Knocking on the door (Thurs of Lent 1)

Thursday of the First Week of Lent

Esther 4:17  ;  Ps 138  ;  Matthew 7:7-12

Let us pray

O LORD who for our sake didst fast forty days and forty nights: give us grace to use such abstinence, that, our flesh being subdued to the Spirit; we may ever obey thy godly motions in righteousness and true holiness, to thy honour and glory; who livest and reignest with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Knocking on the door

When you visit someone and they do not know you are coming, how many times do you ring the bell, or, knock on the door, before turning away? Is it once? Or do you keep on ringing for a minute? Five minutes? How often do you return to try again? Perhaps it depends on how urgent it is you see the person?

In our Lord’s teaching about prayer one thing is very clear. It is not that we need to attain a certain psychological state. It is not that we need to have a type of feeling. One thing is clear, we need to persevere. We need to have the drive to pray and to continue in prayer.

In the gospel today our Lord assures us that if we ask, we shall receive. We should note here that He does not say “we shall receive it straight away.” But He asks us to trust our Heavenly Father to give us what we need. If a child asks his father for an egg, would the father give the child a scorpion? Of course not! So much more, our Lord tells us, will our Heavenly Father give us what we need. So in prayer we need to have buckets full of perseverance born of trust in the Goodness of our Heavenly Father.

So then if God does not seem to answer our prayer straight away, what is happening? Well first we must trust there is a reason. We need to persevere in trust. We do not need to have a reason. The Father does not need to explain Himself to us! But we need to continue trusting that our Father hears us and will, when the time is right, answer our prayer.

For us, of course, we want instant answers: if google will answer our queries within seconds why not God? Of course we do not entrust to google what we bring to God in prayer! And we also need to keep reminding ourselves that God sees the overall picture so knows precisely when an answer to prayer is needed. We need to trust that.

I think one very helpful understanding of prayer is from St Paul, that it is a “groaning”, for he tells us that if we cannot pray as we ought, the Holy Spirit will pray for us with groans too deep for words. In prayer we may need to get to that stage where we can only groan! Our Father may want us to persist in prayer until all we can do is sigh, or groan. (Romans 8, esp. v26)

So let us ask today for the gift of perseverance in prayer – and let us pray that the Holy Spirit will indeed pray for us in sighs too deep for words. And let us be filled with confidence in our Heavenly Father who will indeed answer our prayer when it is best to do so. Amen.

Let us pray

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made and dost forgive the sins of all those who are penitent: create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen. 

Fr Ian is a catholic priest of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in England. He is by papal dispensation married. He lives in a former convent with his wife and children in Devon, near the sea.

Quick Guide to Keeping Lent

Quick guide to keeping Lent

Holy Mother Church offers to bring order to our lives through her Calendar and not least the cycles of feasts and the seasons of the Year. As well as calling us to days of feasting she also calls us to days of penance. She designates every Friday (except on solemnities) and the season of Lent as days of penance.

What is meant by penance?

While we might have a fair idea what keeping a feast might entail, it might not be entirely clear what we should be doing on a day of penance. Let us look at a definition:-

PENANCE - The virtue or disposition of heart by which one repents of one's own sins and is converted to God. Also the punishment by which one atones for sins committed, either by oneself or by others. And finally the sacrament of penance, where confessed sins committed after baptism are absolved by a priest in the name of God. (Etym. Latin paenitentia, repentance, contrition.)

So ‘penance’ is used in three ways as defined above. And all three are helpful to us as we try to understand what a season of penance might involve.

·         One of the key words to grasp is that of conversion. Unless we are a saint we are in need of conversion. We need to convert those parts of our lives which are opposed to God, that is, that are sinful. We need to convert those sinful parts of our lives so that we not only avoid sin but also grow instead in godly virtue.

·         Another key concept is that of voluntarily taking a punishment that atones for sin. This is an act which we unite with Christ on the cross who Himself voluntarily took the punishment of sin upon Himself so that we could be saved from sin.

·         Penance as a punishment for sin can be done not only for one’s own sin, but the sin of others. To be clear, our acts of penance are not, in any way, replacing the redemption won for us by Christ. Our acts of penance are a uniting of ourselves voluntarily with Christ’s suffering on the cross because of our sin and the sin of others.

What are the acts of penance I should do?

Holy Mother Church does not specify in detail the acts of penance we should do. She obliges us to keep days of abstinence (abstaining from meat on Fridays) and she obliges us to keep a fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, but otherwise she does not specify our acts of penance.

So the question is, how should we choose our acts of penance?

Holy Mother Church gives us guidance not least through the words of our Lord. There are three broad types of penance: fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. These three traditional ways of doing penance come from the teaching of our Lord in St Matthew’s gospel, and which we hear at the Ash Wednesday Mass (Mt 6:1f).

