May you have a fruitful Lent that strengthens you in hope

As we enter into the Holy Season of Lent today, I wanted to remind you what its all about. 

No doubt many of you will see a bombardment of messages online about requirements for fasting, obligations for fasting, obligations about penance etc…  Although I’m sure it is well meaning - these messages and emphasis on Lent often cause a type of anxiety within us that makes us scared of Lent instead of eagerly embracing it. 

Yes Lent is hard, yes Lent is long. But the goal of Lent is not about being miserable and self denial for the sake of it, rather it is about being led by the Holy Spirit WITH Jesus into the desert (Matt 4:1) - where Jesus teaches us how to not be overcome by sin and the devil. We participate in Jesus’ own encounter of the desert where he recapitulates in his own person, the entire journey and history of Israel. The journey through the desert is our personal intensive spiritual bootcamp, but communally as the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ we are united to Jesus the Head who leads us through the desert to become sharers in his victory over the devil. 

Prayer, fasting, penance, mortification and almsgiving are all means to an end. They are not the goal itself. Our goal is union with Christ who frees us from bondage of the devil and sin. This they are useful tools in our spiritual journey and discipline, but although they are essential, they are only part of a greater whole - freedom in Christ. 

So this Lent, I pray that you can enter into the spirit of Lent far beyond giving up chocolate, or coffee and then struggling after a few days. Lent is a long marathon, not a sprint. So many of us get worn out after a few days, break our fasts, forget to do prayers - then feel guilty and bad, regretting even starting Lent. This means for most of us we never experience Lent as being fruitful. For most of us it is often an incredibly unfruitful time. 

Part of the reason for this obviously is to do with spiritual warefare, and the devil attacking us so we give up before we even start. He loves to sabotage us so we get frustrated and give up - despair always comes from him. 

But often we are not disciplined in our spiritual life as a whole, and so don’t practice fasting or mortification much (if at all) throughout the year - and so this is why Lent for us so often is a major failure. We can’t just go cold turkey with things. Asceticism is about time and patience. Time with God, time reading scripture - so that we can hear the Holy Spirit and truly be led by him into the desert with Jesus. Asceticism isn’t only about denial, it is about training for love, training for God so that our entire life is transformed by the Gospel and we have the capacity to be filled by God and restored to the image of Christ. 

So take some time to reflect on your chosen penances, and see if they are realistic for you. Check if they are motivated by the love of God and actually will help you spiritually to meet your goal of union with God. Or have you mistakenly chosen things that sound “good” on paper but you never practice in your life and so you now want to try practice it during Lent - but always fail? As Jesus teaches us “he who is faithful in little things will be faithful in great things” (Luke 16:10). As Christians our entire life should be based on practicing self control, and this Lent becomes the powerhouse that trains us and strengthens us to be able to continue practicing self control for the rest of the year, and the rest of our lives. 

May the Fathers and Saints help us to understand how to make this Lent fruitful and meaningful, so that instead of anxiety, fear and failure - you have a gracefilled time of transformation and growth so that you become worthy of the fruits of repentance (Matt 3:8).

Transformed into Christ

Today is the memorial of St Henry de Ossò. He was a Spanish priest who spent much time and energy in teaching others through catechesis. Inspired by St Teresa of Avila, he ended up founding a congregation of teaching sisters called “The Society of St Teresa”. 

It struck me in his writings how passionate he was about the necessity of uniting to Christ. But not in a generic sense - an absolute conformity of our whole life to the life of Christ, so that we can be transformed into Christ via our imitation and conformity to him. So that learning to think think and behave as Jesus did, we learn his own very thoughts and feelings - so that his heart becomes our own. 

His entire thought was based on the mystery Incarnation. Through the mystery of God becoming flesh in Jesus Christ, our own flesh and humanity has now been sanctified and redeemed. His entire life and ministry saves us, not just his crucifixion and resurrection. Not just his preaching the Gospel. But his day to day existence of living - breathing, eating, sleeping. All of this was done for our salvation, which was the entire purpose for our existence. So the more that we live our entire daily life imitating Christ, learning to think and feel like him - then our conformity to him results in our transformation into him, so that our entire existence also saves us. Everything I do in Jesus united to him becomes part of Jesus’ own life that saves us all. 

This is so profound and yet so simple. Our baptism makes us a new creation on Christ, so that our whole life is a process of transformation into Christ. Everything we do as Catholics is oriented to this. Then we we receive Jesus in the Eucharist he mysteriously unites us to himself and transforms us into himself, giving us the power to continue living out our life in union with him. Then with Christ living in me (Galatians 2:20), every little thing I do in him and with him becomes sanctifying moments where my life becomes the life of Christ… as St Henry de Ossò beautiful says: 

What an inspiring thought! I will live, sleep, speak, listen, work, suffer—I will do everything, I will suffer everything in union with Jesus, with the same divine intention and sentiments that Jesus had and with which He suffered, which is what Jesus wants of me.

May all of us learn how to “Live Jesus!” so that together with St Paul we can truly say “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

May every Mass and Holy Communion you receive bring you into conformity to Christ, so that you may be transformed into him. 

May your transformation in Christ show others the beauty and light of Christ, so they too desire him. 

May your love of Christ overflow in all that you do, so that others desire to be Children of the Father, just as you are in Christ. 

May the peace of Christ strengthen and fortify you, so that others seek to be anchored to the cross and crucified together with Christ. 

May the life you live now, be the eternal life we will one day live with Christ, who loves us and feeds us even now in the Eucharist - which is his very own life. 

Magi or Kings - Does it matter? The answer is yes!

The Feast of the Epiphany is also called the feast of the “Three Kings” in many parts of Europe. 

