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"Lord, lead me to the fullness of your grace."
In the early 16th century, St. Ignatius Loyola began writing about the emotions that took hold of him while reading scripture—feelings of gratitude and anguish, consolation and sadness. Those meditations eventually became a work known as the Spiritual Exercises, which were first published in 1548. The Spiritual Exercises are a compilation of meditations, prayers, and contemplative practices to help people deepen their relationship with God. St. Ignatius knows grace as a free and undeserved gift from God, essential for responding to God's call and growing in holiness. I find his insights a well-timed resource for our Lenten journey. The Hebrew word for “grace” is ḥēn, pronounced like “hen.” Hen translated into Greek is charis. Both hen and charis are translated into English as grace. Grace is God’s favor, blessing, or kindness. God’s grace is God’s acceptance and goodwill to us, regardless of whether we've earned it. In other words, grace is undeserved favor. Grace can't be earned; it is something freely given to us by God. In his Letter to the Ephesians, Paul wrote, “For by grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves.” St. Paul understood–and wanted us to know–that our only route to God is through God—through God’s gifts of faith and grace. In several of his letters, Paul began by extolling the power of grace. Note that all three–Romans, Ephesians and 1 Corinthians begin with the same salutation: “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." God is seen as the instigator of grace, and it is from Him that all other grace flows. What does grace feel like? We can understand grace as a disposition or a quality or an inclination in the nature of God, an influence or a force or a power or an action of God. Grace is God at work, God present, God fostering change that works in us to change our capacities for work and suffering and obedience. So what does it feel like? Grace can feel like a sense of undeserved love, forgiveness, and empowerment, leading to relief, gratitude, and a humbling awareness of God's goodness. Through this understanding and in this feeling we are drawn even further toward God and are transformed by God’s presence! How do we access God’s freely given grace now in Lent, and all other times? —ASK. There are plenty of times in life when we have been offered that which would change everything. Companionship, aid, money, physical help, and we turned it down. Why? Maybe we were embarrassed, or afraid, or maybe it was because we didn’t ask for it and so wouldn’t receive it. Perhaps the bigger question is, why didn’t we ask for it? Pride. Pride can be a welcome sense of accomplishment or an unrelenting and unreasonable barrier. Pride goes before the fall (Proverbs 16:18) because instead of asking for help, we grapple with air and hit the ground. Pride is the enemy of faith and the destruction of grace. In order to grow in faith and know God’s grace, pride must be overcome. The only way we can enter into a relationship with God is by way of the faith God has planted in us and by the grace God freely gives. To ask God anything is to pray. When we call on God, God listens. God listens to us and responds to us. Ask God for more faith and an awareness of his grace. Prayer can be a deeply personal experience, and it should be. Prayer should always point us to Jesus, and the closer we draw to Jesus the better we will know ourselves. The better we know ourselves the easier it is to let go of that which drags us down and holds us back because we can identify what that is. The closer we draw to Jesus the easier it becomes to let Christ do what he has promised, to take our burdens and give us peace. If we stay open to graces being offered us from Jesus, who always desires a deeper relationship with him, we will be drawn–reading by reading, story after story–into admiration and affections for Jesus, his way, and his invitation to us. Lent can become a day-by-day process of being more and more aware of the gift being offered us. Faith points us, grace fills us, and soon we realize that both of these gifts are actually the one in the same with the giver. The gifts become a person, and a more intimate relationship with him. We will be drawn to greater freedom, and deeper self-sacrificing, dying to self love –pride, and asking for help. When we let ourselves fall in love with Jesus, and then let our hearts desire to be more like his, Lent comes alive. Then, Lent begins to blend into the other seasons as we celebrate his love for us and offer ourselves to him. Ask God for help. Ask God for grace. Ask, in the words of St. Ignatius, "Lord, lead me to the fullness of your grace." Through God’s grace, Fr. Bill+
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To Fast or not to Fast–that is the question!
Indeed–here is a typical Lenten question, but I am sorry to say it’s the wrong one for us. Why are we fasting, or even thinking about fasting–—those are the questions at the heart of the biblical witness of fasting in the Old Testament and in the New. In the earliest expressions of faith, fasting was an offering made to God in response to sin. The believer undertook a fast in response to, or in the face of, their own sin or that of others. Looking into themselves and recognizing that they were in sore need of God and God’s direction, a penitent offered time, energy, reflection, and most of all, his or her obedience to God. The point of fasting was thus not to deny the self some food and suffer in hunger as a form of self-punishment, but to interrupt the regular flow of life. When King David sinned before the Lord, David refused to eat and immediately went into prayer and fasting. David recognized the power of the fast and hoped that he might find grace in the eyes of God. Sadly, he did not because his fast was self-focused and selfish. Properly understood, fasting is something we do, but our focus is on God. In the fast, we offer our restraint and sacrifice essentials as we offer ourselves to God as God’s own possession. Esther fasted and asked the Jewish people to fast with her for three days as a plea for divine intervention. King Ahasuerus had decreed the death of all the Jewish people, and Esther pleaded for a reprieve; in response, God honored her fast and saved the people. When Jonah brought the word to the Ninevites that they were condemned in the eyes of God, they believed Jonah’s proclamation and fasted, seeking God’s mercy—they received it. In the New Testament Jesus teaches on fasting in the Sermon on the Mount saying, “Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.” Matt.6:16-18 Here in this passage, Jesus continues the Old Testament witness of fasting as an event in the life of the