Colligite Fragmenta: 3rd Sunday of Lent

Welcome to the second part of Lent.  As Pius Parsch puts it in The Church’s Year of Grace, in the first two weeks we put ourselves on guard against attacks by the Prince of this world, the Devil and fallen angels, with the weapon of mortifications.  On this Sunday we move from defense against the Enemy to attack: Christ casts out a demon and refutes any connection with the Enemy.  He then explains how not to allow the demons – and maybe “our demons” in the form of memories of past sins that haunt us – to return to trouble us.  On that note, Paul inveighs against sins that not only will haunt us for the rest of our lives, but are also avenues through which demons can attach themselves to us to oppress us and also attach to the places where those sins occurred.  We have to put our “houses” in order.

Let’s delve into more context.  The Roman Station for the 3rd Sunday of Lent is the Minor Papal Basilica of St. Lawrence outside-the-walls.  There are five Papal Basilicas, four Major and one Minor.  They were once called Patriarchal Basilicas and they corresponded to the five ancient Patriarchates, St. John Lateran in Rome with the Patriarch of the West, the Pope.  St. Peter’s in the Vatican was assigned to Constantinople, St. Paul’s outside-the-walls to Alexandria, St. Mary Major to Antioch and the Minor Basilica of St. Lawrence outside-the-walls to the last (chronologically) of the patriarchates, Jerusalem.  Hence, the Patriarch of each of those ancient sees had a basilica representing them in Rome, supporting the universal jurisdiction of Rome over all the other sees, no matter how distinguished and ancient.

The catechumens of ancient in Rome began their journey into the Church on Septuagesima Sunday here at St. Lawrence outside-the-walls, the burial place of the great deacon martyr.  Martyrdom set the tone.  They moved from station church to station church, each place imparting a lesson about our Catholic identity.  They would undergo questioning and instruction at least seven times before baptism.  In this second stage of Lent, we are back at St. Lawrence.  This is when the series of seven “scrutinies” began.  Also, it is not, I believe, by chance that the theme of exorcism is so strongly stressed with the Gospel reading.  The catechumens will also along the way undergo series of exorcisms.  In fact, scrutinies and exorcisms remain today in the traditional rites for Baptism.

The context of Sunday’s Mass at a Roman Station can furnish us with a crowbar to pry open the content of the formulary (antiphons, readings, etc.).  This Sunday, we hear a complicated Gospel reading, which can be broken into three sections: 1) the Lord performs an exorcism and is accused of doing so by Beelzebul and He confounds their accusation, 2) the description of the return of a demon to possess again or oppress someone and 3) Christ’s repost about true blessedness to a woman’s praise of His Blessed Mother, Mary.

The inclusion of this Marian episode to the two pieces about demonic possession seems out of place.  However, this Sunday we are – at least in spirit – at St. Lawrence outside-the-walls.  The original Basilica built by the Emperor Constantine was too small.  Therefore, a large hall was tacked on to it by Pelagius II (+590) dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.  So strong is the Marian component of the combined structure that Leo IV (+855) established that the Roman Station Mass for the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin should be there.  This is why, I think, we have that strongly Marian allusion tacked on to the previous sections about exorcism and relapse: it’s a subtle reference to the very structure of the Roman Station church and I suspect that would not have been lost on the Romans.

For brevity’s sake, three quick notes about the Gospel, as delineated above.

First, you will read before Mass and then hear in Luke 11:14-18, after Christ refutes the accusation of being in league with the Devil in order to exorcize, about how

When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace; but when one stronger than he assails him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoil.

There is a “strong man”, which is the Enemy which can possess or oppress.  However, the “stronger man” Christ refers to is not the Enemy, but rather Christ Himself.  The palace or house to which the Lord refers in this little parable, could be taken as being the soul and body of an individual, the Church, or the entire cosmos.  Christ will be victorious clearly in the matter of the latter two, but for the first, ourselves, we have to cooperate.  We are being given directions today.  It’s time truly to attack with grace and elbow grease and get our houses in order.

Second, Our Lord talks about getting our house in order, that is ejecting anything that the Enemy can lay claim to, but then worse demons return.  There are several ways to understand this, but given the direction our modern society is heading, with its astonishing dissolution of morals and even sense of reality about sex and even the nature of the sexes, let us use the lens of the Epistle for today, from Paul to the Ephesians 5:1-9.  He stresses the need for purity which the Apostle connects to idolatry (the demonic).  St. Gregory the Great taught that there are demons of different types or specializations.  It could be that the demons presented in the Gospel today are those of impurity, which St. Gregory says are the most common cause of a soul’s damnation.  Say a person struggles against sins of impurity and makes progress.  However, repeated relapses can lead to a loss of the fear of God and a callousness or even presumptuous attitude about the Sacrament of Penance.  Such a person is in grave spiritual peril.  It is important to avoid near occasions of sin, on the one hand, and idleness on the other.  Being busy with good things is helpful.

Third,

… a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!” But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

 On the surface this could be a slight put down of Blessed Virgin.  That “rather” in Greek is menoûnge which is indeed translated as “nay, rather”, or “nay but doubtless”.  This could be puzzling, since no person could ever parallel the hearing and keeping of the “word of God” on par with Mary.  It could be that Christ is saying here that great favor will be shown to all who truly strive to do their best in attending and being faithful to the “word of God” which is not only Scripture but His sacred Person, the Word Incarnate.

I’ve wondered about this passage many times over the years because it comes up often in the celebration of the Vetus Ordo, particularly on Votive Masses of the Blessed Virgin traditionally celebrated on Saturdays.  It seems to me that Christ, in redirecting the praise is not seeking to slight His beloved Mother in any way, but rather is trying to help people think beyond the mere physical relationship of blood, indeed the physical at all.  After His resurrection, Christ would not allow Mary Magdalen to take hold of Him, saying (in Greek) “cease holding on to me” (John 20:17).  On the same day of the resurrection, the disciples on the road to Emmaus don’t recognize Christ until he breaks bread (Luke 24:35).  Then He disappears, teaching them that they will now have Him present with them in this new way, in the Eucharist, not in His physical form as when He was amongst us.  Eventually, in the Ascension He would be taken from sight.  In redirecting the praise of His earthly Mother, Our Lord was already teaching about our new bonds of kinship in and through Him, untrammeled by ethnicity or consanguinity.  This will be especially important after the giving of the Great Commission to go to all the nations.

Finally, I’ll track back to that point about relapsing.  It is important in “getting your house in order” to make a thorough examination of conscience, truly looking into the corners and cracks and even the dark place in the back of the refrigerator and other less than spotless areas.  Then make your good and thorough confession with confidence.  Go on the attack with the aid of the “stronger man” of the Gospel, Our Lord Himself against Whom no enemy can stand.  The Lord Himself forgives your sins through Holy Church and the priest, alter Christus.

When with true sorrow and a firm purpose of amendment you make a sincere and complete confession of all mortal sins in both kind and number, all your sins will be forgiven, taken away, gone.  They aren’t simply overlooked or covered over.  They are eradicated, washed clean in the Blood of the Lamb, never to be held against you when you come to your judgment.

Also, and this is important, there is no sin so horrible that we little mortals can commit that God will not forgive provide we ask for forgiveness.  That doesn’t mean that we forget.  It means that we are forgiven.  We will always have the memory of our sins.  Try not to beat yourself over the head too much.

As we move into this new phase of Lent, let’s go on the attack!