
Lent with St. Francis: True Authority
Servant leadership continues to be a difficult concept, perhaps because so many business and political organizations elevate power and authority to ends in themselves.
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Servant leadership continues to be a difficult concept, perhaps because so many business and political organizations elevate power and authority to ends in themselves.

This week we mark the third Sunday of Lent and hear the Gospel story of Jesus’ cleansing of the temple.

The Ten Commandments–what one Scripture scholar calls the “Bill of God’s Rights in the covenant”–spell out the responsibilities of God’s people–their part of the covenant agreement.

Jeremiah has been preaching about the people’s sinfulness but they are not receptive. Today’s reading is a foretaste of the response that Jesus would receive to his preaching.

I’m now a seeker of these tree pietas, because they remind me of how the psalms catch me.

One of the iconic moments in Francis’s life was when he stood before the bishop and people of Assisi and stripped not only of the clothing that belonged to his father, but of his very identity as his father’s son.

God calls his people to repentance. At the same time, the Lord expresses his willingness to forgive. God is willing to forgive us if we are willing to abandon our sins.

What the psalms began to teach me is to stay true to my human grief, to articulate it, to bring the fear and frustration straight to God.

Jesus reserved his harshest words in the Gospels for those who thought they were spiritually superior to others.

In today reading Daniel prays in the name of the people. They are ashamed of what they have done. Yet they know that God is compassionate and forgiving.