Now is the Acceptable Time …2 Cor. 2: 6

I have to admit it. I have always been a “Judas Sympathizer”. I said sympathizer not fan. Let me explain. The other day at work, a discussion arose about the Life of Jesus series on the History Channel. (And get this! No one fought about religion and no Christians were fired for discussing God in the workplace!!) The focus of the conversation was the sympathetic portrayal of Judas. “He caused this”… “He betrayed Him.”… “Well, Peter denied even knowing Jesus.” … “But that wouldn’t have happened without Judas’ betrayal.” I always felt we never really knew the full Judas story.

As the conversation continued focus shifted to the High Priests and Sanhedrin. They were the villains. Then it moved to the Roman occupiers. Pontius Pilate saw that he was innocent, but took the easy way out. He is the one responsible for Jesus’ crucifixion. Another concluded, “Well, we are all responsible for it by our sins.”

All of a sudden, someone said, “Ultimately, there is only one person responsible for the death of Jesus.” We looked on and what continued stopped the conversation. “Jesus. He was responsible. He gave himself into all of their hands. He surrendered himself to Cross for us…even them.” TRUTH surrendered to sin and death.

The Surrender of Sacrifice is the reality of Christ’s ultimate acts as Messiah. The work of the Messiah began with the first surrender. The Incarnation. When the Second Person of the Triune God, left his place in Heaven to become flesh and dwell among us, he surrendered his majesty. Not His freedom, not his relationship to Father or Holy Spirit, not even his authority…but he surrendered his place. He humbled himself, as St. Paul tells us in the letter to the Philippians, and took the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men. THINK OF THAT. God created us in HIS IMAGE and LIKENESS…and in order to save us…is born IN OUR IMAGE and LIKENESS. Pilate will say rightly to the crowd, when he points to a scourged and beaten Jesus “Behold the man”. (John 19).

Judas, Peter, Chief Priests, Herod, Pilate, the Crowd…they had no power over Jesus. It was as Savior He said yes to the path to the cross. The surrender to sacrifice was his choice and his alone. Two beautiful words…surrender and sacrifice. Surrender means to give in or give up. Used most often in the context of war or conflict, surrender has both a negative and positive connotation. The negative of course is loss. The one who surrenders loses. The positive meaning is that the conflict is over. But there is a deeper reality for the one who surrenders. The one who surrenders gives in or gives up because there is a knowledge or belief that what lies ahead is better. The one to which he surrenders has a duty or obligation to do something different on their behalf. No longer at war, peace begins…and it begins with the one who surrenders.

Jesus does not surrender to Judas, Peter, the Chief Priests, Herod, Pilate, or the Crowd. Jesus surrenders to the FATHER. And it may look like it is just Jesus nailed and bloodied on that wooden crossbeam on Calvary, but it is not. In Jesus, the innocent victim is Judas, Peter, Chief Priests, Herod, Pilate, the Crowd and you and me.
Again, as Paul tells us, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Cor. 5:21

And finally, sacrifice. Things aren’t always what they seem. Think about it. If you are a parent, think about the things you have done for your children. Didn’t you sacrifice (or aren’t you sacrificing for them right now) for them? Why? Because there is something better for them in the future. And you want to be part of that. You want to help make that happen. Maybe it is day care, work schedule, school tuition, cellphone, a car insurance, health insurance, a friend on vacation, new clothes for them and not you…you know what you sacrifice…and you would do it again, right? Yes.

Sacrifice is a beautiful word. It means TO MAKE HOLY. At the Cross, the Father Son and Holy Spirit are united in such an explicit and implicit moment of sacrifice – FOR US and FOR OUR SALVATION. The Father spares nothing for us. He sacrifices HIS Son. The Son surrenders to the Father, because He knows the Father can be trusted and the future he offers is real. And this whole loving drama happens within the communion of love between them in the Power of the Holy Spirit.

Good Friday – the surrender of sacrifice, for us and for our salvation.

Let us surrender to this gift and offer a sacrifice of praise through our lives.

Tonight we begin the great Triduum…the three solemn days that lead up to the culmination of our Lenten Journey and our eternal goal, new life in Christ.  For Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday (without the Easter Vigil), the focus of this three part reflection will be surrender.  Each of these days calls us to surrender, just as Jesus did.

