TOS104 Ash Wednesday & Lent-Season of Hope; audio is also available on PPN . Truth of the Spirit welcomes Msgr. David LeSieur and Patti Brunner for “Ash Wednesday & Lent—Season of Hope Year A. Listen as they discuss an overview of the Church’s liturgical readings and season.
Listen as they discuss the Church’s directive on fasting during Lent and the benefit available by fasting. The Gospel of Lent gives promise and hope to draw upon when daily lives seem “loss”. Paul’s writings show that as sinners you would receive the judgement accorded by the law and thus condemnation; Jesus came to stand-in for you. He accepted your sin to take upon himself the sins—like the scapegoat and sacrifice—thus bringing freedom. He who knew no sin became sin, that in his righteousness you might be saved. Season of Hope ties the progression of salvation in history. Before the earth was created the plan of your salvation was in the “heart” and “eye” of God, our Father. Fasting can prepare the heart to receive the fullness of the gift of salvation. [Please note that this is an audio presentation. This episode was originally broadcast on KDUA radio.]
Transcript
Today we are going to share with you an episode of Living Seasons of Change to help you prepare for the upcoming season of Lent. My pastor, Msgr. David LeSieur and I will take the readings of the first few weeks of Lent and show you how they tie together to encourage you to have the best Lent ever.
Welcome to Truth of the Spirit. I am Patti Brunner.
Patti Brunner: Welcome to Living Seasons of Change, the show that explores how the Church’s liturgical readings are connected from week to week. Lent is a time of fasting and penance, yet hope is found in these liturgical scriptures as the plan for our salvation is revealed. I’m Patti Brunner and my co-host today is Monsignor David LeSieur, a priest of the Diocese of Little Rock. Welcome Monsignor!
Msgr. David LeSieur: Thank you, Patti. Sometimes hope seems like a faint light; way, way at the end of a tunnel – a long dark tunnel. It’s just a glimmer but it’s still there. As you go through Lent, and live the readings and the meanings of Lent, and do prayer, fasting and almsgiving, the light gets brighter the closer you get to Easter Sunday. Maybe on Good Friday it seems to almost go out but today we know that that is just the ushering in of the light. Good Friday is not the end of the story.
Patti Brunner: What rule does the Church give us to draw us into fasting and abstinence during the Lenten season, Monsignor?
Msgr.: Catholics are required to fast and abstain on just two days – Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. We are also supposed to abstain from meat on Fridays during Lent, if you are 14 years and older, and we are encouraged to abstain from meat all through the year on Fridays. And, by the way, the rule of fasting applies to persons 18 and older, on up to the time you are 59 years old.
Patti: 59 huh! Did not know that!
Msgr. David LeSieur: You’ve got a long way to go!
Patti Brunner: So, currently, we are only required to fast two days a year? How do we do that?
Msgr.: On the days of fasting we are not supposed to eat between meals. We should have only one main meal and then either nothing else or two smaller meals that together do not equal the main meal. That’s a very easy fast, I would add.
Patti Brunner: I know a lot of people give up other things for Lent, too. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are the required fasting days, but we can benefit from fasting any time. The Catechism tells us that fasting “helps us acquire mastery over our instincts and freedom of heart” [CCC 2043 The fourth precept (“You shall observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church”) ensures the times of ascesis and penance which prepare us for the liturgical feasts and help us acquire mastery over our instincts and freedom of heart.85 [85 Cf. CIC, can. 1249-1251: CCEO can. 882]
Msgr. David LeSieur: The National Conference of Catholic Bishops in their statement on Pastoral Practices reminds us that “fasting helps in getting our house in order”. “By fasting and self-denial,” it says, “by living lives of moderation, we have more energy to devote to God’s purposes and a better self-esteem that helps us to be more concerned with the well-being of others.”
