A Concord Pastor Comments: Pause for Prayer: TUESDAY 3/3

Lent is a season to prepare ourselves to celebrate Easter when new Christians will be baptized and when all of us will, on Easter Sunday, renew our own baptismal promises. That will happen when we answer the familiar questions:

• Do you reject sin so as to live in the freedom of God’s children? • Do you reject the glamor of evil and refuse to be mastered by sin? • Do you reject Satan and all his works and empty promises? • Do you believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth? • Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God? • Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life? • Do you believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic church? • Do you believe in the forgiveness of sins? • Do you look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come?

And we'll respond to each: "I do." But ... do we? Is this what we believe? Is this what we live? Do we even understand the questions?

Fr. Bill Reiser, SJ has proposed some additional questions for us to ponder as a way to better understand the profession of faith and the renewal of our baptismal promises... His questions can be food for our prayer in this holy season.

• Do you accept Jesus as your teacher, as the example whom you will always imitate and as the one in whom the mystery of God’s love for the world has fully been revealed?

• Do you dedicate yourself to seeking the kingdom of God and God’s justice, to praying daily, to meditating on the Gospels and to celebrating the Eucharist faithfully and devoutly?

• Do you commit yourself to that spirit of poverty and detachment that Jesus enjoined on his disciples, and to resisting the spirit of consumerism and materialism that is so strong in our culture?

• Do you accept responsibility for building community, for being a person of compassion and reconciliation, for being mindful of the poor and the oppressed, and for truly forgiving those who have offended you?

• Will you try to thank and praise God by your works and by your actions, in times of prosperity as well as in moments of suffering, giving loyal witness to the risen Jesus by your faith, by your hope, and by the style of your living?

• Do you surrender your life to God as a disciple and companion of Jesus? Do you believe that God is the Lord of history, sovereign over nations and peoples, and that God’s promise to redeem all of creation from its bondage to death and decay will one day be accomplished?

All of these questions, the traditional and the new ones, are offered here for our Lenten reflection prayer and commitments. Soon we’ll be renewing our baptismal promises at Easter. Let's pray for one another that Lent will prepare us all to answer, I do! - with faith-filled hearts and voices.