Homily: First Tuesday of Lent

First Tuesday of Lent (Mt. 6:7-15) “How are we to Pray?”

How did Jesus pray? We have the same question as the disciples. It could not have been exactly like we pray. Jesus lived in a different era than we do.

We have all kinds of aids to prayer. First of all, we have all the rote prayers that have been written over the last two thousand years of Christian history. Every saint seems to have written at least one prayer. When we don’t have words to express what we would like to say we can usually use such prayers. Many are beautiful and inspiring.

We also have all kinds of spiritual books that we can use as a beginning point for prayer. We have everything from St. Francis De Salles’ The Devout Life to St. Catherine of Sienna’s Interior Castle. We also have devotionals that we can use to start a time of prayer.

The rosary is another prayer that we have. This prayer is ideal for those who live an active life. It takes about twenty minutes, and it reviews the basic story of our savior’s life. It is a combination of meditation and contemplation.

Jesus did not have books to read. The printing press had not come about. The Bible had to be copied from one scroll to another. These scrolls might have been found in synagogues, but nowhere else. The worshipper had to memorize whatever scripture they wanted to carry with them. People’s memories were probably far better than ours, but they could not commit the whole Bible to memory.

We are told that Jesus went into the desert for 40 days at the beginning of his ministry. How did he pray? We could guess he prayed in two ways. He spoke from his heart to his Father. We read about several instances in the Gospels where he does that. He had an intimate relationship with his Father. He laid open his concerns confident in the Lord.

The other thing Jesus did was listen. He had far less noise and distraction in his world than we do. Jesus simply sat with the Father and listened. We might want to try that ourselves in these days of Lent.

Reflection Questions:

1.    Do I believe that prayer revolves around words? What words do I use?

2.   Do spend time listening to God? Do I spend time resting with the Lord? When? How?

 Dear Parishioners,

We had a wonderful crew of volunteers who helped us clean our Gathering Center on Sunday. I thank them for spending their time assisting the parish. We are getting closer to getting things functional. The tables and chairs should be delivered this week along with appliances and furniture. We will be working all week ironing out the details. There is still some work to be done on the outside railing. We have been issued a certificate of temporary occupancy so that is good news.

          If all goes well, we should be using a lot of the space by this weekend. By that I mean that people should be able to drop others off at the door and people can walk through and use the restroom facilities. Other things might take a little more time.

          Remember that the day of blessing will be March I8th at our 4 p.m. Mass.

          St. Damian pray for us.

          Fr. Mark