C - Ash Wednesday

Gratitude is the natural response to a gift.  We see this particularly at Christmas or on birthdays when family and friends gather, and gifts are exchanged.  We respond to these gifts with gratitude, words of thanks, hugs and kisses.   No one, however, can surpass the gifts of God, the greatest of which we recall and celebrate at every mass - God’s gift of his one son.  The Divine son who teaches us, that, ‘greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends’.  This gift breaks the chains of sin.  This gift enables us to know the freedom of forgiveness in this life and to taste the peace and joy waiting for us in the next.  God has given us great gifts and we should reflect on these and, as we do at Christmas or on a birthday, we should express our thanks.  We have so much to be grateful for. 

Now, as we begin our Lenten journey, it is time to make a greater gift of ourselves.  Lent is a time to journey further and in a more purposeful way into the mystery of God by wondering off the well-worn worldly trail and into the foothills of holiness.  During Lent, we are told to pray, fast and to give alms.

We commit to prayer.  So often prayer time can become a checkbox item.  But with a renewed sense of gift giving, we can place ourselves before God despite all the demands of our busy lives.  We should begin our prayers with the attitude of gratitude and with words that say, “this time, these ten or twenty minutes, I give to you dear Father despite the distractions and inevitable interruptions.  Time is a precious gift, and we only have so much of it, or so little of it.  By giving God our time, we acknowledge him as Lord of our life and make clear that we place Him first.

We fast.  Christ’s church asks so little of us; today and Good Friday are obligatory days of fasting and abstinence.  And Fridays during Lent are obligatory days of abstinence.  But should we strive for the minimum or should we do more?  What other gifts of fasting can we offer?  Perhaps we can fast from entertainment, the endless hours of TV, of sports, or YouTube?  We can also fast from some of the usual activities of our day, by committing to daily mass, or to reading scripture, the lives of the saints, or other spiritual books.  So, we pray, we fast. 

We also perform works of love and charity, quietly and unseen by others.  This can be gifts of money, gift cards for the needy, and so on.  Having practiced giving our time to God, we now give time to our neighbor and to the stranger.  A phone call to someone that needs to hear a friendly voice, a chance meeting with someone needing a friendly ear to really listen to them.  Love is willing of the good of the other.  During Lent we commit to seeing others in a new light and to love them.  For what we do to the least of these we also do to our Lord.

Our Father has given all things to us including his one and only begotten son, our brother.  We should consider this truth deeply.  By reflecting on God’s gifts to each of us, we hopefully respond in gratitude and with a growing freedom to give more of ourselves.  Our practices of prayer, fasting, and alms giving, give praise to our God, help transform our hearts and our lives. They prepare us to celebrate the Easter season with joy.   A joy that extends into every aspect of our lives, here and now, and goes on and into eternity. 

Deacon Peter Bujwid
St. Agnes Church
Arlington, MA
March 5, 2025

C - Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

If we are not intentional in our Christian life, we inevitably find ourselves indistinguishable from non-Christians as we fall victim to the dictates of the world, and to the social pressures which work to mold and define us.    

Our readings today describe the sort of life we are called to live.  A life that becomes a beacon of light and hope for others who hunger and thirst for something which the world is unable to offer.     

In our first reading David finds himself with the upper hand, despite being chased by Saul and his 3,000 soldiers.  Saul was the first King of Israel and a man without equal.  But David was wise and prospered and Saul grew increasingly jealous.  One night, surrounded by a sleeping army, David had the power to kill his enemy, but instead chose life for him. For Sual was the Lord’s chosen one, anointed to be King by the prophet Samuel.  Saul hated David and wanted to kill him, yet David responded with mercy, in a manner that was pleasing to God, and did not succumb to his natural response to the threat upon his life.   

David let Saul live but Jesus instructs us to be even more radical when dealing with our enemies.  David would spare Saul’s life convicted by his sense of community ties and obligations to God.  But Jesus tells us not only to spare our enemy, but to love them and to pray for them, and to offer our other cheek when one has already been struck.   Does Jesus really mean, if someone assaults me, I am to remain impassive, non-responsive, unmoved, even to defend myself?  There is no one answer since we are also obligated to preserve our God given life.  And husbands, you are obligated to protect your wife and children; even giving up your own life should the need arise.    Having said that, it is also very true that we possess a power that helps us transcend the natural options.   For we are born of dust, men and woman of the earth, and as such we demand retribution; an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.  But as Paul tells us in the second reading, we bare the image of the heavenly one.  By way of our baptism, we assume a mantle where simple force, is replaced by wise humility, and judgment is balanced by mercy.  We bare the image of Jesus Christ upon our hearts and souls and so we can be moved, motivated, and called to action in the way of our Lord.  When persecuted we are not taught to do nothing, like a pacifist.  Rather we are called to act in union with the principles of the Kingdom of God.  In doing so we encounter and know God more intimately, since we are entering His life and see as He sees, and know as He knows, even if only dimly.  At the same time, we are being changed, from the earthy Adam to the spiritual or heavenly Adam, that Paul writes to us about.   

But what of justice?   Are my enemies getting away with something?  What of redress and making it right?  What is very clear is that God is kind to those who do not deserve it.  “Do you begrudge my generosity?”  Matthew writes of the vineyard owner, when speaking of the men who did not start work until late in the day.  Recall the father who celebrates the return of the prodigal son with a feast.  Recall Jesus who chooses to eat with prostitutes and tax collectors.  God has mercy on those that do not deserve it.  We seek that same mercy for ourselves, but we are also called to give as we have received.  And by this to enter further into the mystery of God.   

Is it not awesome that God is love?  Is it not awesome that the creative power of all we see, know, and understand, comes from an eternal wellspring of love?  And here we are called to encounter it, to know it, to share it, and become it.  

As I close consider someone who has hurt you.  For a few short seconds think of them, forgive them, and exercise that same mercy for the rest of today.  By means of the Holy Spirit living in us, we can begin a healing, and so, decisively step upon the path that leads to a truly radical Christian life.  A life that becomes a beacon of light and hope for others who hunger and thirst for something more than the world offers.   

Deacon Peter Bujwid Saint Agnes Church, Arlington, MA. 

Sunday 23rd February 2025