Patti Brunner: I agree with them. They also said that “Voluntary fasting from food creates in us a greater openness to God’s Spirit and deepens our compassion for those who are forced to go without food. The discomfort brought about by fasting unites us to the sufferings of Christ.” [http://www.usccb.org/dpp.orig/penitential.htm The National Conference of Catholic Bishops in their statement on Pastoral Practices, November 12, 2000, reminded us that “fasting helps in getting our house in order”. “By fasting and self-denial, by living lives of moderation, we have more energy to devote to God’s purposes and a better self-esteem that helps us to be more concerned with the well-being of others.” “Voluntary fasting from food creates in us a greater openness to God’s Spirit and deepens our compassion for those who are forced to go without food. The discomfort brought about by fasting unites us to the sufferings of Christ.”]
Msgr. David LeSieur: I think anyone who has fasted will agree with that.
Patti: And Lent could be used for doing a positive thing, too; not just staying away from stuff but actively doing something that is good.
Msgr.: Right, especially when it helps us to break a bad habit or form a good one.
Patti Brunner: Another tradition of Lent is when we receive ashes on our head on Ash Wednesday
Msgr. David LeSieur: That’s an ancient custom. You can read how ashes were worn as a sign of mourning in several books of the bible including Isaiah, Job and Esther.
Patti Brunner: The Church uses ashes made from burned blessed palms and ashes are rubbed on the forehead in the form of the cross. What words are spoken?
Msgr. David LeSieur: The minister has a choice. Very common is the saying: “Remember, that you are dust and unto dust you shall return, ” (words based on those addressed by God to Adam after the fall. (Gen. 3:19). And words to the effect of “Repent and believe in the good news.
Patti: I find when I am reading the books of the prophets of the Old Testament I get very discouraged because I see how the Israelites turned away from God. I see our generation on that same path, turning away, even though we have been given the light of Christ. Paul, in his letters to the Romans, to the Ephesians and to Timothy, tells us just to stick with it and to see what Christ can do for us and put our hope in Christ’s mercy and Christ’s grace.
Msgr.: Paul preaches Christ and Christ crucified. I think Paul must have thought, “If I could just get people to believe in Jesus, that’s all they need; that will shed light to their life.” Today, we have to go to a different level, I think, because people do believe in Jesus. The gospel is being preached – at least in America – most people have heard of Jesus, not that they are necessarily practicing Christians but, at least, they are aware who Jesus is, yet, it doesn’t seem to be helping a lot of people. It has changed the lives of many but much of modern day society just seems untouched by the gospel whatsoever. It’s like we, today, have to either teach the gospel in a different way or take it to a different level. Paul was at the level of introducing people to Jesus Christ and having them accept Him in their lives.
Patti Brunner: That is foremost when we approach non-believers. It is basic for the un-churched.
Msgr. David LeSieur: As Christians, we have to be at a level beyond that, I think, because the Word has been preached. Jesus’ name is all over the airways every day, in churches on Sunday and so on. Jesus is no stranger, the way He was to the Gentiles in Greece, for example, where Paul preached. You know, even though He’s well known today people still don’t follow Him. We have to do more than just introduce people to Christ. We have to introduce a deeper meaning of Christ. Do you get what I’m saying?
Patti: Yes. It’s the difference in hearing about him versus accepting him into our hearts and lives. How do we do that?
Msgr.: I don’t know for sure. It seems to me, though, that we have to say, “Okay, you know who Christ is and maybe you could even tell me you were baptized in Christ and you go to church on Sunday, but what is that doing to your life? How is that changing your life? I think when the early apostles preached, the people said to Peter, “What do we have to do?” And Peter said, “Be baptized and repent of your sins and so, they did, and their lives were changed. Today, people have been baptized but I don’t know if their lives are changed.
Patti: It’s like baptism is a kind of a cultural experience today rather than a spiritual experience.
Msgr.: Right, a ritual experience!
Patti: But it’s not bad to be ritualized, —
Msgr.: It’s the first step.
Patti: But if that’s all there is; if you don’t ever make the connection with Christ to really allow the grace to come in, how can your life be changed? There’s something out there that is within our grasp that we are not reaching for.
Msgr.: What’s in our grasp is Christ and he is our hope.
Patti: Without Christ we have emptiness. We are lacking so we reach out for something. I think that’s one reason why the materialism is so strong in our country. People are reaching. There is a longing; there is a spiritual emptiness that people are trying to fill, but they are filling it with “stuff”, without realizing that the relationship with Christ will fill us, will bring us peace, will bring us joy, and will bring us happiness and, yet, we are reaching to the entertainment aspect of stuff to fill that emptiness.
