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Lent Is Near

For this week’s Servant Leader, I would like to offer one more Lenten reflection as we prepare for Ash Wednesday later this week. The following reflection was written by Br. Stanislaus Campbell, the Visitor for the San Francisco District of the Christian Brothers. This reflection, originally written in 2006, provides beautiful and moving insights for how we are called to grow and prepare for Easter during the Lenten season. I pray that the words of Br. Stanislaus Campbell help to guide your Lenten journey, and as always, I pray that God will continue to bless you and your ministry.

Peace,
Steven McGlaun

Lenten Reflection, by Br. Stanislaus Campbell
As we enter the major cycle in the Church’s liturgical year, the Lent-Easter cycle, celebrating the fullness of the Paschal Mystery—the mystery of our redemption through the dying and rising to new life of Jesus Christ and our participation in this mystery, I would like to share a few words of explanation and encouragement. In beginning the first part of this cycle, the Lenten Season, it is well to recall that this time, preparatory to the celebration of the Paschal Triduum (Holy Thursday evening through Easter Sunday evening), is primarily intended for those preparing for Baptism at the Easter Vigil, the climax of the Triduum.

Consequently, for those of us who are already baptized Christians, this season can be one of recalling and strengthening the many effects of Baptism in our lives as well as of renewing our baptismal commitment.

One effect of Baptism is to unite us by the power of the Holy Spirit to Jesus Christ, and in him to one another in what the New Testament (e.g., 1 Cor. 1:9, 1 John 1:1–3) terms koinonia, translated as "fellowship" or "communion." For those of us who are Christians, this reality is rooted in our union with Christ.

As we make our way through Lent toward the annual celebration of Jesus’ life-giving death, in which our communion with him and with one another has its origin, we might focus particularly on our living in communion, in association for the service of the poor through education. In a global society marked by war, violence, division, litigation, and individualism, people committed to living and working together in communion or association for the human and Christian education of the young are certainly not only a countercultural force but a necessary witness to the young of how their lives must be lived if peace and genuine happiness are to be theirs.

Communion or association, however, is not easily maintained. It requires the very same self-surrender that engaged Jesus throughout his life and particularly in its final moments—at the Last Supper where he gave himself to us and on the cross where he handed himself over to his Abba for our sake, achieving that communion into which we enter by Baptism. Lent is traditionally the time for engaging in those actions that will assist us to assimilate more surely, more continuously, and more deeply the self-sacrifice of Christ that grounds our communion, our association, with him and with one another. We don’t have to go outside our daily routines to find those actions. They are chiefly those in which we relate to one another daily—conversations, discussions, service, activities in and out of classrooms, etc. Marked by the self-surrender of Christ, these actions have a powerful, unifying potential.

May God give all of us the grace to enter more deeply into the saving mystery of Jesus’ dying and rising throughout the Lenten season, so that in the liturgies of the Paschal Triduum, our communion with and in Christ may be profoundly renewed and strengthened. Then the fifty days of the ensuing Easter Season can be marked by thanksgiving for and celebration of the gift that this communion is.

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Prayer Service for Lent
Scriptural Stations of the Cross
From Seasonal Retreats and Prayer Services for Young Adolescents

Overview
The devotion known as the stations of the cross or the way of the cross focuses our attention on Jesus’s suffering and death. The term stations refers to places where significant events happened as Jesus journeyed toward death. The participants will walk from station to station together. At each, after the proclamation of the Scripture passages, the participants will reflect quietly for a few moments and then share with a partner. By reflecting on the stations and Jesus’s suffering, we are challenged to recognize how we perpetuate suffering through sinful thoughts, actions, words, and attitudes. Although the stations can be prayed any time, the devotional is especially powerful during Lent.

This prayer service is based on the stations of the cross celebrated by Pope John Paul II on Good Friday 1991. Unlike the traditional way of the cross, which includes scenes not found in the Bible, this set of stations is closely tied to actual Gospel passages.

