Bridging the Gap: The Look of Love

By Bishop David Zubik

	Bishop David Zubik

Within a very few short days, you and I, together with all Christians throughout the world, will begin the Holy Season of Lent. Many will flock to Churches on that day to be blessed with ashes on our forehead with the sign of our salvation, the Cross of Jesus Christ.

As we "come forward" to receive the ashes, the liturgical rite for Ash Wednesday suggests several different reminders to accompany the signing with ashes: "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel;" "Repent and believe the Good News;" as well as the more familiar and traditional: "Remember that you are dust and unto dust you shall return."

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As one who has ministered the ashes to others for more than 30 years, I must admit that I have not regularly used the last option: "Remember that you are dust and unto dust you shall return." However, as I personally prepare for the Season of Lent this year, I find myself reflecting on the message contained in that reminder that you and I will one day return to "dust."

Over the last five weeks since my mother's death, my dad and I have received nearly 2,000 condolences by mail from family, friends and strangers alike. Within the college of bishops in our country, I have received letters from more than 300 of my brothers in the episcopacy.

One of those letters arrived from Bp. Edward Braxton, the Bishop of Belleville, Ill. Together with his condolences came an article which he wrote and which was published in the March 1988 edition of The Priest magazine, entitled "Grief Observed: A Lenten Reflection." In that article, Bishop Braxton calls his readers to reflect on the invitation to "Remember that you are dust" as he wrote: "Lent's wintry season of nature's dying followed by the wondrous new life of spring seems to be a time during which people are willing to contemplate their own deaths. Perhaps this is because during this season we confront the intimate relationship between what we sometimes think of as our 'ordinary lives' and the life and death of Jesus Christ. In faith we affirm that Easter resurrection is the fulfillment of Good Friday, not only for Jesus Himself but also for all who make their own His selfless, sacrificial and loving attitude toward others and His Father."

Think about that for a moment. To reflect on our own mortality, that each of us eventually and physically will return to dust, points to a much greater spiritual reality - that our sole goal and purpose of life is to become much more like Christ.

A second inspiration that I have received in preparing for my own Season of Lent is Pope Benedict XVI's first Lenten message to the faithful of the world. (I strongly encourage you to read the Holy Father's message in its entirety. You can do so at www.vatican.va) The theme for the Pope's message is the text taken from Matthew 9.36: "Jesus, at the sight of the crowds, was moved with pity." It is clear that Pope Benedict's meditation on the "gaze" of Christ was sparked by a reflection of Pope John Paul II: "There is a divine limit imposed upon evil, namely (God's) mercy." (Memory and Identity, pp. 19ff).

What the Holy Father invites you and me to reflect upon during the Season of Lent is the loving gaze of Christ, His Look of Love upon us so that we may in turn learn how to gaze upon each other with the look of Christ's love.

Given the beautiful reflections of Bishop Braxton and Pope Benedict, the challenge that I find myself facing this Lenten season, and I trust you do as well, is that we look at our lives as more than what the world can offer us and more than what we ourselves can do alone. The image of the dust or the ashes of Lent reminds us all that someday all our possessions, all our worldly success, all our physical handsomeness and bodily beauty will turn to dust. But what remains is the core of our lives - our souls - the spirit of God's breath within us. And whether that soul, that inner life of yours and mine remains forever with God in heaven or forever with Satan in hell, depends on how seriously we seek to look upon each other with the gaze of Christ, with the Look of His Love.

Toward that end, Jesus himself through the Church shows us the three ways that we develop that gaze, the Look of Jesus' Love! In the Gospel for Ash Wednesday, the Church wisely reminds us that we are called to be people of prayer, fasting and good works.

During this Lenten Season, it is important for us to not only pray more, but better. I am reminded of a story involving a kindergarten teacher and her class. When she asked, "Boys and girls, is there anybody here who prays?" a young boy raised his hand and said: "Well, sometimes I pray and sometimes I just say my prayers."

This Lenten Season is a time in which we become much more aware of the loving gaze of Christ, His Look of Love, by the ways in which we more thoughtfully connect with Him in prayer, by especially slowing down, by particularly pausing to think of His love, by deliberately not taking God for granted in our lives.

The second way in which Jesus himself calls us to look at ourselves, others and life as does He, is through the beautiful practice of fasting. There will be many of us who will ask each other: "What are you giving up for Lent?" Perhaps our answer might be alcoholic beverages or chocolates or TV or going to the movies or smoking or eating snacks. Jesus calls us to remember why it is that we choose to fast or sacrifice. The word sacrifice comes from two Latin words sacrum facere which mean "to make holy."

A Lenten sacrifice is not meant to be a matter of simply "giving up;" it is a matter of "giving to" our God. Clearly, when we give up something that we think we need in life, our senses become much more aware of how much more we need to give to God, our hopes and dreams, our words and deeds, our energies and efforts, our frustrations and failures, so that He can in turn "make us holy."

And finally, as we grow in prayer and understand more deeply the reason for our fasting, the third challenge of Jesus comes into play: how we appreciate, experience and develop His gaze, His Look of Love - by our good works for the benefit of others. In his Lenten reflection, Pope Benedict challenges us as sisters and brothers in the Church and sisters and brothers to each other in the world community, to respond more authentically to the needs of others. He writes: "Even in this era of global interdependence, it is clear that no economic, social, or political project can replace that gift of self to another through which charity is expressed. Those who act according to the logic of the Gospel live the faith as friendship with God Incarnate and, like Him, bear the burden of the material and spiritual needs of their neighbors."

Jesus does in fact call us to good works, not simply because it is the good human thing to do, but because it is the most Christ-like thing to do. As pilgrims during the Season of Lent, we can in fact grow in the "gaze" of Christ, in His Look of Love in many ways. Whether it be by deciding to forgive someone who has hurt us or by going out of our way to understand somebody better; whether it be by digging into our pockets or our checkbooks to help another who is in need, or digging down deep into our souls to pray heartily for another; whether it be by becoming much more socially conscious of the global needs of others or being more attentive to the needs of people right under our nose, the opportunities are legion for us to grow in the Look of Christ's Love.

As you and I come forward on Ash Wednesday to be blessed by ashes in the sign of our salvation, as we go forth in public with the crosses on our foreheads, we do so not only for a day, nor for the beginning of a season that lasts 40 days, but especially for a lifetime - of seeking to become people who want to grow in the "gaze" of Christ, and to be able to look at ourselves, at each other and at the world with Jesus' Look of Love.