Msgr.: It’s like reaching for junk food when only real food will do: Food of God’s Word, Food of the Eucharist. We all do that. We all have things, pleasures, and luxuries in our lives; when used in the right way they can be gifts.
Patti Brunner: But if we satisfy our hunger only by junk food, as good as it tastes, it has a bad effect because it keeps us from proper nourishment. If we satisfy our longing with “stuff” we miss the opportunity to be filled by grace.
Msgr. David LeSieur: America is blessed. We have one of the highest standards of living in the world. We are free. We have free elections.
Patti: As “one nation under God”, we have many, many blessings.
Msgr. David LeSieur: As members of a wealthy technological society, we stand in the tension between being people who believe in mystery–believing in things that we can’t see or understand or fully explain–and that pulling against having “what we want when we want it”. Having the disposable income, or the credit card, to buy the latest technological gimmick, or whatever, and filling our emptiness with that, so we are in tension.
Patti: We are right back in the garden of Adam and Eve. ‘Let me have what I want when I want it, to get what I think I need.’
Msgr.: And being tempting into it by an easy explanation, ‘Oh, you’ll be like God. You’ll have it all.’
Patti: ‘But this will make you happy. If you buy this, you’ll be so happy.’
Msgr.: ‘And if you eat this fruit, Eve, you’ll know; you’ll be like God.’ The writer of that marvelous story in Genesis—attributed to Moses – the inspired writer, understood human nature; he understood human spirituality and the battles that all people, ever since that time, have experienced between being the persons God meant us to be and being the persons we try to make ourselves to be.
Patti Brunner: Exactly!
Msgr. David LeSieur: There’s a big difference.
Patti Brunner: Yet we could narrow the difference if only we would take our hope in the Gospel.
Msgr. David LeSieur: Jesus reaches out to us through the Gospel.
Patti Brunner: In the Gospel on Ash Wednesday, from Matthew chapter 6, Jesus is giving us this information about ‘Don’t do righteous deeds so people can see you. Don’t do it to get the honor and praise of men.’
Msgr.: Don’t do the right thing for the wrong reason!
Patti: Do stuff from the heart. He’s bringing us back to that inner sanctum of why we do anything. It’s not to impress the Joneses. It should be out of our desire to please God; out of our desire to show love for others; out of our desire to be obedient; and also to come and receive recompense, a reward from God the Father, which is really interesting. I looked at the word ‘recompense’ in the Scriptures because Jesus said, “You will have your recompense from your Father.” This idea of recompense is kind of like sowing and reaping. You are going to get what you do; the Father will repay you. It’s a result.
Msgr. David LeSieur: Right! We’re not “earning” salvation. It’s like planting a seed given to us by God and watching what grows from that seed. “Take care not to perform righteous deeds so that others may see them; otherwise, you’ll have no recompense.” You won’t have the growth – the good growth – or the good fruit that comes from your good deeds.
Patti: Three times in this gospel Jesus says, “Your Father who sees what is done in secret will repay you.” It’s a hope. It’s a trusting that when you do what is right, God will see you.
Msgr.: Even though you don’t get the quick reward! You don’t get the notoriety or the praise of people.
Patti: You don’t get the plaque in your honor for doing what is right or for doing what you are called to do. In fact, sometimes you get ridiculed!
Msgr.: Jesus said, “Don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” in your almsgiving, may it be done in secret. God the Father sees in secret and will repay you.
Patti: And the repayment you get is not necessarily what you expect, either. When we started tithing at our house, we were looking for that ‘cash’ reward. We looked for the Lord to multiply what we gave. Eventually though, I realized that we were greatly repaid with an abundant spiritual wealth. The material wealth came, too, shaken down and overflowing! But more importantly was the spiritual repayment – an exponential return!
Msgr.: It’s also the peace that God is going to take care of you, which gives you more freedom to be able to give.
Patti Brunner: Exactly!
Msgr. David LeSieur: The more you know that God is not going to let you go without what you really need, the more you are free to say, “Take this, too.”
