+ We stand just hours away from the beginning of Lent 2010. In our gospel passage Jesus asks a rather confusing question of his disciples about bread. Jesus uses bread to talk about the "leavening process:" how yeast gets into all parts of the bread! Now this "getting into all parts" process could be for the good or for the bad. Jesus cites such uses right in the passage. The Pharisees and Herod let the bad parts of their faulty reasoning and selfish desires affect everything about them – thus contaminating all parts of their religious practices and preaching. This is an example of bad use! Jesus on the other hand reminds the disciples of how he uses whole baked bread itself as a leaven – multiplying it to feed 5000 - and really an infinite number beyond that (including us) – with the Good Bread that actually will become he, himself, at the Last Supper, in the Eucharist. The point of the passage is that the real Bread of the Life of the risen Lord Jesus is still in our midst – in fact – will be available right in this Mass for us! This is amazing leaven! It would do us well to recognize it as such and to let it enter into our hearts and affect every part of our lives, the most important part of which being the spiritual part.
We all have spiritual battles to fight and we need divine help to fight them. Our first reading today tells us that while God tempts no one, temptation can result in spiritual death for those who do not turn away from sin. Lent is a good time to turn away from sin, polish up our spiritual warfare tools and set our hope firmly in Jesus who promises to join our efforts at fighting sin with his and thus making us, with him, a first fruit of a pleasing variety to God our Creator and Sustainer.
Blessed are they who you instruct, O Lord and give rest from evil days!
No comments:
Post a Comment