The Hunger Games:Advice for Catholic parents

I meant to write this post last week when the film based on The Hunger Games was released. Perhaps this discussion will help for those who didn't want to fight the crowds or are dealing with children who now want to read the books or see the movie.

My personal position (and of course that's all it is) is that parents have to make those types of decisions based on what they think their children are mature enough to handle. I addressed a similar issue with the last Harry Potter movie. Like I said in that post, the Catholic Church (outside of a movie review service) does not normally make definitive statements about books, movies or other art.

Forget about the content of the book(s) for a moment. A well formed and informed set of parents should be able to make rational decisions about what content they deem appropriate for THEIR children. If they choose to permit their children to watch the film or read the books, no one should call them out as bad parents. Similarly, parents who decide to not allow either should not be condemned as narrow minded. It's their right and responsibility to "be up in their kids' business." (I am envisioning one of my colleagues saying this).

Moreover, parents are responsible for being the primary teachers to their children. Blessed Pope John Paul II expressed this in Familiaris Consortio:

The task of giving education is rooted in the primary vocation of married couples to participate in God's creative activity: by begetting in love and for love a new person who has within himself or herself the vocation to growth and development, parents by that very fact take on the task of helping that person effectively to live a fully human life. As the Second Vatican Council recalled, "since parents have conferred life on their children, they have a most solemn obligation to educate their offspring. Hence, parents must be acknowledged as the first and foremost educators of their children. Their role as educators is so decisive that scarcely anything can compensate for their failure in it. For it devolves on parents to create a family atmosphere so animated with love and reverence for God and others that a well-rounded personal and social development will be fostered among the children. Hence, the family is the first school of those social virtues which every society needs."(FC, 36)

Here are some well balanced reviews of the movie:

National Review, Father Robert Barron

Catholic News Service, Movie Review

Are we raising future priests and nuns?

When I was a boy, I would pretend to be a priest using Pringles as communion hosts. While I don't recall my parents specifically promoting vocations to priesthood or the religious life, I do remember that they always displayed a great deal of respect for our priests. Whenever they would invite one of the priests from  our parish over to the house, I remember it was big deal. While I never became a priest, I did consider it and even discussed it with our parish priest.

The above video was posted by Brandon Vogt, author of The Thin Veil blog and editor of The Church and New Media. I loved this video because it demonstrates that Brandon and his wife are raising their children in an atmosphere in which priests are respected.

I have a good friend who has four children ranging from elementary school age to college bound. He and is wife have always discussed all vocations with their children. This included discussing marriage as a vocation. This doesn't mean we force our children in to considering the religious life, but it does mean that we should explain that they should be open to serving God in that way.

What are you doing to promote vocations in your household?

When SHTF

Image from CDC

Do you have your plan for TEOTWAWKI? Thanks to some of my high school students who think I am really convinced of an upcoming zombie apocalypse, I have recently discovered Doomsday Preppers. This is a National Geographic show that chronicles the lengths some people have gone to prepare for an expected disaster. I was watching the show the other night and it got me thinking about spiritual preppers.

More specifically, it got me thinking that way too many people are not ready for the end of times (theirs or the world). I have recently had a few friends who have had some devastating and tragic events occur in their lives and the lives of their families. Two of them were near death. What has been interesting to me is their determination that they do not believe in God.  For example one of my friends whose doctors' had discovered that he had brain clots, and who claims to be atheist, asked me to pray for him. Of course I did, but I have to admit I smiled inside at the irony. It was like he was hedging his bets. It reminded me of Father John Corapi (yes, we should continue to pray for him) who used to say, "there are no atheists in foxholes!"  I also had another friend in an accident and a mutual friend said to me, "you know I don't believe in all that religious stuff, but can you pray for her?" I prayed for both.

One of the ongoing themes of the Doomsday Preppers is that survival is not possible without aid from others. As the Church Militant we have a responsibility to pray even for those who don't believe. Additionally, when stuff happens (and it will because that's just part of life), we have to be willing to demonstrate true charity. We need to be there for others in their times of need. We never know when God may not use us as his instruments of hope and prayer.

Oh, and yeah, it wouldn't hurt to have your Bible, Catechism and Rosary in your bug out bag.

2nd Annual St. Joseph's Festival

This past weekend our parish celebrated its Second Annual St. Joseph's Festival. The event was sponsored by Joe Catholic, the Knights of Columbus and the Ladies of the Knights. We had over 200 people attend the dinner. The Knights and Joe Catholics cooked spaghetti, meatballs and Italian sausage. The Ladies provided all the treats that decorated the St. Joseph Table. We also made "goodies" bags for the children which contained St. Joseph medals and prayer cards, candy, coloring pages and a craft to build their own altars at home.

