Transcripts For KPIX Mosaic 20170305

Of guadeloupe. The surprising answer is ash wednesday. Not a sunday, not a celebration, an ordinary day in the middle of the week. And it is the first day of lent. You emerge from the church with a mark of black ash on your forehead with a reminder, august ringing in your ears and responsibility placed on your shoulders until easter. To practice, pray and practice charity. It sounds a little grim and demanding. Why do so many people welcome the arrival of lent and find it to be a time of growth, of regrounding, of new insights and deepened relationships. After this brief break please join us and well talk with two special guests about the meaning and practice of lent, our journey to easter. Welcome back to mosaic. Id like to introduce our two special guests today. At the end of the table, father joseph. He is a priest ordained from the diocese of san francisco. Hes a administrator of our lady of the pillar parish. And teacher at st. Patrickings seminary. One of six children, i believe. And interestingly multicultural. Italian, spanish and ancient latin and greek as well. Welcome to mosaic. Next to him, and father, youre 34 years old. Correct. And next to him is michael. Hes a seminarian in menlo park for the diocese of san francisco, 26 years old. Native of modesto, california. You have a twin sister. Yes. And portuguese heritage. Parents were immigrants from the azores. Yes. And he speaks portuguese, spanish and maybe more than that. Latin. And they speak excellent english and will use that today and inform us about lent. Speaking of language, we know the word lent and what it is, 40 days before easter. But i had to look this up to remind myself. The word has nothing to do with our english verbs of loaning. It means springtime. So it is springtime for us in english. Other romance languages keep the name, meaning it is the 40th day. It is something about this season, 40 days and it takes place in the spring and proceeds to easter and id like to ask you two to inform us about the history, meaning, practice. Very good, john. Well the first lent really was the 40 days that our Lord Jesus Christ himself spent in the desert fasting and praying preceding his time of temptation where he conquered for us all form of temptation. And that number 40 is also seen throughout the scriptures in the Old Testament as well. We have, of course, noahs ark, 40 days and 40 nights, israelites wandering in the desert, moses when he receives the mt. Sinai 40 days and nights. 40 is significance of penance, of preparation. It also there is kind of a interesting mathematical piece to this, as well. It also kind of functions as a tithe, a kind of giving of 10 of the year to god. Interesting. Yeah. So it is a harmony in all of this and numbers are important in the bible and in our faith. I believe it is an ancient practice adapted from the earliest days of the church. It goes back as far as we have record there was a time of solemn fast in preparation for the celebration of our lords resurrection at easter and which is the center of the whole church year, and so the time of preparation for easter is the most intense time of preparation in the church year. Let me ask you about, then, this symbol or sacramental, the ashes at ash wednesday. What does that mean and what do they do . Well, the ashes, you know, we receive the ashes on our forehead at the end of mass, which the priest and minister will cross on your forehead, you know the saying, you are dust and to dust you shall return. Symbolizing that we as creatures of god are only on this earth temporarily. Only for a certain length of time. This is not our eternal home. It is an external symbol for us to help understand, you know, that we dont live forever here. You know, were just material beings that material beings with a spirit that will eventually pass on and go back into the elements of the earth. So it signals the beginning of a time of Serious Investigation of yourself, your own condition, reminder of your mortality, and i guess a look toward the mortality of jesus, the man, the god, who became man. So it strikes me as a very deep meditation on mortality. What does the we have the image here of the desert and were wandering in the desert with the hebrews, with jesus. Am i alone on this journey of selfinvestigation or penitence, or who is with me . It is twight actually amazing that we are very much with our lord in the desert. So lent is like going out with him into the desert in order to experience his victory over temptation and then in order to experience also that his victory over death in the resurrection. So with the words that we hear as we receive the ashes, remember man that you are dust and to dust you shall return. Those are biblical words. Thats like the death sentence of the human race that our god gave to adam. And so it is meant to remind us of our need for a savior. That is a big part of lent, that i need jesus, that i need to be with him. And so im not alone. Im not even just alone with him, im there with the whole church, with all of the angels and saints, with all my brothers and sisters journeying towards easter in the desert, mindful of our mortality, really to receive what jesus christ has to offer. Let me ask this, then. It would seem to me if it is a season of penitence, an important would be sacrament of confession, reckon iation. Is that practiced more abundantly during this season . Yes, so the sacrament of penitence is a sacramental entrance into the victory of jesus christ. It is a way for him to touch me, to forgive my sins, and it is a huge part of the lenten practice, lenten preparation for easter, yeah. And i believe the churches offer extra times for confession and i believe all kinds of other communal activities that take place in the parishes during this time. So let me ask you in our next segment which well start shortly about the three fundamental pillars of lent. Obligation to fast, obligation to pray and obligation to give alms. That is an old word but i think it means giving charitable, charitable