Patti: Precisely! That’s when we fully live our Christian hope. When we look at the first Sunday of Lent we have the temptation of Christ from the 4th chapter of Matthew. The hope there is that we can resist Satan. We are tempted; sometimes horribly so, but, yet, we are not walking through it alone. Jesus shows us temptation can be overcome, even when giving in to the temptation seems to be logical. The devil throws up scriptures to prove his point and then Jesus uses scripture in His rebuttal against that.
Msgr.: The devil uses scripture in a sneaky sly way. “If you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread – throw yourself off the temple because scripture has it He will send angels about you that you might not dash your foot against the stone.” That’s such a misuse of Scripture. Scripture can be misused.
Patti: But our hope is that Christ will send the Holy Spirit to help us to discern truth in the scripture and not get misled and as we pray the scriptures that we won’t get off base. Obviously, we have so many sects of Christianity now, all interpreting the scripture in a particular way of what it means to them. In all of that, we have Christ showing us that scripture is usable in our fight against evil, in our fight against temptation.
Msgr. David LeSieur: In 2 Timothy 3:16 it says “all scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”
Patti Brunner: Doesn’t the Catholic Church have an official magisterium enabled to teach and interpret scripture through the Holy Spirit? [3. In communion with one another, the pope and other bishops together exercise this prophetic role, which many documents of the Church refer to by the word “magisterium.” Welcome to the Catholic Church; Denzinger: Christian Moral Principles Chapter 35: The Truth of Christ Lives in His Church]
Msgr. David LeSieur: Yes. However, the magisterium, which is the pope and the bishops acting in communion, doesn’t interpret everything definitively, except for a few passages. For the most part, it leaves it up to scholars and individuals to read and use scripture in their own way. So, Catholics are free to read the scripture and apply it to themselves. I don’t think that you and I could say “This is what it means, in all senses.” The Catholic Church doesn’t do that either. But the meaning can be limited, misinterpreted and thus distorted by the devil.
Patti: So we have to look at the context.
Msgr.: You have to study a book of the Bible. It helps for us to know, for example, in reading the temptation scene, that Jesus has just been baptized before He goes into the desert. He has just heard the Father said, “You are my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Then the devil says, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. If you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread.” It’s like the devil is trying to sow doubt in Jesus’ mind as he did at the Garden of Eden to Adam and Eve. “Did God really tell you not to eat the fruit of any tree?”
Patti: I have known several people who have had a spiritual experience of the Baptism of the Spirit but days or weeks later they’ll say, “Well, I don’t know! Did it really happen to me?”
Msgr.: “Could I be that special?” That’s a classic example.
Patti: Yes, it is. It’s the exact same thing. The enemy is always seeking to throw doubt; yet, Jesus is always clearing things up.
Msgr.: Jesus is very clear in his own temptations. He says, “One does not live by bread alone.” “You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.” Then the devil goes for broke. He says, “If you worship me I will give you all these kingdoms.” Then Jesus basically says, “Get out.” Again, Jesus quotes the scripture, “The Lord, Your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve”
Patti: When Jesus says, “Get away, Satan,” the devil leaves. There’s another scripture where James said, “Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil and he will flee.” [James 4 NAB”7 So submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” RSV “7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”]
That’s a good hope, to know that no matter what’s going on, we can stop and say, “All right, listen up: get out of here!”
Patti Brunner: Let’s continue our talk about ‘hope’ in the gospel. On the second Sunday of Lent we have the transfiguration from the 17th chapter of Matthew. Goodness gracious! How much hope that would give Peter, James and John as they headed to Calvary!
Msgr.: They got a glimpse of His glory. He took just the three of them – Peter, James and John; the same three that He drew aside at the Garden of Gethsemane. It’s interesting that they saw Him in His glory but they also saw Him at His worst moments.
Patti: He told them not to tell anyone until He had risen from the dead. Surely, somewhere in their subconscious they hoped to experience that transfiguration again, even though they were entering into that horrifying time of the Passion. I wonder if Peter had not had this, this touch of hope, would he have despaired at denying Christ? The hope had to be there. I think that when we were are going through things that are tough, we can look to this and say, “There’s more than this life.” Jesus is showing us the touch of heaven that’s there awaiting us.