Holy Thursday – The Surrender of Service

It is interesting that this night in which the Church gathers to commemorate the institution of the Holy Eucharist, its focus is not on the Altar until after the liturgy.  The Gospel from John gives witness to the meaning of both the Eucharistic celebration and the Priestly ministry of all of God’s people.  Service. 

Giving back, Community Service, volunteering etc are all words whose meaning the culture has obliterated.  No longer is it really selfless.  It comes from guilt or with strings or for self-image or import.  This is not service.  This is self-inflating engagement.  This is not what the Christ of Holy Thursday is all about.

Moving from the first position to the last is a sacrifice of place/status.  Jesus, son of God, creator of the Universe, moves to the spot of the floor, to serve.  Jesus reaches out to his closes friends, those who have walked with him.  Those who knew him best.  I believe that Judas was there.  It says that, “The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over.”  But it does not indicate that he left the meal.  I believe that Jesus washed the feet even of his betrayer.  Why?  The only one whose feet we know he washed were Peter’s…his denier!  Are betrayal and denial that far apart?  Thus the Surrender of Service…even and especially to those undeserving or unworthy of it.

Our service as followers of Christ must be the same.  It must be a surrendering of our place…of our status, or comfort, or even our selfish desire a positive self-image, remittance of guilt or for gratitude.  Like Jesus, we must strip those things, tie them to our waste and pour ourselves like water over the feet of the world.  We are called and empowered in Him to bring Love to the despised, Joy to the sad, Peace to the afflicted, Patience to the troubled, kindness to the hurt, generosity to those in need, Belief to the doubting, gentleness to the abused and Focus to the lost. (Gal 5:22).

Surrender is not giving up.  It is giving in to a power greater than you that has a promise of a future full of something more. (Jer 29:11)

This past Sunday was our final Confirmation class. I’m sure for the confirmandi there was a little sense of joy, but for me, I was a bit sad. They are great kids. I love being with them and learning from them…as much as I try to offer to relate to them as much of what the Church want to give them…a life full of faith. I know I will see them at the Confirmation practice

and when the Sacrament is conferred two weeks from now…but alas, this session was a short one, as we were going to be part of the Palm Sunday procession. I’ll miss them.

As we waited in a gathering area of St. Joe’s, I got a few “Hi Mr. Bird” greetings from some former students. There was Matt. I can’t believe he’s back from his first year in college and he is even taller. And then Sophia..I can’t believe it. How can she look prettier? And there’s Contessa. If ever parents named their child appropriately it was her’s. She exudes grace and confidence. Glad to see them there at mass.

In a few weeks, this next group of young people, now with palms in hand, will be prayed over and anointed with the Chrism oil. This oil will be blessed during this Holy Week. Not just any oil…the three oils of the Church, the Chrism oil, the Catechumen oil and the oil of the Infirmed are all from the olive. Each are given perfumed to give it a distinct scent and aroma, but its unitive basis is the oil from the olive. And it’s purpose is to convey grace.

Olive trees and the bitter fruit and oil from with it is derived, were even more abundant at the time of Jesus that they are now. But as abundant as it was, olives were not eaten in Jesus’ day since pickling and salting olives was unknown. But the olive played an extremely important role in the economy.

It was used for lighting, cooking, medicine, and the moisturizing of skin. The oil was used to anoint kings, prophets, priests, and Temple articles. Messiah means “anointed one.”

Jesus, on the night before He died went to the Garden of Gethsemane (which means oil press). It is no coincidence or subtle irony that Jesus goes to the mount of olives (a place of the dead) and prays at the oil press. Could any image or setting be more appropriate? Think about it…Jesus in his humanity is being squeeze, crushed, pressed by the weight of his salvific mission. He is praying among the dead — who await life. He presses his very soul his very heart into his prayer to his Heavenly Father. “Let this pass—but not as I will—as you will.”

The dead will know life soon, from this messiah being pressed out and poured over them. Did he not say “give and it shall be given to you, pressed down and overflowing will they pour into the fold of your garments. For the measure with which you measure will be measured back to you” (Luke6:38). He is the measure.

Moreover, the abundance of olives speaks not only to the availability of the fruit, but to its importance to its users. Messiah comes to raise up, to heal and restore what was lost.

