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Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator

In Greek there are two words that we would translate as "time" in English. The first is "chronos"; the second is "kairos." St. Paul uses the second of these words in his second Letter to the Corinthians from which we read today. We measure time with chronometers. The meaning of "kairos," however, is heavily nuanced as a time of opportunity or even a time of crisis. So St. Paul tells us: Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2).

Paul's message is simple. This is not the time for procrastination. This is the time of opportunity for us, a time to "return" to the Lord as the Prophet Joel says in the today's first reading. Unfortunately, many of us have a habit of putting that off until a later time. Sadly, time will run out for us one day.

Part of our CUSAN charism is our desire to make a sacrificial offering of our suffering and frustration. We have heard so many times, especially in our youth, that we are called upon to "offer it up." Sacrificial offerings have at their very foundation an element of praise. We praise God and give thanks for God's providential care by placing a gift on the altar of sacrifice. However, another category of sacrificial offering is that of the "sin offering." We atone for our sins by offering up something that is dear to us.

The Gospel today gives us a threefold charter of sacrifice: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Through each of these we are called to draw closer to the Lord. We pray or communicate with our God. We fast to remind ourselves that God is enough for us. We share our bounty with those less fortunate to remind ourselves of how much God has done for us and to ease the pain and suffering of the poor.

Lent, which comes from the German "Lenz," means springtime. As we watch our environment "green up" during spring, may our Lenten devotion lead us to a springtime of the soul, new life with God.

 Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator

The episode in St. Mark's Gospel which we proclaim today features the famous saying: "I do believe; help my unbelief." While the man who utters these words may not realize it, he has given voice to a prayer to which all of us can relate.

Who among us can claim that he/she has never had doubts? It is simply part of our human condition. We are trained to put our faith in things which we can prove, things which we can perceive through our senses. We are a technologically advanced civilization which has provided answers for many of the mysteries that confounded our ancestors. The world of science continues to make discoveries about the universe in which we live which have expanded our understanding of the created world beyond the scope of human imagination. We know of planets and stars that are so far away that it would be impossible to reach them in our current situation. 

However, the person of faith remembers that God and the mysteries that surround the Divine are not part of the created order. God is the creator, without beginning and without end. While human science unlocks the secrets of the universe, it will never begin to fathom the secrets of the Divine simply because science is concerned only with creation.

The answer to how the universe was created is a scientific quest. However, science will never ask who created the universe. Oftentimes the boundaries between the two are blurred. It is at these times that we can join the man in the Gospel as he prays.

P.S. Check out Fr. Tim Hayes' Cyber Retreat for Lent and Easter which will appear in the Member's Blog.

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator

There are many instances in the Gospels when Jesus says the words: "Your faith has saved you"; so many, in fact, that similar words in the passage which we proclaim today from St. Mark's Gospel may not register too quickly. St. Mark tells us that Jesus was motivated by the faith of the four men who bring the paralytic to him in Capernaum. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Child, your sins are forgiven." (Mark 2:5) It was not the faith of the paralytic which motivated Jesus in this case; rather, it was the faith of the community which is represented by the four men who carry the paralyzed man to Jesus on a mat. (Interestingly enough, St. Luke and St. Matthew write about the same event, but they say that the man was carried on a bed. St. Mark preserves the use of a mat to indicate that this man was also from among the poor of the community.)

There is no doubt that sometime during his ministry, Jesus healed such people. However, the nuances which I cite in the preceding paragraph have led Scripture scholars to identify this passage as an example of how the experience of the faith community from which the Gospel springs influenced the evangelist. Early in the history of Christianity, non-Christians challenged the notion that the community or Church could tell its followers that their sins were forgiven through the sacraments. From its earliest days the Church taught that sin was forgiven through reception of the Eucharist, through the Order of Penance (which was the origin of our current Lenten practices), and through its practice of anointing the sick. They contended that only God could forgive; the Church was incapable of doing so.

Jesus is challenged by the attitudes of the scribes in St. Mark's telling of the story. The challenge remains unspoken, but Jesus perceives it in his mind. As is so often the case in the Gospel, Jesus rises to the challenge. Not only does he contend that he has the power to forgive sins, he does it by destroying their notion that such disability is caused by sin. St. Mark uses the role of the community represented by the four men to indelibly approve the action of the assembly in the ministry of forgiveness.

St. John's Gospel invests the disciples gathered in the upper room with the same power. Though the stories are not similar, the moral of the stories is the same. When we forgive those who sing against us, we are acting in God's name.