Msgr.: Yes! There is a hope of resurrection. There is a hope of glory. Although Moses and Elijah were long dead, they were there talking with Jesus. That’s an image of the resurrection. Then, here again, the voice, “This is my Beloved Son” is a repetition almost of the words at the baptism of Jesus.
Patti: We hear the transfiguration story twice a year, right?
Msgr.: Right, we always hear this on the second Sunday of Lent, but August 6th is the actual Feast of the Transfiguration. So, we hear it twice during the year.
Patti: Peter said, “Lord, it is good that we are here.” I think Jesus is preparing us for the up and down yo-yo of our Christian walk; that we will have the highs and the lows.
Msgr. David LeSieur: At the river Jordan, the voice said, “You are My Beloved Son.” It gave Him the power to overcome the temptations in the desert. Now that he is entering into His Passion, He hears it again. “I’m well pleased.” It’s like the voice is telling the ones around Him, “This is the one that is chosen so listen to what he says.” So, hope goes forth from Jesus. It expands out to others. Jesus is getting ready to make the second prediction of His passion.
Patti Brunner: Could the transfiguration be a gift of grace to Jesus? To be with Moses and Elijah so that He would be strengthened for the difficult journey to the cross?
Msgr. David LeSieur: I never thought of it that way. It would be very affirming to hear the voice of the Father again. It affirms our belief in the resurrection.
Patti: As we go to the third Sunday of Lent we have the Samaritan woman in John’s Gospel chapter 4. She represents the hope of the Gentiles, and so the hope of the world, and the hope of sinners who are living ordinary lives. As Jesus draws in the Samaritan woman, Jesus gives us the hope of living water to change the way we live.
Msgr.: Her life was probably out of control. She’s had five husbands or five men in her life. The one she is living with now is not her husband.
Patti: Now, does that sound like modern times, or what?
Msgr.: Yes, it does.
Patti: And, so, here’s hope for our current generation when we look at all the divorces, all the people who are living together without being married and we can look at the Samaritan woman and see what impact Jesus can have on our lives, in our particular times, if we just thirst for the water that He can give us.
Msgr.: Exactly!
Patti: As we turn to Him, our times can be changed by people like the Samaritan woman. With hope the people that we looked down our noses at, so to speak, that are struggling with immorality, can become the ones touched by God and go out and change the world.
Msgr.: This woman became the evangelizer of the whole town and brought the whole town to Jesus.
Patti: And, yet, she was probably the outcast because of her marital escapades. Our fourth Sunday’s gospel from chapter 9 of John has the long story of the man that was blind from birth that was healed by Jesus. Our hope there is that no matter how blind we are, no matter how long we have been blind –Christ can bring us sight.
Msgr.: There are different kinds of blindness. The kind of blindness that the Pharisees represent is the impenetrable, and the physical blindness this man experienced is reversible. I hope that our blindness is reversible. To the woman He’s water, the living water; to the man born blind He’s light and to Lazarus He’s going to be life itself.
Patti: And as we look at second readings the first four weeks during Lent, all written by St. Paul, they show us how Jesus took on our sin and brings us into the light of salvation. On Ash Wednesday we hear, from II Corinthians, that God made him to be sin who did not know sin.
Msgr.: Paul says, “Made Him to be sin so we could become righteous as well.” This is powerful; not that He was made like a sinner, but He was made to be sin. It’s like all the sinfulness is gathered on Him.
Patti: How could that be? I’ve contemplated that. What I think it is when He was in the garden, He took us into His heart and all of our sins came with us. He became one with us. In that way, He became sin because we were still entrenched with sin. Through His choice He allowed us in.
Msgr.: He identified with us–through his flesh. By becoming one of us He could do that and that was the only way that could be done.
Patti: The theme is continued in Romans on the first Sunday of Lent where he talks about how, through one man’s sin, sin entered the world and then through Christ, one man, salvation entered. And it is repeated several times. Paul tells the Romans the effect of choices: Adam versus Jesus.
Msgr. David LeSieur: Through the transgressions of one, death came; through the gift of one, we got acquittal.
