Reflections by Kathy Schmitt, Fr. Chris Ponnet, & Tom Cordaro

Artwork by John August Swanson

Published by Pax Christi USA

Embracing PossibilitiesReflections for Lent

© 2014 by Pax Christi USA. All rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior permission from Pax Christi USA.

e-mail: info@paxchristiusa.orgsales@paxchristiusa.org www.paxchristiusa.org

Printed in the USA by EcoPrint with Eco-Ink, low-volatility, vegetable oil-based ink on 50% post-consumer recycled, processed chlorine-free paper produced using 100% wind power in a carbon-neutral process.

The Sunday cycle is Year A, as found in the “Liturgical Calendar for the Dioceses of the United States of America, 2014” from the Committee on the Liturgy of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

About the Artist: John August SwansonMy work is my most social act.

My art is the way I can talk to you.www.johnaugustswanson.com

The art that came into my life was not planned. I had wanted to do many things before: I wanted to be a doctor to help people; I wanted to work in the economic area to help people with community organizing and making a change in the world. Subsequently, my path was working in a paint factory, the post office, the garment industry, auto parts delivery, and as a gasoline station attendant for many years. An important element that shaped that early time of my life was the Young Christian Workers, which used the motto: Formation Through Action. With them, I learned about getting involved in community work, getting the vote out, working for progressive candidates, being involved in labor actions and the importance of labor unions, working with Civil Rights (especially housing) and becoming more aware of racial discrimination, working with the United Farm Workers union, fundraising, and working for peace. Another important element that influenced my work was reading about Dorothy Day and reading the newspaper The Catholic Worker.

Continued on p. 55.

Pax Christi USA gratefully acknowledges Swanson’s amazing contribution to our 2014 Lenten reflection booklet.

1

Dear members and friends of Pax Christi USA,

We begin another Lenten season: 40 days

of attentive listening to what God is saying to us about the quality of our life journey. This year Pax Christi USA invites all of us to examine Disarmament, Demilitarization, and Reconciliation with Justice in light of this Lenten journey. If so inclined, we can always find someone to call “the enemy.” Whether it is a person close to home (family member, neighbor) or out of sight (the people we call “them”), we are not at a loss to perceive someone as a threat to our sense of security and well-being. This applies to us as individuals as well as to communities of which we are members. Our goal, if we have enemies, is to keep “them” at a distance; we build a real or imagined wall to keep ourselves from interacting with real or imagined differences, points of view, theologies, ideologies, or ways of life. We close our minds and hearts to anything else that is different from the way we think or do things. When our paranoia or national interests get to a point where we feel justified, we take up arms; we call up armies and militias. The objective then becomes to further distance ourselves and destroy the perceived enemy.

INTR

OD

UC

TIO

N

2

The use of weapons, be they nuclear, chemical, conventional, or technological, are the means we use to achieve that end. As we well know, violence begets violence. Our Lenten 2014 booklet is dedicated to Disarmament, Demilitarization, and Reconciliation with Justice. It offers alternatives to war and destruction. It speaks of a language of dialogue, mediation, negotiation, and reconciliation. It re-frames the win/lose dynamic to an alternative where justice has a chance to flourish. It envisions a time where all parties sit at one table, with equal voice, all taking part in a dialogue where every point of view is heard and considered, and a mutually just agreement is allowed to surface. These strategies build respectful relationships among diverse and different people, done without judgment and without violence. While it is far easier to take up arms, and to go to war, the destruction of people, land, climate, and morale is too high a price to pay. Reconciliation with justice is far more challenging and, I believe, is the asceticism for our times. The fruit of this asceticism is that life becomes fuller and more meaningful, the integrity of each individual remains intact, and the relationships that are formed stand a far better chance to lead to real social change. Let us pray for one another during this sacred season of Lent.

Patricia Chappell, SNDdeNExecutive DirectorPax Christi USA

INTR

OD

UC

TIO

N

3

Reflections for Ash Wednesday through the Second Week of Lent are by Kathy Schmitt.

Please see “About the Author” on p. 55.

Ash WednesdayJoel 2:12-18 • 2 Corinthians 5:20—6:2 • Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

We are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ,

be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:20)

As we embark on the journey of Lent, we hear Paul’s stirring declaration: we are ambassadors for Christ, and our mission is to reconcile the world to God. We have a lot of work to do, for the world is full of sin, evil, and injustice. Providentially, it is also full of grace. But before we speak to others about these things, perhaps we should examine our own hearts for signs of sin, evil, and injustice, as well as for evidence of God’s healing grace. Do our own lives

4

conform to the high standards of the gospel? Have we become complacent regarding any habits, situations, or relationships that we know are not good for us, others, or the planet? Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving: these are the methods we are to use in our mission of reconciling the world to Christ. Are you ready to begin?

• On a scale of 1-10, how ready are you to take up the mission of reconciliation

as an ambassador of God’s peace, justice, and mercy? • Can you readily “give an account of the hope

that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15) by naming the countless acts of divine mercy you have experienced?

Thursday after Ash WednesdayDeuteronomy 30:15-20 • Luke 9:22-25

“I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse.

Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live.”

(Deuteronomy 30:19)

Moses talks to the people of Israel and gives it to them straight: they have a choice between life with God or death apart from God. We, the People of God, have the same choice today: life with God means obeying the commandments, loving God, and walking in God’s ways. But if we turn away and serve other gods, we will perish. Our culture has many false gods: nuclear weapons, military might, guns, and the belief that violence can solve problems. Not surprisingly, our nation is far from a life-giving, trusting relationship with God. Jesus makes this same point but makes it personal rather than communal: we are each to take up our cross and follow, for we who wish to save our life will lose it, and we who lose our life for his sake will save it.

5

• In the United States, in your community, and in your life, what are choices for death? For life?

• What can you do to help the nation, your community, and your self choose life?

Friday after Ash Wednesday Isaiah 58:1-9a • Matthew 9:14-15

Cry out full-throated and unsparingly, lift up your voice like a trumpet blast;

Tell my people their wickedness, and the house of Jacob their sins. (Isaiah 58:1)

What a command for peacemakers and prophets of justice like us! God tells us not just to speak but to cry out, to name the sins of our society loudly and clearly. To put it another way, we are to speak truth to power. How easy it is to rant and rail against injustice, to bash what is wrong in the world. Sometimes loud protest is needed, but often it is tuned out, ignored, or written off as crazy. How much harder, but more necessary, it is to speak words of truth that penetrate the heart and mind, that stir leaders to constructive action rather than obstructive defense. As ambassadors of reconciliation, we are to be clear-eyed about the nature of the evils we face, but also clear that the goal is to transform structures and convert people.

• Where and on what issues are you called to speak like a trumpet blast? Like a persuasive diplomat?

Like a gentle but firm parent? Like a concerned friend? • Are we actively building the kin-dom of God or at least

“sweeping away the barriers” that prevent it from coming, as Dorothy Day said?

6

Saturday after Ash Wednesday Isaiah 58:9b-14 • Luke 5:27-32

If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation, and malicious speech;

if you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted;

then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday.

(Isaiah 58:9b-10)

Today is International Women’s Day, and the United Nations’ theme for 2014 is “A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women.” More so than men, women have been subject to violence and oppression for millennia in most cultures on the earth, and some measure of freedom has come only as a result of long struggle. In too many places, women are still subject to violence—in the home, in the street, in the workplace. The brutal gang rape and subsequent death of a 23-year-old woman in India shocked the world in December 2012. Yet the sentence of death given to the five surviving men convicted of the crime is another kind of oppression. Jesus came to end violence and oppression—against women and men. As we walk this Lenten journey, let us take to heart Isaiah’s promise that light will come if we remove oppression and heed Jesus’ call to repent and follow.

• What action will you take to end violence against women? • How will you repent of sin

and follow Jesus more faithfully?

