PIC
One of my favorite passages from the Scriptures is at the end of the Gospel of Luke. As usual
It is known as the Road to Emmaus. It tells a simple journey of two distressed disciples of
Jesus returning home after the tragic crucifixion of his teacher. It had been a long and sad
trip, until they were joined by a stranger who shared the Word with them and broke the bread. They came to
to discover, with an indescribable joy, that his companion on the road had been the risen Christ.
Very soon, we will also begin a
trip, a journey that we call Lent. During those forty days and nights we are invited to
to know more deeply the risen Christ, sharing the word and breaking bread when walking.
Specifically, as the Constitution of Vatican II reminds us of the Sacred Liturgy, the
Lent is a time to prepare for the renewal of our baptismal promises (and for
some of us, be baptized or received into the Church) and do penance. But to prepare
to renew our baptismal promises at the Easter Vigil or on Easter Sunday, we must
have a change of heart, that is, we must turn away from sin and selfishness and turn towards
the Lord, even while we help others with love and compassion. The Church often uses the word
Greek metanoia to indicate this internal conversion of selfishness to detachment, of the exclusive
love for oneself to a vivifying love for God and for one's neighbor.
There is a sense of urgency for this trip. A sense that we have become complacent with
our faith and our relationship with Jesus Christ. We know that our baptismal promises have been
faded a little and no longer have a priority in our lives. It is time to return to the Lord with
our whole heart As Paul says to the Corinthians, "This is the favorable moment, this is the day of
salvation "(2 Corinthians 6: 2).
Before undertaking any trip, it is important to have what is necessary to make sure that
we can achieve our goal. There are traditionally three practices that help us achieve
our Lenten goal of Easter: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Through prayer,
we find Christ, present in the faces of every member of our human family, still
often walking that long road to Calvary. Through fasting we are reminded of our
God's hunger and our need for solidarity with those for whom hunger is a reality
everyday Through alms, symbolically "we become poor" for the good of the poor and
we remember that we are all poor in the eyes of God, dependent on God for our own
existence.
A very good way to combine these three activities of our next spiritual journey is the
CRS Rice Bowl program which I encourage everyone to use during Lent. The Dish of
CRS Rice asks us to first take a moment to pray for all those who receive
help for this annual practice. CRS (Catholic Relief Services - Catholic Relief Services) reaches
people in India, Zambia, El Salvador, Mexico, Ethiopia and about 95 other countries around the
world, bringing help to close to 100 million people. While we pray for these brothers and
sisters, we see the face of Christ reflected in them. It is then that we are called to fast in his
name, allowing our hunger to remind us of their hunger, helping us to see how all
we are one, a human family with God as our Father. And then, the money we save at
fast we put it on the CRS Rice Bowl, where 75% of those funds will be sent to CRS for
his extraordinary work with the most needy all over the world. The other 25% will stay in the
Archdiocese of Santa Fe to help the hungry, homeless and needy here at home.
So, as we approach the beginning of this Lenten journey, I ask you to pray, fast and pray together
we offer alms in support of the CRS Rice Bowl and that we prepare to renew our
baptismal promises at Easter that is approaching. If we walk well through this next
Lent, then, just like the first disciples on the road to Emmaus, our eyes, ears and
hearts will open and we will recognize once more the face of Jesus who accompanies us on the way.