Now we might wonder why these three things are the types of acts of penance we should be doing in Lent. Well they pertain to the three broad areas of conversion needed by us all: our bodies/flesh, our relationship with God, and our relationship with our neighbour. Fasting includes all acts that are related to the conversion of our bodily desires and the mortification of the flesh (as St Paul and Holy Tradition understands this, but certainly not in a kind of way the Gnostics believed i.e. that the physical body was evil). Prayer relates to the conversion of our relationship with God. And almsgiving is about the commandment to love our neighbour and the conversion of our relationship to our fellow man.

So each Friday and each day of Lent Mother Church calls us to perform at least one act of penance: an act of fasting, an act of prayer or an act of almsgiving (act of charity towards our fellow man).

Doing them in secret

In Matthew 6 our Lord is very clear that we should not parade our acts of penance. They should be done in secret and we should hide them from others. There is a great danger with such voluntary spiritual practices that we grow in pride (the deadliest of all the deadly vices). We must avoid anything that communicates “look at me I have voluntarily done these penances for sin…” If we fall into pride we are clearly in a worse situation than if we had not done any penance at all.

Sacrament of Penance

All of this should also lead us to the confessional for the Sacrament of Penance. As we grow in understanding of ourselves and our tendencies to sin through these acts of penance, we grow in understanding of our great need for grace. An incredibly important source of grace for the conversion of life is found in the Sacrament of Penance. Using a more exhaustive examination during Lent would be appropriate for most people. If you cannot find one suitable I sometimes recommend to people using the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church – Section 3 Life in Christ, and especially the section on the Ten Commandments. If one is able one could work through that same section in the full Catechism, but for most people the Compendium is sufficient.

We all need to do penance because we have all sinned. We are reconciled to God, from whom we have been sundered because of our sin, through the Redemption Christ won for us on the cross, and we receive the grace needed for a life of grace primarily through the Sacraments, but also through living a holy life of penance. We need to keep doing our penance until we are saints. But it is not all drudgery. We can make real progress if we follow the Church’s Tradition of penance for the conversion of our lives.

May the Holy Spirit guide you in your Lenten observance. May Our Lady at the Cross pray for you. May the Angels of God protect you from the evil one. Fr Ian

March for Life 2017

March for Life 2017

Yesterday I went on the March for Life in Birmingham, England. This was actually my first one.

Since my student days at university I had been definitely pro-life, and caught up in not one or two scuffles between pro-life and pro-abortion groups on campus. The pro-abortion campaigners always seemed to be characterized by enormous anger and much vitriol. But their slogans and their snap responses to questions seemed to never contain a rational argument. I was never convinced by them. Frequently I was revolted and appalled by their tactics. Nothing about them commended their ideas or ideological position.

This student experience of more than 25 years ago seemed to be repeated again in the March for Life yesterday. The pro-life marchers were sane and sensible people wanting to witness peacefully to their considered and rational position. The pro-abortion demonstrators wanted to stop us giving any witness at all. They were prepared to go against principles of our democratic society in order to stop us giving a public witness to what we believe and rationally argue is true: that simply human life begins at the moment of conception and that innocent life should not be terminated for any reason. The pro-abortion demonstrators did not present a counter argument but asserted angrily a number of irrational retorts, e.g. – “pro-life what a lie, you want women to die” and “get your rosaries out of our ovaries.” First if we did manage to outlaw abortion it would not result in women dying, it would result in women giving birth to babies and thus more women being born. The deaths of women in the past due to problems with attempted abortions and indeed other pre-natal problems were due to lack of antibiotics and other modern medicine. The legalisation of abortion has not caused less women to die, it is modern medicine that has done this. And latterly the slogan about rosaries and ovaries is just preposterous! It is not pro-lifers who advocate cutting women up, but pro-abortion activists.  

What really did impress me yesterday was first the wide cross-section of people from all walks of life who were prepared to bear witness in public to their pro-life beliefs. There were children with their families, young couples, students from universities, pregnant women, and men and women of all ages. Secondly they did this in a very peaceful and rational civilised manner. And thirdly, they did this in a prayerful way. When the March was stopped by our opponents, and the police had insufficient men to move them on, we waited and we prayed. Pro-life people were praying the rosary together, they were singing Ave Maria, and Salve Regina. They got on their knees to pray when one of our opponents fainted and went off with paramedics. This was the powerful witness we bore. We were not mouthing vitriol at our opponents, we were not venting anger at them, we were peacefully saying we do not agree with terminating unborn children for they are innocent human beings. Yes of course women should have rights over their own bodies, but their unborn children’s bodies are not there’s to destroy. 

Indeed the whole day seemed like a day of prayer. We prayed the offices on the bus together (the marvel of the universalis app on phones and tablets!), we prayed the rosary on the bus, and in the march. We visited the relic image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the Cathedral, expressing our devotion and leaving our petitions in her maternal care.