7

First Sunday of Lent Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7 • Romans 5:12-19 or 5:12, 17-19

Matthew 4:1-11

But the serpent said to the woman: “You certainly

will not die! No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it

your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good

and what is evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5)

Just in case we missed the message of Ash Wednesday, these Sunday readings review the basic agenda of our Lenten journey: to overcome sin, evil, and injustice in the world and in our own lives. Genesis reminds us that on this journey we have to discern truth from lies. Before their disobedience, Eve and Adam’s eyes were already open wide, for they beheld God face to face, but the serpent’s lie seduced them into believing otherwise. In Romans, Paul makes the argument that Jesus healed the disobedience of our first parents, bringing grace and life in place of condemnation and death. And Matthew shows us how to defeat the devil: by speaking the Word of God (from memory) to unmask the lies at the base of temptation. Jesus quotes Scripture—but then so does the devil. It is not enough to know Scripture; we must know the God of whom it speaks and the purpose for which we were created. We are here to build the kin-dom of peace and justice, life and grace.

• Do you recognize what is good and what is evil? • What are the lies that operate in our culture,

bringing alienation and death? • Does the Word of God live in you,

strengthening you to refute lies and evil? • Do you know why you are here?

8

Monday of the First Week of LentLeviticus 19:1-2, 11-18 • Matthew 25:31-46

You shall not stand by idly when your neighbor’s life is at stake. . . .You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

(Leviticus 19:16b, 18b)

What if we read Leviticus with modern eyes? What if we kept in mind the issues of nuclear weapons, war, genocide, racism, sexism, heterosexism, poverty, abortion, capital punishment, and environmental destruction? The lives of our neighbors (including ecosystems and the creatures that live in them) are at stake with all these and with countless other social ills. In high school, my youth group helped me understand homelessness as an issue for the faith community, and in college, it was the preaching of a laywoman at a retreat that awakened me to see that nuclear weapons and abortion are the same evil: the annihilation of all of life, just on different scales. When we become conscious of one social sin, it does not take long before the links become clear between all social sins, at least not if we are praying and reading Scripture. Jesus prayed, read scripture, and acted to save his neighbors—namely, us.

• Can you trace the evolution of your awakening to social justice and environmental issues?

• Write down your story, and share it with a member of the next generation.

• Then take one action —a letter to the editor, a petition, a donation, a prayer—to save the life of your neighbors.

9

Tuesday of the First Week of LentIsaiah 55:10-11 • Matthew 6:7-15

So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:11)

Did you ever stop to think that Isaiah’s poetic statement is not only a general declaration of the power of scripture, but a prophecy about Jesus? Jesus is the Word spoken forth by God, who did God’s will and accomplished the mission for which he was sent. You, too, are a unique word spoken by God, sent to do God’s will and to accomplish a mission. Ash Wednesday named one mission—to reconcile the world to God—but we have other missions, too. We are called to be salt, light, and leaven. We are called to be priest, prophet, and leader. We are to be servants, peacemakers, and daughters and sons of God. We are to be holy.

• As a unique word spoken forth by the Creator, how are you achieving God’s will and accomplishing your mission?

• How are you holy, and how are you helping others to be holy?

10

Wednesday of the First Week of LentJonah 3:1-10 • Luke 11:29-32

Jonah began his journey through the city, and had gone but a single day’s walk announcing, “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,”

when the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small,

put on sackcloth. (Jonah 3:4-5)

Jonah was a reluctant prophet. Only after the whale incident did he agree to do as God asked, and even then he was half-hearted in his attempt to preach to the Ninevites. He says one sentence (technically fulfilling his mission), and much to his chagrin (and God’s delight), the people of Nineveh repent. Let’s be honest. Doing God’s will sometimes is onerous. It is inconvenient. It is hard work. Often we are called to serve unpleasant, ungrateful, and flat-out scary-violent people. Like Jonah, God may have to use extreme measures to get us into proper position. And even then, we may be less than enthusiastic proclaimers of God’s message. Yet, even so, God can and does use us to invite people—even our enemies—to repent and turn away from violence. Jesus reminds us that he is greater than Solomon, the wisest of Israel’s kings, and greater than Jonah, whose one spoken sentence made an entire city repent.

• In what ways are you running from, or embracing, God’s will?

•As you pray, fast, and give to those in need, are you drawing nearer to Jesus, the One greater than any other?

11

Thursday of the First Week of LentEsther C:12, 14-16, 23-25 • Matthew 7:7-12

Queen Esther, seized with mortal anguish, had recourse to God. (Esther C:12)

Esther’s story is quite powerful. Like Esther, many people in the world are in desperate situations, fighting for their lives. It may be political upheaval, natural disaster, poverty, criminal activity, war, or sickness that has pushed them to the edge of death. In Esther’s case, it is a vengeful official, Haman, who plots to have her and all the Jews in Persia killed because her cousin, Mordecai, refused to bow down to Haman. Esther enters a time of deep fasting and prayer in preparation for speaking to the king. With boldness and cunning, she intercedes with the king and saves the lives of her people. The Jewish feast of Purim celebrates her courageous leadership with feasting and donations to those who are poor. Her story shows that even seemingly powerless, insignificant, and marginalized persons can take action to save themselves and others.

Immigrants, people of color, youth, and the elderly are often marginalized and considered insignificant.

• How can you stand in solidarity with people who are different from you?

• Whose courageous leadership can you follow?

12

Friday of the First Week of LentEzekiel 18:21-28 • Matthew 5:20-26

But if wicked people, turning from the wickedness they have committed, do what is right and just,

they shall preserve their life; since they have turned away from all the sins

that they committed, they shall surely live; they shall not die. (Ezekiel 18:27-28)

In my hometown of Laurel, Maryland, on May 15, 1972, segregationist and presidential candidate Alabama Governor George Wallace, known for his speech saying “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever,” was shot and paralyzed from the waist down. Wallace later became a born-again Christian and apologized for his actions as a segregationist. In his final term as governor, he appointed a record number of black people to state jobs. As Ezekiel states, God derives no pleasure from the death of evildoers. God’s desire is that all people turn away from evil, do what is right, and live. Jesus raises the bar, however; it is not enough to do the right thing; we are to do the right thing with the right mindset and within a web of reconciled relationships.

George Wallace’s life is a profound example of the power of conversion.

• What other conversion stories have inspired you to change? • What mindsets and relationships need to be reconciled

in your own life so you can, with a clean heart, offer your gift at the altar?

13

Saturday of the First Week of LentDeuteronomy 26:16-19 • Matthew 5:43-48

Today God is making this agreement with you: you are to be a people belonging peculiarly to God, as God promised you, and provided you keep all the

commandments, God will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory. (Deuteronomy 26:18-19a)

The formula in the quote above is the classic language of the Mosaic covenant. A covenant is much more than a contract; it is a sacred exchange of persons in which new kinship relationships are established. God is to be our God, and we are to be God’s people. I love the use of the word peculiar here; in this context it means “belonging exclusively to,” but peculiar is a word that many people in the dominant culture would use to label those of us whose eyes are fixed on Jesus and whose aim is justice. Walter Sullivan, Jamie Phelps, Marie Dennis, John Dear, Lisa Wagner, Ray East, Dianna Ortiz, Joan Chittister, Ched Myers, Shelly Douglass, Gustavo Gutierrez, Rose Marie Berger, Elias Chacour, Jim Wallis, and Megan McKenna are just some of the “peculiar” people who have chosen to enter a covenantal relationship with God and to dedicate their lives to working for justice. In so doing, they have inspired countless others to join the struggle for peace with justice.

• Would you add your name to the list of “peculiar” people working for peace and justice?

• Who inspires you to work for justice? • Whom are you inspiring?

• Have you entered a covenantal relationship with God, freely giving yourself

and receiving God’s Very Self in return?

14

15

Second Sunday of Lent Genesis 12:1-4a • 2 Timothy 1:8b-10 • Matthew 17:1-9

As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, “Do not tell the vision to anyone

until the Truly Human One has been raised from the dead.” (Matthew 17:9)

In the Transfiguration story, we see Jesus shining like the sun and hear God say, “This is my Beloved; listen to him” (Matthew 17:5). Yet Jesus immediately commands Peter, James, and John not to speak about this experience, not until after he has been raised from the dead. Why the secrecy? Perhaps it is because the disciples know only half the story; they know only the glory part. The suffering, desolation, and death part of the story is still unknown to them. If they were to tell others what they know, they would give a distorted version of Jesus’ story. Many people preach the “prosperity gospel” as if Jesus promised good times, rather than good news. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “I have long since learned that being a follower of Jesus Christ means taking up the cross. My Bible tells me that Good Friday comes before Easter. Before the crown we wear, there is the cross that we must bear. Let us bear it! Bear it for truth, bear it for justice, bear it for peace!”