My prayer for these beautiful vibrant enthusiastic young people who will be confirmed with the sacred chrism is that they may know they are marked by

the Holy Spirit for both a particular and communal purpose: To live abundantly in His grace and proclaim the freeing power of the Good News… that they have been sealed with gifts promised by the risen Christ poured out in his blood on the cross, raised in the love of the Father and the Holy Spirit and that nothing can strip that from them…no heavy oil press and not even a cross or tomb.

Initial Footage from the destructive fire that consumed Notre Dame struck me to my core. France, for centuries was known as the mother of the Church when Rome was in its decline. For centuries it “held” together the Petrine tradition until St Catherine of Siena rightfully called the pope to retire to the home of the Chair of Peter. But France and Paris in particular was the center of theological scholarship. Imagine, St Thomas Aquinas was at the university of Paris while Notre Dame was being completed in the 12th century.

As I reflected in this inferno, it seemed to resonate with my feelings about what is going on in our Church today. It seems like it is on fire…and nothing seems to be putting those flames out. Sexual sin and abuse, evil cover-ups, betrayals of trust and blatant lack of moral courage have nearly broken our morale and spirit.

But then there is the Cross. That picture of the Cross in the midst of the smoke and subsidizing flames of Notre Dame. Still standing aloft in the midst of all the rubble and destruction is the cross. That stumbling block and obsurdity St. Paul wrote about. (1 Cor 1:23).

As we walk this Holy Week there is no way to bypass the Cross. There is no way to pass go and collect $200. We need to make the trek and ascend the wood and be nailed to the cross beams. There is no escaping the cross.

Thank God! For without it, we would just be cinder and ash.

NOTE:  Our last Sunday Retreat. We are finally here –Palm Sunday–the last Sunday of Lent, Passion Sunday, the beginning of our Holiest Week of the Year.  From the Vigil of the Passion (8:01pm – gotta love Goggle) until the Great Easter Vigil (8:08pm) we have be blessed with 168 hours and 11 minutes. While we have duties, obligations, appointments and assignments (the stuff of life!) let’s try to lift our consciousness and focus on the transformative significance of this week.  Let us keep vigil with Christ.  Let us enter deeply into His passionate love story.  We are, after all, His focus.  He is our lover…and we His beloved.  Let us pray for one another.

Today’s Liturgy of Palm Sunday gives us two proclamations of the Gospel according to Luke.  Like bookends, Chapter 18 and Chapter 22 should smack us in the face.  Jesus faces the same fickle world as we…but it seems His is on steroid.  He enters Jerusalem as an ersatz triumphant King and seemingly dies a blasphemous reject.

Tucked within both passages proclaimed by the Church today is the naming of a simple place: The Mount of Olives. Had I not mentioned it, you might not even give notice. Mentioned only twice in the Old Testament, it is here where David goes to weep…and weep bitterly.  He weeps over the death of his son Ab′salom.  Significant?  I think so. 

While from a human perspective, the story of David and his reengage son is a study in conflict, you would think he would have wanted him dead.  It seemed Ab’salom wanted that end for his dad.  But when word came of his death, David was mortally grieved. While rebellious, could Ab’solom be a symbol of our sinful rebelliousness that Jesus carried to the cross?  And like David’s weeping, was not the Divine passion on display in the heavens and in the quaking of the earth as the Son of God hung dead on the cross?   I think so…and all of this at the Mount of Olives.

The second Old Testament reference to this place is in Zechariah 14:1.  The previous chapter relates the shepherd being struck and the sheep being scattered.  What follows this first verse in Chapter 14 is the unfolding of the future conquering universal kingship of the messiah.  Significant?  I think so.

Each of the remaining New Testament references to the Mount of Olives are all connected to Jesus’ triumphal entrance into Jerusalem and His ultimate ascent to His Throne – the cross.  That is with the exception of John’s Gospel! Remember last week?  Last week’s Gospel from John began with Jesus just having emerged from none other than the Mount of Olives.  Then He encounters the great drama on display between the accusatory scribes and Pharisees and the adulterous woman.

What is so special about this place?  Historically we know that this was a cemetery some five or six centuries before the birth of Jesus.  We know that is was also a sloped hillside with abundant olive groves.  These trees rich with the precious bitter and savory fruit, whose precious oil is used for some of the most expensive purposes—like anointing kings, and the bodies of the dead are present right there. But its seems that in the New Testament references, what makes the Mount of Olives important is that this is a place where Jesus goes to pray.

