02-22-2012, 09:36 AM
22 February, 2012, Ash Wednesday
THE INTERIOR SPIRIT OF THE LENTEN PROGRAMME
SCRIPTURE READINGS: JOEL 2:12-18; 2 COR 5:20 – 6:2; MT 6:1-6, 16-18
“Now is the acceptable time! Now is the day of salvation!” Yes, once again the Church invites us at this time of the year to recollect ourselves so that we might live an integral life. The exhortation to reconciliation of St Paul is simply an invitation to be true to ourselves. To be true to ourselves of course necessitates that we are reconciled with God.
And in order that we might live a more integral life, the Church offers us a Lenten program. This program, consisting of alms-giving, praying and fasting is spelt out in today’s gospel text. Yet, one would be far away from the mind of the Church and the mind of Christ, if we become more preoccupied with the Lenten program per se rather than the Spirit behind the program. Simply by performing all the Lenten works is no guarantee that we will live a more integral life, nor a more wholesome life. That is why it must be clear to us that the focus is not on the Lenten activities that we are invited to participate; rather it is focused on the conversion of our interior spirit.
Indeed, this is the real meaning behind the gospel message of Jesus. He wants us to be on guard against a mere performance of religious works. As Joel in the first reading exhorts us: “Rend your hearts, not your garments.” What we need to be concerned about is the transformation of our spirit, or more specifically, the transformation of the heart and mind. Consequently, doing good deeds, praying and fasting are meaningful and useful only if they lead us to such interior conversion or expressive of an interior conversion that has already taken place. Unfortunately, not all good deeds are really performed out of compassion; not all praying leads to liberation; and not all fasting leads to real detachment. On the contrary, at the expense of real conversion, we make use of these exercises as disguises to soothe our consciences so that we do not really have to change, or worse still, to seek attention and honour from our fellowmen.
When such a situation happens, then we lose our integrity. Thus, we perform religious works not to express what we feel in the depths of our being, but because it has become the standard norm of behaviour. So we smile not because we want to smile, but because everyone says we must smile. We attend liturgical services and perform all the actions and say all the recommended prayers, not because we really believe them but because it is the right thing to do. When that happens, we no longer act from our being but simply doing things that are external to us. This is precisely what Jesus was condemning in today’s gospel. People who perform good works or religious works so that others might notice them are not one with themselves. That is why, they are called hypocrites. Hypocrites are people who do not believe in what they are doing, but they go through the motions nonetheless, because it is the safest way to live, so that they are acceptable to society, the institution and the Church.
On the other hand, the truly integrated person is one who is so true to himself that all his good works, his fasting and his praying are but expressions of himself. For this reason, he is not and cannot be concerned about what others say or think about him, because he cannot be otherwise. He is one with himself and one with God. He is, so to speak, reconciled within himself and with God. All his actions spring from his being. An integrated person is faithful to himself. His doing flows from his being. What he believes himself to be, is what he does. There is nothing artificial in the way he acts.
Thus, we can understand Jesus’ example that true giving is always unconscious. Indeed, not even the left hand knows what the right hand is doing. This is true for praying as well. A person prays simply because he enjoys praying and he is true to himself. He knows that without prayer, he is out of touch with his center and with God himself. So he simply prays because he wants to be in touch with God the creator and source of his life. He does not even to please God or seek to earn some merits from Him, and least of all, to pray so that others might see him as being pious and religious. And when it comes to fasting, he has nothing to boast about. He simply realizes that fasting is good for his spiritual and personal life. He is not sad to fast. In fact, he is very happy to fast and hence not glum like the hypocrites. This is because fasting is not perceived as a deprivation; rather, he sees it as liberation from his inordinate attachments to things and people. Otherwise, some fast not so much out of love for God, or even for men, but purely for themselves, for beauty, or so that they can boast to others how disciplined they are.
Hence, it is good to ask ourselves, what comes first? Should Lenten works be the expression of our conversion of heart and mind; or could they lead us to a real conversion of mind and heart? The former statement is always true; but the latter statement is not always necessarily the case. If we rely on the former, then we must be cautious and not deceive ourselves into thinking that we are proper and religious simply because we have done what society and the Church wants us to do. The latter is no guarantee of salvation because there can be a lack of integration.
In the final analysis, whichever comes first does not really matter. What ultimately matters is when doing follows being; but some doing can be self destructive. Hence, it is of grave importance that doing must flow only from an enlightened being. We must make use of the Lenten exercises proposed to us in the right spirit and for the right reasons. Otherwise, instead of bringing about a conversion of heart, we become even more self-righteous and self-centered. This will only lead us further away from God and our fellowmen.
So let us respond to the invitation of Joel as a community to come back to the Lord with all our heart, “fasting, weeping, mourning.” St Paul says, “We are ambassadors for Christ; it is as though God were appealing through us, and the appeal that we make in Christ’s name is: be reconciled to God.” So as a community of sinners, bearing our own sins and the sins of others upon ourselves, let us turn to Him with a contrite heart,, for we know the Lord is full of mercy and compassion. Only through a realization of our wretchedness and the sufferings we have caused, not only to ourselves, but to others and especially to God, can we then truly repent to live a new life.