works. So that is part of the structure of lent that we take on as we journey together. And as we come back in our next segments we will talk with our guests further about fasting, praying and doing charity. Hello and welcome back to mosaic. Were talking about lent and the three fundamental pillars or activities of lent. To fast, to pray and to do good works, to give charity. So i want to turn it over to you, seminary ann michael, to tell us about this three aspects offer lent. If we understand what these are, prayer, fasting, almsgiving, to an average person it seems in certain ways countercultural. Society doesnt really like push these things onto us as something thats good and something we should attain for. And through my personal experience, you know, i went to public and university, riverside in southern california, and in connection with what you were saying earlier with the busiest day of the year in terms of in the church was all the most amount of people is ash wednesday. It is interesting. Through my experience, at least at that college level, was this very positive response from both the catholic and noncatholic audience. So imagine at the University Setting with a bunch of young adult s thousands of them around campus and the newman center, that is the name for catholic chaplain, named after Cardinal John henry newman. They had a mass every year in the center of campus, bell tower. It would draw hundreds of students and faculty from all over and they would come and attend the mass. It turns out most of them were noncatholics, professed christians of whatever denomination they are from. We all agreed on that general understanding, okay, this is lent for 40 days. Were going to fast, were going to pray, to prepare us for the sacred holy feast of the church. I saw this in my eyes. I said, it is interesting, you see a lot of people my age and again with this countercultural understanding, why is that appealing to them . Why are they joining into that . No one is forcing them to do that. Theyre in the freedom of college. Why are they doing that . I think whether those who are religious or nonreligious, i think there is something deep down they understand their relationship with god, even those who dont believe in god, this relationship, what is the deep understanding of the human person. And there is a sense of wanting the best to improve oneself. But in a secular standpoint. But as our understanding as catholics to grow in relationship to the lord, to break those bonds of sin and death and to really detach ourselves from unholy attachments and passions and ruins and things like that to improve our relationship with him. To understand there is more to this life. The time of taking stock and time of seeking out a relationship with jesus. Right. Very interesting. And weve talked rl earlier about fasting, praying, and doing good. And you used the word rupture to describe what these address. Well, michael, when you describe the phenomenon which is so common to many places of all of these people just flocking to the church on ash wednesday, i think obviously something amazing is going on there. Something profound. And something that may be of which they are not even aware that there is this need for a savior. That we do need a savior, that we do have these ruptures, these fundamental ruptures in our basic relationships. The doctrine of the Catholic Church identifies based on the story in the bible in genesis with the fall of adam and eve, three basic ruptures that are the results of our sins. Sin meaning turning away from god. So first we have rupture with god himself, which then results in a rupture with myself, which then also then results in a rupture with others. So i think that is part of what youre seeing. Now, there might be a just a a kind of phenomenalism to that as well, i want the ashes and i want to see what this is all about, fine. But i think deeper beyond you know, underneath that is the sense of the ruptures, the sense of the need, that the human heart has to be healed. And so its in prayer and fasting and almsgiving these disciplines that jesus christ himself gave to us, that he even enjoins upon us in the sixth chapter of saint thath thus gospel in sermon on the mount. It is these three disciplines that heal. Jesus is the one who does the healing through this grave. But in prayer we see a healing in our rupture with god and in fasting a kind of healing of our rupture with ourselves and an almsgiving which is giving money to the poor basically, we see a kind of healing on ruptures with others. Right. Right. You mentioned this communicative relational aspect of it, in terms of relationship with the lord and how in our Society Today does this cause a temptation and trying to push us away and weakening our relationship with god, and this is an opportunity for us to examine ourselves and saying, well, you know, i feel in my heart this was a weakened relationship. What is the deeper sense of it . Weaker relationship with one another, family and friends and in larger picture, weaker relationship between us and god. And were being sort of to be made in relationship with one other. That is why we feel good when were around another person, whether it is a family or friend. The good feeling that you are, you know, not being alone, you know . Not being alone in this journey. Which is interesting and little bit counterintuitive. We talk about lent an obligation to fast and obligation to pray. Sounds like something im kind of doing by myself and it is a chore. But i realize noi talking to you, it is a communal event, were all fasting together, were all praying together. Were altogether in this enterprise. And the third part of doing charity that is a very communal enterprise. Im reaching out to my brothers and sisters. I think the parishes and Catholic Charities have lots of opportunities for charitable works and doing of good during lent. So very active, interesting season. Well be back in a moment after this short break and well discuss further the meaning and practice of lent. Hello, welcome back. Were