Current Issue - Young Adults Exploring a Mission Vocation
 

Previous Focus on MissionNext Focus on Mission Contact the Xaverian Missionaries Send us your Feedback Print Focus on MissionIndex of Focus on Mission Issues
Lent is a Journey of Selflessness, Xaverian Claudio Bortolossi
 

Lent is a Journey of Selflessness - Father Claudio Bortolossi, Xaverian missionary, in Focus on Mission::  Lent is a Journey of Selflessness ::

 

by Fr. Claudio Bortolossi, s.x. 
 

he liturgical year is the first and most important catechism of God’s people. During the flow of each year, we live in full the mystery of our salvation. Nothing will be understood as repetitive, because each year we go deeply in the mystery of the love of God.

We just ended the Christmas celebrations, and after a three-week period of ordinary time, we enter this key moment of Lent: it helps us prepare our hearts for the celebration of Christian living: the Paschal Mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Easter is the place where the love of God is revealed. It shows a God who is so in love with us who even dies for us in order to give us life. This life continues its existence through the gift of the Holy Spirit, the complete love of God.

Since its beginnings, the Church saw the need to prepare its children for this mystery, and therefore the reality of Lent was established as a time of preparation for the Paschal Triduum of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This period continues then, for 50 days as a time of “jubilee and joy” till its fulfillment in the solemnity of Pentecost. The things you believe in the most ought to be prepared with love and care.

In the first Sunday of Lent, Jesus becomes the model of all those who wrestle with their own faith, who in the desert searches for meaning and conquers our common and daily temptations, and enlightens the path for us to follow the plan of God. Briefly, through these three temptations, Jesus first teaches us that we cannot depend on things, and they cannot fill our hearts; secondly, he invites us to reject power in relationship with others; and third, in the last and most refined and dangerous temptation, Jesus exhorts us not to tempt God, not to use God for our purposes, thus doing our will with the excuse of doing everything for the glory of God, therefore risking our lives.

Though briefly, let’s move to some concise suggestions for our spiritual journey in preparation of Easter.

Our first homework should be to look into our relationship with the things of this world. Against the temptation of letting us be guided by material things, Jesus invites us to get hold of ourselves, to fast, and to do penance. This area of concern does not involve only the things that we eat or drink, for it goes beyond this understanding: the control of our feelings and character, our tongue, our use of time, our dependency of TV programs, which I believe is a new field of spiritual combat. All this can come together in our lives if we make a daily choice of letting God direct our lives beyond the daily things, setbacks, selfishness and passions.

Our first homework should be to look into our relationship with the things of this world. Against the temptation of letting us be guided by material things, Jesus invites us to get hold of ourselves, to fast, and to do penance

The second area of soul searching is rooted on our relationships with others. Jesus suggests alms in order to conquer selfish actions, which begins with the sharing of our material resources with those who do not have enough (the works of mercy) and continues to deepen as we share our own selves, our precious time, our worries and anxieties, even our faith which is the most and precious gift that we can share with each other. It is also understood that our almsgiving is reflected in service, in reaching out, and in our self-less actions.

 The last and vast field of our Lenten journey is our relationship with God. Satan (the one who divides and separates) suggests to Jesus to tempt God: “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down.” Therefore, God would send his angels to rescue him. It seems indeed a statement of great trust in the Lord; actually is just plain arrogance on the part of Satan, for in this way he wants God to do our will, whenever we need God, wherever and however I want, with the excuse that I sacrifice myself for his Glory.

Ashes on your forehead as a sign of penanceInstead, Jesus suggests a humble and trusting prayer to a God who is Father to us. It is a prayer not based on the many words spoken but on our attitude of abandonment and complete trust. And we all know that the first and most important of our prayers is the attentive and fruitful participation in the Eucharist. At Mass, we immerse ourselves in the love of God who is made manifest in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And we can be part of the Eucharist every day.

One of the most common practices during Lent is the Way of the Cross, which stems from the customs of the faithful. It is a journey with Jesus, from his condemnation to his agony, to his final passion and death. “Agony” in Greek means combat, a firm fight. Passion, instead, means a strong love, an unconditional love that gives without expecting it back.. Our journey during Lent is not of spectators, from the fringes, but as participants and witnesses who suffer and feel the agony, his sufferings, his blows, with the understanding that everything that Jesus undertakes is for my salvation and that I may encounter this infinite mystery of love.

