March 2003

Dear Friend of THE WAY HOME,

Peace and consolations from God our Father through his son, our Lord Jesus Christ! As we proceed through this season of Lent together, we give special thanks to the Lord for all of our faithful companions of THE WAY HOME.

We are deeply grateful to God for all of those who help this ministry providing volunteer services, persevering prayer cover and with their financial support. We are truly the body of Christ, each one doing their part; and, as prompted by the Holy Spirit, providing together a true and faithful witness of the love of Christ to a world so desperately in need.

It is March and we find ourselves in the season of Lent once again. Many nominal Catholics struggle with the idea of lent. Many will spend these 40 days making themselves miserable with their traditional sacrifices without profiting from any of these external observances.

Is this how Lent is supposed to be? How can we profit spiritually from our Lenten observances and experience Christ through our Lenten sacrifice? One way is to use our Lenten sacrifices to imitate the incarnation of Christ. 

In Philippians 2: 6-8, St. Paul wrote, "Though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave. Coming in human likeness, and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross."

Jesus, the divine Son of God, left the Father’s side and became man. We call the mystery of this action the Incarnation. Think of it, the immortal became mortal; the sinless became sin; the all-powerful became powerless all to show us love.

Jesus, God of the universe, left his heavenly place at the right hand of God to become a mortal man in order to share in our pain, our temptations, our fears, our hurts in order to redeem our moral and spiritual failures. During lent, we are called by the Church to imitate the Incarnation of Christ by entering into our own humanity and becoming aware of the condition of humanity in the world around us.

What does it mean to imitate the Incarnation? It means that just as Christ took on our humanity we too are to take on our humanity by allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the still unredeemed portions of our flesh. This means taking a hard look at ourselves inside and out in the light of the truth of the example of Jesus Christ. It means opening ourselves in trust and truth to allow the Holy Spirit to do some open-heart surgery on our souls.

Lent is our special time to touch and be touched by God. On a recent trip to Rome, I had the privilege of viewing the Sistine Chapel on the ceiling of which Michelangelo painted the Creation of Adam. It is the famous picture where the finger of God touches the finger of man. It expresses perfectly the Season of Lent. Lent is a time to experience God, not just to learn more about him, or to practice empty observances, but to plan and use those observances to allow the Holy Spirit to draw us into a deeper experience, a very real encounter with the living God.

 

In order to do this, our Lenten observances must be internal and not just external. Our fasting must be of the heart as well as our stomach. To fast internally means to make all of the senses fast, for we have sinned through all of our senses. Let us give alms of our time, attention and love, as well as our money. All things should point us to God so that new areas of our life may be redeemed, healed and made holy by the sacrifice of Christ. Our ultimate goal is not just to imitate Christ, but to go beyond and become the very image of Christ.

 

As we joyfully pursue together during this Lenten season becoming the very image of Christ, I want to share with you the inspiring story of Perpetua and Felicita whose martyrdom the Church celebrates each year on March 7^th. These two young women were martyred at Carthage, in North Africa in the year 203 AD.

 

These two women together with 3 other catechumens of Carthage were not yet full members of the Church when they were seized and cast into prison. Vibia Perpetua was of noble birth and marriage, 22 years of age, and the mother of a 7-month-old baby boy. She was still breast-feeding at the time of her arrest. The slave Felicitas, was 8 months pregnant at the time of her arrest and gave birth to a baby girl in prison 3 days before her execution.

 

Shortly after their arrest their instructor in the faith, one Saturus, deliberately declared himself a Christian before the judge in order to join his charges in prison where he would complete their instruction and baptize each of them before they all died in the arena.

 

We still have the original manuscript written by Perpetua recording the moving story of their imprisonment. After her death, someone completed her story with their own eyewitness account of the actual martyrdom. Click here to link to  this touching story to this letter. It is an inspiring story to share with your whole family.

 

Like the martyrs of yesterday and today, great accomplishments require great sacrifice. I want to invite you as a part of your Lenten sacrifices to consider making a contribution to support THE WAY HOME. Enclosed is a return envelope for your gift. Also, enclosed is a card for you to include your prayer intentions. It is part of our apostolate to intercede for your prayer intentions. We are pleased to lift them up weekly at our Community prayer gathering and during several Masses throughout the week.

 

With a joyful heart, I thank you for supporting THE WAY HOME. We appreciate your assistance in the past and ask that you continue your financial support as the Lord provides the means. May the special peace, protection and love of Christ our Lord be with you and your family this Lenten season, and may the intercession of our Blessed Mother always go before us.

 

Forever in His Service,

Mike Wagner

Lead Coordinator

Christian Community of God’s Delight