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Fr William Fennelly OSB

There is surprisingly little in common between St John’s Gospel and the other three. Apart, of course, from the bare facts of Jesus’s life, notably his crucifixion, there are very few stories from his biography that all four agree on. But today’s tale of the ‘cleansing of the temple’ is such a one, and all four Gospels see this incident as closely related to Jesus’s death. This is not simply because Jesus was only making himself a nuisance and causing a fuss – even a potentially explosive fuss at the
biggest event in the Jewish year – but because by his actions Jesus was seen to be making a claim about himself, one that was absolutely unacceptable to the religious authorities of Jerusalem.

This is very obvious in the account that we read today. ‘What sign do you have to show us for doing this?’, he is asked. In other words, ‘Who do you think you are?, and why should we believe you?’ Now Jesus gives an answer, but it’s a cryptic one, which is naturally enough misunderstood, at least until the resurrection, when the sign is fulfilled. But in fact what he has done is itself the sign that justifies his action, if
we recognise the point of his saying about making the temple a ‘house of trade’.

Naturally we take this to mean that Jesus is against selling things and changing money in the temple. We may ask ourselves whether he would express equal displeasure at copies of Catholic newspapers and related products for sale in the back of so many Churches. But this misses the point. Without the sellers of animals for sacrifice, animals that were guaranteed to be acceptable according to the Law of Moses, there could be no sacrifices. Without the money changers, taking the
unacceptable Roman coins and converting them into the acceptable which was shekels, no-one could offer money to the treasury or pay the temple tax that every Jew took pride in paying. In other words, Jesus is not just trying to get rid of a few corrupt practices that have crept in to stain something he basically approves of; no, he is trying to put a stop to the whole thing.

And this is because Jesus brings, in his own person, the fulfilment of the prophecy of Zechariah – in fact the very last verse of his prophesying, which says that ‘there shall no longer be a trader in the house of the Lord on that day’. On what day? On the day of the Lord, when the Lord shows himself to be King over all the earth, when all the nations of the earth will be gathered into one, and when ‘living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem’. On the day of the Lord, the temple is no longer needed, because the whole world is sanctified by the presence of the Lord.

Jesus claims to be the one who brings in this day of the Lord. Indeed, when he is nailed to the cross, Pilate will truly (though he does not mean to be truthful) proclaim that here is the Lord enthroned as King. From that Crucified King living waters will indeed flow out from Jerusalem to bring life to the whole world, on the day when zeal
for God’s house does indeed consume him.

What is this zeal? On the one hand, it is the misplaced zeal of those trying to protect the status quo, the present arrangements which are working out very nicely. Thank you very much, for the temple authorities, and they’ll not encourage anyone who threatens their fragile authority. Or perhaps they are not so cynical: after all, the temple was a great institution, it was after all the place where God had chosen to make his dwelling among humanity and invite his chosen people to celebrate his mercy by participating in the sacrifices established by Moses. All of that, important though it was, was but a sign pointing towards its fulfilment, the astonishing fulfilment that came in the person of Christ. Perhaps we are all guilty, from time to time, of loving the outward signs more than the inward reality.

But more importantly, the ‘zeal for your house’ that consumed Jesus is also Christ’s love for God’s true house, which is the whole world, and which is every human heart that welcomes his Spirit of truth and love.
On the Cross Jesus died for love of us, as zeal for our hearts consumed him. The challenge is very radical for us. Today, will we decide to accept that life-giving love, and if we do, are we willing to accept the sometimes very inconvenient consequences of such a profound change? This renewed religious consciousness does not just arise out of our own selves; it is simultaneously the call of God addressed to us. And it is the working, the operation, of God welling up from the bottomless depths of our soul. Only if God is alive in us, will he be alive in the church.

Br Colmán Ó Clabaigh OSB will speak at a one-day symposium on the history of nuns and female monasticism to mark last year’s launch of Brides of Christ: Women and Monasticism in Medieval and Early Modern Ireland whose editors included Glenstal Abbey’s Br Colmán and Fr Martin Browne OSB.

This free event takes place on Wednesday 6th March at Kylemore Abbey in County Mayo. For full details and booking please visit this page or for further information please contact development@kylemoreabbey.ie

Copies of the Brides of Christ book can be purchased from Glenstal Abbey here.