• What communities, like Haiti after the January 2010 earthquake

or Chicago plagued by more than 500 gun deaths in 2012, are burdened with the cross, living perpetual Good Fridays?

• How can you contribute (donating time, talent, or treasure)

to an organization working for systemic change to bring an end to suffering and death?

16

Monday of the Second Week of LentDaniel 9:4b-10 • Luke 6:36-38

“O Holy One, great and awesome God, you who keep your merciful covenant

toward those who love you and observe your commandments!

We have sinned.” (Daniel 9:4-5)

St. Patrick is a celebrated Christian because he put God’s covenantal love into practice. As a kidnapped and enslaved 14-year-old, he experienced God’s merciful, covenantal love; it sustained him for six years. Later, he returned as a missionary to the very people who had enslaved him as a teen. Nelson Mandela has a similar story; imprisoned for 27 years, he established from prison a constructive relationship with South African leaders, eventually negotiating an end to apartheid. As president, he established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to address human rights abuses. This innovative program, the first of many around the world, brought together victims and perpetrators in a public process that sought reparation and rehabilitation for victims and amnesty for perpetrators.

• How have you experienced God’s merciful love? • What steps can you take to bring truth and reconciliation

to situations of injustice?

17

Tuesday of the Second Week of LentIsaiah 1:10, 16-20 • Matthew 23:1-12

Wash yourselves clean! Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes;

cease doing evil; learn to do good. Make justice your aim: redress the wronged, hear the orphan’s plea,

defend the widow. (Isaiah 1:16-17)

For Catholics, baptism is the entrance to sacramental life with God. Baptism washes away sin and establishes us as members of the church. When we dip our fingers in the holy water font, we remember our baptismal promises to reject evil and to believe in God. Yet, despite our best efforts, sin creeps in and, like a callus on the soul, deadens our perception of God’s action in our lives and in the world. Isaiah’s words pierce through our complacency: cease doing evil; learn to do good! The sacrament of reconciliation is readily available in Lent. In it we meet Jesus, the gentle healer, the humble servant, who calls us back to life with God.

• In your own life, which are harder to understand, sins of omission or sins of commission?

• What prevents you from or impels you to seek reconciliation?

18

Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent2 Samuel 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16 • Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22

Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24a or Luke 2:41-51a

Abraham . . . is our father in the sight of God, in whom Abraham believed, who gives life to the dead

and calls into being what does not exist. (Romans 4:17b)

Today is the feast of St. Joseph, husband to Mary and father to Jesus. St. Joseph is the patron of the universal church and a model of righteousness. Abraham, revered with Sarah as the founder of Judaism, is described as righteous in the sight of God. Biblical righteousness translates as right standing and right behavior within the covenant community. It means standing up for justice and holding people accountable for their actions, whether they are children or corporations or governments. Being righteous means practicing the works of mercy on a daily basis. It includes kindness, and courage, and knowledge of God. Righteousness brings life to those in the shadow of death and calls into being just structures that do not yet exist, but should.

• Whom would you describe as righteous on the world stage? In politics? In your community?

• Are you righteous?

19

Thursday of the Second Week of LentJeremiah 17:5-10 • Luke 16:19-31

More tortuous than all else is the human heart, beyond remedy; who can understand it?

I, God on high, alone probe the mind and test the heart, to reward you according to your ways,

according to the merit of your deeds. (Jeremiah 17:9-10)

Jeremiah’s meditation on the human heart rings true. A heart wants what it wants, often defying reason and good sense—for example, compelling people to stay in violent relationships. The human heart is vain, selfish, and greedy. In today’s gospel, the rich man, Dives, knew Lazarus’ name, but in life he stepped right over him, selfishly ignoring his plight and failing to give resources to help him. Apart from God, the human heart is found sorely wanting. But God promises to give us new hearts, replacing our stony hearts with natural hearts (Ezekiel 26:26). Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus encourages us to step first into the fire of divine love, allowing God to burn off impurities and to forge a new heart, one that is strong, loving, and wise, and then to move into the world, to share the gospel.

• Can you step into the fire of divine love and allow God to forge a new heart within you?

• Are you prepared to step out of your comfort zone into dark or hurting places, as ambassadors do,

to bring the message of Jesus’ Good News?

20

Friday of the Second Week of LentGenesis 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a • Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46

They said to one another: “Here comes that master dreamer!

Come on, let us kill him and throw him into one of the cisterns here; we could say that a wild beast devoured him. We shall then see what comes of his dreams.”

(Genesis 37:19-20)

Joseph’s story is chilling. Jealousy, hatred, violence, greed, deception: all these negative emotions erupt in a murderous plot by Joseph’s brothers against him. Jesus tells a similarly chilling story: a vineyard owner sends servants and finally his son to collect the harvest from tenants, but the tenants beat, stoned, and killed them. We who work for peace with justice face similar threats simply for dreaming God’s dream. The good news is that God’s dream lives in us, “the dream of simplicity and of justice,” as the first Appalachian pastoral letter, “This Land Is Home to Me” (1975), put it. “What comes of God’s dream” is fullness of life for all people and all creation. In biblical terms, this fullness of life is called shalom, and it is much more than peace. Shalom is the life-giving web of right relationships between each individual and God, self, neighbor, enemy, and creation. Shalom is justice, peace, wholeness, harmony, balance, health, safety, rest, and completeness, when every creature knows who they are and Whose they are. Shalom is God’s dream—and our dream.

• Where is jealousy, hatred, violence, greed, or deception at work in your life? In the world?

• Where is God’s dream—shalom—becoming present in your life? In world events? In creation?

21

Saturday of the Second Week of LentMicah 7:14-15, 18-20 • Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

Who is there like you, the God who removes guilt and pardons sin

for the remnant of your inheritance; who does not persist in anger forever,

but delights rather in clemency, and will again have compassion on us,

treading underfoot our guilt? (Micah 7:18-19)

Micah breaks forth in exultant joy when proclaiming the mercy of God: God delights in clemency and compassion, and treads underfoot our guilt. In Luke, the Prodigal Son story—better named the Prodigal Father story—highlights God’s unending mercy, for it is the parent who is prodigal (wastefully extravagant) with love, patience, and forgiveness. Notice how the father walks, first in looking out for the return of the lost child, then treading after the older child to reassure him of his constant love. Our God pines for us, keeps watch for us, runs to us, longing to restore us to full membership in the family of faith by pardoning and forgiving our sins.

• How ready are you to let God forgive your sins? • What spiritual practices (confession, prayer, reading the bible, study of Catholic teachings, spiritual conversation)

will you undertake to change direction, if needed, so that you eagerly seek

forgiveness and restoration in the family of God?

22

Third Sunday of LentExodus 17:3-7 • Romans 5:1-2, 5-8

John 4:5-42 or 4:5-15, 19b-26, 39a, 40-42

“Is God in our midst or not?” (Exodus 17:7)

As a chaplain at LAC + USC Medical Center, I use and appreciate “The Sacred Art of Living and Dying,” a spiritual assessment tool that invites me to rate where I am on a scale of 1-5 around the issues of meaning in my life, relationships in my life, where reconciliation is needed in my life, and where I find and give hope. John’s gospel (4:5-6) tells us that “Jesus, tired from his journey,

Reflections for the Third and Fourth Weeks of Lent are by Fr. Chris Ponnet.

Please see “About the Author” on p. 56.

23

sat down there at the well.” Jesus sat down. He found a place of reflection. He expressed his need and asked: “Give me to drink.” If we are ill, elderly, imprisoned for protesting war or hatred, or just busy after a day of multi-tasking, we can take comfort that Jesus also was tired. Patients, refugees or migrants, people living with chronic illness, people who have been sentenced to life in prison or given a death penalty, our family and community members, in other words, all of us, are in need of that “drink” that will renew us, that will fill us up, that will quench our desires/thirsts. For many of us, Lent is the time to join Jesus in fasting from that which fractures relationships, from that which prevents reconciliation, from that which causes us to lose vision, meaning, or hope. The letter to the Romans (5:1-2) calls us to “boast in hope in the glory of God.” May we take time to sit, to reflect on meaning, reconciliation, relationships, and hope. May we sit with Jesus and ask for that which will truly fill us and quench our thirst.

