Overcome with Paschal Joy

Chanting through Lent and Easter—Daily Reflections with Familiar Hymns

Mark G. Boyer

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781498292733, 9781498292757
• eBook ISBN: 9781498292740
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

The Lent-Easter seasons cover one-fourth of the year, or 25 percent of the liturgical year. One of the many things we do as Roman Catholics is sing Lenten and Easter hymns. During Lent, we express our sorrow for sin as we pray, fast, and give alms. During Easter, we shout Alleluias at the end of many hymns to express our praise of God for having raised Christ from the dead. Thus, those who observe Lent and Easter sing religious hymns written for each season. The sounds of Lenten hymns in minor keys give way to Easter hymns in major ones.This book presents an exercise for every day of Lent and Easter that combines the daily Scripture texts from the Lectionary for Mass with religious hymns sung during Lent and Easter. It is designed to be used by individuals for private prayer or by families for public prayer. A six-part exercise is offered for every one of the 135 entries: (1) the liturgical day, (2) the daily Scripture texts, (3) a verse from a traditional hymn, (4) a reflection, (5) a question for personal meditation, and (6) a concluding prayer.

1

Ash Wednesday through Saturday Following Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday

Scriptures

Joel 2:12–18; 2 Corinthians 5:20–6:2; Matthew 6:1–6, 16–18

Hymn

Lord, who throughout these forty days

For us did fast and pray,

Teach us to overcome our sins

And close by you to stay.

“Lord, Who throughout These Forty Days,” verse 1

Reflection: The first verse of “Lord, Who throughout These Forty Days” more than aptly summarizes what the Season of Lent is all about. First of all, Ash Wednesday is more than just a day to go to church to get ashes applied to our foreheads! It begins a forty-day period of preparation to celebrate the Paschal Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Vigil, and Easter Sunday and the fifty days of the paschal feasts launched by Easter Sunday). It takes all of forty days to get ready to sustain the fifty-plus-day celebration to come.

We spend these forty days fasting, omitting some amount of food from our daily diet, and abstaining from meat on the appointed days; usually one full meal and two more that do not equal the one full meal is more than enough food for today. According to the prophet Joel, the LORD understands fasting as a means of returning to him with our whole heart. Alongside fasting is praying, not telling God what needs to be done, but listening to what the Holy One tells us we need to do! The best praying is done in one’s inner room in secret while fasting according to the Matthean Jesus.

We ask Jesus to remain close to us during these days. His presence can be felt when we give alms—time, talent, treasure—so secretly that our left hand does not know what our right hand is doing! Giving alms of any kind, along with fasting and praying, help us to overcome our sins. Almsgiving gets us out of ourselves; it moves us away from selfishness. And it flows directly from fasting and praying. As St. Paul tells the Corinthians, these forty days are the acceptable time; these forty days are the days of salvation!

Meditation

From what do you need to be saved this Lent?

Prayer

Spare us, your people, O LORD, and create a new heart within us. Grant that our fasting, prayer, and almsgiving may make us more aware of your saving presence. We praise you through Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Thursday after Ash Wednesday

Scriptures

Deuteronomy 30:15–20; Luke 9:22–25

Hymn

Take up your cross, the Savior said,

If you would my disciple be;

Take up your cross with willing heart,

And humbly follow after me.

“Take Up Your Cross,” verse 1

Reflection: We don’t like hearing the Lukan Jesus make clear that anyone who wishes to follow him must deny himself or herself, take up the cross, and follow him. The word “deny” is anti-cultural enough, and even more so when the word “self” is placed right after it. We live in a culture of indulgence in food, clothes, electronic gadgetry, etc. Have you ever seen a commercial on TV tell you that you may not need the item being advertized? Of course not!

And yet on this second day of Lent the message is deny self. We are to disclaim connection to food, clothes, electronic gadgetry, etc. in order to lose ourselves in service to God through fasting, praying, and almsgiving. Jesus presents the paradox, the seemingly contradictory statement that gushes truth like a fountain. If we save our lives by not denying ourselves, we will lose them; but if we lose our lives through self-denial, then we save them. More importantly, there is no profit in gaining the whole world and losing self in the process. Losing self means losing one’s identity, values, character, and uniqueness by being so absorbed into the world that a person no longer knows who he or she is in relationship with God.

Jesus never lost his sense of self, because he lived a life of denying self. He makes that clear when he tells his disciples that he will suffer greatly, be rejected, and killed. Knowing that would be enough for most of us to change course in midstream. That is why following Jesus has to be willed; we have to want to do it. It may bring death and doom, but God has a way of changing those into life and prosperity.

Meditation

Of what do you need to deny yourself this Lent?

Prayer

Ever-living God, you made the tree of defeat into the tree of victory through the death and resurrection of your Son, Jesus Christ. Grant us the strength to deny ourselves, to take up our crosses, and to follow him in the hope of sharing in his new life. He is Lord forever and ever. Amen.

Friday after Ash Wednesday

Scriptures

Isaiah 58:1–9a; Matthew 9:14–15

Hymn

As you did hunger and did thirst,

So teach us, gracious Lord,

To die to self and so to live

By your most holy word.

“Lord, Who throughout These Forty Days,” verse 3

Reflection: Fasting is usually associated with not eating some food or abstaining from meat. Some of that kind of fasting is good for us, because it reminds us of our hunger and thirst for God. We do not live on three square meals a day alone; we need God’s word to nourish our bodies, too. While self-denial is good for us, the prophet Isaiah presents another kind of fasting that may be better for us.

Isaiah records the Lord GOD stating that some good fasting might involve releasing those we have bound unjustly. These unjustly bound might be people who fall into one of our cultural stereotypes which depend upon the color of one’s skin or accent for acceptance. The hungry, the homeless, the naked could also use some setting free from the usual image we impose upon street people. This kind of yoke-breaking fasting will require a lot of self-consciousness on our part an...

Table of contents

• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Ash Wednesday through Saturday Following Ash Wednesday
• Chapter 2: First Week of Lent
• Chapter 3: Second Week of Lent
• Chapter 4: Third Week of Lent
• Chapter 5: Fourth Week of Lent
• Chapter 6: Fifth Week of Lent
• Chapter 7: Holy Week
• Chapter 8: First Week of Easter
• Chapter 9: Second Week of Easter
• Chapter 10: Third Week of Easter
• Chapter 11: Fourth Week of Easter
• Chapter 12: Fifth Week of Easter
• Chapter 13: Sixth Week of Easter
• Chapter 14: Seventh Week of Easter
• Chapter 15: Solemnity of Pentecost
• Chapter 16: Feasts and Solemnities
• List of Hymns
• Other Books by Mark G. Boyer