Fr Denis Hooper OSB

LAST WEEK WE HAD ONE OF THE SHORTEST GOSPELS OF THE YEAR. THIS WEEK WE HAVE ONE OF THE LONGEST PASSAGES. TODAY’S GOSPEL IS ABOUT THE TRANSFIGURATION OF CHRIST. TO BE TRANSFIGURED IS
TO BE TRANSFORMED INTO SOMETHING MORE BEAUTIFUL.

JESUS’ TRANSFIGURATION SHOWS SOMETHING INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL AND IT IS A MANIFESTATION OF HIS GLORY. IT IS A PROMISE OF THE GLORY TO COME
IT IS AN AFFIRMATION THAT HE IS INDEED THE SON OF GOD AND THERE IS AN INSTRUCTION FROM GOD TO LISTEN TO GOD’S SON

JUST BEFORE THE TRANSFIGURATION IN MARK’S GOSPEL, JESUS TOLD HIS DESCIPLES THAT HE WILL SUFFER GREATLY. HE TOLD THEM THAT HE WOULD BE PUT TO DEATH THIS MUST HAVE THROWN HIS FRIENDS INTO CRISIS:

• THEIR HOPES FOR A STRONG MESSIAH WERE DASHED
• THEIR DREAMS WERE SHATTERED
• THEY WERE ASHAMED THAT JESUS THEIR LORD WOULD BE PUT TO DEATH LIKE A COMMON CRIMINAL

IT’S NO WONDER THEN THAT PETER WANTS TO MAKE THIS MOMENT OF TRANSFIGURATION LAST LONGER, TO DWELL ON THIS WONDERFUL SIGHT OF JESUS TALKING WITH MOSES AND ELIJAH THE DANGER FOR THE DESCIPLES AND INDEED FOR US IS THAT WE WANT THE MOMENT OF GLORY AND WE DON’T WANT THE CROSS – TO WHICH WE ARE JOURNING TO IN THESE WEEKS OF LENT WE ALL PREFER MOMENTS OF TRANSFIGURATION IN OUR LIVES. WE WANT TO ESCAPE TO THE PEACE OF THE MOUNTAIN AND AWAY FROM THE PAIN OF THE WORLD BELOW. AND WHO WOULD BLAME US?

SOME OF US ESCAPE THE PAIN OF THE WORLD THROUGH A MYRIAD OF DRUGS, AND ALCOHOL AND OTHER EXCESSIVE OBSESSIONS. SOME OF US JUST CAN’T FACE THE HARSH REALITIES OF THIS WORLD BUT AS BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN SAYS, “YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU CAN’T HIDE”

PSALM 139 PUTS IT IN SIMILAR WORDS:
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

IMMEDIATELY AFTER HIS TRANSFIGURATION JESUS WILL COME DOWN FROM THE MOUNTAIN AND SET OUT FOR JERUSALEM AND HIS CERTAIN DEATH JESUS’ OBEDIENCE TO THIS REALITY IS FORESHADOWED IN TODAY’S FIRST READING, WITH ABRAHAM PREPARED TO SACRIFICE HIS ONLY SON WHOM HE LOVED IN THE END, THE SACRIFICE WAS NOT NECESSARY AS ABRAHAM WAS FOUND TO FEAR
GOD.

ABRAHAM’S OBEDIENCE WAS REWARDED WITH BLESSINGS ON HIM AND HIS DESCENDANTS
SAINT PAUL IN THE SECOND READING REMINDS US THAT GOD DID NOT SPARE HIS SON, BUT RATHER GAVE HIM UP TO BENEFIT US ALL – WITH THE REWARD FOR CHRIST’S
OBEDIENCE BEING OUR SALVATION AS WE STAND IN THE GLORY OF THE TRANSFIGURED CHRIST TODAY, WE ARE AWARE OF THE NEED OF TRANSFORMATION IN OUR LIVES AND IN OUR WORLD TODAY THE LENTEN SEASON IS GIVEN TO US AS A TIME FOR PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION WHERE WE SEEK TO REMOVE WHATEVER COMES BETWEEN US AND A DEEPER
RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AT THE SAME TIME, OUR WORLD IS IN DESPERATE NEED OF TRANSFORMATION
ACCORDING TO GOD’S PLAN IF EVER THERE WAS A TIME FOR TRANSFORMATION IT IS SURELY NOW:

• A LONG-RUNNING WAR IN UKRAINE – TWO YEARS YESTERDAY AND NO SIGN OF IT
  STOPPING
• WHILST TENS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE – MANY OF THEM INNOCENTS – HAVE
  BEEN KILLED OR INJURED IN THE HOLY LAND WHERE THE MAJORITY OF HOMES
  HAVE BEEN DESTROYED AND ACCESS TO FOOD, WATER AND HUMANITARIAN AID
  IS SCARCE
• AND IN ALL THIS INTERNATIONAL LAW SEEMS TO BE CONVENIENTLY FORGOTTEN

OUR EXPERIENCE OF THE MOUNTAIN TOP CALLS US TO SAFEGUARD THE LIGHT OF CHRIST AND TO SHARE IT IN THE HOPE OF TRANSFORMING OURSELVES AND THE WORLD AROUND US JUST AS JESUS COMES DOWN FROM THE MOUNTAIN TOP TO MEET THE PAIN AND SUFFERING FOUND IN THE VALLEY BELOW, WE ALSO MUST GO DOWN WITH HIM AND

MAKE HIS LIGHT SHINE EVERYWHERE, ESPECIALLY IN THE DARKEST PLACES OF OUR WORLD WHERE CHAOS AND SUFFERING IS ALL AROUND AS WE WALK THROUGH LENT, WE OUGHT TO REMEMBER THAT THE GLORY OF THE TRANSFIGURATION POINTS TO THE GLORY OF THE CROSS ALTHOUGH THE JOURNEY ENDS AT CALVARY – THE DEATH OF JESUS IS NOT THE END OF THE STORY. IT IS A NEW BEGINNING JESUS’ RESURRECTION IS GOOD NEWS FOR THE WORLD WE LIVE IN. THE TRANSFIGURED
CHRIST WILL CONQUER AND TRANSFORM THE WORLD’S SUFFERING, SIN AND DEATH.

AND SO, LET US BE ENLIGHTENED BY THE TRANSFIGURED CHRIST AND TAKE HOPE FROM WHAT WE HAVE HEARD IN TODAY’S GOSPEL, CONFIDENT THAT CHRIST COMES TO TRANSFIGURE US AND THE WORLD AROUND US.
AMEN.

Third-level students are invited to tap into the power of prayer during a day with the monks of Glenstal Abbey. Taking place on Saturday 2nd March, the day’s programme is as follows:

• 10 am – 10.30 am: Registration and refreshments.
• 10.40 am: ‘Listening in the Silence – tuning into the heart and its desires’ with Pádraig McIntyre OSB.
• 11 am: ‘Attende Domine – experiencing the texture, rhythm, and melody of the Lenten Gregorian chants’ with Senan Furlong OSB.
• 12.10 pm: Mass with the monks of Glenstal Abbey.
• 12.45 pm: ‘Organ Improvisation of Lenten Chants – hearing the Lenten chants in a new key’ with Columba McCann OSB.
• 1.15 pm – Lunch.
• 1.45 pm – 2.40 pm: Free time to visit the Icon Chapel, Abbey Church, Monastery Reception, and grounds (walking shoes recommended).
• 2.40 pm: ‘Praying with Text and Icon – the anointing of Jesus by Mary (Jn 12:1-11) as depicted by Sr Marie-Paul Farran OSB’ with Luke Macnamara OSB.
• 3.30 pm: ‘A Spiritual Toolkit – sampling ways to connect and pray in the midst of a busy life’ with Columba McCann OSB.
• 4.15pm – 4.45pm: Refreshments and farewell.

To book please email events@glenstal.com or call 061 621005.

Fr Jarek Kurek OSB

It struck me, at the outset of this New Year 2024, how eagerly people got down to make their New Year’s resolutions. Something embedded deep down seeking change, seeking renewal, causing a resolution to form in heart and mind.

Now Lent has begun, a new season indeed, a most important time in our Christian life. So, what change are we seeking, what renewal, and what resolution are we making in our hearts and minds?

It has been, I think, not difficult to grasp this newness and renewal listening to the gospel today. Jesus prompts his listeners to repentance, to conversion, to perform a change in their hearts and minds.