The tradition of celebrating St. Joseph's feast day, almost always in the middle of Lent, began centuries ago in a small village in Sicily. The tradition is based on a pious legend that holds that a village in Sicily had been suffering through a severe drought and people were struggling to find food to eat. At one point, they even began to eat fava beans, which were fodder for their cattle. Their local priest (I imagine he must have been a Franciscan) gathered the families and encouraged them to go to Joseph in prayer. Soon after the rains came and the drought was broken.

In celebration, the village erected a table or altar in St. Joseph's honor and had a huge celebration. Today, many communities have large celebrations in honor of St. Joseph, especially on the east coast.
We hope to continue to make this a tradition in our parish. St. Joseph, next to Mary, is the most revered saint. He was the man closest to Christ. He is the patron of the universal Church, the patron of fathers and the patron of workers. When in need, "go to Joseph!"

Tuesday Tech Talk:Catholic Answers Live

Catholic Answers Live is one low-tech resource you can use to increase your knowledge of the teachings of the Catholic Church and it is available in your car as you commute from work. The show's guests are guaranteed to provide authentic Catholic teaching, often in simple terms us lay people can understand. It's a great place to pick up answers to those FAQ we get from friends and family. Locally, we can catch the show on Guadalupe Radio, KATH 910 AM. To find your local station go to the Station List or you can stream online or you can download the show's podcast and listen to the show at your leisure.
Here's a great video from Catholic Answers Live:

Martha & Mary: A Woman's Perspective

At Jesus's Feet by Nathan Greene

Despite what the secular media want to portray, the Catholic Church is not an anti-woman, misogynistic institution. Instead, the Church esteems the equal dignity of all people. If any of these critics, would actually attend Mass, they would see how vital women are to the Church. It is in this light that I have asked Sandy Leners to write a guest post each week. This weekly contribution will be called Martha and Mary. Sandy will give us a woman's perspective on Catholicism. I have asked her to simply write about topics that interest her. 


Sandy, along with her husband Lindon (a founding member of Joe Catholic), heads up our RCIA team at St. Catherine of Siena. Additionally, Sandy is involved in a number of other ministries, including a new women's group called the Ladies of the Knights, a auxiliary women's group who support their family members who are Knights of Columbus.

Mary and Martha could learn from St. Joseph. Yesterday [Editor's note: this was submitted Wednesday, but I wasn't able to edit it until today.] was the Solemnity of St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus and faithful chaste husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus. Scripture tells us that Joseph was a righteous man, a just man. Additionally, we can glean from the Gospel accounts that Joseph had guts...well he had much more than that. He possessed virtues that all of us should strive to receive. While silent throughout scripture, Joseph exemplifies all of the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance. As a result of these virtues, Joseph BELIEVED. He was a man of faith and it was his faith that brought him through the toughest times of all.

He raised Jesus and he taught him a craft. St. Joseph is often portrayed in art lovingly holding the child, Jesus. He was the first man to hold Christ in his hands, much like the priest at the consecration. He was indeed the man closest to Christ. He had to have loved Jesus with his whole heart. Additionally, he also had to love Mary with his whole heart. His faith and open heart saved his life, and the life of Jesus and Mary at least twice, and he just kept listening. We say "Praise God"...well Joseph did praise God in each and every "yes" to what he was asked to do. That steady "being-there-for-them" man that he was...well it doesn't get any better than that.

Can we measure up to that? Yes, we can. It doesn't have to be all at once. Remember the account in St. John's Gospel (today's Gospel reading, one of the scrutinies) about Jesus' friend Lazarus having died. Both Mary and Martha said to Jesus, "If you had been here our brother would not have died!" Despite their grief, they both had faith that Jesus would raise their brother on the last day. They knew Jesus was the Messiah. Even though they believed, they still didn't quite get what that meant.

The raising of Lazarus is a touching account because it displays the complete humanity of Christ. First, he became perturbed at the people for their lack of belief (the commentators of the Ignatius study bible point out that he may have been angry at the presence of evil). Next, we see that he wept at the loss of His friend. Jesus also had pity on those who STILL did not understand who he was or why he came. Therefore, Jesus demonstrated His full divinity by calling a four-day old dead man out of his tomb and bringing him back to life! Was it at that moment they all finally got it? We will learn next week that sadly the answer to that is no.