Patti Brunner: Through one’s disobedience, many were made sinners; through the obedience of one, many were made righteous. On the second Sunday of Lent, the reading from 2 Timothy reminds that Jesus saved us and called us to a holy life not according to our works but according to His own design and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began.
Msgr.: It is all grace. His own design! Not our works, His design. His grace! Paul just hits that all the time. In the third Sunday of Lent we are back in Romans and it talks about being justified by faith. Christ, while we were still hopeless, died for us. The last line – while we were still sinners, Christ still died for us.
Patti: Tremendous hope is in that line! “While we were still sinners, Christ still died for us.” Sometimes we have this guilt feeling, I’m so bad; my sin is too much. Jesus can’t love me. I’m a sinner. And, Paul is telling us, wait a minute, before anyone was justified, Christ loved us. He loved us and, therefore, He justified us. We can always turn to Him. His grace is what saves us; it’s not our grace. It’s not our own works.
Msgr.: That’s the amazing thing! You and I can’t do anything; even in our deepest appreciation for all he does for us, even in our deepest shame trying to pay back. “I’m sorry; I’ll just do this for you.” That’s not what does it. It’s impossible for us to win that forgiveness, that salvation. It’s just given to us. The Letter to the Romans says “God proves His love for us, for while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” And that’s proof of His love. We don’t have to do anything to get His love. We can’t. The better we realize that the more we can relax and receive what He wants to give us and not fight it. You say, “I’m not worthy to have that.” Well, no, you’re not; but that’s not the point. The point is that we are meant to let Him love us.
Patti: And it pleases the Lord when we let him love us! On the fourth Sunday of Lent we hear from Ephesians chapter 5:8. “You were once in darkness but now you are light in the Lord.” Paul tells us to “try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord”. It’s not that Christ saved us and so we are off the hook of doing anything.
Msgr.: No, that’s where conversion comes in. We’re told to “take no part in the fruitless works of darkness.” [Ephesians 5]
Patti: We can’t do anything on our own but, yet, we live as children of light, for “light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth.” And, so, it’s kind of proof to the pudding.
Msgr.: This fourth Sunday of Lent, this reading about “you were once in darkness”, goes along with the man born blind because he was in darkness. These readings go very well together. As David is chosen in the first reading from 1st Samuel, the Lord looks at the heart. “Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart”. There is that “sight” theme again. All three readings on the fourth Sunday of Lent go together very well.
Patti: Look how the Old Testament readings are tied together, too. We get the whole plan of salvation. We start off on the first Sunday of Lent with the choices of Adam and Eve and why we need salvation. Then, the second Sunday of Lent talks about Abram being called, who as he is transformed is renamed Abraham. God says, “go to a land I will show you; I will bless those who bless you” and we are still reaping those blessings.
Msgr.: And, then in the third Sunday’s reading from Exodus, we have Moses, where the Israelites are without water. Moses is told to strike the rock and water will flow. That shows us the foreshadowing of the living water we hear about with the woman at the well.
Patti: We wrap up on the fourth Sunday reading from the 1st book of Samuel. We have Samuel’s anointing of David so that from that day on, the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David. David is a descendent of Abraham and the ancestor of Christ. God is showing us how in his plan of salvation the blessings will flow, the blessings that were cut off with Adam and Eve. Even though God still loved Adam and Eve, through their sin blessing was cut off until it was re-established through Abram.
Msgr.: Through the plan, God uses the obedience of Abram, the leadership of Moses, and the kingship of David to bring us Jesus.
Patti: So we have the Old Testament readings and the progression of the salvation plan. We’ll discuss the culmination and the ultimate, the Crucifixion, in our next show. I think the attendance of Moses and Elijah at the transfiguration shows us how the actions of Jesus are part of the plan of salvation.
Msgr.: Jesus fulfils the law. The prophets point to him. He has His disciples there with Him who are not quite plugged in to everything. They are full of fear. They don’t quite understand. By this time we have already had heard Jesus say, “Who do you say that I am?” and Peter answered “You are the Christ”. The first prediction of the Passion comes right before the transfiguration. Jesus talks about his death, He talks about the conditions of discipleship – take up your cross and follow Me, and Peter rebukes him and Jesus responds to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan.” That’s in Matthew 16. Then, we have the transfiguration.