The Greek word for this change is metanoia – it is to leave behind our old ways of being and thinking and embrace a new existence, which Jesus continuously points us towards in his teaching.

What does it actually mean? What are we to do? How are we to be?
I think a reflection on the following words of Jesus should help us a lot: ‘If anyone wants to become my follower, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me’.

Now, in our modern minds, the cross doesn’t strike any positive notes! But, if we looked at the ancient tradition of the church, also in Ireland, we will find a different idea, and, I think, quite inspiring. So what do the medieval monks say about taking up the cross? They suggest that, yes, there is a necessity to abstain from food and reject vices, but taking up Jesus’s cross leads to following Jesus in his good thoughts; this was their understanding of the metanoia, our conversion.

Let me divide this path of conversion into three parts – body, mind and Jesus. First, there is the cross of our body, abstaining from food and so on, fast we all know.

What comes next is the reality, I believe, less known to us… the cross of our mind. Now what could that ‘mental cross’ be?  Let me give you at least two aspects of it. The first of this mental cross is a fast of the mind, that is fasting in our thoughts from gossip, envy, lust after
vengeance etc. This is what the tradition regarded as the true and sanctifying fast, the fast which can bring a profound transformation to our spiritual life. But there is another side of this mental cross that we are supposed to carry, that is compassion. Compassion for all people and all creatures. It is our Christian task to be with others, to be for them, to share their infirmities, to help them in sickness, both of body and mind. But there is a caveat: we are guided by the wise monks of the past – with compassion for the person but with opposition to their vices. Since, they say, if ‘we rashly pardon faults we may appear to be no longer sharing in their sufferings through charity, but be yielding through indifference’. Truly food for thought…

Lastly, the final step in this path of conversion is following Jesus in our ‘good thoughts’. The preceding steps should transform the working of our bodies and minds, and so prepare us for a new approach to our spiritual life. With the old, bad habits and thoughts gone, we are ready to make our Lenten preparations different, new indeed.

Because, if we catch the novelty of how to take up the cross, the cross of our bodies and minds,  then instead of sorrow, or perhaps some flatness in our spiritual life, we will be able to truly remain spiritually alive, in Christ.

Through the days of this Lent try to make an attempt to renew your Christian life, make it your determined resolution and soon you will benefit from this blessed effort.

And finally using the words of St Benedict let me say this to you ‘now with the joy of spiritual desire wait for Holy Easter’.

Abbot Brendan OSB

For the first time since 1945, Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday coincide. It will only happen once more this century and that will be in 2029. Perhaps this unusual occurrence is provoking us to consider what true love looks like. It certainly takes a bit more than a box of chocolates and a bunch of flowers.

And so, this year, the feast day of our commercial obsession with love and romance is being subverted by a stark reminder that we are dust and to dust we shall return.

In all our relationships, we would do well to remember the brevity of human life. In our relationship with God, Lent can be that hibernation period where we can fall in love all over again. God responds to the sin that keeps us from him by wooing us away from other, lesser gods and back to the real lover of our souls.

The ashes imposed on our foreheads are a sign of our repentance. We are not supposed to display our fasting and repentance in a pious way, but we’re also not supposed to just wash them off.

Those ashes will be a mark and reminder, as deep and personal as any piece of jewellery or bunch of flowers. These ashes show that we are loved, and that our beloved’s commitment to us is constant and true, even when we are not. They show us that divine Love is not just about feelings or sentiments, but about death to everything that hinders it. They say to us, ‘What do you plan to do between the time you receive these ashes and the time you become them?’

This is why we need Ash Wednesday this Valentine’s Day. We will fast from unwarranted judgments about ourselves and about others. We will give up self-hate. We will give up impatience with others. We will give up fear of strangers and hatred of our enemies. We will give food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothes to the naked, shelter to the homeless. We will visit the sick and imprisoned. We will bury the dead with honour. We will give instruction to the ignorant, counsel to the doubting, comfort to the sorrowful, gentle reproof to the erring. We will forgive those who’ve wronged us, and bear with those who trouble and annoy us. We will pray for everyone and everything.

This Ash Wednesday I can decide to make a real gesture of love from the ashes of my life. This is our Lenten programme and unlike Valentine’s Day, it lasts, not one, but forty days.