Nevertheless, we can measure up. We can come to believe. We are called to a New Evangelization. This means loving more, talking more (or listening), being kinder, raising ourselves to a better understanding of just how much Jesus does love us. Yes! We can measure up! We can reflect on this during this Lenten Season, and we can pray for guidance to persevere in finding God's will for us each and every day. Like Martha, we can be busy in practicing virtues (works) and like Mary we can listen to what God is saying to us (contemplative). Each of us, in our hearts, has the capacity to hear and feel the goodness of the Lord.

ACTUALLY HUMAN

There is no potential to have tea if there is no tea.

By FRATER BOVIOUS
Guest Writer to Joe Catholic

---

(CARROLLTON, Cradle of Civilization) -  An article, by "ethicists" no less, and which requires imbibing something stronger than tea to digest, asks the question: "After-birth abortion: why should the baby live?"


Indeed.


I wrote about this from one viewpoint over at The Spiritual Advocate but would like to actually answer via this blog, as the question requires an answer. The short answer is because it is a baby, which is to say that it is a human being and deserving of all the rights and protections normally accorded to a human being.


Much of the "debate" over the status of a fetus under the law, and now by extension a newborn, hinges on whether it "has rights". Any way you slice it, this question of rights has to do, fundamentally with its status as a human being. It may be disguised as a debate about "person-hood", but this distinction is speculative and subjective rubbish.


That the baby is objectively a human being is not debatable. I will demonstrate with a rubber ball.

This is a picture of a red rubber ball. You may have seen one of these before. There was a time when it was not a red rubber ball, it was instead just an idea in someone's mind, or in various stages of production, i.e. a mess of chemicals, a puddle of goo, etc. But at some point when the idea of a sphere is merged with material, i.e. rubber, it becomes a ball. Please note, it did not gradually become a ball. There was rubber, machinery, workers, etc. and then - a ball. There is no point at which someone would deny that the ball has the equivalent of ball "person-hood" that it later somehow achieves. There are the component parts that go into making a ball, and then there is a ball. There is no in between state.

Once it exists, the red rubber ball is full of potency. It may sit there doing nothing for weeks or months, nevertheless, all that time it has the potential to bounce, roll, be kicked, be a source of amusement. It also has the potential to be melted down into a puddle of goo. At that point, it ceases to be a ball, largely because it has lost the form of a ball, i.e. that spherical shape so handy for bouncing. What has not changed is the matter the ball was made of, i.e. rubber. But, rubber by itself is not a ball, and the idea of a sphere, by itself, is also not a ball. Matter and form together make a ball. This concept was called by Aristotle hylomorphism or matter-formism. That this is a correct understanding of reality is not in question.

Lest you think that the form of the ball gives an out to people that think the form of a human is not a fetus, please, think again. A ball can be red or blue. It can be a golf ball with dimples or a beach ball full of air. All of those aspects are the accidents of the ball, that is the non-essential attributes of specific balls. The essential attributes, its essence, to name two, are its sphericity and its bounciness. So, hold that thought.


The point is this: For the ball to bounce it must exist. Which is to say, for a ball to have the potential to bounce, it must first exist. Fancy ways of describing this use terms such as "act" and "potency", or actuality and potentiality. And, simply, for something to have any potency, it must first have actuality. This may seem counter-intuitive, I suggest a cigar and a scotch to help you ponder this. In fact, I shall join you...

OK, ready? The word "potential" is used a lot to signify something that is incorrect. The term "potentially human" comes to mind when speaking of a fetus. Now this is critical - the implication is that something that does exist, but is not human, has the potential to be human.

But, you see, that is exactly wrong. For if this were true, it would be logical to state that a dog or a tree is potentially human. As Inigo Montoya said to Vizzini, "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." For the word potential describes a quality inherent in the object. Only a human being has human potential, that is, the ability to be all the things we equate with being human. 

That the above is true is recognized by everyone with any intellectual integrity and cannot be seriously debated. So, the concept of "person-hood" is brought in to supposedly impact the argument about the status of a fetus, or now as distressingly proposed in the article that triggered this post, a baby.
 

This is a baby, well, a toddler. You may have seen one of these before. There was a time when it was not a baby, it was instead just an idea in someone's mind, a gleam in daddy's eye, as they say, and two separate bits of genetic material that needed to be put together. All the genetic information it would ever need was present in its entirety in those two bits of genetic material - a sperm cell and an egg cell. But at some point, once those merge, the moment the sperm meets the egg, at that point it becomes a human. Right? Well, no, not actually. We still need the form - so far we just have the material. What is the form? See note at the end. Meanwhile, please recognize, the sperm and egg did not gradually become human. There was man, woman, genetic material, etc. and then - a human.

