PROMISE TO FULFILLMENT (1)

PROMISE TO FULFILLMENT (1)

• Be men and women of Hope
• Be optimistic
• Be creative, constructive, open and positive 

  The Rainbow-our symbol for Lent 2008

  
  

  In Greek mythology, the rainbow is considered to be a path made by a messenger (Iris) between Earth and Heaven. In Chinese mythology, the rainbow was a slit in the sky sealed by Goddess Nüwa using stones of five different colours. In Hindu mythology, the rainbow is called Indradhanush, meaning the bow of Indra, the God of lightning and thunder. In Norse Mythology, a rainbow called the Bifröst Bridge connects the realms of Ásgard and Midgard, homes of the gods and humans, respectively. The Irish leprechaun’s secret hiding place for his crock of gold is usually said to be at the end of the rainbow. The Japanese saw the rainbow as the “road of the gods and the bridge between sky and earth. Rainbow has been associated with the “Golden Age” when heaven and earth were in easy communication with one another. Gods, angels and mortals will pass back and forth on the rainbow bridge, which was the ladder of heaven. There is much more about the rainbow and its symbolism in the history of world religions.

   

  In the Hebrew Bible, the rainbow is a symbol of the covenant between God and man, a covenant that will never be broken. The book of Genesis (9:8-15) tells us the story of the great flood and the appearance of the rainbow, hung colorfully across the sky as a sign of the covenant that God made and the promise of new beginnings.
  

  Let the rainbow be, for this year, the sign and the symbol of the promise of God’s unconditional, invincible, unconquerable, enduring, everlasting Love. Stay focused on the promise and let it challenge you to repentance, conversion, change, growth and personal transformation.

  Your Journal: I suggest that you keep a journal on what the rainbow has been saying to you and doing for you during these days of Lent.

   

  We began our Lenten Journey with a cross traced in ashes on the foreheads of all who came to Church on Ash Wednesday as declaration of the necessity of repentance, of change of heart and of faithfulness to the Gospel values. Ashes direct our attention to the transitory character of created realities – that nothing in this world is permanent, nothing in the world of matter is forever.

  
  The journey that we began in ashes will take us to the cross.
  The cross tells us that in the love of God nothing is lost.
   

  From the ashes of destruction, we make our way to the cross of Christ and beyond it to the fire. Unlike the fire of terror, we encounter a purifying, life-creating fire that gives light to a dark and despairing world. It is the fire that light the Paschal candle which proclaims: “the light of Christ”. It is the fire that brings us into the light of Christ and lights up our own path…..Our Lenten journey will end in Baptism and the renunciation of the forces of evil.

  Traditionally, Christians all over the world have used the disciplines of Prayer, Penance and Almsgiving as pathways of Lenten Spirituality. They still are wonderful and life-giving disciplines. They bring us closer to God and to God’s people. Prayer strengthens our connection to God. Penance builds our character and helps us get rid of unhealthy habits which weaken our ability to love God, others and ourselves. Almsgiving helps to care for others – to reach out to the less fortunate, the unfortunate, the disadvantaged, the poor, the marginalized and suffering people in our community.

   

  Choose your spiritual discipline
  

   

  1. Being more Attentive and reflective:

  Choose to be more attentive and reflective during Lent.  Pay attention to your desires.  We have all kinds of desires.  During Lent, reflect on the desires that need to be purified or abandoned. Reflect also on those wonderful desires that are there but have not been acted upon and see what you would like to do to respond to those desires. Nurture desires that are positive and optimistic.

   

  2. Praying more attentively, devoutly and faithfully:

  Choose to be more attentive, devout and faithful in prayer during Lent. If you have already a habit of praying, let it become more reflective. If you have not been praying, it is a good time to begin.

  When you first awaken or before drifting off to sleep, quiet your mind, lift up your heart in prayer, and listen to the voice of the Lord.

  Begin the day by simply pausing when you get up and taking a slow, deep breath, and recalling what you have to do this day, and asking for grace to do it faithfully and well.

   

  3. Denying yourself more meaningfully and joyfully:

  Lent is a great time for denying ourselves some of the comforts and pleasures of life.  The purpose of denials is to become more alert, more conscious, more attentive. Fasting and abstinence are two of the most common ways of denials. The purpose of fasting and abstinence is to aid prayer – to make it easier to listen to God more openly, especially in times of need. This experience can also be a very simple gesture that places us in greater solidarity with the poor, who often have to be content with a little rice and beans each day.  Powerful things happen in us, when we think about those people in the world who have so much less than we do.

   

  4. Being and becoming more generous:

  Almsgiving has been one of the traditional practices of Lent.  Generosity is not simply giving our excess clothes to a place where poor people might purchase them.  It is not even writing a “generous” check at the time a collection is taken up for a cause that benefits the poor.  These are wonderful practices.  Generosity is an attitude.  It is a sense that all that we have is God’s gift to us and given to us to be shared.  It means that sharing with others in need is one of our priorities.  That is quite different from assessing all of our needs first and then giving away what is left over.  A spirit of self-less giving means that one of our needs is to share what we have with others.  Lent is a wonderful time to practice self-less giving. It places us in solidarity with the poor who share with each other, without having any excess.  It also joins us with Jesus, who gave himself completely for us.

   

   5. Naming the sinful and the unhealthy:

  With a little bit of reflection, most of us can name things that make up our ordinary habits and ways of being who we are, that we aren’t very proud of.  Things we do and things we never get around to doing.  The season of Lent calls us to change our attitudes, our self-absorption, or our way of interacting with others.

  Lent is a wonderful time to name the sinful, the unhealthy and the self-centered patterns of living. We could do a good soul searching, a good examination of conscience, a personal scrutiny of life, a process of discerning what needs change, conversion or transformation in our life. Look at the possibility of a change of heart…change of our attitudes, our dispositions, our values, our priorities…

  Having searched through your life, identify and make a list of those attitudes, those patterns of life that need change:

  Identify and make list of those things in your life that could be made better:

  Identify and make a list of those things that are healthy and wholesome and bless them with gratitude:

    

  My Prayer for you:
  

   

  May the rainbow, hung colorfully across the sky, as a sign of the Covenant that God made and the promise of new beginnings, continue to inspire you during this season of Lent.
  

   

  May your Lenten days of prayer, penance and almsgiving help you to be reborn in spirit, empower you to love without limits, teach you to pray constantly, help you seek the wisdom of God, enable you to live in compassion and help you celebrate the joy of Easter. May your Lenten spirituality be creative, constructive, optimistic, positive – hope-filled and may all your hopes find fulfillment in the risen Christ. May God bless you and your family and keep you safe in His Love.
  

    

  Fr. Gus Tharappel,msfs