Prayer at a Glance

Gather
- Welcome
- Gathering song
- Gathering prayer

Listen
- Pray the stations

Respond
- Individual reflection
- Partner sharing
- Sung response

Go Forth
- Concluding prayer
- Concluding song

Suggested Time, Group Size, and Space Considerations
Allow 35 to 45 minutes for this prayer service. It is adaptable to groups of any size. The participants will walk together from station to station during the prayer. Consider the size of your group and the characteristics of the facilities available when determining the best place to carry out the service. Possibilities may include moving among the stations in the church or using a gym with paper crosses posted as station markers. Another option is to designate fourteen spots on the church property—outside, inside, or both— with some kind of station markers. Make sure everyone will be able to hear the reading of the stations in whatever location you choose.

Preparation

Preparing the Music
This service calls for a gathering song, a short refrain to be sung between stations, and a concluding song. One song can be used for both the gathering and the concluding song. Consider using two verses for gathering and two verses for concluding. Choose songs that reflect Christ’s call to service and justice and that are familiar to all so that everyone can easily join in singing. The following are some suggestions:
- "The Summons" (John L. Bell, Gather Comprehensive, GIA Publications)
- "The Servant Song" (Richard Gillard, Gather Comprehensive, GIA Publications)

The following songs are suggested for the short refrain between the stations:
- "Ubi Caritas" (Jacques Berthier, Gather Comprehensive, GIA Publications)
- "Path of Life" (Trevor Thomson, Spirit and Song, OCP Publications)

Supplies and Preparation
Gather the following supplies:
- a small table covered with a purple cloth
- a large, upright wooden cross or a processional cross
- two pillar candles or processional candles and matches
- copies of The Catholic Youth Bible or another Bible, one for each of fourteen readers
- copies of handout 4–A, "The Stations of the Cross," one for each participant
- songbooks or songsheets, one for each participant
- pens or pencils, one for each participant
- a CD of instrumental music
- a CD player

Recruit one person to carry the cross to each station and two others to carry the candles on each side of the cross.

Designate readers to proclaim the Scripture passages for each of the fourteen stations. Provide the readers with an opportunity to practice the readings before the prayer service begins. Have the readers mark their passages so they can find them quickly when it is their turn to read.

Create a bookmark for each of the fourteen readings. List the station number as well as the passage:

1. Luke 22:39–47,54
2. Matthew 26:45–49
3. Mark 14:55–64
4. Luke 22:54–62
5. Luke 23:20–25
6. John 19:1–3
7. John 19:14,17
8. Mark 15:20–21
9. Luke 23:27–31
10. Luke 23:33–34,35–38
11. Luke 23:39–43
12. John 19:25–27
13. Mark 15:33–41
14. Matthew 27:57–61

Setting the Prayer Environment
Designate a central area where the prayer service will begin and end. Display the cross and place the candles on each side of it. In front of the cross, place the small table covered with the purple cloth, and set the Bible on the table.

Order of Service

Gather
1. Invite the participants to gather together in the prayer space. Distribute a copy of handout 4–A, "The Stations of the Cross," a songbook or songsheet, and a pen or pencil to each person. Establish prayer partners consisting of sets of two or three participants who will engage in sharing after each station.

2. Welcome the participants and give them an overview of the flow of the service, using these or similar words:

Welcome and thank you for being part of our prayer service today. We are going to pray the stations of the cross together. This is a devotion that focuses our attention on Jesus’s suffering and death. We will walk from station to station, or place to place, and remember the events that happened as Jesus walked toward his death on the cross. At each station, we will hear part of the story of Jesus’s Passion and death as recorded in the Gospels. I invite each of you to take an active role in this prayer experience. We will review the service before we begin.

We will open with a song and a prayer. Then we will travel from station to station. At each station, I will announce the station, a reader will proclaim a Scripture passage, and everyone will have a chance to reflect on the station. Draw everyone’s attention to handout 4–A, "The Stations of the Cross," and continue with the following comments:

This handout suggests some questions for reflection. After the Scripture passage is read at each station, we will hear some instrumental music. The music is your cue that it is time to sit down and reflect quietly on the station. When it is time to do this, please review the questions on the handout and jot down some thoughts.

When the instrumental music stops, finish up your writing. Then share your thoughts with your prayer partner(s). Share your reflections to the extent you are comfortable. Feel free to pass if you wish. After the sharing, we will walk together to the next station while singing a responsorial song. When we arrive at the next station, we will repeat the process. After the fourteenth station, we will return here and conclude the service with a prayer and a song.

