Lent – Spiritual accompaniment

We are a resurrection people

March 29, 2025

“We are a resurrection people.”

This statement struck me when I recently started reading the book Guide for Celebrating Holy Week and The Triduum.

This statement resonates with what drives me to share with people about growing in faith.

We are indeed “A resurrection people,” a good phrase to discuss during this Lenten season.

Christ died for our salvation. We don’t celebrate Easter each year for the sole purpose of being mournful about Christ’s death. Yes, we look at Christ’s passion and our own sinful nature during Lent. That’s not all, though. Each Lenten season is an opportunity to celebrate that our redemption is made possible as a result of Christ’s death on the cross. There’s a redemptive joy possible through God’s ability to transfigure us – when we allow God to work in us – that motivates my continued prayer life (prayer is a relationship with God in which we rest in God’s presence and take joy in that transformative relationship, allowing God to turn us into the people we are meant to be. There is, too, everything else that prayer is – bringing all of our life to God, having a back-and-forth relationship). There’s both the opportunity for joy and a responsibility that comes with redemption.

When we fully enter into our Christian faith tradition, we have the opportunity to experience the “already” aspect of the “already but not yet” Kingdom of God. Specifically, Christ’s resurrection inaugurated the Kingdom of God, while, of course, the fullness of this is “yet to come” (as stated by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops: “The tension is often described in terms of “already but not yet”: i.e., we already live in the grace of the kingdom, but it is not yet the completed kingdom.”).

We have the opportunity to really do a deep dive into the fullness of Christianity. In doing so, God will bring us to the fullest measure of joy that we can experience in this life and to be a meaure of goodness in the lives of the people around us. Further, we have a responsibility to do this. Christ didn’t die on the cross so that we would bypass the opportunity to fully experience what we’re being offered.

Actively participating in Christianity provides a multitude of ways to “jump in to a life of faith with both feet.” Being of service, participating in faith development programs at church – there are so many ways to get involved….

Kim Burkhardt blogs at A Parish Catechis t (and is a member of the Association of Catholic Publishers). Blogging is sustainable via blog readership (i.e. readers/subscribers). If you are a new visitor, it would be great to have you subscribe to follow this blog (thank you!). If you know someone who would like this blog, please share it with them and invite them to subscribe (thank you!).

Already, but not yet…. Lenten lessons in faith

March 5, 2025

“Already, but not yet” – as is said about our experience of the Kingdom of God.

I enjoy the smell of bread rising when I pour water, salt, sugar, an egg, olive oil, bread flour, cinnamon, and yeast into my bread maker and turn it on. Part way through the bread-making process, I add raisins and sunflower seeds.

Recently, I was enjoying the yeast scent of baking, half-risen loaf of bread. Forget waiting for the bread to fully rise – I wanted to open the bread maker and experience the yeast-laden bread, impatiently wanting what was only half risen.

My thoughts turned to the Risen Christ. This year, as we enter the anticipatory season of Lent, we have 2,000 years of Christianity. As is said, the Kingdom of God is “already [here], but not yet.”

To the degree that we experience God’s love for us and express love toward other people, the Kingdom of God is already here. To the degree that we experience the frustrations of the human experience, we are reminded that the Kingdom of God is “not yet.”

Until “the not yet” comes, how do we live with our half-experience of the “already, but not yet?”

This Lenten season, we can again commit ourselves to deepening our faith within the “already.” If no yeast has yet been added to start one’s faith journey, yeast can now be added for a start to a faith journey. For those of us already on a faith journey, we often have at least some inkling of which aspects of our faith experience need to flourish more robustly. If our bread – faith – is rising but not rising well, Lent (anytime, really) is a good time to add the cinnamon, raisins, and sunflower seeds….

In my life, I actually have a hard time fasting. A problem with self-retraint, self-denial. For several years, I justified this during Lent: “I’m actively doing so many aspects of living a life of faith, who cares if I can’t fast?” We are so skilled at the nuance of making excuses… The fact that I lack the self-restraint to fast – to participate in this form of self-denial – actually indicates that there’s some lesson for me to learn with fasting. I’m certain that the lesson to learn has nothing to do with physical food….. I’m not sure yet what that lesson is, but I’m working toward finding out. I am going to trying fasting during Lent this year.

