Simply proud of Nico, Donmiguel, and Trixie as they have journeyed in their faith and made it to the Rite of Election yesterday at the Mother Church of San Francisco: the Cathedral. They were exhorted by the Archbishop to continue in their journey of conversion.
Pictured here at the Rite of Sending at Saint Anne of the Sunset with Sister Mary Peter.
Let’s continue to pray for them, for all the catechumens and candidates preparing for the sacraments at the Easter Vigil.
Photos by E. Luis
I’ll never forget the scorching heat of Arizona when I visited last summer! One needed perseverance and a lot of prayer to find the nearest air conditioned building! At the same time, the desert was so serene and barren. One has to be still in order to find the beauty that is hidden in the desert.
One of the first thoughts in my mind was Jesus’ journey into the desert where he fasted and prayed for forty days and nights before he embarked on his public ministry. On this First Sunday in Lent, the Church calls us to examine our lives and be with the Lord in the desert of our own lives. We are summoned to find him there in prayer and we are invited to join him. He embarks on his mission, we must embark in that mission with him.
It’s not only a desert type of day, it’s a day of election. I am not referring to political election. Rather, the election within the spiritual world. Countless numbers will gather in the mother church today, to be presented to the Archbishop. In this Rite, they become the elect, the chosen people of God, those to be enlightened and purified in these days of holy Lent. Today, they sign their names in the Book of the Elect which is a foretaste of signing their names in the Book of Eternal Life. This is a foretaste of what we read in the Book of Revelation: They sang a new hymn: “Worthy are you to receive the scroll and to break open its seals, for you were slain and with your blood you purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue, people and nation (Revelation 5.9).
Deserts and Election. We must enter deeply into those dark places of our lives and allow the LORD to transform us in those desert experiences. He calls us to witness the increase of the Church’s children as they meet the chief shepherd today. God is thinking of us, loving us, and calling us to the metanoia we all need during these forty days and nights.
Father preached last night about the common sign we see at airports, construction sights, or big renovation projects: pardon our dust, we are under construction.
There is truth to that as we emerge ourselves in this day of penance and prayer. People will see us with ashes on our foreheads as the sign of our repentance from sin. We say to them, “Pardon our dust, we are under construction.” We are constantly being conformed, through grace, to the image of God. The temple, which we are, is being constructed to become a fitting dwelling of the Holy Spirit. So this holy season of Lent reminds us, as we are signed with ashes, that we are in need of God.
At the same time, God is already working in our lives to build us up during this season. We are on the way through his mercy in becoming the image of his Son.
So today is a big deal! Millions will be marked with dust. Why the big show? Because we do it for Him! We do it for the many who will be fully initiated into the Church at Easter. We do it for LOVE.
Today marks the eve of Ash Wednesday. To countless people, today is known as Shrove Tuesday, which is the past tense of the word shrive, “to obtain absolution and do penance for one’s sins.” In the French tradition, today is known as Mardi Grai or Fat Tuesday, a day of carnival. In the Latin, carne vale which roughly translates to saying good-bye to meat or farewell to the flesh. There has also been commentary stating that today is not about taking in all the excess of partying or enjoying the flesh. Rather, in antiquity, it is a day to eat everything that could spoil during Lent, so that nothing goes to waste.
It is also Alleluia Tuesday in which we sing our Alleluia to God as often as we can on this very day. For as night draws near, we reserve this Easter praise until the Great Easter Vigil. So today, praise the LORD with this Easter Acclamation, knowing that as we enter the desert this night with Jesus, he has conquered sin and death and calls us to renew our baptismal commitment to him at Easter.
It’s the day before Lent. As you make up your Lenten commitment, be sure it is a commitment that draws you close to God. If all you did was give up watching television or eating chocolate, you would miss the mark. Make time for more personal prayer and draw close to God in this season which we are about to embark on.
Not everyone will readily reflect on the fact that we are ashes. But the beauty of it is that God took the dust of the ground and breathed life into us. The very source of why we exist is in God. Apart from God, we are nothing.
In a few short days, countless numbers will gather to receive ashes and begin this season of Lent. It’s a season of spiritual renewal and not a personal diet. So as we ponder on the sacrifices that we take on, let’s consider those things that will help us enter into the desert of our lives with the LORD and allow him to transform us into his likeness.
Above all, remember the catechumens and candidates preparing for sacraments at the Great Vigil of Easter. It’s Lent… don’t forget God.
Here’s the image that has captured the imagination of many coffee drinkers. It suggests Cupid’s arrow striking us to fall in love as we were told once as young children. These are the popular sentiments that come with February 14. Stop here? No. We would miss the mark on what love really is….
Love is found in the real deep relationships we share with others.
And love is much more ….
Love is something that took hold of me over the weekend by witnessing Carylle Aries Castro’s Baptism. Love is God’s initiative, marking Carylle with holy water and sacred chrism for all eternity to belong to Him.
When she is fully grown into the faith, Chrism will mark her once again to belong entirely to God through the Sacrament of Confirmation.
Love is the commitment of the two who became one: Alan and Charen. It is marriage sealed with covenant. In speaking on love, Pope Benedict states in his encyclical letter, Deus Caritas Est, “Amidst this multiplicity of meanings, however, one in particular stands out: love between man and woman, where body and soul are inseparably joined and human beings glimpse an apparently irresistible promise of happiness” (Deus Caritas Est 2).
Love is a deep lasting commitment to bring others to know and commit to God.
Ultimately, Love is the encounter with the One who is Love. Love is a person, a divine person, and an event found at the cross and at every Eucharist that is celebrated. Love is Jesus Christ. Love is the ascent of our will and intellect to that of God’s desire and will for us (cf. Deus Caritas Est 17).
So when you go to buy your Valentine gifts today, be sure that Christ is rooted in the midst of your affection and expression of love.
In antiquity, a person with leprosy was considered unfavored by the Most High. Their sickness remained a handicap or punishment for sin. We hear of how the leper came to Jesus and knelt before him, begging that the Son of Man will that he be restored. Jesus reaches out to the leper and heals him.
The very same Jesus approaches us at the Eucharist every Sunday and wills that we be made clean from those things in this world that separate us from him. He wills nothing more than for us to be in communion with him and his Father through the action of the Holy Spirit. But to simply stop at this reality would fall short of our real purpose. Namely, we are called to be imitators of Christ as Paul exhorts in the second reading today.
To imitate Christ is more than copying Christ. It is to love what the master loved, in the manner in which he loved. As we approach the altar, may the Word and Eucharist transform us to do what Christ did. In this manner, we live out what it means to be at the Master’s feet and be filled with the joy of salvation (reference Psalm 32).