THE INTERIOR SPIRIT OF THE LENTEN PROGRAMME
SCRIPTURE READINGS: JOEL 2:12-18; 2 COR 5:20 – 6:2; MT 6:1-6, 16-18
“Now is the acceptable time! Now is the day of salvation!” Yes, once again the Church invites us at this time of the year to recollect ourselves so that we might live an integral life. The exhortation to reconciliation of St Paul is simply an invitation to be true to ourselves. To be true to ourselves of course necessitates that we are reconciled with God.
And in order that we might live a more integral life, the Church offers us a Lenten program. This program, consisting of alms-giving, praying and fasting is spelt out in today’s gospel text. Yet, one would be far away from the mind of the Church and the mind of Christ, if we become more preoccupied with the Lenten program per se rather than the Spirit behind the program. Simply by performing all the Lenten works is no guarantee that we will live a more integral life, nor a more wholesome life. That is why it must be clear to us that the focus is not on the Lenten activities that we are invited to participate; rather it is focused on the conversion of our interior spirit.
Indeed, this is the real meaning behind the gospel message of Jesus. He wants us to be on guard against a mere performance of religious works. As Joel in the first reading exhorts us: “Rend your hearts, not your garments.” What we need to be concerned about is the transformation of our spirit, or more specifically, the transformation of the heart and mind. Consequently, doing good deeds, praying and fasting are meaningful and useful only if they lead us to such interior conversion or expressive of an interior conversion that has already taken place. Unfortunately, not all good deeds are really performed out of compassion; not all praying leads to liberation; and not all fasting leads to real detachment. On the contrary, at the expense of real conversion, we make use of these exercises as disguises to soothe our consciences so that we do not really have to change, or worse still, to seek attention and honour from our fellowmen.
When such a situation happens, then we lose our integrity. Thus, we perform religious works not to express what we feel in the depths of our being, but because it has become the standard norm of behaviour. So we smile not because we want to smile, but because everyone says we must smile. We attend liturgical services and perform all the actions and say all the recommended prayers, not because we really believe them but because it is the right thing to do. When that happens, we no longer act from our being but simply doing things that are external to us. This is precisely what Jesus was condemning in today’s gospel. People who perform good works or religious works so that others might notice them are not one with themselves. That is why, they are called hypocrites. Hypocrites are people who do not believe in what they are doing, but they go through the motions nonetheless, because it is the safest way to live, so that they are acceptable to society, the institution and the Church.
On the other hand, the truly integrated person is one who is so true to himself that all his good works, his fasting and his praying are but expressions of himself. For this reason, he is not and cannot be concerned about what others say or think about him, because he cannot be otherwise. He is one with himself and one with God. He is, so to speak, reconciled within himself and with God. All his actions spring from his being. An integrated person is faithful to himself. His doing flows from his being. What he believes himself to be, is what he does. There is nothing artificial in the way he acts.
Thus, we can understand Jesus’ example that true giving is always unconscious. Indeed, not even the left hand knows what the right hand is doing. This is true for praying as well. A person prays simply because he enjoys praying and he is true to himself. He knows that without prayer, he is out of touch with his center and with God himself. So he simply prays because he wants to be in touch with God the creator and source of his life. He does not even to please God or seek to earn some merits from Him, and least of all, to pray so that others might see him as being pious and religious. And when it comes to fasting, he has nothing to boast about. He simply realizes that fasting is good for his spiritual and personal life. He is not sad to fast. In fact, he is very happy to fast and hence not glum like the hypocrites. This is because fasting is not perceived as a deprivation; rather, he sees it as liberation from his inordinate attachments to things and people. Otherwise, some fast not so much out of love for God, or even for men, but purely for themselves, for beauty, or so that they can boast to others how disciplined they are.
Hence, it is good to ask ourselves, what comes first? Should Lenten works be the expression of our conversion of heart and mind; or could they lead us to a real conversion of mind and heart? The former statement is always true; but the latter statement is not always necessarily the case. If we rely on the former, then we must be cautious and not deceive ourselves into thinking that we are proper and religious simply because we have done what society and the Church wants us to do. The latter is no guarantee of salvation because there can be a lack of integration.
In the final analysis, whichever comes first does not really matter. What ultimately matters is when doing follows being; but some doing can be self destructive. Hence, it is of grave importance that doing must flow only from an enlightened being. We must make use of the Lenten exercises proposed to us in the right spirit and for the right reasons. Otherwise, instead of bringing about a conversion of heart, we become even more self-righteous and self-centered. This will only lead us further away from God and our fellowmen.
So let us respond to the invitation of Joel as a community to come back to the Lord with all our heart, “fasting, weeping, mourning.” St Paul says, “We are ambassadors for Christ; it is as though God were appealing through us, and the appeal that we make in Christ’s name is: be reconciled to God.” So as a community of sinners, bearing our own sins and the sins of others upon ourselves, let us turn to Him with a contrite heart,, for we know the Lord is full of mercy and compassion. Only through a realization of our wretchedness and the sufferings we have caused, not only to ourselves, but to others and especially to God, can we then truly repent to live a new life.