And if this Lenten Journey touches our hearts, how blessed we are to have a God who loves us much!

Fr. Claudio Bortolossi, s.x.
(from Misioneros Javerianos de Parma - Colombia)

  

Pope Benedict: Lent, charity means giving oneself

Pope Benedict XVI Message for Lent [Excerpts] - Jan. 29, 2008

Helping those in need "is a duty of justice even prior to being an act of charity", since " we are not owners but rather administrators of the goods we possess . . . means through which the Lord calls each one of us to act as a steward of His providence for our neighbor".

Almsgiving "represents a specific way to assist those in need and, at the same time, an exercise in self-denial to free us from attachment to worldly goods

"If we do not have as our goal God’s glory and the real well being of our brothers and sisters, looking rather for a return of personal interest or simply of applause, we place ourselves outside of the Gospel vision. In today’s world of images, attentive vigilance is required, since this temptation is great. Almsgiving, according to the Gospel, is not mere philanthropy: rather it is a concrete expression of charity, a theological virtue that demands interior conversion to love of God and neighbor, in imitation of Jesus Christ, who, dying on the cross, gave His entire self for us".

"The widow's tiny and insignificant coin becomes an eloquent symbol: this widow gives to God not out of her abundance, not so much what she has, but what she is. Her entire self."

"We find this moving passage inserted in the description of the days that immediately precede Jesus’ passion and death, who, as Saint Paul writes, made Himself poor to enrich us out of His poverty (cf. 2 Cor 8,9); He gave His entire self for us. Lent, also through the practice of almsgiving, inspires us to follow His example. In His school, we can learn to make of our lives a total gift; imitating Him, we are able to make ourselves available, not so much in giving a part of what we possess, but our very selves."

"Cannot the entire Gospel be summarized perhaps in the one commandment of love? The Lenten practice of almsgiving thus becomes a means to deepen our Christian vocation. In gratuitously offering himself, the Christian bears witness that it is love and not material richness that determines the laws of his existence."

"Love, then, gives almsgiving its value, it inspires various forms of giving, according to the possibilities and conditions of each person."

 

Links on Lent

 

 

Stations of the Cross

http://www.kingofpeace.org/

 

What is Lent – From Sound Bites

http://www.franciscanradio.org/

http://www.kingofpeace.org/

 

Lenten Fast from Violence: Education for Justice

http://www.coc.org/

 

Lenten Radio Retreat

http://www.franciscanradio.org/

 

Praying Lent

http://www.creighton.edu/

 

The Season of Lent – Biblical and Theological Resources

http://www.crivoice.org/

 

 

 

 

 

A Prayer for Ash Wednesday

From Catholic Update - Feb. 2008


Blessed are you, O Lord our God, the all-holy one, who gives us life and all things. As we go about our lives, the press of our duties and activities often leads us to forget your presence and your love. We fall into sin and fail to live out the responsibilities that you have entrusted to those who were baptized into your Son.

In this holy season, help us to turn our minds and hearts back to you. Lead us into sincere repentance and renew our lives with your grace. Help us to remember that we are sinners, but even more, help us to remember your loving mercy. 

As we live through this Ash Wednesday, may the crosses of ashes that mark our foreheads be a reminder to us and to those we meet that we belong to your Son. May our worship and prayer and penitence this day be sustained throughout these 40 days of Lent. Bring us refreshed and renewed to the celebration of Christ’s resurrection at Easter. 

We ask this through your Son, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.

 

Prayer to the Desert Jesus

from Lenten Fast from Violence


Make me like you, Jesus.
Draw me into the silence,
summon me into the desert.

Let the silence slice my heart—
Reveal all my violence inside.
Open me to the struggle.
Cleanse me.
Make me whole in you.

Casting off the violence within,
Create my heart anew:
Ready to love, ready to heal,
Ready to proclaim a word of love and peace
to a violent world.

 

Published - February 2008