Patti Brunner: Peter still didn’t seem to get it because he says let’s just stay up here on this nice mountain.
Msgr. David LeSieur: But the voice says, “No, listen to Him.” Listen to Jesus. Listen to my Beloved Son. The disciples just aren’t there, yet. That’s why we have Lent, to try help us put the pieces together. To help you think about it; to pick up the cross.
Patti Brunner: And one of the ways we can pick up the cross is by fasting.
Msgr. David LeSieur
Yes, and we are not limited to the requirements of the church. Have you ever had any unusual fasts?
Patti Brunner: There is a couple that stick in my mind that made a big impact on my life. One time I fasted from watching a favorite soap opera on TV; I had watched it 25 years. After the fast was over I saw it and I realized how immoral it was. I thought, “Oh my gosh!” I had this on in my house while my children were small. I had to repent of that. I have walked away from it and never watched it again.
Msgr.: You never regretted giving it up.
Patti: No. I think there are so many things in our lives that are like that. We don’t realize their impact because they are a habit. Another fast that my husband and I did together to prepare for a retreat one time was a “media fast”. We spent a few weeks without reading a newspaper or watching TV.
Msgr. David LeSieur: How did that go?
Patti Brunner: After that fast our eyes were opened to the negative influences of certain commercials and programs and we decided to do away with cable and subscribed to a Christian satellite service. [Sky Angel Christian satellite service which is no longer available]
Msgr.: We’re living in this society where we can have whatever we want whenever we want it with all our disposable income and all our technology, and I think we need to fast from that, too. When you get everything you want when you want it, I think it dulls us.
Patti: Exactly! I invite our listeners to take a retreat or go on a special fast to sharpen spiritual senses to prepare their hearts to receive the fullness of the gift of salvation. Monsignor, will you close our show with your blessing?
Msgr. David LeSieur I’d be glad to! [blessing] Let us pray. Lord, during this holy season of Lent, we ask you to sharpen our senses, our ears, our eyes. Help us to see you and to hear you, and to be converted by you, by your gospel. We ask your blessing on all who hear us today, and we ask you to give us a journey through Lent that will enable us to experience ‘new resurrection’ at Easter. This we pray to Christ our Lord. And may the blessings of Almighty God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit descend upon you and be with you forever. Amen.
Patti: Thank you Monsignor. To get a copy of the references used in today’s show or to read the Liturgical readings please check the website patriarchMinistries.com
You’ve been listening to Truth of the Spirit. I’m Patti Brunner. We suggest you subscribe to our podcasts and YouTube channel and check out the blog of this episode on PatriarchMinistries.com then come back for more, because with the Holy Spirit there’s always more! Amen.
**Bonus** Here are the scripture references
Ash Wednesday
Joel 2:12-18 return to the Lord with fasting weeping, and mourning; Lord is slow to anger; proclaim a fast
2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 we are ambassadors; him to be sin who did not know sin; now is a very acceptable time
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-19 Actions from the heart-not for show. Recompense, repayment of hidden
1st Sunday of Lent
Genesis 2:7-9;3:1-7 Man formed from clay, Eve and the serpent in the garden & husband; eyes of both opened
Romans 5:12-19 one brought judgement and death; one brought acquittal and life
Matthew 4:1-11 temptation in the desert
2nd Sunday of Lent
Genesis 12:1-4a Abram, go forth to a land I will show you; I will bless those who bless you
2Timothy 1:8b-10 ‘grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began, but now made manifest’
Matthew 17:1-9 Transfiguration; do not tell until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead
3rd Sunday of Lent
Exodus 17:3-7 “strike the rock” in Horeb and “water will flow”
Romans 5:1-2,5-8 “while we were sinners, Christ died for us”
John 4:5-42 Samaritan women at the well
4th Sunday of Lent
1 Samuel 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a Samuel’s anointing of David
Ephesians 5:8-14 “Live as children of light”
John 9:1-41 man born blind, whose sin? “smeared clay on his eyes” “I was blind and now I see” “I do believe”