• “Is God in our midst or not?” • Where do you need to go today to reflect

and be renewed?

Monday of the Third Week of Lent2 Kings 5:1-15ab • Psalm 42 • Luke 4:24-30

My soul thirsts for the living God. (Psalm 42:2)

Being in touch with our own human hunger and thirst can help us to be aware of our feelings and link us in solidarity with others who hunger for food, work, health care, shelter, freedom, justice, as well as love, hope, and mercy. We can choose to accept that human condition, or we can run from it or deny it. The material

24

world has many blessings, but we can also experience the human longing of “what else, what more?” For people of faith, we join with the Psalmist (42:2) who cries out “My soul thirsts for the living God.” Paradoxically, we can seem so connected by smart phones yet experience the depths of aloneness. A hermit might seem to be alone, but in that spiritual space of “the oneness” is connected in solidarity with all the joys and struggles of this world: “The joy and hope, the grief and anguish of the [people] of our time, especially of those who are poor or afflicted in any way, are the joy and hope, the grief and anguish of the followers of Christ as well” (Gaudium et Spes, 1). When we walk to end the death penalty, when we lobby for immigration reform, when we help sign people up for health care plans, when we seek racial justice within our society, church, or peace movement, when we visit, clothe, and welcome (Matthew 25) all in the name of Love, we are doing the ordinary in extraordinary ways (as in today’s reading from 2 Kings). As Mother Teresa said, “Do not think that love in order to be genuine has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.” Lenten fasting allows us to be in solidarity with all those human thirsts and hungers. Lent gives us that time to seek the instruments of reconciliation, both in the sacrament and in our human encounters. To the world and our neighbors we can give voice and humanize the stories of those in need, which at times inspires others to actions and in some situations leaves us marginalized with Christ as “no prophet is accepted in his [or her] own native place” (Luke 4:24).

• How can you use Lent to love in ordinary ways?

25

Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent: The Annunciation

Isaiah 7:10-14; 8:10 • Hebrews 10:4-10 • Luke 1:26-38

“God is with you. . .” (Luke 1:28)

Even in the midst of remembering the Lenten desert experience of Jesus, we remember that we are a resurrection people. And in the midst of the desert, our spirituality ceaselessly tells us that “God is with you.” And with Mary, who said YES to God, we are also called to say our YES. Faith tells us that illness and pain happen but are not caused by God; rather, God journeys with us in our pain and our illness and even unto death. Almost 30 years ago, I first started visiting persons with HIV/AIDS. I remember the faces of the mothers and wives and children of those I was asked to visit. I noticed that as I entered a home, the family would not. They would not enter the same space of a loved one who was infected with this dreaded disease. I remember how, in the hospital, gloves were worn just to greet people who were living with HIV/AIDS. We now know that the disease can only pass between humans in very specific ways, and so many of those precautions have been dropped. Our support groups then were often serving the mothers, the wives, and some of the partners. The mothers of persons living with HIV/AIDS or those whose children had died of the global pandemic witnessed to me the depth of love between mother and child. The scripture was true for them as it is for us: “God be with you.” We can say this many times during Mass and forget the power of this prayer, this statement. The U.S. bishops’ 1989 letter “Called to Compassion and Responsibility” states: “In sum, then, in its ministry to and for persons with HIV/AIDS, the Church calls everyone to conversion; offers sacramental reconciliation and human consolation; seeks to assist all those who suffer;

26

proclaims faith’s explanations of suffering, sin, and death in the light of the cross and resurrection; and accompanies those who suffer on their journey of life while helping them face death in light of Christ” (VI;5).

• Can you take a moment during this day of Lent and repeat the chant and believe the truth:

“God is with you”?

Wednesday of the Third Week of LentDeuteronomy 4:1, 5-9 • Matthew 5:17-19

“I have come not to abolish but to fulfill the law.” (Matthew 5:17)

Jesus says he has “come not to abolish but to fulfill the law” (Matthew 5:17). Jesus’ law is all about love and reconciliation. It is about ending war and the cycle of violence that war shines in the world. Jesus calls us to a “Jerusalem” that is not a place but an experience where all are one and all are welcomed and seen as part of the community. The prophet lifts up this vision of relationship with God: “For what great nation is there that has gods so close to it as our God” (Deuteronomy 4:7). Nuclear weapons continue to be a part of the human rights dialogue as we see in the situations with Iran, Israel, and North Korea, along with the countries that already have weapons like China and France and the one country that has used the weapon, the United States. The weapons systems continue to take from the needs of those who are poor, sick, elderly, or refugees seeking some level of security, not to mention the devastating impact to the environment and other members of creation. The U.S. bishops in “The Challenge of Peace” (1983) said: “the crisis of the moment is embodied in the threat which

27

nuclear weapons pose for the world and much that we hold dear in the world. Nuclear weaponry has dramatically changed the nature of warfare, and the arms race poses a threat to human life and human civilization which is without precedent.”

• How can you create peace between people in your life who are at odds with each other?

• How can you foster a reverence for all creation as it is impacted by weapons of mass destruction?

Thursday of the Third Week of LentJeremiah 7:23-28 • Luke 11:14-23

“Listen to my voice: then I will be your God

and you shall be my people.” (Jeremiah 7:23)If today you hear God’s voice,

harden not your hearts. (Psalm 95)“The Kin-dom of God has come upon you.” (Luke 11:20)

Near my desk is a plaque that I received many years ago with a quote from a Quaker journal that reads: “Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justice now. Love mercy now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.” Jesus told us that “the Kin-dom of God has come upon you” (Luke 11:20). This says to me that I must not pull away from the world but find ways to encounter this “kin-dom of God” here and now. During one of the early times of my civil disobedience, one of my sisters reminded me that she would not be able to join me in getting arrested, but that she would shine a candle of hope. She, as a mother and grandmother, continues to do that daily. An artist reminds us that sometimes art is all

28

about removing some stone, sand, or paint so that the image can shine. It is about playing a simple melody that can transform our souls and set them free to believe that the Kin-dom is at hand. One of the instruments of nonviolence in civil disobedience moments is to repeat a simple, focused chant so as to keep the event focused and nonviolent. The chanting allows us to make our statement for peace and justice and not respond to direct or indirect power actions that, without a focus, can lead people to violence in action or word. As Jeremiah (7:23) says, “Listen to my voice; then I will be your God and you shall be my people.” Lent provides us with a time to look at our own lives, homes, relationships, church community, and local, national, and global agencies, and not only reflect, but commit to doing something to affirm this Kin-dom. We each need to listen for God’s voice (Jeremiah 7) and then act in simple, concrete ways so that together we can transform the world.

• What action for justice can you do today?

29

Friday of the Third Week of LentHosea 14:2-10 • Mark 12:28-34

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:30)

The Catholic Ministry with Lesbian and Gay Catholics has been a ministry of blessing and challenge in my life. Started by Cardinal Mahoney in 1986 and now endorsed and renewed by Archbishop Gomez, it is led by people of deep faith and desire to be welcomed as fully baptized and active members of spiritual communities. As some within our society and definitely within our faith tradition proclaim a message of judgment and hatred, this community calls me and all of us to pause. The parent groups that have formed in Spanish and English have added the voice of loving parents who struggle with understanding, acceptance, and love of their son or daughter, equally made in the image and likeness of God. It has become in our day and age the biblical test of the commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 12:30). The challenge of faithful civil marriage—in the reality of divorce—and sacramental matrimony—in the reality of annulments—calls all to live faithful friendships that are often a witness to the spirituality of friendship. St. Aelred calls us, like the Song of Songs, into relationships of depth, humility, and vulnerability: “Come now, beloved, open your heart, and pour into these friendly ears whatsoever you will, and let us accept gracefully the boon of this place, time, and leisure” (Spiritual Friendship, p. 1).

• Where in your life are you vulnerable to love another?

