Lenten reflections before Easter

James F. Donelan, S.J. was loved and respected as much for his gentle, charismatic nature as for his great gift as a writer. Father Donelan spent over 40 years in the Philippines, six of them as college dean, rector, and president of the Ateneo de Manila University. Some of his most powerful and lyrical homilies ever delivered were at the Asian Institute of Management. 

Many of these were reflected in his book, “God’s Crooked Lines: The Search for the Truth”. Notes here on Lent are drawn from his work as a master story teller.

The Silence Game

The Silence Game is an unusual exercise enjoyed by preschoolers. The class “plays” it sitting together before storytelling. The teacher sets the mood saying, “Silence with your hands!” The children stop poking, jabbing or pushing each other. “Silence with your feet!” The shuffling of feet stops. Everyone straightens up in attention. Some may still continue talking. Now, the teacher instructs, “Silence with your mouth.” Sometimes, the youngest child barely four years old may still be restless so the teacher comments, “Jojo is still too small. He cannot make silence.” The child is challenged and quiets down.

Then, there is complete silence. Teacher says, “Let’s close our eyes and listen to the sound of silence…”

Silence is a prerequisite to our Lenten meditations. Communing with Our Lord is an intense relationship that takes place when we are deep in prayer.

The sign of the ashes

Receiving the sign of the ashes, using the dusty remains of last year’s palms on our forehead on Ash Wednesday, is the start of the Lenten season running through six Sundays of Lent. One can view Ash Wednesday as a communal proclamation of guilt. It is a reminder that we are broken pieces of God’s pottery.

Is Ash Wednesday a somber acknowledgment that we are sinful and that our lives are only a “handful of dust?” If so, it lacks the sense of hope and affirmation.

Father Donelan sees a different view of Lent. It is an unspoken theology, written in the lines of our faces and revealed in our eyes. It is a spirituality and Christians believe in the paschal mystery even though they cannot fully explain it. It is a vision of hope that is expressed in ways that transcend words.

“Remember, man, that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return.”

Why do we come seeking the sign of ashes on our forehead? It is far more than an acknowledgment of our sinfulness. We have come together to remember that God cares for us because we are of the earth. We celebrate that the Father loves us in our brokenness. 

The sign on our foreheads is a trace of love, not a proclamation of judgment. It is a sign of the cross. It is not a smudge of failure; it is a badge of victory. It says: I am of the earth, I have been loved into life by my Creator.

From winter to spring

Father Donelan explained, “In the Old English language, Lent simply meant a time for preparation for spring. Winter had come, the earth was frozen. It was time to prepare… To sharpen the plows, the scythes, the oxen, to saddle-soap the harnesses, reins, saddles — to get everything ready for a new life. Lent is a preparation for a new springtime — not of nature alone, but of grace… This does not prevent man from depending on things for security. It may even motivate him further in their efforts to stockpile the world’s goods.”

“In the autumn of life the painful truth becomes clear. It is a sadness that is deeper than wounds. Those who depended upon things to make them happy must face the self-deception and the lost years. While they are multiplying stocks and bonds, time is robbing them of their investment. In the face of mortality, the security of stored-up treasures turns into ashes. The investment and the insurance policies, the clothes and the furniture, the jewels and the antiques are no longer important. They are carefully listed in a will and handed on to someone else, but they help us discover something that will not fall to the ground and decay. It is a yearning for a light that will not fade and a life that will not die.”

An age that transcends the barrier of time

In this age, science has gone beyond the usual limitations of time to make the present moment available with new immediacy. We can “transcend the barriers of time” through commercial jet travel, through radio, television, and satellite communication systems. We enjoy the benefits of instant photographs and pre-built homes, microwave ovens and fast food. 

What are the benefits and burdens of these technological breakthroughs? They may make our lives more flexible and more convenient. Yet, the danger is they create impatience since we feel that we can transcend time and its limits in all areas of our lives. Thus, we expect instant tuning and information through radio and television. We also expect instant skills, instant knowledge, instant wisdom, instant maturity, and even instant relationship.

We see relationship as rapid and efficient as a weather satellite. We look for shortcuts to prayer. We want God to respond on our terms and our schedule.

Some things cannot be rushed

There are some things that cannot be rushed. Good wine still needs to be aged. The rivers move at their own pace. The dawn cannot be hurried. The geese know when to fly. The salmon recognizes when it is time to swim upstream. The bear knows when it is spring. The rose responds to the warmth of the sun. Despite our impatience, we cannot alter the slow unfolding of the seasons.

It takes time to develop the skills of human living and even more time to deepen them into habits of mind and heart. It takes long hours of intense training and years of self-discipline to become an Olympic athlete, an accomplished pianist or a jazz trumpeter. 

It is a lonely journey that transforms a gift into practical skills, and skill into an art: when the poet has finally discovered the words; when the composer has found the music to match his lyrics; when the painter gives final form to the colors; when the long journey finally finds its season; and creativity has discovered its hour. 

It is a moment of destiny when human vision expresses its uniqueness and praises the goodness of its Creator.

Finding Me

My child, you ask for service. Verily shall it be given. All about you shall you find it. You so little realize the Great Power flowing through you. You are like a mighty dynamo, and more and more shall you see miracles rise up as you pass on your way.

You cry out for light and understanding, and you cry not in vain. Great truths shall be revealed to you; listen for My Voice, that these things shall not pass you by. You often feel a need to dine Me in ceremonies, in rituals. I feel a crying-out in your soul for some way to contact Me. But listen carefully and ponder much on this – a truth which many lose, and which keeps them from the companionship with Me which otherwise they might have.

It is this: In simple ways and by simple means is the best contact made between man and his Maker. You need not seek out places where altar fires burn, or go through deeply impressive ceremonies. Light the altar fires in the throne room of your heart and there shall you find Me, and you know Me, through the simple everyday things in life, all about you.

Yes, I am even now in the gentle breeze you hear through the rustling leaves. I am in the shaft of sunlight slanting across the grass. I am in the fragrance of the flowers, in the starry sky and the soft moonlight. Learn to know Me through these simple, lovely things of My Creation, and never shall you have need to seek Me out in complex ways. So bless art thou to hear My Voice in the inner thoughts and recesses of your soul, My child, as I bring you these truths. You can serve Me well, for they are as a foundation stone for a life lived in My Service. (Quiet Talks with the Master by Eva Bell Werber)

(Reference: Donelan, James F. God’s Crooker Lines: The Search for the Truth/ The collected homilies of Fr. J. F. Donelan, SJ – Makati City: Tahanan Books, c1998)

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