Why did Jesus come?  What was His mission, his purpose, His very reason to be God-with-us? Jesus came to forgive and to save.  In the singular encounter with the woman caught in the act of adultery, we see it in one humble gesture and dialogue. Jesus came to the lost, to forgive and offer more.  Salvation is so much more than forgiveness.  It is true transformation and abundant living.

And from where did He come?  Jesus reveals this salvific gift from the center of a Divine relationship.  It emerges on the scene from Mount Olive, a place of prayer.  The prayer that happened there was expressive of the deep communion of the Son with the Father in the power of the Spirit. 

Prayer would be the precursor to His ministry.  Prayer would be the sustainer of His way.  When bread and fish were multiplied and an earlier crowd wanted to make Him King, Jesus retired to pray.   Knowing he was to be put to the test, He went to His special place, the Mount of Olives, to pray.  He even prayed for a pass. But only if His Father willed it.  Prayer would be His strengthen and connection, even when He could not long feel it.   Even when His closest friends gave into sleep, the Mount of Olives would be like the eye of the storm.

It is from the Mount of Olives that Jesus hands Himself over (tradere – to hand over, surrender) for us and for our salvation…for the forgiveness of our sins and for the restoration of our eternal relationship.  He really hands Himself over, not to the Temple Guards and the Sanhedrin, but to the will of His Heavenly Father.

So here we stand.  We are now six weeks into this journey and we are with Jesus at the Mount of Olives.  Is there anything that we have in common with Him?  I think so.  When was the last time you panicked or felt like changing plans or direction?  Or thought there has to be an easier way or that God loved you so much He really wouldn’t want you to go through anything difficult?  Well, look to your brother-Savior Jesus.  He’s been there, and then some, but He kept His focus on the Father and His will, and His heart aligned with the Holy Spirit.

So here we are.  Let’s walk with Him this week.  With our hands bound, our heads low, our backs bruised, faces like flint, but with eyes, ears and hearts attuned to the Father’s voice and the Spirit’s prompting.  Holy Week, significant to our spiritual lives?  I think so.

It was a month ago. Hard to believe how fast time flies. Just one month ago I was stuck on the side of the road, one mile from my exit, with a flat tire. Yes, I had a spare — one of those donuts — mind you, the only type of donut unconsumed in my car. However, I had thrown out my shoulder two weeks previous and it was not healed. There was no way I could loosen the lug nuts. So I called my stepson Tyler.

Tyler, among many of his gifts and talents, is an exceptional wrecker driver. He pulls out jack-knifed semi-trackers, cleans up pile-ups and answers calls at all hours. He is a go-to-guy. He came, he hooked, he towed!  

Yesterday I sent Ty a text, just to thank him again for the roadside rescue — and to remind him that if ever the circumstances were reversed, I would be there for him. Our faith life and its journey will find us in many different lanes and roads. Some will be the left lane—faster smoother and with no slow drivers in our way. Most times it’s the center lane—steady, speeding up, braking, looking in the rear view, avoiding obstacles ahead, trying to figure out directions and wondering if this is the correct exit! 

Then there are those days—hopefully few—when your lane isn’t a lane at all. It is a berm, a small patch of asphalt and gravel where you are stuck and flat. We’ve all been haven’t we? But here is the important question: Who rescued you? Who came and hooked you up to themself and got you from point A so you could eventually get to your point B? Who was your Tyler? Because who ever that was — a friend, spouse, pastor, coworker, stranger, child, parent—they were part of the Sacramental Grace of God that makes visibly present Christ on this Journey.

Who has been Christ for you? For whom are you Christ?

As I was writing Sunday, I got a text from Joe who was mid-travel.  What a story he had to share…

JOE’S TEXT Jim – Missed and earlier flight out of LAX – so in lieu of waiting at the airport I found the Church of the Visitation just to the north, went to confession and awaiting mass – they let me put my briefcase in the sacristy and want to take me to the airport after mass.

Such service, such attention, such care…isn’t this what the Family of the Church should be?  It is awesome and incredible when you experience it in such simple yet beautiful gestures.  Ah…this is the measure with which we should measure!

But it gets better!

JOE’S TEXT One of the ushers stopped me from getting an Uber and took me to the airport. Many blessings today!