30

Saturday of the Third Week of LentHosea 6:1-6 • Luke 18:9-14

For it is love that I desire. (Hosea 6:6)

As a person with human shortcomings, or as a church that is dealing with abuse or lack of prophetic voices, or as a nation spending way too much of our money and patriotism on weapons of war, we are called to reconciliation and a change in direction. In our scriptures the prophet Hosea and the Psalmist reassure us of God’s mercy: “For it is love that I desire” (Hosea 6:6); God desires mercy and not sacrifice (Psalm 51:18-19). We are challenged personally and within our church and nation to be the voice of reconciliation between persons and nations and among those who speak hatred toward immigrants, persons of other spiritual paths or no path, and among people of different economic situations, sexual orientations, genders, or languages. The renewed sacrament of reconciliation allows us to take seriously the prayer “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” In this sacrament we recognize what Nelson Mandela discovered after years of civil disobedience and 27 years in jail: that seeing the enemy as sister/brother in humanity and laying down weapons and words of division is the divine call.

• With whom do you need to reconcile in your family or work environment?

• For whom should you advocate in a public area that needs a voice for healing?

31

Fourth Sunday of Lent1 Samuel 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a • Ephesians 5:8-14

John 9:1-41 or 9:1, 6-9, 13-17, 34-38

Not as a human sees does God see. (1 Samuel 16:6)

On the night before California resumed executions, I stood outside San Quentin. It was a beautiful and quiet night. When the sun began to rise, an evangelical preacher arrived to set up his signs of support of executions. As the press arrived, he mocked me and demanded the press allow us to debate. I agreed on one condition: as fellow

32

Christians we would use only Christian biblical texts. He refused. This evangelical pastor’s only support is found in Hebrew texts that Rabbinical scholars remind us that we Christians often misuse, such as an “eye for an eye” (Luke 24:19). We are reminded that as Jewish practice and law developed, executions were allowed only when the 72 leaders were in full agreement, which was set up so execution would not be allowed in practice. The scriptures teach us that “not as humans see does God see” (1 Samuel 16:6), and the question of Jesus in John 9 demands us to love God’s mercy as the divine reality beyond laws and historical practice. The letter to the Ephesians (5:8) calls us to “live as children of light.” We are not to live in darkness, death, hatred, and division, but we are to be people of light. As a nation, this demands disarmament of weapons of mass destruction as well as our execution chambers. As a church, it demands us to remember those who are poor, as Pope Francis has called for: “Oh, how I would like a poor Church, and for the poor.” And as we as individuals and official church leaders add our voices to other religious and secular leaders, demanding an end to executions, we voice this because no killing is approved by God, from the unborn to those on battle fields; no one is outside of God’s mercy nor our mercy; no one who experiences the judgment of court or peers is beyond the reconciliation of God. The best of us demands our working with victims and victims’ families and proclaiming that God’s mercy is open to all and that killing a killer only brings that person before a God of forgiveness, not of vengeance. “The Lord is my shepherd” (Psalm 23:1) is not a truth for some people, but for all of God’s children created in God’s image and likeness.

• Whom do you need to forgive so as to be free to live the Easter message of Jesus:

Peace is with you/Pax Christi?

3333

Monday of the Fourth Week of LentIsaiah 65:17-21 • John 4:43-54

. . . for I create Jerusalem to be a joy. (Isaiah 65:19)

One of my extended family members has lived with autism all of her life. As a teenager, she amazes us with her successes and always her joy. She lives in joy within the limitations of autism. Her parents, grandmother, and brother remind me of the prophet Isaiah’s (65:19) words: “For I create Jerusalem to be a joy.” We as people of faith—and especially as peace-active-people—must remain true to this call to be people of joy. The injustices of racism, sexism, and homophobia and the “endless war” we oppose call us to be prophets of joy. Pope Francis said in Evangelii Gaudium: “There are Christians whose lives seem like Lent without Easter.” I realize, of course, that joy is not expressed the same way at all times in life, especially at moments of great difficulty. Joy adapts and changes, but it always endures, even as a flicker of light born of our personal certainty that, when everything is said and done, we are infinitely loved. I understand the grief of people who have to endure great suffering, yet slowly but surely we all have to let the joy of faith gradually revive us as a quiet yet firm trust, even amid the greatest distress: “My soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is. . . But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: the steadfast love of God never ceases, God’s mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. . . It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of God” (Lamentations 3:17, 21-23, 26). My family member by nature lives joy, even in her perceived limitation, and she demands it of the rest of us. The Good News of the scriptures equally demands that we be prophets of joy—a joy that is not just happiness and smiles, but of a depth that affects every breath and every action of our lives. During this season of reflection,

34

fasting, and reconciliation let us remain prophets of hope and joy.

• Whom might you visit today to bring joy? • For instance, might you contact Congress or someone in support of immigration reform that would bring joy to a family afraid of being torn apart by deportation?

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of LentEzekiel 47:1-9, 12 • John 5:1-16

The God of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob. (Psalm 46:11)

I was blessed a few years ago to visit the German Nazi concentration camp at Terezín in the Czech Republic, from where thousands of persons were sent to Auschwitz death camps. As I entered the town, I felt like I was entering the crematorium here in East Los Angeles, where annually we bury the cremated remains of the unclaimed persons of our county. The number of persons we remember each year ranges from 1500 to 2000. In the Czech Republic, there was that same air of death as we walked from the train station. Knowing what had been done here and walking through the tunnels and seeing the firing range of death spoke deeply to me not only of death and hatred, but also of hope and new life, of the prophetic people who prayed together and stood in solidarity as Jews, gays, Catholics, or Roma were taken from this place of “living death” to death chambers. One picture from the children stood out for me, and I have a copy near my desk. The name of the child, Eva Meitnerova (1931-1944), is at the bottom of the page. It is a picture of a community “Seder” table, a reminder of God’s promise of the exodus and the promise that all

35

struggles and all evil will fail in the embrace of God. I remember standing for long silences in the various rooms and outdoor spaces at Terezín, breathing in the air of a place that in history was created for evil but is also a place of God’s beauty and serenity. We remember the words of Pope Paul VI: “No more war, never again war.”

• Who will you be in solidarity with as we approach the “Seder,” the “last supper” this Holy Week?

Wednesday of the Fourth Week of LentIsaiah 49:8-15 • John 5:17-30

I will never forget you. (Isaiah 49:15)

During this Lenten season, the feast of St. Francis of Paola, a hermit, gives us pause around the Lenten practice of fasting. St. Francis was clearly a vegetarian and saw this as part of his Christian/Catholic value system. His spiritual discipline allowed him to be an instrument of healing for physical needs, and in his time he also was used by the powers of the empire to bring about healing in the community and among the developing nations. Following the murders of the Jesuits and companions in El Salvador in 1989, interfaith leaders in Los Angeles started a group called the Wednesday Morning Coalition for Justice and Peace in El Salvador. Each Wednesday we would gather in the basement of La Placita church and march to the Los Angeles Federal Building for a spiritual moment of reflection and then civil disobedience. We followed the example of the organizers in El Salvador and highlighted one segment of the community affected by the war and the weapons of war from the United States. We told the stories of teachers, children, medical staff, etc. Following this growing movement, a delegation of

36

our leadership went to El Salvador. Bishop Gumbleton and others from Pax Christi USA had returned from there with concrete examples of the U.S. bombs being used against the people. It was Lent, and I had joined in fasting with union organizers in El Salvador. For over 80 days of Lent and Easter, we had been on a liquid-only solidarity fast until the breaking of the fast on Pentecost. Then I made my personal vow: to remain a vegetarian as an act of daily solidarity with all those affected by the bombs and weapons of war. Fasting is both a public act of civil disobedience and a spiritual act of reflection and also a statement against political and spiritual leaders who “bless war” and the weapons that kill people. ICUJP.org is one of our partner organizations, and their beginning principle is that “religions should stop blessing wars.”

• How might you practice fasting during this season in a way that links you with persons caught

in the endless “war against terrorism”?

