| The Elect |
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| Tuesday, 06 March 2007 08:58 | |||
 Archbishop Henry J. Mansell The Rite of Election and the Call to Continuing Conversion is a moving experience. Celebrated in the Cathedral on the afternoon of the First Sunday of Lent (this year, Feb. 25), it welcomes into the “Elect” the Catechumens in our Archdiocese who are preparing to receive the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist at the Easter Vigil celebrated on Holy Saturday night in our parishes. It also welcomes and affirms the Candidates who will be making their Profession of Faith for reception into the Church and receiving the sacraments of Confirmation and the Eucharist at the Easter Vigil. This year, some 287 Catechumens and Candidates participated. Together with their priests, deacons, women and men religious, catechists, godparents, sponsors, family members, and friends, they filled the Cathedral. It is an occasion for deep joy and gratitude on the part of all of us. As the names of the Catechumens and Candidates are called out individually and they stand up to present themselves, you cannot help but reflect on their personal stories, dreams, visions, commitments, and hopes. Tears, I presume for the most part, of joy, are in evidence. Their comments say so much: “I don’t know why I took this long.” “I didn’t realize I would be this happy.” “I feel my life is becoming more complete.” “Other people encouraged me, but I am doing this because I want to.” “It will be a great Easter.” “I’m going to be involved in the parish and in the community.” “I feel so much better about myself.” “I’m going to invite others to do the same.” It is all part of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, which continues to bring so much hope to all of us. As we journey through the sacred season of Lent, the Catechumens will receive, at various stages in their parishes, the Scriptures, the Commandments, the Our Father, the Creed. In accepting these gifts, they are themselves enriched, and they bring so much freshness and vitality to our parishes. They remind us of who we are and how much we take for granted. The specific stories and the parish developments are potent antidotes to the scandals and pub-lic coarseness that command tab-loid headlines and open news programs on television and radio. Meanness, nastiness, dumbing-down on the public concourse might suggest to some that our culture is losing its moorings. Lent is a sacred time for taking all of this into account and affirming our own direction. It is the season of the soul’s high purpose, the springtime of the soul. It is rooted in silence, a silence which nurtures communion with God. T.S. Eliot’s poem, “Ash Wednesday,” provides the theme with its recurring refrain, “Teach us to be still.” The inner ear hears the echo of Psalm 46:11, “Be still and know that I am God.” We cannot forget that it was in the thin small whisper of a breeze that the prophet Elijah encountered God. It is in the silence that what is great takes place. Lent summons us to recharge our batteries for more intense practice of the fundamental exer-cises of the spiritual life: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. In God’s grace, may they become habitual and bring about a greater excel-lence in our lives. As St. Paul says, “If there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Philippians 4:8). Thomas Carlyle, the 19th century Scottish philosopher, critic, and historian, described genius as the infinite capacity for taking pains. We might add that the habits develop virtues, and the virtues produce their own culture. Our Catechumens and Candidates remind us of the gifts we have and the importance of sharing them. Central to Lent is the Cross, but also, at the end of it, the surprise ever new. We sing our Lenten hymn: “Take up your cross and follow Christ, Nor think to death to lay it down; For only the one who bears the cross May hope to wear the glorious crown.”
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