Lent Challenge: 1700th Anniversary of Council of Nicea

February 22, 2025

This year, 2025, marks the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea (the photo above shows architecture in Nicea that is still standing, was present in the days of the Council of Nicea).

So, what’s the big deal about that?

The apostles were expecting Jesus’ second coming during their generation. Also, Christ died at a time when the Jews were just starting to supplement their oral tradition with more written texts. Thus, it didn’t occur to the apostles and the early Christian communities to immediately, after Jesus’ death, write down the essentials of Christianity for future generations. Why write down the essentials of Jesus’ faith when Jesus was coming back soon?

Thus, It took several decades for the gospels to start to be written. The earliest church didn’t have the New Testament that we have today….

So, by the year 325, any number of things were being said to be Christian teachings that were theologically “all over the map.” The Council of Nicea (the council happened in the then-community of Nicea, in what is now Turkey) was called by the Roman Emperor Constantine to definitively settle “What we believe.” Bishops from both the Eastern and Western churches met over the summer to hammer out “What we believe” [between approximately 250 – 318 bishops attended. Bishops traveled to Nicea from across the Mediterranean, North Africa, Asia, Jerusalem, etc. without the benefits of automobiles or airplanes, though they did have ship travel).

Among the matters that came out of that Council was the Nicene Creed.

Today, 1,700 years later, we recite either the Nicene Creed or the Apostle’s Creed at every mass. That’s our big deal about the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea.

Have you taken time to reflect on our Creed? If we were to read the Creed with strictly modern sensibilities, there’s enough to give just about anyone heartburn. Jesus was born of a virgin? Physically rose from the dead?

I grew up believing in having a personal relationship with a monotheistic deity and I loved church ritual. I struggled with what I would later call “biological implausibilities” (virgin birth, the Assumption, etc.). It took me decades to work through these “implausibilities.” Now that I am largely on the other side of working through these matters, I have a faith that is richer and deeper. It turns out that developing a maturing faith requires that we really figure out how we personally relate to our Catholic faith.

1700 years into the Creed, have you reflected on the Creed? For Lent this year, maybe try writing a line-by-line explanation of what the Creed means (Lent starts on March 5^th this year) If you’d like resources to assist with this Lenten project, a book that I read in college might prove helpful – a book by Fr. John A. Hardon called ”Pocket Catholic Catechism.”

Third Sunday in Lent: Reading Reflection

March 3, 2024

This Sunday, we hear the Gospel reading of the woman at the well.

Jesus offered “living water” to the woman at the well. The Samaritan – who was viewed by Jews as “the other” – accepted Jesus’ offer of “living water.”

Jesus also offers us “The Living Water.”

How well do we – of the Christian faith – drink of “The Living Water?”

Do we come to the well? If we come to the well – Christ’s offer of vibrancy of life in faith – do we just skirt around the edges of the well (such as simply sitting in a pew on Sunday morning), or do we open our hearts to drink freely of what is offered?

To “drink of the living water,” there are times of grace when the water flows freely. Those moments of grace are like a river flowing through our lives. Beyond those moments, we have to surrender to allow God into our lives. Such surrender can seem a high price to pay. In recent years, I most fully surrendered my very being to “being changed” following one of those periods of grace in 2016 (that grace began at a Catholic mass in the Irish language followed by a broken ankle). Since then, I find that I periodically have to surrender again, in varying degrees (depending on how much I have un-surrendered at any given time). The sense that I am somehow autonomous creeps (often slowly) back into me thinking that I have “sense of independent self-hood” – that I am “my own person.” This false idea of independent self-hood separates me from God.

There comes a level when it becomes clear that the false idea of independent self-hood has re-asserted in my day-to-day way-of-being. I get too busy. My chronic pain disorder rears its’ ugly head again. My physical skin begins to feel again like a wall separating me from other people (actual physical tension like a wall becomes present). Prayer begins to become rote rather than an interactive no-need-for-human-words relationship between me and God. Life’s challenges become overly burdensome again. The Living Water trickles to mere drips of water rather than a free-ish flow of water. Time to surrender again to allow God to roam my existence freely (“It is no longer I, but God who lives in me” Galatians 2:20).

Kim Burkhardt blogs at A Parish Catechist and The Books of the Ages (and a member of the Association of Catholic Publishers). If you are a new visitor, it would be great to have you follow this blog (thank you!). If you know someone who would like this blog, please share it with them (thank you!). You can also support this blog by clicking here when you are going to shop on Amazon (that lands A Parish Catechist a commission on Amazon sales).