Thursday of the Fourth Week of LentExodus 32:7-14 • John 5:31-47

Remember, us, O God, as you favor your people. (Psalm 106:4)

It was a cool morning. I had joined my friends, the Los Angeles Catholic Workers, to protest the proposed cutting of beds and the possible closing of our federal hospital. The Board of Supervisors had not heard our voices and was still considering various options, all bad for people who were poor in our city and southern California. Having decided to bring to City Hall our concern about how

37

these cuts would affect the health and moral fabric of our city, the City of Angels, we moved into the front entrance of City Hall, covered ourselves with patient sheets, and began quietly praying the rosary. We continued nonviolent action and prayer while we were pulled up, handcuffed, and removed to a small office before being taken to the police station for processing. As we were moved, one of the officers expressed his disgust with me as a priest. He told me that he had dropped his children off at a Catholic school that morning and that he thought our actions were a waste of time. I listened and could only say that we acted “for his children and the next generation whose need for health care demanded a general hospital for a city of our millions of people.” I remember my first arresting officer north of the Las Vegas nuclear test site, who actually arrested me at later nonviolent civil disobedient actions. My discussions with him taught me well that we are about doing Jesus’ work as John (5:37) wrote: “The One who sends me has testified on my behalf.” We are protesting not the arresting officer, but the system that cuts services to the most vulnerable while spending billions on weapons of mass destruction. I will always remember those arresting officers who are simply coming to work to “protect and defend” and then go home to be with their loved ones. However, we also must continue to raise our voices and act nonviolently in solidarity with creation and with those persons whose voices are not being heard.

• With whom do you stand and act in solidarity in your

prayer, funds, and giving of time?

3838

Friday of the Fourth Week of LentWisdom 2:1a, 12-22 • John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30

God is close to the brokenhearted. (Psalm 34:18)

When I am on call at night at the trauma hospital, there seem to be more calls to families with a fetal demise situation. The baby in the womb has died. The mother and others are devastated after the hope of carrying the child. Sometimes the mother and family have been warned and other times not. They have been praying with hope. I know in my heart that “God is close to the brokenhearted” (Psalm 34:18), but there are no words I can bring at that time to take away that pain. As members of the faith community, we respond to the need for a prayer or a blessing or even a baptism, and we surround that family with love and faith. We are there to be that strength while their world has crumbled. As a nurse puts the child in a small cloth so the mother can hold or touch her child, I can only imagine Michelangelo’s “Pietà,” Mary holding the body of Jesus. We encourage naming the child in the grieving moment, and we encourage the tears and words of love that the mom has for the little one. The little one is not an angel but a child of God, a saint of God. When I reflect on these moments, these mothers and little ones, I ponder the public and ecclesial debate about abortion, and I stand in awe of this child, sometimes not yet recognizable and sometimes clearly in full development. I have never met someone who wanted “to kill their child” as some in the pro-life movement say. When a child in the womb dies, it is a painful situation with lingering effects on persons and family. These deaths demand that those of us who are men in the church listen deeply and affirm the voice of women who are the ones who ultimately bear witness to the truth of Psalm 34: “God is close to the brokenhearted.”

39

In the gospel, the community wondered about their leaders who seemed to allow Jesus’ words and acts of compassion

to affect their hearts and minds. • Are you open to a compassion that includes those

who disagree with you or your position?

4040

Saturday of the Fourth Week of LentJeremiah 11:18-20 • Psalm 7 • John 7:40-53

O my God, in you I take refuge. (Psalm 7:1)

Sunday’s mass at Juvenile Hall is always full of surprises. I go prepared with a biblical homily but am always aware that something will be added to the experience that might change my planned sharing. The Juvenile Hall, which is right behind my home/church, has about 500 young people aged 8-18, mostly young men but also a few women. “O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge” is a daily chant for them . . . for each of us. One Sunday a young woman volunteered to be the altar server. She looked about 16, but her face was the first thing I noticed, as extensive burns had disfigured her. In a short conversation I experienced both a beautiful young woman and one whose self-image had been affected by this physical situation. I share with you a poem that she shared with me:

“I LIVED” I lived with criticism, yet refused to be condemned.I lived with hostility yet refused to fight. I lived with fear yet refused to be apprehensive. I lived with ridicule yet refused to feel shy. I lived with jealousy, yet refused to feel envy. I lived with shame yet refused to feel guilty. Now I live with pity yet refuse to feel sorry for myself. And Why? Because, I have such a strong faith that it lights up my darkness.

This young woman has courage to believe our biblical truths about disarmament of hatred and persons and systems of revenge and war. This woman is the prophet who calls me to prophetic living.

• When you are overwhelmed with challenges, how do you turn to God for refuge and strength?

41

Fifth Sunday of LentEzekiel 37:12-14 • Romans 8:8-11

John 11:1-45 or 11:3-7, 17, 20-27, 33b-45

“Whoever believes in me, even if they die, will live.” (John 11:25)

All three readings today deal with life beyond the grave. In her landmark study of death and dying, Elizabeth Kübler-Ross outlined the five stages of grief that are part of the dying process. First is denial, then anger followed by bargaining. The next stage, depression, is followed by the final stage, acceptance.

Reflections for the Fifth Week of Lent through Holy Week are by Tom Cordaro. Please see “About the Author” on p. 56.

42

In this final stage many of the dying report a sense of serenity and peace. People in this stage of dying are focused on important people in their lives. Things like career, wealth, power, and popularity become trivial. And most importantly, they begin to lose their fear; they begin speaking and acting more truthfully. As Christians who have died with Christ in baptism and live in the hope of the resurrection, should we not already be living in this last stage of death and dying? If we truly believed in the resurrection of the dead, should this not give us the courage to live free from fear and unafraid of death? The National Rifle Association (NRA) and the gun lobby are banking on the belief that Christians don’t really believe in resurrection. Their dream is that every person who can fire a gun will carry a gun. They advocate for “stand your ground” laws that encourage a shoot-first mentality where every stranger is a threat. Our gun culture also finds political expression in the military-industrial-complex that banks on the belief that Christians find more security in military power than in the hope of the resurrection.

• How might you live your life differently if you truly believed in the resurrection?

Monday of the Fifth Week of LentDaniel 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62 or 13:41c-62 • John 8:1-11

“Here I am about to die.” (Daniel 13:43)

Today’s readings feature two women who fall victim to men who see them only as objects. The objectification of women continues to be a serious problem in our world today. But in war the objectification of women becomes

43

especially deadly. As Chris Hedges points out in his book, War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning, “When life becomes worth nothing, when one is not sure of survival, when a society is ruled by fear, there often seems only death or fleeting carnal pleasure” (p. 168). In modern warfare it is not only noncombatant women who are targets of violence; even one’s fellow female soldiers become objects of violence or fleeting carnal pleasure.

• What steps can you take to say “no” to the continued objectification of women?

Tuesday of the Fifth Week of LentNumbers 21:4-9 • John 8:21-30

“I belong to what is above. You belong

to this world.” (John 8:23)

In today’s gospel reading we hear Jesus speaking to the Pharisees about belief and unbelief. Jesus finds in them a blindness that leads to death: “you will look for me, but you will die in your sin” (John 8:21). Those who “belong to this world” have accepted the conventional

wisdom of what is possible within constraints of the political, economic, and social constructs of power and privilege. Jesus speaks outside of these deadening

44

constructs: “I do not belong to this world.” Resurrection is about the impossible. It is about life where there is death; light where there is darkness; hope where there is despair. For those who have been excluded from power and privilege this is good news. For those who benefit from the way things are, resurrection is a threat to the social order. On which side do we stand?

• In what ways do we “belong to this world,” and in what ways do we “not belong to this world?”

Wednesday of the Fifth Week of LentDaniel 3:14-20, 91-92, 95 • John 8:31-42

“We will not serve your god.” (Daniel 3:18)

Today’s readings focus on the question: what is freedom? For Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego, freedom is more than going about doing whatever one pleases. For them, freedom is the ability to do what one knows is right, regardless of the consequences. They were willing to stake their lives on the desire to live as free people. In today’s gospel Jesus tells us that we will know the truth and this truth will set us free. This truth will soon be self-evident in Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection. This truth will cost him everything (Good Friday), and in giving everything he will be set free (Easter Resurrection).

• What are you willing to lose in order to be free?

45

Thursday of the Fifth Week of LentGenesis 17:3-9 • John 8:51-59

“Whoever keeps my word, will never see death.” (John 8:51)

In today’s gospel Jesus makes a remarkable promise. Those who keep his word will never see death. What could he possibly mean by that? What does it mean to never “see” death and never “taste” death? Somehow it is connected to Jesus’ intimate relationship to God: “I know God and I keep God’s word” (John 8:55). Maybe by grafting one’s life to God’s eternal life we come to “see” death in a different way. Maybe when our lives are oriented toward the eternal, death loses its taste. In communion with God through Jesus and empowered by the Holy Spirit, death has no power over us.

