The purpose of prayers is to "raise the heart and mind to God" according to St. John of Damascus. Bishop Barron goes to his chapel and spends an hour before the Blessed Sacrament - He also proposed to the faithful to attend Mass more frequently during Lent which allows the faithful to get more deeply into the spirituality of Christ's sacrifice - Pray the Rosary if possible, and the Jesus Prayer (which I love) "Lord Jesus Christ Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner." A beautiful prayer that he mentioned is to ask the Lord to help us in our distress and to avoid temptations...I would add depression to the list since young adults could think of suicide...Probably the prayer that helps most is in the "Examen" in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola - It is about opportunities to do good and serve the Lord and in this way one helps the needy and the forsaken since God loves you more than yourself (see it here).
If Lent is about the carrying the cross with Jesus, we may as well listen again to a deep homily by Fr. Georges Farah; MSP at Jesus the King parish in Toronto here.
A beautiful prayer sung in Byzantine Churches during Lent is the Akathist prayer to the Theotokos (Listen here). Another beautiful hymn is
For fasting, Bishop Barron recommends abstinence from food that give pleasure and/or activities that encourage lust and pride. As for alms-giving, Bishop Barron said that alms-giving is a form of giving from one's own material sufficiency to help the poor and the needy...
As agreed with my spiritual director, Fr. Daniel Callam; CSB, the three acts that I attempt to grow in are: reading with an open mind to understand; abstinence from eating/drinking a couple of things that I like; and alms-giving to charities that we trust. I have been reading selected chapters from the Books of the Bible including Psalms 51, 53, 103; Hosea 2, 3; Matthew 8, Mark 1, St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, and the Book of Revelation since they give me hope for tomorrow and remind me of good things from God that I experienced.
I know that much of the Biblical text has been interpreted by the Fathers, Doctors, and theologians of the Church. Msgr. Robert Nusca, pastor of Holy Rosary parish where my wife and I regularly attend Mass, is a well-known Biblical scholar (On Sunday March 1 I received the Body of Christ from him). I recall, however, a discussion in the Greek Catholic patriarchate in the mid 1970s with the late saintly Bishop Paul Antaki the Great. In a small group he shared with us some Biblical interpretations, among which the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus came into discussion (Luke 16:19-31). I asked Bishop Antaki "If the rich man was in hell, he would hate everyone else and could not ask Abraham to send Lazarus 'to dip the tip of his finger to cool my tongue' and furthermore to send Lazarus to the rich person's five brothers 'so that he may warn them lest they come to this place of torment' (Luke 16:28)." He answered that parables are symbolic and should not be interpreted literally. In 2019, Bishop Robert Barron spoke here about St. John Henry Newman's "The Development of Christian Doctrine" which may help us understand whether there is a change in the Church's perception or is it constant. The Second Vatican Council authoritatively teaches how the Church grows in understanding the fullness of Christ's truth. This is written in the Council's Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation - Dei Verbum (here).
In much of today's world, however, there is more fear of the risk of getting sick with the Corona virus. We remain hopeful that health officials will find a cure. In the geo-political world, competition between powers whether regionally or globally involves much risk too. On February 27, 2020 MEMRI TV presented a video in which a Russian biologist claimed there is a plan to use Corona virus against America's enemies: Igor Nikulin, who was presented as a former member of the U.N. Commission on Biological and Chemical Weapons, said in a February 27, 2020 interview on Russia Today's Arabic-language channel that he believes it is no coincidence that the coronavirus has had the effect it has in China, Iran, and certain European countries. He said that coronavirus was carefully selected to affect countries that rival the United States and that it is a conspiracy by the "global government," which he said consists of 200 families that control over $400 trillion, that own the media outlets and Hollywood, that control the minds of humanity, and that want to decrease the world's population by 90%. He suggested that it may be possible that coronavirus is a targeted biological weapon, like he said Ebola and the bird flu were, that infects some people and not others, and he said that the U.S. government may be testing a pathogenic agent it began developing in 1999. Nikulin also said that this is a warning to the non-English-speaking world that it must submit to the laws that are imposed upon it (here). While Turkey, Iran, Israel, and Saudi Arabia vie for leadership in the Middle East, on March 5, 2020 Russia's Vladimir Putin had the Islamist leader of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan sign a deal to stop his troops attack on Idlib of North Syria which caused many Christians to flee to Iraq amid requests for assistance (read Reuters here). Earlier, on February 28, Russia announced it had dispatched two state-of-the-art warships to the Middle East after an attack in Syria killed 33 Turkish soldiers (read NBC News here). Troops who go to the battle risk their lives; Astro-cosmologists who go in the outer space risk their lives too but they trust the technological advances made in the past decades; Researchers who spend much on their research risk exposing their high profiles; With the diabolic pedophilia of boys by a few priests, the Church risked losing many faithful; On March 6 evening in Yorkdake-Toronto, people in the mall ran for their lives as teenagers used guns to steal drugs from pharmacies - The police arrested 4 young adults (read it here). Since the beginning of human tribes, in order to guarantee the survival of their
"for `In him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28). The above words were said by St. Paul. But does this mean that he did not have to risk his life when preaching about Christ who is the "The Way, Truth, and Life" ?
Every act involves risk. This is true for everything that exists - from the subatomic world to the cosmic galaxies...
This can be illustrated too in the development of the very ancient human tribes whose leaders had to take the risk of fighting animals as well as any strangers or other tribes for preserving their lives and reproducing themselves...In the history of ancient nations, it is found online here. The ancient civilization of Egypt is one such example. Egyptians found that survival necessitated living around the Nile where water flows for many kilometers - The most astonishing achievement in Ancient Egypt that survives to today is the Great Pyramid of Khufu since it orients Egypt's kings to the god Sun that rises and sets and symbolizes the resurrection cycle - In 2019, NOVA published a documentary showing the precision of engineering and the great work it took to make it an achievement - See it here.
With competition risks increase...The late contemporary philosopher René Girard expressed competition in his "mimetic rivalry" and the mechanism of the scapegoat - See Bishop Robert Barron comment on Girard's work here.
Although Lent is about carrying the cross with Christ, we can only rejoice in the departure to God of Fr. George Coyne, S.J. on February 14, 2020 - Fr. Coyne was for many years the Director of the Vatican Observatory. It was reported by Mrs. Maggie Ciskanik, MS associated with Fr. Robert Spitzer, S.J, Ph.D. at Magis Center - Read her post here.
It was through the Word of God (Christ) that the cosmos came into being and continues to be; for it is written "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made." (John 1: 1-3).