Once it exists, the baby is full of potency. It may sit there doing nothing for weeks or months, nevertheless, all that time it has the potential to grow, develop, learn to walk and talk, go to school, graduate, get married and be a parent in turn. But none of those potentials exist, can exist, if there is no human to start with. Even if the point of person-hood were valid, which it is not, it would at any rate simply be one of the potentialities of being a human.


Simply - if a human ever has the potential to do anything, it has always had that potential. Many many potentials go unrealized; nevertheless, the potential is there but only because the person is there. A ball may be made and then put on the shelf for months or years, the factory may burn down before the ball ever actually is bounced, but that the ball could bounce is unaffected by the time that elapses between when it was made and when, or if, it bounces. The fact that it never bounced means nothing. It is still a ball.

And a human is a human. The fact that for a period of time it is in the womb, or that for a period of time it is entirely reliant on others for survival, or that some people want to make a specious claim that is does not have person-hood, means nothing. It is unarguably human. That is why the baby should live.

About form - and whether or not being a fetus has anything to do with being a person, it does not. Some people have red hair, some have gray. Some people are young and some are old. Some have all their limbs, and some lost a leg or arm in an accident or war. No one would seriously argue that a man with two arms has "person-hood" while a man with one arm does not. These things are the accidents of a human being, not the essence. The essence in this case is in its form, that is, whatever it is that coupled with material makes us human. It is tempting to think that our essence or form is encoded in our DNA, but that is wrong. The DNA is not our form, the DNA is part of the material that is joined with the form to make a human. So, what is the form of a human? Aristotle called it the soul. It is that thing that distinguishes us from all other animals, i.e. our rational soul. That is all we have space for here about that.

FB

Is Holiness Possible?

Universal Call to Holiness

Holiness begins by assenting to the will of the Father and therefore the outpouring of his grace. Those who seek holiness “must follow in His footsteps and conform themselves to His image seeking the will of the Father in all things” (Lumen Gentium, 5). This is initially manifested in the sacrament of Baptism wherein one enters into union with God who is holiness.

God initiates this call to holiness, which is essentially a call to a relationship with him. Since God calls us, it must be possible to answer. In his love for us, God provides man with the tools for sanctification. Primary among these are the sacraments which draw us closer to him by availing us to his grace. He also gives us the liturgy so that me might learn how to pray, the essential tool to develop our relationship with the Lord. He provides the faithful with role models to follow in the lives of the saints. Their lives provide evidence that answering the call to holiness is possible for all.

The call to universal holiness is not something simply born out of Vatican II. Christ gave us the instruction to all of us to be perfect as the Father is perfect (Matt 5:48). The saints and popes have written about this instruction years before the Second Vatican Council.

St. Francis de Sales wrote in the 16th Century:

"But my object is to teach those who are living in towns, at court, in their own households, and whose calling obliges them to a social life, so far as externals are concerned. Such persons are apt to reject all attempt to lead a devout life under the plea of impossibility[.]" (vi)

Pope Piux XI in 1930 issued the encyclical Casti Connubii in which he said:

For all men of every condition, in whatever honorable walk of life they may be, can and ought to imitate that most perfect example of holiness placed before man by God, namely Christ Our Lord, and by God's grace to arrive at the summit of perfection, as is proved by the example set us of many saints. (CC, 23)

I'd like to close with a point from St. Josemaria: "Conversion is the matter of a moment. Sanctification is the work of a lifetime." (The Way, #285)

How Many Times Should I Forgive?

Image from Dinah Roe Kendall

The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
In today's Gospel reading, Jesus tells the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant. Until a few years ago, I had not given this parable much thought. Then, on a pilgrimage to the National Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament and EWTN, it hit me squarely between the eyes.

Confession and Life on the Rock
Late June of 2004. Stacey and I had set out for our first trip to the headquarters of EWTN and to visit the nearby shrine. Our first full day there, we decided to go to reconciliation. I happened to be in the line for the confessional in which Father Anthony Mary was hearing confessions. I'm not going to lie, I thought it was pretty cool that I was going to Confession with the (then) co-host of Life on the Rock. While I was in the confessional, I caught myself confessing the same sin I had been struggling with for months. I don't remember exactly what Fr. Anthony said to me, but it jarred me into remembering a huge argument I had had with my son Kevin recently.