• How does the fear of death for ourselves and our loved ones dictate the choices we make?

Friday of the Fifth Week of LentJeremiah 20:10-13 • John 10:31-42

“Even if you do not believe in me, believe in the works I do.” (John 10:38)

In today’s gospel reading Jesus directly addresses the charge of blasphemy. Those who oppose Jesus clearly see the implications of his claim to a special relationship to God: “You, a man, are making yourself God” (John 10:33). There is much speculation in theological circles about the meaning of the title, “Son of God,” used by

46

Jesus in response to this charge, and this is too short a space to sufficiently deal with this question. Instead, let us focus on the signs that Jesus offers that testify to the in-breaking of God through him in a way never seen before. Jesus’ true identity is made manifest through the works that he does. They testify that God is in him, and he is in God.

• What would people believe about you by looking at the works that you do?

Saturday of the Fifth Week of LentEzekiel 37:21-28 • John 11:45-56

“The Romans will come and take away both our land and our nation.” (John 11:48)

In today’s gospel we get an inside look at religious leaders making political calculations. They perceive Jesus as a threat to the nation, but in fact Jesus poses a threat to the political arrangement between the Temple and the Empire. While couching their rhetorical argument as selfless concern for the nation, they were in fact concerned about protecting their power and privilege. It is easy to cast the Temple establishment as the bad guys in the gospel, but the challenge for us is to examine our own lives in light of this gospel reading.

• How often do we compromise the radical call of the gospel in order to protect our own social, economic,

political, and religious power and privilege?

47

PALM SUNDAYMatthew 21:1-11 • Isaiah 50:4-7 • Philippians 2:6-11

Matthew 26:14—27:66 or 27:11-54

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46)

Last Sunday’s reflection focused on the challenge of living every day without fear in the hope of the resurrection. Today’s passion reading reminds us that the call to practice resurrection is not some Pollyanna-ish walk in the park. The gospel clearly shows us that those

48

who follow Jesus, who live like him and love like him, will most likely get nailed like him. The daily practice of resurrection does not exempt us from the pain and suffering of this mortal life. For Jesus, this truth was spelled out in our second reading, “he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8) And in the description of the faithful servant in our first reading from Isaiah (50:6) we read, “I gave my back to those who beat me.” We can spend our mortal life in a vain attempt to protect our wealth, prestige, or ideologies, or we can let go of these things, humble ourselves, and live in the freedom of God. By choosing this freedom we can go into any place and among any people without fear, because we will have nothing to lose or protect. “God is my help; therefore I am not disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame” (Isaiah 50:7).

• Where in your life is God inviting you to let go of your need to control and protect

in order to embrace the freedom of the resurrection?

Monday of Holy WeekIsaiah 42:1-7 • John 12:1-11

[My servant] shall bring forth justice to the nations. (Isaiah 42:1)

Some use today’s gospel as proof that Jesus was not interested in ending poverty and so the Church should not try to end poverty: “You always have the poor with you” (John 12:8). But in the first reading Isaiah describes the messiah as one who is called to the “victory of justice.” And it is clear that this mission will not be completed until justice is established on earth. Justice is not only

49

about the generosity of the rich toward the poor. It is the establishment of every person’s right to adequate housing, food, health care, education, and work. It is about the right of every person to fully participate and contribute to society as best they can.

• How can we sometimes use charity as an excuse to not work for justice?

Tuesday of Holy WeekIsaiah 49:1-6 • John 13:21-33, 36-38

“Will you lay down your life for me?” (John 13:28)

Love and betrayal: sounds like the plot of a soap opera, but these are some of the powerful emotions that permeate this gospel reading. At this intimate dinner with his disciples Jesus’ love for his friends is tempered by his grief over their coming betrayal. This gospel also speaks tenderly of the love that the disciples have for Jesus. How could such a love-fest go so wrong so quickly? Dorothy Day was fond of the Dostoevsky quote: “love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams.” For Day, these words captured the contrast between loving those who are poor in theory and loving them in the soup kitchens and hospitality houses of the Catholic Worker. For us, it might also include the ways we are tempted to romanticize the call to Christian discipleship while doing all we can to avoid paying too steep a price.

• Where is the cutting edge in your life between your idealized vision of discipleship

and the way discipleship plays out in your life?

50

Wednesday of Holy WeekIsaiah 50:4-9a • Matthew 26:14-25

I shall not be put to shame. (Isaiah 50:7)

Matthew’s version of the betrayal of Jesus at the Last Supper is starkly different than John’s version from yesterday. This is no community love-fest; it is full of direct confrontation in the family of disciples. Matthew puts this Last Supper in the context of the sell-out by Judas to the temple authorities. At the meal, Jesus and Judas confront each other while the disciples appear clueless. The first reading from Isaiah (50:6) talks about the price paid by those who speak truth to power: “I gave my back to those who beat me.” Sometimes it is easier to speak truth to power when the “power” that is addressed is some abstract system or distant institution. It is something entirely different when the “power” that needs to be confronted is a member of our family, church, or community.

• Where in your life is God asking you to speak truth to power?

HOLY THURSDAYExodus 12:1-8, 11-14 • 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 • John 13:1-15

“I have given you a model to follow.” (John 13:15)

Holy Thursday is the day the Catholic Church commemorates the institution of the Eucharist. And yet, the gospel reading for this holy day does not include the breaking of the bread or the sharing of the cup. Instead, it focuses on foot washing. Jesus reminds his disciples that they need to wash each other’s feet in order to be part of him.

51

The connection between foot washing and Eucharist becomes clear when we reflect upon the moral challenge of receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus. Our “amen” to the communion proclamation, “Body of Christ,” affirms not only the real presence in the sacred elements, but Jesus’ real presence in the community. Can I swallow this community of fellow Christians, with all their different social, political, economic, and racial backgrounds? Can I stomach these fellow believers with all their imperfections and failings? As Jesuit poet Benjamin Gonzalez Buelta writes, “Bread can only be offered with open hands and fingers wide. . . . There is no offertory from clenched fist or a possessive heart.” The Eucharist not only changes the bread and wine; it also changes us. As St. Augustine reminds us, “We eat the Body of Christ to become the Body of Christ.” In a heavily armed culture, where differences are obliterated by drive-by gunfire or by hit-and-run drone attacks, the Eucharist challenges us to offer our body and blood to the world. At the end of Mass we are instructed, “Go in peace, glorifying God by your life.”

• How is the Eucharist challenging you to offer your body and blood to the world?

52

GOOD FRIDAYIsaiah 52:13—53:12 • Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9 • John 18:1—19:42

Jesus answered him, “You would have no power over me. . . .” (John 19:11)

The gun or the cross: which is the source of true freedom; which is the path to a life that is fully human and fully alive? For those who live at the heart of empire, who are born into power and privilege denied to others because of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or national origin, the gun guarantees the status quo. For those denied power and privilege, the gun represents the desire to seize control, to upend the status quo, and to replace the overlords. Good Friday poses a choice: do we put our trust in the power of redemptive violence (the belief that peace can be gained through violence) or the power of redemptive suffering (the belief that peace becomes possible through the practice of reconciliation and unconditional love at personal cost)? The NRA and the military-industrial-complex spend millions of dollars lobbying for the virtues of redemptive violence. But the way of the cross, practiced by believers for over two thousand years, has thwarted the plans of armies and empires. The cross also reminds us that victory does not come without costs, and those costs must be borne by those who pick up their cross to follow Jesus. Those who trust in the gun are prepared to kill and destroy to achieve victory. Those who embrace the way of the cross are prepared to sacrifice their lives to achieve victory.

• What would it mean to pick up your cross and follow Jesus?