Grace upon grace.  Our Catholic theology and spirituality teaches that the Grace of God builds upon nature…even our flawed human nature.  St. Paul reminds us, “But law came in, with the result that the trespass multiplied; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,”  Romans 5: 20.  We have a choice…choose to accept sin and stay stuck…or choose grace and grow.  Hello Grace!

Hey Church of the Visitation – great job Sunday team!  You brought your game.  You put the Hyatt to shame.  WHOO WHOO.  Seriously, with eyes wide open, with ears attentive, with hearts disposed do we serve God by serving the one directly in front of us. 

Here is Joe’s final share for that Sunday.  

Joe’s TEXT Fr. Tim McGowan gave me the following prayer, which I loaded into my Notes with my prayer list.

Lenten Prayer of St. Gregory The Great:

Now let us all with one accord,

In fellowship with ages past,

Keep vigil with our heav’nly Lord,

In His temptation and His fast. 

The covenant so long revealed

To faithful men in former time,

Christ by His own example sealed;

The Lord of love, in love sublime. 

Remember, Lord, though frail we be,

By Your own kind hand we were made;

And help us, lest our frailty

Cause Your great name to be betrayed. 

Hear us, O Trinity sublime,

And undivided unity;

So let this consecrated time

Bring forth it’s fruit abundantly. +AMEN

Isn’t the second helping just a little more tasty? Maybe because you had it already and know what to expect? Maybe it’s because you only took a little and weren’t sure if you’d like it? Whatever the case, seconds are to be savored and enjoyed.

If you were fortunate enough to listen to cycle C from the lectionary at Church Sunday, the 2nd Reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians begs another helping.

Let’s do ourselves a favor. Let’s read this, pray this, taste this, savor this passionate passage. Let’s give ourselves some time to slowly read these beautiful words of Paul to the church at Philippi – – to us – – read them silently, read them out loud. Hear the intensity with which Paul proclaim these profound and spirit filled words.

Reading 2 Fifth Sunday of Lent PHIL 3:8-14

Brothers and sisters:
I consider everything as a loss 
because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things 
and I consider them so much rubbish, 
that I may gain Christ and be found in him, 
not having any righteousness of my own based on the law 
but that which comes through faith in Christ, 
the righteousness from God, 
depending on faith to know him and the power of his resurrection 
and the sharing of his sufferings by being conformed to his death, 
if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

It is not that I have already taken hold of it or have already attained perfect maturity, 
but I continue my pursuit in hope that I may possess it, 
since I have indeed been taken possession of by Christ Jesus.
Brothers and sisters, I for my part 
do not consider myself to have taken possession.
Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind 
but straining forward to what lies ahead, 
I continue my pursuit toward the goal, 
the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus.

NOTE: Again, for this Fifth Sunday of Lent, I would like to suggest that we take some time to pray and reflect on the readings for this Sunday.  Like a mini-retreat, how is the Word speaking to us and leading us to deeper conversation and conversion?  Let us pray for one another.

Have you ever been at the receiving end of a pointing finger? Or an accusatory tone? Or the brunt of the gossip and whispers of others?  I have.  There are times when I deserved it.  Other times when it was as false as a late night infomercial.  Nonetheless, the pain, sorrow, anger, regret, embarrassment is real.  I know what that feels like.  It is as real as the blood pulsing through your veins, and the sensation of the heat rising on your cheeks.

The Gospel today is an awesome display of our hypocrisy in the light of God’s overwhelming authenticity.  Before Jesus is the woman “caught” in the act of adultery.  Makes you think…was she set up?  Were they on the lookout?  Was she the Oswald of Adultery Conspiracy Theories that they could trap Jesus with?  Those that brought this woman before Jesus could care less about her.  They were looking for a fight…they were looking to trap this preacher into a corner from which there was no escape.  “This woman has been caught in the act of adultery. According to the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.  What do you say?”

So how does the Word-Made-Flesh respond to this challenge?  Silence.  Jesus is silent.  He stoops and scribbles on the ground. When He “straightened up” he points their inquiry back at them… “Let the one among you without sin be the first to cast a stone at her.”

Touché Jesus!  Like David to Goliath, the Messiah hit them full force between the eyes with the sling shot rock of his words.  No more voices.  No more fingers.  No more accusations.  They walk away.