Lent in 40 Days: Day Five (repentance)

February 18, 2024

I was in the confessional earlier this month.

Blessed Sacrament Parish in Seattle does a great job of “setting the mood” for reconciliation on Friday evenings – low lighting, the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, brief song.

Among other items on my list that evening, I told the priest “I hate crows.” I went on tell him about my road rage about crows who hop around in the streets of Seattle.

In addition to not liking crows, I don’t like going to reconciliation (i.e., “confession”). I know a person who says they like going to reconciliation because they feel forgiven when they’re done. I know that reconciliation is about being sorry for what we’ve done and being forgiven. I don’t feel forgiven when I’m done in the confessional. Despite that, I go because I’m trying to really live my faith.

While I don’t feel forgiven when I go to reconciliation, I do often feel closer to God afterward. In my case, the act of my living out my faith by doing something I don’t want to do is a good thing….. Somehow, I think God likes that I’m doing what’s asked of me despite my grumblings about attending reconciliation (i.e., confession). Also, having to tell another human how I’ve sinned is good for humility (there are ways in which I’m stubbornly vain).

I considered a key point while in the confessional. After saying, “I hate crows” and told the priest about my ongoing road rage about crows, the priest made a comment geared toward trying to get me to ease up about crows. An act of contrition happened at the end of reconciliation and my sins were forgiven. However, I hadn’t fully gotten done with my animosity toward crows-in-the-streets-of-Seattle. ”Why,” I was thinking, “can’t crows just wise up and stay out of the road! Sociologists who study crows talk about how smart crows are!

Perhaps, however, some good is now being achieved by my acknowledgement of hating crows-in-the-street – and then blogging about it. I am blogging about this to illustrate the need for us to focus on repentance during Lent (we’re all called to be penitent during Lent). I started to explain the following: “This ‘hating crows’ matter is a case of ‘road rage.’ Crows hang out in the road, getting in the way of traffic. Do they think they own the road? What business do they have interrupting my day and the days of other drivers by hopping around in the road?” This got me to thinking. Hmmm…. “Perhaps this is about me being self-absorbed. How am I suppose to expect crows to take into the consideration drivers’ self-perceived needs to drive around uninterrupted by crows hopping around in the street? Crows are a part of nature. They have as much right to live in Seattle as I do. I can’t reasonably expect crows to figure out human perceptions (i.e., about drivers not wanting our driving to be interrupted by hopping crows). I should be able to co-exist with crows.”

Yes, Lent is a time for us to be repentant. One small positive outcome of Lenten reconciliations this year (okay, I actually went to reconciliation just before Lent started….) is that Seattle’s crows and I may end up on better terms (including these crows that I photographed at Seattle’s Green Lake – they had no idea that I’ve been experiencing road r). We’ve all got something for which to repent.

Lent in 40 Days: Day Four (more on temptation)

February 17, 2024

Lent is a time when we anticipate Christ’s death and resurrection. We experience the wonder of Christ’s death and resurrection for our salvation.

Christ died for our salvation due to our fallen nature. It could be tempting to look at Christianity’s focus on our fallen nature as Christianity taking a needlessly dark view of humanity that doesn’t build us up. Not the case. The fact is that all of us do things we shouldn’t do. We all know that we all due things we shouldn’t do. Original sin and the opportunity of redemption through Christ is actually freeing. Christianity – through Christ – offers us a tangible pathway to becoming the best of the people we are meant to be.

Due to our fallen nature, temptation (temptation to do what we shouldn’t do) is one of the themes we consider during Lent.

In Matthew, Mark, and Luke’s gospels (depending on whether we are in Year A, Year B, or Year C of the liturgical cycle of readings), we hear in the first Sunday of Lent about Christ spending 40 days in the desert and being tempted by the devil. He resisted the devil’s temptations.

How do we deal with temptation when we find ourselves faced with temptation in our own lives? In my previous Geography of Faith post, I make poetic reference to the times we wander down detours in our lives.

For starters, succumbing to temptation leads us into the wilderness. Not in a good way. Giving in to temptation to behave as we shouldn’t can take us where we ultimately don’t want to go. Keeping that in mind can sometimes be an effective deterrent from doing what we shouldn’t do.

