First Sunday of Lent--Safe Haven Sunday!
First Sunday of Lent--Safe Haven Sunday!
God created everything and “Saw that it was good” (Genesis 1). God created Mankind, blessed them, and gave them dominion over all creatures (Genesis 1:27&28). The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “Basic scientific research, as well as applied research, is a significant expression of man's dominion over creation. Science and technology are precious resources when placed at the service of man and promote his integral development for the benefit of all. By themselves, however, they cannot disclose the meaning of existence and of human progress. Science and technology are ordered to man, from whom they take their origin and development; hence they find in the person and in his moral values both evidence of their purpose and awareness of their limits.” One of many inventions of humanity is the internet, which revolutionized the computer and communication world. Today our everyday life is so dependent on the internet, but we have to be conscious of the dark side of it.
On the first Sunday of Lent, we are celebrating our first annual Safe Haven Sunday, which is themed Equipping the Family, Safeguarding Children. Every year, we celebrate this awareness weekend in our diocese. The Internet provides us with lots of opportunities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we explored using it a lot more. Safe Sunday is to remind us there is a dark side of it that could destroy our life and the life of others. What are they? There are numerous dark sides, but we focus on pornography. In 2015, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops released a pastoral letter, in response to this crisis, called “Create in Me a Clean Heart.” We gave our religious education families a copy of the book Confident: Helping parents navigate online exposure. Those who want a copy of this book are available at the entrances. This book is published by Covenant Eyes, an organization that provides software to help provide protection and accountability for those who use technology. We cannot avoid the internet, but we can train our children and ourselves to use it wisely. The Lenten season invites us to discover our true self. What are the obstacles in our life in discovering our true self?
Reading: Every year, the first Sunday of Lent invites us to reflect on The Temptation of Jesus. Jesus goes into the wilderness to rescue man from his exile in sin. In the book of Genesis, satan tempted the first Adam amid the beasts in paradise, and he failed. But even though satan tempted the new Adam, Jesus, among the wild beasts, he won. In the new exodus, Jesus was being led by the Spirit into the wilderness and tested for forty days. In the old exodus, the Israelites spent forty years in the desert and were tested. The presence of ministering angels to sustain Jesus in the new exodus, recalls the angel who guided the Israelites in the desert in the first Exodus. We read in the book of Exodus 23:20, “See, I am sending an angel before you, to guard you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared.” The first Adam’s fall brought death and alienation. The new Adam, Jesus, through His filial love for the Father brought forth the new Israel of God. Jesus began the campaign against demons, death, and diseases in the desert, and continues through his proclamation of the Gospel. Jesus trained his disciples on how to overcome the devil. He offered on the Cross for our offenses and led us to new freedom. God led the Israelites from the slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land. In the new exodus, Jesus, the new Moses, leads us from slavery to sin to life.
I am sure everyone experiences every time you renew our Baptismal promise and try to live it, the tempter attacks more aggressively than before. Jesus assures us on this Lent that the victory is ours through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. We would increase our prayer to grow in the virtue of humility, intensify our giving of alms to detach from the possessions, fast to overcome attachments, and recognize our own poverty.
The Mass: As we continue the Maintenance to Mission and Eucharistic Revival, it is appropriate and beneficial to understand the meaning of Mass. As Catholics, all of us know what to do, what to say, when to stand, when to sit, when to kneel and so on. But we often don't know why we do it or what the deeper meaning of these rites and rituals, postures, ceremonies, and formulas of the Mass actually point to. So during Lent we are going to learn/relearn the Mass.
Eucharist is the Sacrament of the Sacraments. The Catechism of the Catholic Church 1322 says, “The Eucharist is "the source and summit of the Christian life." Most of the Sacraments take place in the Sacrament of Eucharist. Mass is Jesus' passion, death, and resurrection. In other words, it is Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter. It is a meal, sacrifice, sacred ritual, celebration of the Last Supper, Eucharist, and Mass.
Mass is a mystery. Mass itself says there is a mysterious aspect in the Mass. There is an invisible reality behind the visible signs and symbols, rites, and words of the Liturgy. At the beginning of the Mass, the priest invites everyone to prepare to celebrate the sacred mysteries. While the priest pours water into the wine during the offertory, he quietly says, "By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity." Then, after the Consecration, the priest sings, most of the time, “The mystery of faith.” And everyone sing the response. It is a solemn one, so we sing.
The overall structure of the Mass follows: 1) interlocutory rite or gathering: bring us together into one body, ready to listen and to break bread together. 2) liturgy of the Word or storytelling: we listen to the stories of God’s people. 3) liturgy of the Eucharist, meal sharing or Canon of the Mass: the core of the Mass. We recall the memorial Jesus left for us. And 4) concluding rites or commissioning: we are sent out to live the Eucharistic life into our daily life.
During Lent, we will learn and relearn the Mass.