talking about how to practice lent and we have a slide wed like to show you. I believe it is a well known image of the sacred heart of jesus, and he will tell us the use in lent. If i understand history correctly it was found in a Parish Church in poland or Eastern Europe or Something Like that that was wartorn. Everything was destroyed except for the painting. It was survived by a anonymous paint. We dont know who it is. We see the lord with tears on his face and sacred heart and beautiful words on the bottom. For god still love the world. That is such the meaning of our faith that the father sends his son into the world, but all who believes in him may not he parish but have eternal may not perish but have eternal life. Were aiming for christ, to live with christ, as father would say, to recognize the need for the savior in our lives. And it is very practical in the season of lent to and making him in his virtues, living how he lived and through the wisdom of the Church Giving us these examples. We just finished the year of mercy, the spiritual works of mercy, like praying for the dead, giving food to the homeless, clothinghe naked. To exercise works of charity in service of our brothers and sisters. That i guess would be a question viewers could welcome an answer to, practically speaking, how do i practice lent . How do i pray, do charity . I notice your parish has a lengthy list of activities of all of these kinds and there is another list. Do you have some practical i guarantee you the parish where you live probably has some sort of the communal stations of the cross every friday during lent. That is a way to pray with jesus and with the whole church during the lenten season, the stations of the cross starting with st. Francis of asees see. But they go back to the beginning. There is a strong tradition our blessed mother herself would walk in jerusalem, the path of our lords passions, even daily that she thought on this and during her time in jerusalem. And so the stations of the cross are journeying with jesus to his cross, and in that way, you know, it is very much connected with this image that we just saw. We really keep our eyes on him and his love, the most famous meditations of the stations of the cross are written by the saint alfonse. Granted my may love you always and then do with me as you will. The idea being that we are growing in our love for him by our prayer. Thats the point of prayer, really. The point of prayer is to focus on him so we can grow and grow in our love for him. And at my parish we have an opportunity connected with the stations, always communally to fast. We have a soup supper yaftd ward, a simple meal as opposed to a more extravagant one. Which includes no meat. One of the catholic practices, is we refrain from meat from the fridays of lent, actually all fridays. And there is and communal opportunities for almsgiving. Even when you dont buy such and such food and go out to fancy restaurants to eat or whatnot, you have more money to give to the poor. Fasting and almsgiving are connected in many ways. Lot of practical ways. Id like to show a slide just now that gives you a couple of websites that are important sources of information and resources for lent. One is the archdiocese of san francisco. We have a page for lent on which many services, information of various kinds is gathered, and you can always go there and search for a parish near you. And the u. S. Council of catholic bishops has a Rich Resource page for lent with all kinds of history, information, prayers, videos, all kinds of things to make your lent deeper and more meaningful and more valuable. So those are practical things, places of practical information. Let me ask you, too, then, it is rare that we have a priest at work and a priest in training together talking about this. Your personal sense of how lent and this whole season fits into your vocation . For me, lent especially reminds me that a priest has to be a disciple of our lord before he can be his minister. That is to say i need to be in the desert with jesus as someone who needs salvation before i can be an instrument of that same salvation to others. Lent is a time for me to focus on the basics in my Spiritual Life and so i make certain resolutions in all three of the areas to really help me with that. Michael . For me, and in the eyes of a seminarian, would be the virtue of humility in modeling how our lord was humble during this time and all the suffering for our salvation and his passion. And how he gave up everything and followed the will of the father. You know, for me in training, my growing humility allows the lord for me, and not all of it is easy. That is very well said and i appreciate your coming here and sharing it with us. So, again, thank you for joining us for this examination of what lent is and how to practice it. Its a deep meditation on a mortality and a view to the ends of our immortality. Thanks for joining us. Well see you next time on mosaic. This is gus. Gus is a handful. We dont know what this thing is, but someday, gus will because this is the thing that gus will build that will change the world. And this is the thing that could change gus world. Gus doesnt know what this thing is, but we know what this thing is. This is the thing well help gus get rid of. And without this thing, gus can grow up to build this thing, whatever that thing is, because thats what we do. We do health things, and we do those things for northern california, always in the headlines. It doesnt just affect kids on the school yard. Welcome to bay sunday, im Roberta Gonzalez in for kenny choi. Seems like bowling is always in the headlines and doesnt just affect kids on the schoolyard. It happens with adults in politics. On social media and in the workplace. Here to talk more about bullying is author andrew foss, from bully to bulls eye, move your organization out of the line of fire. Andrew, thank you so much for being here with us, i want to ask you first of all, what inspired you to write this book . Well, i offer a unique perspective in i was call out