individual, which is primarily between the person and God. The effect is the elevation of the spirit and mind through the deprivation of the senses by interrupting the status quo. This elevation brings us closer to God and illuminates the true essential of God’s purpose and person. Speaking personally, I have experienced the distracting result of fasting, thinking about food when I don’t usually do that, but when I do I am reminded of why I have undertaken this discipline—to delve deeper into the love of God. Yes, it is about the love of God, for to know God and to live into God’s presence is to experience love! This is why Jesus tells us not to look gloomy, because if we do or are, then we have not undertaken our fast with the right mind, heart, or spirit. In contrast, when these three are aligned, the spiritual discipline can be particularly illuminating. Note that in Acts, (chs. 9, 13, 14) the leaders of the church undertake fasting to help them understand the will of God, to help them focus on God’s will. Fasting is always this way. With Jesus and the Apostles, the fast is a way of honoring God and seeking His will and a deeper sense of His presence. I have embraced the topic for our week ahead because we are now fully into Lent– a season of preparation like no other for ready-ing our hearts and minds–preparing our lives–to receive the news of the empty tomb, that much closer to the God who emptied it. And to appreciate the fullness of the spirit found in an empty stomach. Friends, this is our starting point. When Jesus set out on the path of ministry, He began with a fast—for forty days! While we are not called to such duration, I encourage you to adopt the depth and singular focus of a personal fast. A day, a meal, three days, a helping—there are all manner of fasts we can enter into. Put bluntly, there is a fast to fit everyone. If you would like help refining yours, please call me. I am happy to help, pray, and plan it with you. May your Lenten journey be filled with an active emptying, such that only our God can fill—and He will! Going without for God, Fr. Bill+ “Rend your heart, and not your garments…” Joel 2:13a
“Abide in me, as I abide in you.” John 15:4 Miriam-Webster tells us: To Rend: 1. to remove from place by violence 2. to split or tear apart or in pieces by violence 3. to tear (hair or clothing) as a sign of anger, grief, or despair It seems that the third definition comes closest to what most of us think of when we envision rend. To rend is a disturbing act with unwanted emotion. To understand rend this way helps make sense of what God said through Joel. If I were to rend my clothing out of my despair, anger or grief, I would be showing the world my travail. God does not want us preoccupied by what others think or how we should share our burden with them. God wants us all to God’s self. The rending of Lent is not like the cosmetic showmanship of tearing your robe. No, Lent goes deeper, to the heart, the marrow, into the sticky, black darkness of our inner selves that festers all kinds of pestilence which kills and destroys. Lent is the invitation to shine God’s light of truth and grace into these tender spaces and render our hearts clean. Lent calls us to abide in Jesus, to travel with him in the way of suffering. The sacrificial life of Jesus leads us to the same place he goes—the Cross. And just as we fittingly call the Friday he dies “Good,” so too the season of Lent is fittingly—curiously, joyous. Lent offers a unique kind of Joy. That joy comes in the somber realization that our sinfulness can be confessed to God’s open ears. It is a peace that believes that same sinfulness is met in unequal and greater measure by God’s grace, which washes it away. The joy of Lent is the awareness that Jesus walks beside us in the here-and-now, and that he will wipe away every tear shed by a rent heart and make it whole. Accepting His Joy in Lent, Fr. Bill+ “Seek a relationship when you pray, not answers. You won’t always find answers, but you will always find Jesus.” – Fr. Mike Schmitz
Ashes are an ancient symbol we encounter on Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. In the Genesis, we read that God formed human beings out of the dust of the earth (2:7). Later, after expulsion from the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve are told by God, “You are dust, and to dust you shall return” (3:19 NRSV). The Hebrew word "aphar" is translated in scripture as both “dust” and “ashes.” Throughout scripture, ashes are part of rituals of mourning and forgiveness. God prescribes the use of ashes for the people in Numbers 19:9,17. In Jonah 3:6, as the king hears of God’s wrath on Ninevah, he sits down in ashes as a sign that he understood his people and his own sin. In the New Testament in Hebrews, we hear about ashes as a sign of being cleansed. These passages are only a sampling of how God and the people of God have long connected ashes to sanctified life. On Ash Wednesday we receive the ashes as a cross written on our forehead. These ashes represent much to us. First, they are a symbol of our sinfulness before God. It may seem simple, but we often forget or actively ignore this truth; the ashes serve as a very visible reminder. Second, our human mortality. We came and we will leave; we began and we will end. We are reminded that, while both of these events (birth and death) are significant, they only serve as bookends to the story of our life. The service focuses us on both themes and–along with the proclamation of Jesus’ death and resurrection–propels us from mourning and finality to praise and rejoicing for eternal life. "During the Season of Lent the Holy Spirit drives us too, like Jesus, into the desert. It is not…a physical place, but rather an existential dimension in which we can be silent and listen to the word of God.” – Pope Francis Lent is the season where we strive to overcome ourselves and give God the gift of self. It is a season of fear and hope, discouragement and strength, rejection and renewal. Lent is a season of preparation for Easter, mirroring Jesus’ forty days in the desert and also anticipating his passion, death, and triumphant resurrection. Lent is an opportunity to reflect on your faith and strengthen your relationship with God and others through prayer, fasting, acts of charity, and spiritual reading. Each year, then, by calling us to turn away from sin and soul-sapping distractions, Lent helps us focus on what truly matters, drawing us closer to God as we prepare to celebrate the triumphant joy of the Easter season. “As Lent is the time for greater love, listen to Jesus’ thirst… Repent and believe.” – Teresa of Calcutta I pray you embrace the gift of Lent. Ashes. Fr. Bill+ |
AuthorFather Bill Burk† Archives
July 2025
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