I am the Unforgiving Servant
I don't remember the underlying reason for the argument with Kevin. In retrospect, it was probably something having to do with daily chores. Nevertheless, what I do remember is me clearly responding to his apology by saying, "I don't want to hear you're sorry. I am tired of you doing the same thing over and over again. I want to see results!" The memory of those words shot through my mind as Father Anthony spoke the words of absolution.

Our Father
The thought of the parable moved me to change my approach to forgiving others. Taking into account the line in the Our Father - "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us" - it was also a self-serving decision. If I didn't learn to forgive, I was not only hurting others, but I was condemning myself. Do we really want God to forgive us like we forgive others?

How Many Times Must I Forgive?
When Peter poses the question about how many times we should forgive, it might be tempting to judge him. We shouldn't be so quick to do so. If we just take the reading literally, how many of us would be willing to forgive seven times? The number seven represents completion in the Bible. But Jesus goes beyond that by saying we should forgive seventy-seven (see Gen 4:24) times which suggests that we should be infinitely merciful in forgiving, as He is. The parable is told in that context. If we review the details of the parable we discover that its about the forgiveness of a disproportionate debt. We will never be worthy of Lord's forgiveness, yet all we have to do is ask for it. If only we could do the same with others.

Some advice from St. Josemaria:

Force yourself, if necessary, always to forgive those who offend you, from the very first moment. For the greatest injury or offense that you can suffer from them is nothing compared to what God has pardoned you (The Way, 452).

Lent is a good time to start working on that.

Tuesday Tech Talk: God and the Machine

If you like the occasional Tuesday Tech Talk posts I have written reviewing technology from a Catholic perspective you will love Thomas L. McDonald's new blog God and the Machine. McDonald is eminently more qualified to write about technology than I will ever be. He has written numerous articles (mostly) on technology for several different publications.  You can view a more complete list of his work on his Blogger's Bio. Additionally, he is a certified catechist for the Diocese of Trenton. He has also written on religion for the National Catholic Register and he is working on his Masters in Theology.

He writes another blog on gaming entitled State of Play.  Not being much of a gamer, I haven't read that one, but I trust the advice of Happy Catholic, who directed me to God and the Machine with her recent post. I read McDonald's early posts and I like them. His writing is both witty and insightful. I think his Illustrated Introduction does a great job of quickly displaying this wit. His approach reminds me of some of the prose often found in Wired. I am a fan of Wired and I mean this as a compliment.

I have added God and the Machine to Joe Catholic Blog Roll.  I recommend you check it out.

A Priest, Two Deacons and Acolytes

Last week I posted that seven men in our parish would be installed by Bishop Kevin Vann as Acolytes. Six of the seven (one had a work conflict) were installed Saturday and served at Mass this Sunday. It was great to see Father Mathew have a complete team of helpers. At the 5pm Mass yesterday we had two deacons, two acolytes and three altar servers. This coupled with the chanting of many of the prayers, added a nice solemn touch deserving of the Mass.

I am proud to say that five of the six acolytes are regular attendees at Joe Catholic and the other has attended some of the gatherings. More importantly, I am thankful that these men answered the call to serve the Lord and our parish in this capacity. I can only think that they will serve as role models for boys to become altar servers. Perhaps some young men may even become open to the vocation to the priesthood.

North Texas Catholic Men's Conference

April 28, 2012, Joe Catholic is taking its gathering on the road to go see the men of Crossing the Goal at the North Texas Catholic Men's Conference.

The speakers will include Danny Abromowitz, Peter Herbeck, Curtis Martin and Brian Patrick.  They will speaking on Conversion, Transformation, Evangelization and How to Start a Men's Group. Additionally the team will be joined by Aux. Bishops Deshotel and Seitz.

The sacrament of Reconciliation will be offered throughout the day. There will also be an opportunity for Eucharistic Adoration and for praying the Holy Rosary. Mass will be celebrated and Aux. Bishop Deshotel will conduct Benediction.

The conference is being hosted by the Brothers of Christ at Prince of Peace Catholic Church in Plano, TX. If you register before April 13th the investment in your spiritual development is only $25. After that deadline it goes up to $35.

Spiritual Toolbox: The Sign of the Cross

[Originally posted 8/5/09, this update contains significant upgrades to the links and has added commentary]

The Sign of the Cross is one of the most basic prayers in the Catholic Church. For many of us, it may have been the very first prayer we learned. The simplicity of the prayer speaks to the perfect simplicity of the Holy Trinity. Proclaiming the name of God is a powerful prayer in itself.