In the traditional iconography and symbolism about Epiphany, you will often see the Magi of the Gospel of Matthew portrayed as 3 Kings. Why is this? Usually around this time of year you will hear “scholars” who will have all sorts of esoteric theories about the identity of the Magi and will make a point to discredit the traditional symbolism of the 3 Kings. They will claim that any details we have of them outside of the Gospel narrative is unscriptural and therefore incorrect. But I disagree… 

As mentioned in a previous post, it is vital for us to understand who the Messiah is and how Jesus Christ fulfills these biblical messianic prophecies. 

The Gospel of Matthew refers to the men of the east as the Magi. Various people have interpreted this to mean they were magicians, or astrologers, or even Zoroastrian priests. But the common consensus is that they were not kings. So where did the traditional understanding come from for us to consider them as kings? 

This confusion is the result of trying to read and interpret the New Testament outside of the context of the Old Testament. Because what is oblivious to us modern readers in the Gospel of Matthew, would have been abundantly obvious to any Jewish reader in the first few centuries after the birth of Jesus. 

Psalm 72:10-11 is one of the scripture verses understood and interpreted by the Church and Tradition as referring to the Magi. This verses refers to the “Kings of Tarshish, Sheba & Seba” bringing gifts to a Jewish Davidic King, as well as them submitting to him through bowing down in homage. Importantly, you can see that this verse refers to the kings of 3 different nations, but it can also be interpreted as referring to 3 Kings in total. 

Later on in verse 15 of Psalm 72 you will see it mentions a gift of gold coming from Sheba. This is interesting because it is connected to how the Queen of Sheba visited King Solomon and brought him gifts of gold (1 Kings 10:1-2). The abundance of gifts that the Queen of Sheba brought to King Solomon was brought there via camel, which helps to explain why the Magi are often represented as being on camels although camels are not mention by the Gospel of Matthew. Camels are also mentioned in the prophecy of Isaiah that says camels from Midian, Ephah and Sheba will bring gifts of gold and frankincense (Isaiah 60:5-6). 

Once you are immersed in the Old Testament scriptures and are aware of the messianic prophecies, it is now easy to see why the early Church understood the visit of the Magi as the fulfilment of the prophecies in Isaiah 60 & Psalm 72 of kings paying homage to the  David King of the Jews.  Foreign kings submitting to the King of Israel and doing homage to him, is also connected to biblical prophecies regarding “all nations and peoples” who will one day worship the God of Israel. This beautifully begins with the homage of the 3 Magi Kings to Jesus, and at the end of time will be complete when all people’s will come to worship the God of Jacob on Mount Zion (Isaiah 2:2-3). 

Now with this fuller biblical context, the message of the Gospel of Matthew makes so much more sense! 

It vividly comes alive and you understand why the feast day today is called Epiphany - in Greek this means  “manifestation”. An epiphany also has connotations of a sudden realisation of something that now becomes clear or obvious ie… manifest. This is why in the Eastern Traditions, this feast day also commemorates the other 2 theophanies of Jesus - his baptism in the Jordan, and his miracle at the wedding of Cana. 

So far we can see that we have the 3 gifts in the Gospel of Matthew of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Psalm 72 refers to kings of 3 places - Tarshish, Sheba and Seba. Then Isaiah 60 refers to frankincense and gold coming from kings of 3 places - Midian, Ephah and Sheba. 

Is it any wonder then why tradition has identified the Magi as also being 3 Kings according to scripture? Topologically you can then begin to understand the deeper scriptural symbolism that “fills out” the brief sketch of the Magi in the Gospel of Matthew: 

• 3 Kings who recognised the true King of the Jews, instead of King Herod. 
• 3 gifts to the thrice-holy Davidic King of kings, the Annointed one of the Lord. 
• The threefold office of Christ as Priest, Prophet & King receiving gifts according to each office - Gold for a King, incense for a Priest to use in worship, and myrrh to embalm the body of a Prophet who will be killed 

All of this shows that it is perfectly reasonable and makes sense why the Magi are also called the 3 Kings. According to tradition their names are Kasper/Gaspar, Melchior and Balthasar.  Their relics are famously kept in Cologne Cathedral in Germany, as they are considered Saints. 

The Magi manifest and reveal to us the identity of this little infant child born in Bethlehem. The child born to be the Messiah King on the line of David, who’s reign will bring all the nations of the world to worship the thrice holy Triune God of Israel. The child who himself in the flesh is the image of the invisible God who saves us from sin. 

Just as Chapter 60 of Isaiah prophecies about foreign kings bringing incense and gold to the King and worshipping God on Zion, so too does Chapter 61 begin with the very words that Jesus himself quotes in Luke 4:16-21 as he declares himself to be the long awaited Messiah. The beginning of the good news he proclaims in the synagogue, is the very same good news we believe in and proclaim to all nations, all people at all times. 

The good news manifested and witnessed to by the Magi who came to Jesus full of joy (Matthew 2:10). Their encounter with Jesus changed them, so that they left by a different way than they came (Matthew 2:12). After encountering the good news of God in the flesh, they were changed and transformed. 

May these 3 Kings who were wise men, teach us to seek after the wisdom of God which is his glory, even when it looks as foolishness to the world (1 Corinthians 1:18-31). May they encourage us to allow the little child in Bethlehem to truly become the light of our lives so that we no longer try to follow the stars, but always be enlightened by the true Morning Star (2 Peter 1:19) and Sun of Righteousness (Malachi 4:2). May they inspire us through their witness to always joyfully proclaim the good news to all, even in the face of persecution and death - Jesus Christ is Lord!