The last thing to say was that it was a wonderful day to be together. I met lots of people I knew but masses I didn’t - we were all joyful in one another’s company. Contrary to what our opponents are saying on social media (that they spoiled our day) the day was a very good one.

If you have never been on the March for Life then I highly recommend it to you – an important opportunity to witness to life, to pray and to be with friends.

Keeping a good and fruitful Lent - part 4

On prayer - disciplines to do with our relationship to God

Prayer is the second traditional expression of inner penance or conversion. And as with fasting it is easy to overstretch ourselves at the beginning of Lent. I would suggest that first we consider how often we pray during the day, rather than the quantity of solid prayer, which can then come naturally.

Imagine a rolling landscape with electricity pylons carrying high tension cables. The pylons have to be spaced taking into consideration the shape of the land. If they are too far apart the cable will droop to the ground and the power fail. Now consider your daily life, and the pylons as times to pray and connect with God. What I suggest is that we need times of prayer throughout the day according to the landscape of the day, i.e. what sort of thing we are doing.

When we rise in the morning we could pray an acclamation of praise (e.g. "Glory to you; glory to you, O Lord.") And then offer God the day to come for His glory. You could also ask for His help in things that you are concerned about.

At meal times we thank God for the gift of our food and ask Him to bless the food.

Whenever we walk we can pray a suitable repeated prayer. I use the Jesus prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." I might sometimes offer the prayer for someone I pass by in the street.

Around 9am 'ish we could pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit, as 9am (the third hour) was the time the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples on Pentecost. We might know a tradional prayer to the Holy Spirit and pray it.

At midday we might recall that our Lord was nailed to the cross and was lifted up. We might offer to God a prayer of adoration and praise for our redemption in Christ. E.g. "We adore you O Christ, and we bless you, here and in all the churches throughout the world, for by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world."

Similarly we might remember Our Lord's death (at 3pm) and give thanks that He died for love of our love. We could pray for the needs of others, and say a Hail Mary for them.

At any time we have 20 minutes free we could pray the Rosary.

At any time we could open a Bible/Missal and reflect on God's word most especially something from the Mass readings of the day. (These can be found on universalis.com and elsewhere online). You could visit this blog where there will be a short reflection on the readings of the day.

One or more times a week we could visit the Blessed Sacrament in a Catholic Church near by. This can be a little pilgrimage. A time to adore our Saviour Jesus Christ in the most holy sacrament of the altar.

Attending Mass is of course the summit of prayer, where we bring the sufferings and prayers of our daily life and offer them to Christ in His sacrifice on the Cross, where He transforms them, and offers Himself to us in the Blessed Sacrament.

Lenten counsel no 4: With discipline in prayer, do not try to do too much all at once. Don't set yourself up to fail. Build things up gradually and sustainably. Spread prayer throughout the day in a way that you can manage and which means you keep in touch with the Lord of your life.

Fr Ian

Guide to keeping a good Lent - Part 2

As I suggested yesterday, we can think of Lent as a kind of springtime for our souls. A time for both dead things passing away, and for new growth to spring up. This twofold aspect to the season matches our Lord's exhortation to "repent and believe", found in His preaching of the Kingdom. We also saw that "conversion" is a key concept for Lent.

"Okay", we might say, "I want to make Lent this year a springtime for my soul - how?"

First we turn to Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition (especially the early Church Fathers) who say interior penance/conversion can be expressed in three classic ways: fasting, prayer and almsgiving. See our Lord's teaching in St Matthew's Gospel (Mt 6: 1-18).

These three classic expressions of conversion pertain to three areas of our lives: of oneself, to God, and to others.

So by fasting we bring under our control the bodily appetites. By fasting from certain things we build up our capacity for self-control. This is all about the inner conversion of ourselves. Unless we voluntarily order ourselves and our lives, disorder and chaos will prevail, and we become subject to our bodily appetites rather than be masters of them.

And in prayer we express our conversion to God. We willingly give over time to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We frequently put everything in reference to God.

And then in almsgiving we express the inner conversion of our relationship with our neighbour. Obviously this can be to do with charitable giving, but not only that. Almsgiving also includes other expressions of our compassion and charity towards others, not least in the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

Lenten counsel number 2: Think of the three aspects of Lenten discipline pertaining to myself (self-control), my relationship with God (practice of prayer) and my relationship with my neighbour (charity to fellow man). Reflect on them and think of what needs to change in your life. Ask God for the grace to take up your Lenten discipline.

Fr Ian

For convenience here is our Lord's teaching on these three:
Matthew 6 vv 1-18

1* "Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 2 "Thus, when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4* so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

5* "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 7* "And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8* Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9* Pray then like this: Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread; * 12 And forgive us our debts, As we also have forgiven our debtors; 13* And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. * 14* For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; 15 but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

16* "And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18* that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

The Pope teaches: Prayer is the wellspring of every action