Sundays before Lent respectively Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima. This designation reflected the monastic custom of maintaining a longer, more rigorous fast in preparation for Easter. In the revision of the Calendar, the Church of England has dispensed with the medieval nomenclature whilst retaining something of a penitential flavour to this time of the year.
In the Eastern Churches the Sunday immediately before Lent is known as the ‘Sunday of Forgiveness’. Before renewing our relationship with Christ through the Lenten fast and Paschal mystery, there must be a renewal of relationships within the Body of Christ through the offering and receiving of forgiveness which alone leads to a restoration of trust. The readings chosen for this period of Ordinary Time reflect these themes.
The Fifth Sunday before Lent
A Reading from a homily of John Chrysostom
‘You are the salt of the earth.’ It is not for your own sake, Christ says to his disciples, but for the world’s sake that the word is entrusted to you. I am not sending you to a couple of cities, to ten or twenty cities, not even to a single nation, as I sent the prophets of old, but across land and sea, to the whole world. And that world is in a pitiful state. For when Jesus says: ‘You are the salt of the earth,’ he is indicating that all humanity had lost its savour and been corrupted by sin.
What else do his words imply? For example, were the disciples to restore what had already turned rotten? Not at all. Salt cannot help what has already become corrupted. That is not what they did. Rather what had first been renewed and freed from corruption by Christ, and then turned over to them, they salted and preserved in the newness the Lord had bestowed. It took the power of Christ to free humanity from the corruption caused by sin; it was the task of the apostles through hard work to prevent that corruption from returning.
Have you noticed how, little by little, Christ demonstrates the apostles to be superior to the prophets of old? He says they are to be teachers not simply for Palestine but for the whole world. Do not be surprised, then, he says, that I address you apart from the others and involve you in such a dangerous enterprise. Consider the numerous and extensive cities, peoples and nations I will be sending you to. This is why I would have you make others prudent, as well as being prudent yourselves. For unless you can do that, you will not be able to sustain your own lives.
If others lose their savour, then your ministry will help them regain it. But if you yourselves suffer that loss, you will drag others down with you. Therefore, the greater the undertaking put into your hands, the more zealous you must be. This is why Jesus says: ‘But if salt becomes tasteless, how can its flavour be restored? It is good for nothing now, but to be thrown out and trampled under foot.’
Then Jesus passes on to a yet more exalted comparison: ‘You are the light of the world.’ Once again, note that he says ‘of the world’: not of one nation or twenty cities, but of the whole world. The light of which he speaks is an interior light, something far superior to the rays of the sun we see, just as the salt of which he speaks is a spiritual salt. First salt, then light, so that you may learn how profitable sharp words may be and how important clear doctrine is. Such teaching brings coherence and prevents dissipation; it leads a person to the practice of virtue and sharpens the mind’s eye. ‘A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor do you light a lamp and put it under a basket.’ Once again Jesus urges his disciples to a careful manner of life and teaches them to be watchful, for they live under the scrutiny of others and have the whole world for the arena of their struggles.
Monday after 5 before Lent
A Reading from Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich
Sin is the sharpest scourge that any elect soul can be flogged with. It is the scourge which so reduces a man or woman and makes him loathsome in his own sight that it is not long before he thinks himself fit only to sink down to hell until the touch of the Holy Spirit forces him to contrition, and turns his bitterness to the hope of God’s mercy. Then he begins to heal his wounds, and to rouse his soul as it turns to the life of Holy Church. The Holy Spirit leads him on to confession, so that he deliberately reveals his sins in all their nakedness and reality, and admits with great sorrow and shame that he has befouled the fair image of God. Then for all his sins he performs penance imposed by his confession according to the doctrine of Holy Church, and by the teaching of the Holy Spirit. This is one of the humble things that greatly pleases God. Physical illness that is sent by him is another. Others are those humiliations and griefs caused by outside influences, or by the rejection and contempt of the world, by the various kinds of difficulty and temptation a person may find himself in, whether they be physical or spiritual.
Dearly, indeed, does our Lord hold on to us when it seems to us that we are nearly forsaken and cast away because of our sin – and deservedly so. Because of the humility we acquire this way we are exalted in the sight of God by his grace, and know a very deep contrition and compassion and a genuine longing for God. Then suddenly we are delivered from sin and pain, and raised to blessedness and even made great saints!
Our courteous Lord does not want his servants to despair even if they fall frequently and grievously. Our falling does not stop his loving us. Peace and love are always at work in us, but we are not always in peace and love. But he wants us in this way to realise that he is the foundation of the whole of our life in love, and furthermore that he is our eternal protector, and mighty defender against our enemies who are so very fierce and wicked. And, alas, our need is all the greater since we give them every opportunity by our failures.
Tuesday after 5 before Lent
A Reading from a homily of Basil the Great
‘Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.’ This is why the commandments of our Lord trouble the rich, demanding of them a life that is impossible to live unless they dispense with useless goods.
Your heart will be weighed in the balance and found to be inclined either toward true life or toward present pleasures. It is in stewardship and not in pleasure that one ought to use riches: such ought to be the conviction of those who reason wisely. In giving up wealth they ought to rejoice, convinced that this will be beneficial for others, instead of being tormented by the loss of their own fortune. Why this chagrin? Why this mourning at the injunction to ‘Sell what you have’? It is these same goods which will follow you into eternity. Overshadowed by the glory of heaven, they are not worth eagerly retaining in this life. Since you must leave them here, why not sell them and bring the profits with you to heaven? After all, when you spend gold to buy a horse, you experience no suffering. But at the idea of exchanging corruptible goods for the kingdom of heaven, you cry and repel the offer, refuse to proceed, inventing the pretext of a thousand expenses.
What are you going to tell the judge, you who cover your walls but do not cover the human being? You who adorn your horses and then loudly mock your brother in rags? You who are able to leave alone both your wheat and those who are starving? You who bury your gold and scorn those who are strangled?
Wednesday after 5 before Lent
A Reading from an Introduction to the Devout Life by Francis de Sales
Before we can receive the grace of God into our hearts they must be thoroughly emptied of self-glory. Humility repulses Satan and preserves in us the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit.
If you would know whether a person is truly wise, learned and generous, observe whether his gifts make him humble, modest and open. If so, the gifts are genuine. If they swim on the surface, however, always seeking attention, then they are less than true.
If we stand upon our dignity about places, or precedence,
