Let Lent remind you of what our mission really means

Honestly, I didn’t mean to hurl a grenade into the congregation.

It was during my homily for Ash Wednesday in 2008 — my first one as a deacon. The 8 a.m. Mass was packed with several hundred people who wanted to get ashes before heading to work.

Pelagia The Penitent

Date unknown

In the fourth century, St. Pelagia was honored in Antioch as a virgin martyr. In the Middle Ages, a legend grew up around a penitent, who was given her name. This St. Pelagia inspired Christians as an enchanting icon of repentance. The story comes from St. John Chrysostom, who once told of an actress, famous for her glamour and notorious for her wickedness. She had suddenly repented, was baptized and became a hermit. A bishop said to have encountered Pelagia used her example to call his brother bishops to repent: “What a reproach to us, seeing that we have not taken pains to make ourselves pleasing to God nearly as much as this prostitute . . . has taken pains to please men.”

As I was preaching about ways to make Lent meaningful, I asked the people in the pews to do something more than just giving up chocolate. For example, pray more. Pray for someone you don’t know. Maybe pray for someone you don’t even like. “This Lent,” I said, “love your enemies and pray for your persecutors” (Mt 5:44).

Then, without realizing it, I pulled

Deacon Greg Kandra

As if on cue, hundreds of people gasped. There was a low murmur from the pews, an uneasy squirm. “What?”

“Huh?” “But . . . really?”

Clearly, I had touched a nerve. A few people mentioned it after Mass. “I don’t know about that, Deacon,” one woman said, as she tightened her scarf and headed out into the cold. “You’re asking a lot. I’m not that holy.”

I reassured her. “This wasn’t my idea. It’s in the Gospel!” breath away. the pin and tossed out this explosive question: “When was the last time anyone here prayed for Osama bin Laden?”

“Love your enemies,” Jesus tells his followers in Matthew’s Gospel, “pray for those who persecute you.” That means even the most evil and ruthless.

That woke them up.

And now this week, at this gateway to Lent, this particular Gospel arrives to challenge and provoke. We once again hear what we don’t want to hear — that bold command is so shocking that if you really think about what it means, and what it implies, it can take your

No doubt about it — this reading packs a punch. It’s almost custom-made for Christians who really want to rend their hearts for Lent. It makes us remember once again that this coming season isn’t supposed to be easy — that it’s part of what early Christians called “The Way,” and it remains fundamental to who we are, what we believe, how we live. It calls on us to live like Jesus — to love the unlovable, even those who hate us, scorn us, persecute us.

Encountering this Gospel at this moment, we quickly realize that walking “The Way” is difficult, with rocks that make us stumble and hills that seem impossible to climb. But we know something else: It is worth the journey. As we step away from Ordinary Time and into the extraordinary time of these coming 40 days — working our way toward Calvary and beyond that, the empty tomb — we can’t help but feel a sudden jolt. Listen closely to Christ’s words this Sunday. This could be our mission statement. Love. Pray. Give. Turn your cheek. And then, keep on going. We Christians have been doing that for 2,000 years. Lent can help us remember what our mission means — and what being a follower of Christ truly entails.

Never stop growing in sport or spirit, pope tells amateur athletes

VATICAN

Speaking to members of the “Sport in Vaticano” Association Feb. 9, the pope asked the athletes to be examples of teamwork and collaboration. “Sports are a metaphor for life,” he said, and “healthy competition can contribute to making one’s spirit mature.”

The association sponsors competitions between Vatican employees representing different departments. The group met with the pope to mark 50 years since it first organized a sporting competition in the Vatican in 1972.

Pope Francis explained that athletes must develop a passion for their sport to prevent competition from become “corrupted” by various interests. He also asked the athletes to become “disciples” of their sport and to never become stagnant in their training.

“The true sportsman always seeks to learn, to grow, to improve and this requires discipline,” he said. “Discipline then allows everyone to play their part, and for the team to best express itself as a whole.”