FIRST COMMENTARY   Where do you want to live?  Do you want to live ONLY in this world?  What does this world give you?  This world gives you hypocrisy.  We live in a salacious TMZ/CelebrityEdition/Gotcha world.  (Just ask Joe Biden if you are wondering?  And I am no Joe Biden fan).  We live in a culture in which at any given moment, anyone or any group can be slighted and DEMAND an apology….and once they get it, it is either, not good enough, too late, insincere etc.  The truth doesn’t matter, because there is no truth.  What is true for you is yours and what is true for me is mine.  We must accept everything and reject nothing…unless I don’t like it…in that case you are a bigot, racist or Nazi and I can relegate you to a fringe that doesn’t matter and should not be heard or seen…but everyone in this culture should have a voice and matter, right?  Very confusing this world we have invented.

What has made us invent (and I mean Invent) such a world?  Is it perhaps because life is hard?  True, we struggle here. We have a need for each other and at the same time we drift away and choose sides and point fingers.  We know the truth and do everything to cover it if it does not reflect well on us.  Life is hard. No doubt.  Lord knows.

Yes, the Lord does know.  The difference between Jesus and the Scribes and Pharisees is how they embrace reality.  The scribes and the pharisees see sin and the challenges of life as someone else problem…like the adulterous woman.  For Jesus, Emmanuel, God-with-us, He sees sin and the challenges of life is everyone’s problem…even His. 

SECOND COMMENTARYSo now Jesus, God-with-us, is face-to-face with the adulterous woman.  Reality.  Real Drama.

He asks, and she replies.  I sometimes imagine this scene.  Does Jesus whisper his question?  Does he speak softly?  Does he stand up and look at the crowd who just wanted to see a stoning to shout at them?  “Woman, where are they?  Has no one condemn you?”

And how does she reply?  What is the sound of her voice? Is it soft? Relieved? Frightened? Exhausted or embarrassed? “No one sir.”  There it is.  Definitive.  No one.  No one condemns her.  No she is not innocent by any means, but no one is there to condemn her…but her. That is reality.

But Jesus, the redeemer, savior, messiah, He is creator as well.  He creates a new reality.  How?  By His WORD.  “Neither do I condemn you.”  Where her sin condemned her, His Word does not.  It transforms her.  It offers her an entirely new identity.  From outcasts to insider – from sinner to saint – for derided to beloved – from lost to found – from harlot to innocent.  This is the offer.

Jesus’ next words are as much for the scribes and the Pharisees as they are for the woman, as they are for you and me.  “…Go and for now on do not sin anymore.”   This realistic Savior changes us and enjoins us.  We are now His.  Our world and our world view is now new…difference.  No longer are we to look at life through the lens of sin. Now we are to live life through the power of grace.

Where do you want to live?  The scribes and Pharisees made a choice to live in this world.  To live with their eyes fixed on sin.  Those who were very loud when they came to Jesus, walked away in silence. And I dare say, sadness.  The one dragged silently to the feet of Jesus is silent no more; powerless no more; sin-bound no more. 

This is but one of our Lenten invitations. Let us repent of our hypocrisy and embrace our (plural) authenticity in Christ. Let us reflect in this world, the world we really want to live in…and the world to which we are called.

Hope you had a good week. Mine was kind of all over the place – – as you can tell by my sporadic posts. I’ve either been too tired or uninspired, such is life.

Anyway, it’s Friday. TGIF. During Lent, TGIF might mean Thank God It’s Fish. The Lenten abstinence from meat has never been a challenge for me. (Fasting on the other hand is a whole other story.) But I grew up with Mrs. Paul’s fish sticks, creamed tuna fish on toast, McDonald’s fish fillet and an occasional fish fry. I’m convinced that the real origins of the push for FISH on Friday is that there must have been a Medieval Pope who had a brother with a failing fish stand! But I digress.

The purpose of this simple abstinence is awareness. Awareness of what you could have but choose against, for something better. There is nothing wrong with Meat. Fish is not the king of the food chain.  Our awareness then moves us to the choice of Christ.  He could have walked away from the garden. He could have said yes to his needs.  There is nothing wrong with walking away.  There is nothing wrong with attending to your needs.  But Christ chose against that immediate, for something better.  He chose that Cross.  He did not walk away, he walked toward…and by doing so, not only bound himself to the Father on that crossbeam – he lifted us up…to be forgiven, cleansed, and redeemed. All this on a Friday that was Good.

So besides meat, from what will we abstain today?