sunday. On this Passion Sunday the Church’s readings remind us of several important things.
First and foremost, we are reminded of the resurrection. Jesus raises His friend Lazarus. This is the third time, prior to His own death, that Jesus has exhibited His power – and by exhibiting His power over life and death confirmed the fact that He is God’s son, the second person of the Holy Trinity. No one who is not God has power over life and death.
In Luke 8 we read of Jarius’ daughter:
And when he came to the house, he permitted no one to enter with him, except Peter and John and James, and the father and mother of the child.
And all were weeping and bewailing her; but he said, “Do not weep; for she is not dead but sleeping.”
And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead.
But taking her by the hand he called, saying, “Child, arise.”
And her spirit returned, and she got up at once; and he directed that something should be given her to eat.
And her parents were amazed; but he charged them to tell no one what had happened.
In Luke 7 we read of the widow of Na’in:
Soon afterward he went to a city called Na’in, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him.
As he drew near to the gate of the city, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a large crowd from the city was with her.
And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.”
And he came and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.”
And the dead man sat up, and began to speak. And he gave him to his mother.
Fear seized them all; and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!”
And this report concerning him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.
Today we read of Lazarus:
[Jesus] cried out in a loud voice,
—Lazarus, come out!—
The dead man came out
Just before Jesus raises Lazarus He told His disciples that He will lay down His life, and that He has the power to take it up again:
—For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again.
No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from my Father.”
So Jesus has made His point. He is God. God who has power over life and death.
Regardless of the miracles, regardless of our church attendance, this is a good lesson for us. We may say Jesus, Jesus. We may say He is the Christ. Yet we may fail to recognize the simple fact – He is God.
Brothers and sisters,
Secondarily the Church reminds us that God’s appearance, God’s revelation, is one half of the equation. The other half of that equation is our response. Revelation – response. Our response must be one of faith.
In our first reading we hear God state that His actions will elicit a response from us.
O my people!
I will put my spirit in you that you may live,
and I will settle you upon your land;
thus you shall know that I am the LORD.
We who sit here have made that response. We have come to the realization that God came to dwell among us. His spirit is in us and He has settled us in our land, our land is the Church. Our response to what God has revealed, externally, and in our hearts, is that we fully recognize Him as the Lord.
Both Martha and Mary, in the midst of their grief, express their faith in Jesus – as Lord of life, with power, even over death.
Jesus told her,
—I am the resurrection and the life;
whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live,
and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this?—
[Martha] said to him, —Yes, Lord.
I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,
the one who is coming into the world.——¨
My friends,
Jesus has shown Himself – God among us, Emmanuel. Jesus has shown that He has power over death. In two weeks we will commemorate the fact that Jesus – who died, sacrificed upon the cross – will take up His life again, opening the gates of heaven to us. He has shown us the promise of heaven – life eternal – what life will be in perfection.
As we walk through this two week period of reflection, increased fasting and prayer, and time in silent reflection before the wood of the cross and the the tomb, let us remember what God has done. Let us remember that God touched our lives. That He shared in all we experience, except sin. Let us remember that we are called to respond to Him in faith.
Therefore, let us recommit to a life lived as the people in whom Christ dwells, that we are in the spirit, as long as the Spirit of God dwells in us. Jesus Christ lives in us. God is with us.
Amen.