March 2006

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ’s Divine Mercy:

I hope that you are doing well with your Lenten resolutions. Now is the time when, perhaps, the initial enthusiasm has begun to wear off and our good resolutions are being tested. Remember two things: be gentle with yourself and be persistent in your efforts.

I just wanted to share a few thoughts with you at this time in a spirit of a Lenten reflection. We focus on prayer, penance, fasting and almsgiving in this season . Have you ever met any sane, sincere person who feels that their prayer life is adequate in every way? I know I never have. From Pope Benedict to the likes of ourselves, my sense is that all of us want to grow ever more in intimacy with God. Wishing it to happen will not make it happen. Like any good thing it will take discipline and persistence. It takes time. For most of us time is our most precious and rare commodity. We are over-scheduled, overworked and are frequently being pulled in just about every direction imaginable. If prayer gets added to the “to do” list as just another activity we will not be successful in our resolution to pray more. In fact, we may begin to resent our commitment as we simply “do not have time for it!” We need to see prayer in another way. We need to see it as an invitation to enter into the presence of God. Some of us can literally do that in front of the Blessed Sacrament. For others it might be locking themselves in the bathroom for five minutes so that they can be still. But however we do it I would suggest finding a space and time to be still and be in God’s presence. I have sometimes locked myself in Church or gone to a cemetery or sat in my car. It has to be important enough to us that we will not make excuses for why we cannot do it, but rather we will be creative in finding ways that we will do it. When we are disciplined in finding time to pray we also find that we are praying more frequently and spontaneously throughout the day. It is natural to keep the conversation going. I call my mother every day. Yesterday, for example, I forgot to tell her something that I had wanted to tell her and so I called her back. If I only called her on Mother’s day, Christmas and Easter it would not be so natural for me to call her more than once a day. Since I call her every day it is natural to call her more than once a day if I want to tell her something else. The same is true in our prayer life: the more we pray the more natural it is to bring our prayer into our daily life and return often during the course of the day to spontaneous prayer.

Fasting is hard for many of us. Yet it is so necessary too. As I wrote about time I could also write about virtually every aspect of life. We are FULL! There is so little space for reflection. We race from experience to experience, but take in so little of the richness of what we are experiencing. Some friends of mine several years ago went on a cross-country trip. I was excited for them and maybe more than a little bit envious. I could not wait to hear about every aspect of it. They were happy to share their experiences and their pictures, but they also were honest enough to indicate that a certain sensory overload occurred (those are my words, not theirs). They said that after a while it was a matter of “getting it all in” rather than really experiencing it. “”There’s the Grand Canyon.” “Cool, what’s next on the list.” Our lives can be like that too: overloaded and largely unexamined. Part of Lent is doing a kind of Spring cleaning and seeing what we need to leave in our lives and what needs to be curbed. I think of it as like a woman’s pocketbook. It can be very good for carrying essentials, but how quickly it become full of “stuff.” After a while it becomes next to impossible to find what is essential so what does a woman do? She has a choice to either clean out the bag or buy a bigger one. We know how it usually turns out, don’t we? She buys a suitcase sized bag which quickly becomes full and she still cannot find her keys! (I am not picking on women as men do the same thing with gym bags, trunks, garages, etc.) At some point we have to clean out the non-essential so that we can find the essential. How much quiet is in our lives? How much television do we watch? Do we ever drive our car without the radio on? When we go for a walk or jog do we have an i-pod or walkman going in our ears? Do we keep a journal? Do we reflect on the events of our day? Is our life wrapped in prayer or do we simply collapse in bed five hours before the alarm clock will go off to start another day? How much are we leaning on alcohol, food, or other unhealthy habits? In my observation for many people drinking is getting out of hand. It is not unusual for many people to get home at 6 p.m., pour themselves a cocktail and then try to figure out at about 11 p.m. what they want to do about dinner! We get very good at lying to ourselves. Many who claim to “not watch much television”would be shocked to realize that they are watching eight or more hours of it a day! Many who claim to not eat too much would be surprised to know how many calories they are consuming on a daily basis. Many who claim to have an occasional glass of wine with dinner would do well to count the empty wine bottles that some gremlins are putting in their trash every week. You know what they say: “Da Nile (denial) is not a river in Egypt!” Lent is a time to be honest with ourselves and be honest before God and try to simplify our lives to make room for what is truly is essential.

I do not like to make these letters too long (because I fear you will not read them), but I want to say a word about almsgiving. Many people have gotten quite good at service projects. They bring food to the hungry the third Thursday of every month or send a check to the missions twice a year etc. These are praiseworthy activities and our Oblates are encouraged to do them. But I believe we are called to something deeper. We are called to grow in awareness of the people around us. Mercy is not just something we do; it is something that we want to become, i.e merciful. Too many of us walk over and around people every day and never acknowledge them. A week or so ago, in Boston, a homeless man was beaten and lit on fire while he slept under a tree in the cold of winter. He was bothering no one, but some cowards not content with the beating that they gave him earlier returned with gasoline to set him on fire. Do we really see these people who are dirty, poor, smelly, and/or unable to speak English as our brothers and sisters? Mother Teresa called these people “Christ, in the distressing disguise of the poor.” How are we responding to Him? Obviously we are not beating them up or lighting them on fire, but our indifference and desire to remove ourselves from “them” sometimes does a kind of violence to them. Lent is a time to take the blinders off and realize that the woman who cleans your office and cannot speak English is working eighty hours a week so that her children can have a chance at a better life. Treat her the way that you wished people treated your mother or grandmother when she did the same for you! Have you learned her name? Do you know how to say “good morning” in her language? How many children does she have? Where do they go to school? I just offer this example to make a point. “Almsgiving” is not just giving money; for some people that is easy. It is giving so much more: kindness, love, respect, mercy. I have often said that in the end analysis I am more interested in what the custodian thinks of me as a man than the Cardinal. Our character is revealed by how we treat people who can do nothing for us. Are you kind to the person who waits on you in the coffee shop? Are you patient with the trainee in the bank or the checkout line at the supermarket? Are you generous with your praise of people? Do you take the time to learn the security guard’s name? If someone followed you around in your daily life would they see a self-absorbed and distracted person or would they see a humble Christian in action?

The above are just some of my thoughts that I wanted to share with you. While I have been writing this letter I have had five phone calls, two people at the door, and an ear-piercing one half-hour of fire alarm testing. My life is “full” too! Without an interior life we will quickly succumb to living a frantic, unfocused life. We will be like hamsters just waiting to slap the next bar on the treadmill. God calls us to something better than that! In fact, He calls us to His very Self. Do not cheat yourself of the opportunity of deeper life with Him. Mark out time and space for Him in your prayer life, meet Him in the Sacrament of Penance, receive Him often in the Eucharist, and look for Him in your brothers and sisters.

God Bless you,

Rev. Richard F. Clancy