THE SPIRIT OF LENT

FEBRUARY 23, 2007

Once again we have entered the Church's Season of Lent when the Church's faithful respond to the Lord's call to repentance and spiritual renewal. What is the spirit of Lent? It is a spirit of reflection and penance that gives us the chance for a new beginning in our commitment to live the gospel of Jesus Christ. Lent is a journey of love which opens our minds and hearts to finding and serving Christ in others. The spirit of Lent, then, is the spirit of Christian charity. Jesus calls his disciples to live up to the demand of his "new commandment" of love, which sums up and perfects the Ten Commandments given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai.

I would like to propose one practical focus for our Lenten reflection and penance. Every day we encounter people who are physically or spiritually hungry, thirsty, or sick, people who are lost or are outcasts. During the Season of Lent, let us pay greater attention to the suffering revealed in their faces -- faces that challenge us to admit the many kinds of poverty, material and spiritual, that continue in our time.

The Gospel makes it clear that Jesus Christ cares especially for those in difficulty. He speaks to them of the Kingdom of God and heals the body and spirit of all who are in need of his mercy and help. St. Matthew’s Gospel tells a story of Jesus feeding the hungry, and this story gives us a good understanding of one important way we can keep the spirit of Lent: we too can feed the hungry. Seeing the hungry crowd, Jesus says to his followers, "Give them something to eat" (Mt 14:16). The disciples, however, have only five bread loaves and two fish, and so believe the task is too great for them.

Like them, we are aware that our resources seem insufficient to feed the 800 million people in the world who are struggling for survival against the threat of starvation. What can we do in the face of such vast crowds of starving people -- children, the elderly, refugees, the unemployed?
We can't do everything, but that does not mean we can't do anything. If each one of us gives something, we can make a difference. A thousand matches can light a great fire of hope.

In order to light all our matches, each one of us must be willing to make some sacrifice. Nothing will change without sacrifice, and we will not have the courage to make the sacrifices necessary unless we undergo a change of mind and heart. It is essential that we change our exaggerated consumerist behavior and resist the impulse to pursue pleasure and comfort at every turn. We must shake ourselves out of indifference and the tendency to always put off our personal responsibilities until tomorrow.

True, governments bear a primary responsibility, and various international organizations have been established to address the problems of world hunger. These agencies play a vital role in mobilizing available resources and funneling material assistance where it is most needed. But because of them, we are tempted to forego our responsibility, thinking that everything that can be done is already being done. That is not the case. The problem is too big. Besides, governments cannot give love to the poor and afflicted who need to be reassured that they are not abandoned, but are personally cared for by others.

Hunger exists not only in the developing regions of the world, but also in the highly industrialized nations, including our own, where the gap between the rich and poor grows daily. Hunger exists in our Valley. We have the resources to feed everyone here, but in order to do so, we must learn to use our resources more generously and fairly.

Some might consider my vision to be a utopian fantasy. Yet the social teaching and activity of the Church demonstrate the opposite. Whenever people turn to the gospel, our vision of social solidarity and of sharing becomes a reality.

It is no longer uncommon to see people in the Valley sorting through refuse bins after the local markets have closed. This is striking evidence, first, that there are growing numbers of people driven to desperation; and, second, that consumable food is being trashed. Otherwise, the people would never keep returning to the bins to pick it out. How can our hearts fail to be moved by such realities, and how can we fail to be troubled by these reminders of the deep inequalities among us?

Social solidarity is not a passing mood or feeling. It is a habitual strength of character, the result of responsible training from childhood. The individual's response to the neighbor in need is always essential, but because we now live in neighborhoods which are segregated according to income level, one's immediate neighbors may be prosperous and without material needs. For this reason, we must concern ourselves with society as a whole, and with developing processes capable of ensuring minimum levels of material well-being for every member of society.

I invite everyone to join me in adopting the spirit of Lent, and in thoroughly examining your patterns of consumption and giving. Keep in mind that the admonition of Jesus to his disciples was meant for us, as well: “Give them something to eat.” Let us see what we can each do to use the "loaves and fishes" at our disposal to feed those who have less or nothing at all. Consider donating to the food bank, visiting the colonias to ascertain needs that we may help resolve, being more generous to the St. Vincent de Paul collection in your parish, and being ever more creative in finding ways to multiply the loaves and fishes within our reach. May each of us truly make a difference by feeding the hungry THIS LENT.

+Bishop Raymundo J. Peña

last updated 05-Jun-2008 9:48 sitemap