Confraternity of Penitents Newsletter
February 2028
Lenten Regulations for Penitents
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." (Matthew 16:24)
Church Regulations: Ash Wednesday and all the Fridays of Lent are days of abstinence from meat. Fish is permitted. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fast and abstinence. No meat on those days plus smaller amounts of food should be eaten. One full meal and two smaller meals that, put together, do not equal the full meal in size. No solid food between meals. Beverages are permitted. However, liquifying solids to make a beverage is not permissible.
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Confraternity of Penitents Regulations: In line with the Rule of 1221, the original rule for penitents, the Confraternity of Penitents has stringent fasting and abstinence requirements for those at the Novice 3 level and above. In general, abstinence (no meat) on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays as is always done in the CFP unless a Solemnity falls on those days. In addition, fasting every day during Lent beginning with Ash Wednesday (Sundays and other Solemnities excluded). Fasting means one full meal and one partial meal per day or, if a bite to eat is needed, the bite and the smaller meal together should not equal in size the full meal. No solid food between meals although beverages are allowed. Liquifying solid food to create a beverage is not permitted. Please consult the CFP Constitutions and Appendix A for greater detail. For those not yet at Novice 3 level and for Affiliates, in addition to following the Church regulations for Lent, an additional penance should be selected, A good starting point is to consult the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy for inspiration. The Works of Mercy are listed in Appendix D of the CFP Rule and Constitutions.
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WHY LENT?
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Prayer, Fasting, Almsgiving--the three legs of Lent and the three tools that manage our self-will and self-centeredness. Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving switch our focus to God and neighbor and away from indulgence. ​​
The Franciscan Jubilee Year: 10 January 2026 - 10 January 2027
To commemorate the 800th anniversary of the death of Saint Francis, Pope Leo XIV has proclaimed a special Franciscan Jubilee Year from 10 January 2026 to 10 January 2027. During this year, everyone, especially Franciscans, are encouraged to consider the virtues of the little poor man of Assisi and to imitate them as he imitated Christ.
The Apostolic Penitentiary grants a plenary indulgence, under the usual conditions, to those who take part in the Jubilee initiatives with a sincere spirit and a willingness to undergo inner conversion. Those who can travel may make a pilgrimage to any Franciscan church or place dedicated to Saint Francis, anywhere in the world. There they ought to pray and contemplate how Francis sought to bring peace both within himself and between others, how he sought to spread faith in the world and bring harmony to all creation. Those unable to travel may offer their prayers, sufferings, and hopes for the same intentions. All should ask the Lord how they individually can be a peacemaker, a faith-builder, and a custodian of our world.
Even within the Church, joy is sometimes confused with enthusiasm, optimism, or outward success. When these fade — as they inevitably do — discouragement sets in. St. Francis offers us something far more solid. His joy did not depend on circumstances. It endured sickness, rejection, misunderstanding, poverty, and the slow stripping away of all natural supports. And yet, at the end of his life, he could still sing.
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The question this Jubilee places before us is simple and unsettling: What kind of joy was this — and why does it endure when so much else fails?
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Joy Begins with Conversion, Not Comfort
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Franciscan joy does not begin where the world expects it to begin. It does not begin with achievement, recognition, or emotional consolation. It begins with conversion. St. Francis himself tells us this plainly in his Testament: “The Lord gave me…” Everything begins with grace. Everything begins with God acting first.
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Before Francis preached joy, he wept. Before he sang, he repented. Before he embraced poverty, he allowed his heart to be broken open by mercy. His conversion was not a single dramatic moment, but a progressive surrender. The leper whom he first feared became the sacrament through which God healed his heart. What was once bitter became sweet — not because the bitterness vanished, but because love transformed it.
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This is the first truth I want you to carry into the retreat: joy is not opposed to penitence. In the Franciscan tradition, penitence is the doorway to joy. When sin is named honestly, forgiven sacramentally, and relinquished freely, the soul experiences not humiliation, but relief. The burden is lifted. The heart breathes again.
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For those of us who belong to the Confraternity of Penitents, this is not theoretical. Penitence is our vocation. But it must always be remembered that penitence is not an end in itself. It exists so that love may be purified and joy restored. When penitence loses its joy, it becomes moralism. When joy loses penitence, it becomes illusion. Francis holds the two together.