3. Light the candles.

4. The person leading song should then stand, motion for everyone else to stand and face the cross, and invite all the participants to join in singing the gathering song. When the song is done, the song leader should motion for everyone to sit.

5. Pray the opening prayer:
Loving and forgiving God, we gather to remember the steps Jesus took leading to his death and Resurrection. He did not walk alone, and neither do we. As we recall the story of our salvation, may we be attentive to the unfolding story of our own lives. Grant us the wisdom to follow your example of love. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Invite everyone to respond "Amen" if they don’t do so spontaneously.

6. Lead the group to the marker for the first station.

Listen
1. Announce the station and lead the invocation and response (refer to handout 4–A, "The Stations of the Cross").

2. Invite the reader to proclaim the Scripture passage while standing in front of the cross.

Respond
1. After a moment of silence, begin the instrumental music. Remind everyone, if necessary, to take a seat and use the handout to reflect on the station.

2. After a few minutes, stop the instrumental music and invite the participants to share their reflections with their prayer partners. Give the pairs one or two minutes to share. Let them know they have the option to pass if they wish.

3. Lead the station closing prayer (refer to handout 4–A, "The Stations of the Cross").

4. The person leading song should invite all to sing the selected response as those carrying the cross and candles lead the group to the next station.

5. Repeat this process for the remaining thirteen stations.

Go Forth
1. When all the stations have been prayed, ask those carrying the candles and cross to lead everyone back to the area where the service began.

2. Lead a closing prayer, using these or similar words:
Lord Jesus, we know your journey did not end with your death on the cross. We pray in thanksgiving that you rose from the dead and that you bring us hope and the promise of eternal life. May our lives honor your sacrifice and may our hearts rejoice in the glory of new life. We offer this prayer in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Invite everyone to respond "Amen" if they don’t do so spontaneously.

3. The person leading song should stand, motion for everyone else to stand, and invite all the participants to join in singing the closing song.

First Sunday of Lent
March 13, 2011
Matthew 4:1-11

Opening Prayer
Jesus, in this Sunday's Gospel you show us how to resist temptation in our lives by focusing on the loving relationship God has with us. Continue to send us your grace so that we can deepen our faithfulness in our relationship with God. Amen.

Context Connection
Sunday's passage directly follows the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, Matthew 3:13-17. In the story of Jesus's baptism, we discovered that Jesus was the Father's beloved son with whom God was well pleased. Following his baptism, Jesus retreats into the desert for "forty days and forty nights" (4:2) where he prays and fasts. This solitary excursion into the desert allows Jesus to engage in an honest struggle to understand himself before entering into his public ministry. While in the desert, at the end of forty days and nights, Jesus is confronted with the three fundamental temptations of human beings--materialism (turning stone into bread), influence and power (throwing himself from the temple height and testing God's power to save), and false glory and idolatry (worshiping the tempter to achieve greatness). The first two times the tempter prefaces his remarks with, "If you are the Son of God" (4:3). Jesus has just become aware of this reality in a profound way at his baptism in the Jordan. Now the tempter is trying to use this self-knowledge to trick Jesus. However, Jesus chooses to obey an inner truth that he knows to be God's truth through his relationship with God the Father. Jesus does not allow the attraction of the temptations to control him. You may recall that Adam and Eve and the Israelites who wandered in the desert after they escaped from Egypt made a different choice.

If we look closely at the passage from Matthew, we can see that it is based on and carefully crafted after the story of the Israelites' temptations in the desert. In chapter 16 of the Exodus story, the Israelites test God and complain about not having any food in the desert. God responds by sending them manna in the morning and quail in the evening. In chapter 17 of Exodus, the Israelites test God again at Massah and Meribah--complaining they have no water: "Moses said to them [Israelites], 'Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?'" (Exodus 17:2). God responds by giving them water. Then, in chapter 22, the Israelites sculpt a golden calf from their jewelry and worship the idol. The contrast between the Israelites in the desert and Jesus in the desert is striking. Jesus remains the faithful and obedient Son of God, whereas the Israelites are the disobedient son. Whereas ancient Israel failed, Jesus remains faithful and thus triumphs because he places his trust in God.