SaintsSQPN describes the prayer this way:

The most important of the sacramentals. It is a symbol of our deliverance from Satan, and an emblem of God‘s mercy as manifested through the crucifixion of Our Saviour. It consists in making a movement with the hands, or with some object, in the form of a cross. 

[T]he words and the action form a summary of the Catholic faith in God and the Redemption. We say “In the name” – expressing the unity of God; we mention the three Persons of the Trinity; the cross itself, made with the hand, manifests our belief in the Incarnation, death, and resurrection of Our Saviour, and shows that we regard Him not only as God but as man – for otherwise He could not die. The use of this sign goes back probably to the days of the Apostles. 

Here are some resources explaining the origin of the Sign of the Cross and why we make this gesture with the prayer.

Catholic Encyclopedia

Early Explanation

Interview with Bert Ghezzi on Catholic Online

Karl Keating (link to audio has expired)

The Sign of the Cross, Bert Ghezzi (the book featured in the picture)

Prayer, The Golden Rule & Forgiveness

Today's Gospel begins with instruction on the efficacy of persevering in prayer and closes with the Golden Rule. We have probably all heard this reading a number of times. I believe that we have a tendency to become desensitized to the message of these passages when he hear them, but fail to reflect on them.

Ask and You Shall Receive
I know when I was younger I used to think this verse meant that I would get what ever I asked of God. In retrospect, I now I understand I was treating the LORD like some personal genie to grant my every wish. If that were indeed the case, why is it that I don't always get what I ask for?

According to the commentators of the Navarre Bible, "St. Augustine says that our prayer is not heard because we ask 'aut mali, aut male, aut mala.' "Mali' (= evil people): because we are evil, because our personal dispositions are not good; 'male' (= badly): because we pray badly, without faith, not persevering, not humbly; 'mala' (= bad things): because we ask for bad things, that is, things which are not good for us, things which can harm us" (cf. "De Civitate Dei, XX", 22 and 27; "De Serm. Dom. In Monte", II, 27, 73) (As sited by Navarre Bible commentary).

Give Him a Serpent?
We find a clarification to St. Augustine's commentary in the next verse. Jesus uses two great analogies to demonstrate that God, who is perfectly good, will not give us a bad. I love reading this passage because it always reminds me of my Mom. She loved quoting this scripture when I asked her for something. Recently, I had the opportunity to quote it back to her when she was surprised by something Stacey and I had recently given her.

I like St. Josemaria's in response to this passage: "Pray. In what human venture could you have greater guarantee of success?" (The Way, 96).

The Golden Rule
The Catechism of the Catholic Church addresses the Golden Rule specifically:

The Law of the Gospel requires us to make the decisive choice between "the two ways" and to put into practice the words of the Lord. It is summed up in the Golden Rule, "Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; this is the law and the prophets." 

The entire Law of the Gospel is contained in the "new commandment" of Jesus, to love one another as he has loved us. (CCC, 1970)

This rule can be viewed in its proper context when joined with Christ's statement to "love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another" (John 13:34). When we really think about what Jesus is saying, it can (and should) cut to our hearts. Christ demonstrated his love for us by dying on the cross for us. If we are to love like him we should be willing to die for others. This does not mean literally laying our lives (although sometimes it might), but rather humbling ourselves to serve or put up with others. St. Josemaria had a witty way of describing this:

Long faces, coarse manners, a ridiculous appearance, a repelling air. Is that how you hope to inspire others to follow Christ? 

Penance means being very charitable at all times towards those around you, starting with the members of your own family. It is to be full of tenderness and kindness towards the suffering, the sick and the infirm. It is to give patient answers to people who are boring and annoying. It means interrupting our work or changing our plans, when circumstances make this necessary, above all when the just and rightful needs of others are involved. 

Penance consists in putting up good-humouredly with the thousand and one little pinpricks of each day; in not abandoning your job, although you have momentarily lost the enthusiasm with which you started it; in eating gladly whatever is served, without being fussy. (Friends of God, 138)

Forgiveness

I can't help but think that this Gospel reading is also related to yesterday's focus on forgiveness. We are called to forgive those who hurt us. Who are we to hold on to that grudge when Christ was willing to forgive all our sins (debts)?

During this time of Lent we need to refocus our efforts in forgiving others and enduring the daily pinpricks of our lives. We have to live the love of Christ. When we begin to do this, our lives become reflections of Christ's love and evangelization ensues.