53

HOLY SATURDAY, EASTER VIGILGenesis 1:1—2:2 or 1:1, 26-31a • Genesis 22:1-18 or 22:1-2, 9a,

10-13, 15-18 • Exodus 14:15— 15:1 • Isaiah 54:5-14 Isaiah 55:1-11 • Baruch 3:9-15, 32—4:4

Ezekiel 36:16-17a, 18-28 • Romans 6:3-11 • Matthew 28:1-10

If we have died in Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. (Romans 6:8)

The readings for the Easter Vigil start with the creation story and the fall of humanity and follow the history of redemption through the exodus, culminating in the resurrection of Jesus. During the Easter Vigil, new members are also sacramentally initiated into the Catholic Church. The reading from Romans makes the connection between baptism, death, and resurrection: those baptized in Christ are baptized into his death—not just any kind of death, but death on a cross. The cross represents life freely offered for the sake of others. It is the laying down of all power, privilege, and entitlements out of love for others—even the enemy. For the newly baptized and for those renewing their baptismal vows, the “old self was crucified with him . . . that we might no longer be in slavery to sin” (Romans 6:6). The way of the gun has lost its appeal and power over us. We no longer believe that the gun can save us or make us powerful and respected. Jesus’ death seems like folly to those who cling to their guns; he was a naïve do-gooder whose death proves the point, “If Jesus and his followers had guns, they might have escaped their fate.” But the resurrection turned the folly of the cross into victory for the disciples of Jesus: “If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him” (Romans 6:8-9).

• How has Christ freed you from the fear of death?

54

EASTER SUNDAYActs 10:34a, 37-43 • Colossians 3:1-4 or 1 Corinthians 5:6b-8 • John 20:1-9

They did not yet understand the Scripture. (John 20:9)

I have always been perplexed by the choice of this gospel text for Easter. A close reading of this gospel reveals only confusion and bewilderment. When the gospel

reports that the disciples “saw and believed,” it refers not to the resurrection, only the empty tomb. This gospel has the feel of a preliminary report from a reporter on the scene. You can almost hear them say, “Eye-witness accounts are confusing, and authorities have yet to make an official statement.” And then it happens. Over time, preliminary reports become official statements that are followed by conventional wisdom and solidified as part of the imperial consensus. The events that occurred at that tomb outside of Jerusalem are contained, sterilized, and filed away. Why did Jesus’ followers not believe in the resurrection upon seeing the empty tomb? Could it be that when the most powerful empire on earth puts someone to death that person is supposed to stay dead? The conventional wisdom on Jesus was that he messed around with the wrong people and got what every threat to the Roman empire gets: public execution. On this first Easter morning, Jesus’ followers were still under the power of the dominant narrative set by the empire and religious establishment: Roman hegemony cannot be challenged. In time, the stone blocking the disciples’ hearts and minds would be rolled away and the dominant narrative, conventional wisdom, and establishment consensus would start to lose their power. Jesus has risen; new life is possible. Anything is possible!

• What stones need to be rolled away in your life in order to embrace the possibility of new life?

55

About the AuthorsKathy Schmitt

(reflections for Ash Wednesday through the second week of Lent) Kathy Schmitt, M.Div., is Director of Evangelization for St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Laurel, Maryland, and Associate Editor of Seminary Journal for the National Catholic Educational Association. Kathy first joined Pax Christi while in college at Virginia Tech and served as the representative from the Pax Christi USA Youth Forum to the Pax Christi International Youth Forum from 1994-1996. She enjoys leading Bible studies, teaching about Catholicism, and helping adults connect faith to social justice issues. Kathy is the author of the Catholic Schools Week Liturgy Guide, proud aunt to nine nieces and nephews, and makes her home in the Maryland suburbs.

About the Artist, continued I was 30 years old when I took a night class in lettering at Immaculate Heart College in Hollywood, with Sr. Mary Corita I.H.M. (later known as Corita Kent). She was my mentor; I was inspired by her years of working for peace and justice in her artwork, as well as the playfulness of her work and the boldness of her colors. Her art spoke of social justice and peacemaking, and was ecumenical in scope. Someone gave me an old silkscreen frame, and told me I should start to do printmaking.

Working with very rudimentary equipment, I began teaching myself by looking at others’ work and being part of the movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Most of my life’s work was involved with print-making (silkscreen-printing or serigraphy). I had no plan that this would be my life and my passion; I kept thinking that this was all temporary. But after forty-six years, I realize that this path was my life. I am part of the Pax Christi movement in Los Angeles.

56

About the AuthorsFr. Chris Ponnet

(reflections for the third and fourth weeks of Lent) Chris was born and raised in the Los Angeles, California, area, the youngest of eight children. Chris’s work around justice and peace began in 1971 with the local Catholic Peace Coalition/Pax Christi. He was ordained a priest of LA Archdiocese in 1983. His first Civil Disobedience (CD) prayer action was at the nuclear test site north of Las Vegas and includes many CD actions at the LA Federal building. Chris was part of extensive fasting against the wars in El Salvador, Persian Gulf, and Iraq. Chris has been pastor at St. Camillus Center for Spiritual Care (www.stcamilluscenter.org), serving as a chaplain at LAC + USC Medical Center for the past 18 years. He has been a leader with the following ministries: Office of Catholic HIV/AIDS Ministry, Catholic Ministry with Lesbian and Gay Persons, Death Penalty Focus, Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace (ICUJP.org), and the hospital Ethic Committee. He was a member of the Pax Christi USA National Council as well as the local Southern California Region leadership. He enjoys creating a team of chaplains, spending time with his extended family, and researching his family genealogy. The Consistent Life Ethics and the parables of Jesus/Disney give the context for his talks around the United States on social justice.

Tom Cordaro (reflections for the fifth week of Lent through Easter)

Tom Cordaro is the director of Justice and Outreach Ministry at St. Margaret Mary Parish in Naperville, Illinois. He has served as chair of the Pax Christi USA National Council and has worked as a professional writer, organizer, and activist in the faith-based peace movement for more than 30 years. He is the author of the award-winning book, Be Not Afraid: An Alternative to the War on Terror, and To Wake the Nation, an introduction to nonviolent civil disobedience. Tom is also one of the founding members of Pax Christi USA’s anti-racism team and the anti-racism initiative, Brothers and Sisters All.

More than ever, Pax Christi USA needs people who believe in our work for peace with justice and are willing to help sustain our efforts. By joining our “Sustainers' Circle” you commit to providing Pax Christi USA with essential support on which we can rely. A monthly donation helps us plan and build a base that reaches more emergent constituencies, making our mission more visionary and effective.

q I want to join Pax Christi USA and help make a difference!

Name (as it appears on your credit card)

Address

City State Zip

Phone Email

Please select a monthly donation amount (minimum of $10):q$10 q$20 q$50 q$100 q other: Credit Card No. Exp. Date CVN (3-digits, back of card) Visa & MasterCard accepted. This payment will repeat monthly, charged at the same time each month. You may cancel or change your contribution at any time. Thanks so much for your support and generosity.

I cannot participate in the Sustainers’ Circle, but would like

to become a member. I am enclosing my yearly membership

payment of $40. q

Pax Christi USA1225 Otis Street NE • Washington, DC 20017

Phone: 202.635.2741 • Fax: 202.832.9494 info@paxchristiusa.org • www.paxchristiusa.org

Sustainers’ Circle for Peace with Justice

About Pax Christi USA

In a world that settles differences by armed violence and defines “justice” as “revenge,” Pax Christi USA dares to break the cycle of violence by fostering reconciliation. Pax Christi USA is the national Catholic peace movement, reaching more than half a million Catholics in the United States each year. Our membership includes more than 130 U.S. bishops, 800 parish sponsors, 650 religious communities, 75 high school and college campus groups, and 350 local groups. The work of Pax Christi USA begins in personal life and extends to communities of reflection and action to transform structures of society. Pax Christi USA rejects war and every form of violence and domination. It advocates primacy of conscience, economic and social justice, and respect for creation. Pax Christi USA commits itself to peace education and, with the help of its bishop members, promotes the Gospel imperative of peacemaking as a priority in the Catholic Church in the United States. Through the efforts of all its members and in cooperation with other groups, Pax Christi USA works toward a more peaceful, just, and sustainable world. Pax Christi USA is a section of Pax Christi International, the international Catholic peace movement with consultative status at the United Nations.

Bulk pricing availableItem No. 531-045

1225 Otis Street NE; Washington, DC 20017Phone: 202.635.2741; Fax: 202.832.9494E-mail: info@paxchristiusa.orgWeb: www.paxchristiusa.org