Sometimes, the temptations we face are clear. Eat that extra sugar we don’t need. Lie to avoid unwanted consequences. Walk away rather than be a Good Samaritan in a difficult situation. Other times, temptations are more subtle. C.S. Lewis’ classic book The Screwtape Letters creatively presents the subtle and alluring nature of many temptations. If we don’t recognize something as a wrongful temptation or as guaranteed to cause trouble, so much easier to succumb to it….. For example, we sometimes find ourselves attracted to negative temptations – to sin – precisely because we think we’d benefit from it. ”It’s okay for me to ‘carry tales’ against another because it will achieve a greater good” (when we actually want to slander the person because we don’t like them – eather than holding ourselves to a standard of evaluating whether what we are going to say is true, necessary, and kind). As another example, no one slides into an alcohol problem intending to become an alcoholic. ”Life’s hard right now, I can have a few drinks to relax until this current situation gets easier……” (years later…rehab). ”Yes, I can take out that extra credit card” (when I already have enough funds to meet my needs and the unsolicited credit card being offered is designed to entice me to buy things I don’t need and can’t afford….).

When we are tempted to do something that we clearly know we shouldn’t do, how do we avoid temptation? If we can walk away on our own, great. Sometimes, getting moral support from someone we know is needed (and usefully helpful!). An active prayer life is also essential. Going to reconciliation before succumbing to temptation can also be an effective deterrent. An active prayer life is also always a good idea! An active prayer life and involvement in a faith community helps with many kinds of temptation. Read more about prayer in this prayer post….. Surrendering to allow God to lead us in the direction God wants us to go has positive outcomes in all kinds of ways!

Lent in 40 Days: Day Three (Temptation)

February 16, 2024

We are called to give something up during Lent. ”Fish on Fridays.”

Jesus faced temptation in the desert. He didn’t give in when offered things many of us would have been tempted to accept. He prayed. A lot. Whenever Christ’s time on earth was difficult, we hear repeated stories about him going alone to pray. Often, he prayed at places where there would likely have been no easy distractions (such as in the desert). Good advice for us. As the saying goes, there can be no faith life without prayer.

If you haven’t given up something for Lent yet, now would be a good time to start (also, this would be a good time to start praying more if regular prayer isn’t part of your life).

What if there’s something we CAN’T give up? I’ve been in that situation. For several years in a row, I couldn’t give up sugar during Lent. At first, I came up with excuses (“Oh well, my prayer life is growing year-round anyway – I don’t have to limit my growth in faith to 40 days on a liturgical calendar…..”). Slowly, I became honest about the bottom line: I couldn’t give up sugar. I had to look at my earthly attachments – and how unhealthy attachments to things such as sugar negatively impact my life. Giving up something that’s hard to give up counts more than giving up something we don’t care about (such as an established vegetarian “giving up meat” during Lent).

We are called to not be so bound to anything in this life that we can’t give it up; rather, we must be willing – capable – of being attached only to God. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:26). ”The one who loves his life loses it, and the one who hates his life in this world will keep it to eternal life” (John 12:25).

If there’s something we can’t give up – such as an inordinate attachment to sugar, money, alcohol, sex, prestige, a cell phone – why? Underneath such attachments, we’re going to find some kind of emotional dis-ease. And, probably, negative consequences. God doesn’t want us to live with dis-ease and negative consequences. If we surrender to allowing God to turn us into the person God wants us to be, God will transform us from being the person we aren’t meant to be. Such surrender requires a willingness to be in relationship with God and to go wherever that leads – a commitment.

Allowing God to help us move beyond attachments that we aren’t capable of giving up also goes beyond being a self-help fix (if we’re just looking for help improving our own life, there’s more to being a person of faith than this!). Certainly, God loves us and wants us to be happy. In addition, however, a vibrant faith is about more than just God making us healthy. Ultimately, a vibrant faith is about “Love God and love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:34-40). As children of God, our first priority is a relationship with God – which we must be able to put before all else. Further…..when we become the people God meant for us to be, we are in a position to contribute to healthy families and vibrant communities.

Lent in 40 Days: Day Two

February 15, 2024

Religious seasons follow an established liturgical calendar (calendars with quite a surprising intricate level of planning).

Having a regularly-scheduled liturgical calendar provides a rhythm to our communal faith experience and the opportunity to connect with the myriad of faith concepts during the times set aside to celebrate – and engage with – these concepts.

