Alternative Spring Break (Ash Wednesday 2011-03-09)

This is my homily for Ash Wednesday, 9 March 2011. I am a Catholic chaplain at Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) campus and for the FDU Newman Catholic Association. We celebrate Catholic Mass - during Fall and Spring semester - every Sunday Mass (7:30 p.m.) at the Interfaith Chapel, 842 River Road, Teaneck, NJ.

[__01-necessity of rest] The upcoming university Spring Break [March 14-20, 2011] is absolutely necessary for us to continue our work, our studies… isn’t it necessary?

Is it not also required? A prerequisite about which few of us would protest to the Registrar or Provost.

We take a break from our regular routine … so that we can also resume that our work, …. hypothetically ….at some point in the future.

Academic learning – all learning – requires these time frames of rest between study…
So, next week, even if we were to find ourselves in the sun or at home, we are still preparing for final exams, for graduation, for end-of-year activities.

While not a substitute for note-taking, this rest complements our study …

In the Psalms, we read a similar message, a reminder that the Lord is the giver of every gift, regardless of our efforts and there is a paradox in sleep for every “builder”, “writer”… “worker”–

Psalm 127 –

“If the Lord does not build the house, in vain do the builders labor, if the Lord does not watch over the city, in vain does the watchman keep vigil. In vain is your earlier rising, your going later to rest, you who toil for the bread you eat: when he pours gifts on his beloved while they slumber. ” (Psalm 127)

While we sleep, we rest … the Lord gives gifts to those who have been working in the daylight.

[__02-plans for break?] We might ask ourselves now, what will we do with our break, with our rest?

The holidays, breaks in the action, we are given.

What will we do with these 40-forty days of Lent?

Spring Break for us, our Catholic tradition, a preparation for Easter.

What do we have written in our calendars? How do we intend to fill our days and nights?

What is a break ?… why take one? (do we need a reason?)
• Eating
• Speaking
• redirection

[__03- EATING/FASTING] On a break, for example, we want nourishment, relaxation. We want to be fed, to be refreshed.

Sound mind, sound body.

Lent, however, takes this a step further. In rebuilding and renewing, we are asked not only about what-we-will-eat but also about what-we-will-not-eat, what we will renounce.

There are times of fasting. Abstaining from meat on Ash Wednesday, Fridays of Lent.
And, during this BREAK ..from our regular choices at table, we are reflecting on how God can fill us spiritually and physically.

[__04-SPEAKING/PRAYING] On a break, we are also waiting for a time to speak. For example, I wait for a break in the action, the lecture, dialogue, to make my point or ask my question.

But, sometimes, it is difficult to find these moments, to ask our questions, to get answers.

Some teachers might go too fast. Some people might also speed right by us, leaving us in the slow lane. We might feel brushed off …. Invisible.

In Lent, the Lord invites us to take this time for a break, for a retreat, every day. We are invited to bring those who ignore us to the moment of prayer. So we can get our questions answered by the Lord.

And, Jesus encourages us to take a break this way –
“When you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.” (Matthew 6:6)
This is our break, our prayer

[__05-REDIRECTION / BREAK]
Of great importance to us are the breaks, collapses , traffic jams-- both large and small – which lead us in a new direction … to an important relationship, a career move, a new school, a new friend.

These are not always smooth transitions. Sometimes, these appear to be accidents.

In our faith, we believe that his grace can also be part of …or happen alongside of … apparently random interruptions.
These, too, are breaks, places of entry for the Holy Spirit.

And, coming here as we do, at midweek, , [12:10 p.m. AT MIDDAY] –- Ash Wednesday and the 40 days of Lent are also a redirection.

Accepting these redirections, however, we are called to slow down, to accept silence so that God may be heard, to accept some decrease in activity so that he may work.

Jesus asks us to give some of our careful planning and analysis. He’s speaking about almsgiving … which is not necessarily limited to the donation of money to charity …but to all acts of love and generosity.. and he invites us to surrender our expectations and multi-dimensional (i.e., right hand/left hand) projections of the result …

“But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, so that your almsgiving may be secret.” (Matthew 6:3)

In this surrender, this new agenda of Lent…. We can let the break begin…

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