Fr. Fancis Martin offers these 5-minute reflection for Sundays during Lent to help in our journey. These reflections reference the readings for Cycle A.

As I have been reflecting on the birth of Jesus, I have been struck by the importance of “generation” in the plan of God. There are nine generation lists in the Book of Genesis and they serve to divide the book into ten sections. Then too, attention is paid to the “generators” of prominent people in the Old Testament. St. Matthew opens his Gospel with an abundant use of words related to the root “gen.” Thus, the first line of the Gospel opens in a way that can be translated: “A book of the genesis (origin) of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham” and goes on to give a list of forty-two generations between Adam and Joseph who is described as “the husband of Mary, of whom was born (egenethe) Jesus who is called the Christ (Messiah). St. Luke holds off giving a list of Jesus’ ancestry until he recounts Jesus’ baptism and the beginning of his public ministry: “When Jesus began his ministry he was about thirty years of age. He was the son, as was thought, of Joseph, (son) of Heli, (son) of Matthat.” On the other hand, Luke continues listing Jesus’ ancestors until he arrives at “(son) of Adam, (“son’) of God.” (Lk 3:23-48). St. Paul says that Jesus “was born of the seed of David according to the flesh,” and that he was “instituted Son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness through resurrection from the dead." (Rom 1:3-4).

At Christmas time we recall the fulfillment of the plan of God which began with his command to Adam and Eve: “God said to them, ‘be fruitful, be many, fill the earth and rule over it’.” (Gen 1:28). We have lost our original authority over the earth and even our own bodies (we die), but in Jesus Christ we have regained some of this authority. In the sacraments, by the power of the Holy Spirit, bread and wine, water, oil, word and gestures mediate divine life, and of course God’s injunction to “be fruitful, be many” is still in force. This means that abortion, besides being murder, is also sacrilege- the destruction of an image of God and a perversion of his plan. History proceeds and enables God’s plan through generation. How many great thinkers and leaders, and even saints have been aborted? How much evil is perpetrated by our culture of death?

At this time of year when we celebrate the coming of God in the flesh and our eternal life as a result of Jesus’ death in the flesh, let us give thanks to the Father for the humanity of our salvation and celebrate the fact that, in the words of Tertullian, one of the Fathers of the Church: “Caro est cardo salutis” (“the flesh is the hinge of salvation”). Come let us adore the Son of Mary who in his flesh has brought eternal life back to the world!

Fr. Francis Martin
(2012)

Fr. Francis Martin

We read in chapter 49 of the Rule of St. Benedict that the monks should “look forward to holy Easter with joy and spiritual longing.” Surely this applies as well to every Christian. The rigors of a well lived Lent are sustained by the memory and anticipation of the celebration of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. Lent is a time when we are asked to enter into the needs of the world and intercede for all those especially who do not know Jesus Christ, the mercy of his Father, and the prayer of the Holy Spirit. I would like to reflect a bit on this last point.

Fr. Francis Martin

At the feast of Tabernacles, the Jewish people recall with gratitude and praise God’s care for them in their desert journey from slavery to freedom. It is in reference to this care that Paul reminds the Corinthians: “[A]ll drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ…Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the end of the ages has come.” (1 Cor. 10:4-11).It is in reference to this same gift of water that, on this feast of Tabernacles, Jesus stood up and declared: “If someone thirsts, let him come to me and he will drink, the one who believes in me. As the Scripture says: from out of his midst rivers will flow of living water. Now he said this of the Spirit which those who believed in him were going to receive. For the Spirit was not yet because Jesus was not yet glorified. (Jn. 7:37-39).