Our faith experience is at the same time personal. I have struggled at times with engaging with liturgical seasons on a fixed calendar, preferring to engage with faith concepts when such concepts become personally meaningful – and therefore easy to connect with – in the seasons of my own life.

Yet, the photo above speaks to the communal nature of faith. The rosary shown above is the rosary I was given for my First Communion at age seven. My classmates and I received our First Communion together – in community. The occasion was special enough that I’ve kept my first communion rosary all these years (I keep it in a special place at home where it won’t get lost). The wooden cross outside of the rosary was handmade for me by an acquaintance when I was in high school. I don’t remember the name of the fellow who made the cross for me, but the communal nature of the gift was meaningful – I’ve likewise kept the cross all these years. The cross laid inside the rosary likewise has a story; when churches were again able to have limited church services as we began emerging from COVID lockdowns, we couldn’t each “kiss a cross” at my parish at the Easter Vigil – so we were each given one of these small crosses at the Easter Vigil. Again, a communal experience. Again, I kept the cross….. Rosaries can be prayed alone, anywhere; rosaries are also often prayed communally. Placing one wooden cross in the rosary speaks to Jesus within prayers to his mother, while another cross placed outside the rosary (on purple fabric for the color of Lent) speaks to Jesus’ sacrificial death being for all of us – those of us who are both within community and for all those who are not in community.

We grow in faith in community. We are meant serve our communities. We have the opportunity to grow religiously in community with one another during liturgical seasons such as Lent – as well as within the flow of our own life’s seasons.

Welcome to 2024’s communal season of Lent – a time of reflection, fasting, being of service. We spend 40 days anticipating Christianity’s holiest religious day of the year – the anniversary of God’s ultimate display of love for all of us.

Lent in 40 days: Day One

February 14, 2024

Welcome to Lent. A Parish Catechist looks forward to journeying with you for the next 40 days!

Major liturgical seasons of the Christian year include:

Advent: four weeks of anticipating Christmas
Christmas Day: Always on December 25
Christmas Season: Christmas Day until Epiphany (January 6)
Lent: 40 days of anticipating Easter (starts on Ash Wednesday)
Easter Day: The first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox (therefore, a date between late March and late April)
Easter season: the fifty days between Easter Day and the day we celebrate Pentecost
Pentecost: The day when Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles following Christ’s Ascension

This year, the beginning of Lent (i.e., Ash Wednesday) – due to Easter being a moveable feast – coincides with Valentine’s Day (February 14).

Just as Mardi Gras famously occurs the day before Ash Wednesday – a day of plenty before we begin 40 days of fasting, prayer, and alms giving – some Catholic schools planned ahead this year to celebrate Valentine’s Day on February 13.

What kind of fasting are you planning for Lent this year? Some restaurants know to offer “Fish on Fridays” during Lent to attract fasting guests. Food is famously a way to fast during Lent. We eat less, give up foods such as no-meat-on-Fridays or giving up sugar. What matters spiritually is that we abstain from something that we personally find difficult to give up. For several years, I couldn’t give up chocolate during Lent. I had to take a look at why I was so attached to chocolate (and how that was impacting my health!). We are to attach ourselves to God, not to earthly things. For many people, reducing the use of technology (such as phones) can be an earthly thing that is hard to set aside – reducing phone usage could be a good Lenten discipline.

What kind of enhanced prayer activity are you planning for Lent this year? Prayer is about having an active relationship with God. It is famously said that “There can be no faith life without prayer.” A Parish Catechist blogged in January about the value of prayer and how to approach prayer (please feel free to give that post a read). Lent is a great time to build up a regular prayer practice.

What kind of alms-giving are you planning for Lent this year? The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) have this to say about almsgiving during Lent: “The foundational call of Christians to charity is a frequent theme of the Gospels…. During Lent, we are asked to focus more intently on ‘almsgiving,’ which means donating money or goods to the poor and performing other acts of charity. As one of the three pillars of Lenten practice, almsgiving is ‘a witness to fraternal charity’ and ‘a work of justice pleasing to God.’ (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2462).” There are many types of social and economic need in our communities. Please consider being charitable in a way that makes a difference in your local community!

Spiritual accompaniment

Accompanying you in your faith journey

Tag: Lent