Jesus resists each temptation by countering the tempter with a passage from the Scriptures. In the first temptation, Jesus counters by saying, "One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God" (4:4). This is taken from Deuteronomy 8:3. In the second temptation, the devil says that if Jesus throws himself off the temple's highest point to test God, God will come to his aid. The tempter cunningly quotes Psalm 91:11-12: "'He will command his angels concerning you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone'" (4:6). Jesus counters by saying, "'Do not put the Lord your God to the test'" (4:7). This is taken from Deuteronomy 6:16. And finally, in the third temptation, the tempter promises all the kingdoms of the world to Jesus if he will fall down and worship the tempter. Again Jesus counters with a response based on Deuteronomy 6:13, "'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him'" (4:10). When faced with temptation, Jesus remembers who God is and what God has spoken. The tempter has no other choice but to leave when faced with such confidence in the word of God.

Tradition Connection
On Wednesday, March 9th, the Catholic Church begins the season of Lent. Lent is a time of preparation for the celebration of the Easter mysteries, the death and Resurrection of Jesus. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of this preparation that lasts forty days (six weeks), ending with Easter. Sundays are not counted in the forty days because each Sunday is a celebration of the Resurrection. The forty days of Lent recall the forty days and forty nights that Jesus spent in the desert praying and fasting in preparation for his public ministry. As Catholics, we are invited to use the Lenten season as a time to pray, fast, and give alms. These should always be an integral part of a Christian's lifestyle, but during Lent special emphasis and renewed focus are given to these three elements of Christian life.

The final week of Lent is called Holy Week--a week that, as a community, we remember Jesus's final days on earth. Palm Sunday recalls Jesus's triumphant entrance into Jerusalem, where the crowd hailed him as the Messiah, the King of the Jews. Holy Thursday begins the Triduum, a three-day liturgical celebration. The liturgy begins on Holy Thursday by remembering the Last Supper Jesus had with his disciples in which Jesus gave us the gift of himself in the sacrament of the Eucharist. The liturgy continues on Good Friday as we recall the Passion and death of Jesus. For Christians this is a very solemn day. As part of the liturgy on this day, all participants are invited to venerate the cross, to show a sign of love and respect for the cross on which Jesus died to bring about the salvation of the world. On Holy Saturday, we conclude the Triduum by celebrating the Easter Vigil, which is the greatest celebration of the liturgical year, where we recall and relive the Resurrection of Jesus. It is a celebration of hope that Jesus brought to the world through his victory over death. This liturgy ushers in the new age of the Resurrection. It is a foretaste of the anticipated culmination of history--living in the Kingdom of God.

Wisdom Connection
Jesus serves the early Christian community and the present Christian community by modeling obedience to God in the face of temptation--no matter how great. Because Jesus remained faithful to God when he was tempted, God graced him with honor throughout his life. This is the consequence of faithful, unflinching obedience to God. Jesus is an example for all Christians of how to persevere in the face of temptation.

God's grace is free and, in the economy of salvation, does not come with strings attached. Sometimes we feel that we owe God something for this generous gift of love, but there is nothing we can do to earn it. We cannot acquire "bonus points" or "frequent-user points." God's grace, and the freedom that it bestows on us, has been paid for in full by the blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus shows us the way to place our trust in the word of God. On United States currency it is written, "In God We Trust." Do we really believe that?

Acknowledgments
The scriptural quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Catholic Edition. Copyright © 1993 and 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. All rights reserved.

The quotations labeled Catechism are from the English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for use in the United States of America. Copyright © 1994 by the United States Catholic Conference, Inc.--Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission.

The Lord's Prayer is taken from Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers. Copyright © 1988 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Inc., Washington, DC. All rights reserved.

Saint John of God

March 8 is the memorial for Saint John of God.

Born in 1495 in Portugal, Saint John of God spent his youth and early adult life as a soldier, a mercenary, and later a peddler of religious books even though he had no religious convictions. After having a vision of the infant Jesus, he devoted his life to caring for the poor and outcast. He later founded the Order of Charity and the Order of Hospitallers of Saint John of God. His life serves as an example of how it is never too late to turn to God and have your life changed.

For more information about Saint John of God, go to http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-john-of-god/.