Signs of the Times  

    Lent--the season of preparation for Christ's Resurrection at Easter, is for many Catholics, a special time of prayer, fasting, and renewed spiritual focus.  There is no other period in the Liturgical year that so completely draws our attention to the things of God and to the great themes and traditions of Christianity.

TUESDAY, Second Week of Lent: Isaiah 1:10,16-20:

  "HEar the word of the Lord,
      princes of Sodom!

  Listen to the instruction of our God,
      people of Gomorrah!
      Wash yourselves clean!

    Put away your misdeeds, from before my eyes,
      cease doing evil; learn to do good.
   Make justice your aim; redress the wronged,
       hear the orphan's plea, defend the widow.

    Come now, let us set things right,
         says the Lord.
     Though your sins be like scarlet,
         they may become white as snow.

    Though they be crimson red,
       they may become white as wool.
     If you are willing and obey,
       you shall eat the good things of the land;

    But if you refuse and resist,
       the sword shall consume you;
    for the mouth of the Lord has spoken!


      One of the most startling pictures of 1997 was that of Mother Teresa embracing Princess Diana.  If you did not know them, you would guess that it was a picture of opposites.  Mother Teresa, small and frail looking, stood with her head bowed.  She was dressed in the simple clothes of an Indian peasant, her hair covered and her face wrinkled beyond the help of cream.  Princess Diana stood elegant and tall, dressed in the most expensive outfit, skin radiant and hair perfect.  Both women were representing the plight of the poor--Mother Teresa by attending to the dying and Princess Diana by helping those injured by land mines.  Their inner goodness shone far beyond their personal appearance.
      The Word of God today proclaims that we must change our ways.  Our conversion must be an inner one, not based on fine clothes and radiant skin but on a depth of love for the widow and orphan, for all the lost and helpless of the world.  Because we [as Christians] serve the lowly, we will be gathered into the company of the great saints.  Today, we ask God to help us mine our inner wealth.

  We pray:  Lord, I look tomy inner self and I seek conversion.  I ask you, Lord, to help me find the strength to reach out to the helpless and lost.  I remember them now in my prayer.  Amen.  [Remember, one of Mother Teresa's sayings or advice she gave to people who wanted to know how they could help the poor, she would always exclaim, "Find your own Calcutta!"]