The Jubilee as a Return, Not a Pause
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Biblically, a Jubilee is always a return. Slaves return to freedom. Land returns to its rightful owners. Debts are forgiven. Relationships are restored. The Jubilee proclaimed by Christ in the synagogue at Nazareth is not a poetic image; it is a program of restoration. In Him, God comes to reclaim what has been lost.
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This Franciscan Jubilee is not meant to interrupt ordinary life for a brief moment of inspiration, only to leave us unchanged afterward. It is meant to re-establish a way of living. Francis did not experience conversion once and then move on. He returned again and again to the Gospel, again and again to the Cross, again and again to prayer and penance. His joy deepened precisely because his conversion deepened.
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As we approach this retreat, I ask you to reflect honestly: Where has routine replaced desire? Where has familiarity dulled gratitude? Where has the penitential life become something carried rather than something chosen? These questions are not accusations. They are invitations.
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Joy That Can Survive the Cross
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If conversion opens the door to joy, the Cross determines whether that joy will endure. Franciscan joy is never sentimental. It is cruciform. This is why Francis speaks so provocatively of “perfect joy.” He does not locate it in success, reputation, or even spiritual fruitfulness. He locates it where the ego no longer has a claim — where love remains even when everything else is stripped away.
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This teaching is not meant to discourage us; it is meant to free us. Many Christians lose joy because they unknowingly attach it to outcomes: visible progress, recognition, effectiveness, or interior consolation. When these disappear, joy collapses. Francis teaches us a deeper freedom: joy rooted in fidelity rather than results.
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The Cross purifies joy by removing the need to be affirmed. It teaches the soul to rest in belonging rather than achievement. For penitents, this is especially important. The world may not understand your sacrifices. Your fidelity may go unnoticed. Your witness may seem small. None of this diminishes joy when joy is anchored in Christ crucified.
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Eucharistic Joy: The Center That Holds Everything Together
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Francis’ joy would not have endured without the Eucharist. His reverence for the Sacrament was not peripheral; it was central. He was astonished by the humility of God — that the Lord of heaven would place Himself into human hands, remain hidden, and be entrusted to our care. This astonishment sustained his joy when strength failed and suffering increased.
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The Eucharist anchors joy in something objective and stable. Christ is present whether we feel it or not. He remains faithful when we are tired, distracted, or dry. This is why Eucharistic joy can survive seasons of darkness. It does not depend on emotion; it depends on presence.
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As penitents living in the world, you know how easily the heart becomes scattered. The Eucharist gathers what is divided. It recenters life. It reminds us who we are and to whom we belong. A retreat rooted in Eucharistic faith is not an escape from reality; it is a return to it.
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Joy That Is Ecclesial, Not Isolated
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Francis’ joy was never individualistic. He loved the Church — not idealized, but real. He knew her wounds. He saw her weaknesses. And still, he remained faithful. His joy was protected because it was ecclesial. He did not seek a purer alternative to the Church; he sought holiness within her.
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This matters deeply today. Many lose joy by withdrawing emotionally or spiritually from the Church when they encounter disappointment. Francis shows us another way: fidelity without illusion, love without denial, joy without naïveté. The Eucharist binds us to the Church not because she is perfect, but because Christ has chosen to remain within her.
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Sent Forth in Joy
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Finally, Franciscan joy is never meant to terminate in interior peace alone. It is meant to be given. Not through loud proclamation, but through quiet witness. Your joy, lived faithfully in family life, work, parish, and community, becomes a form of evangelization. It testifies that the Gospel is livable, that hope is reasonable, and that love endures.
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This retreat will invite you not to do more, but to be more deeply who you already are: penitents whose lives quietly proclaim the joy of belonging to God.
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As we approach this Jubilee retreat together, I ask you to begin praying for one grace above all others: the grace to receive joy as Francis received it — through conversion, through the Cross, through the Eucharist, and through hope.
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The rest will unfold in God’s time. With gratitude for your vocation and confidence in God’s work among you, Fr. Joseph Tuscan, OFM Cap. CFP Spiritual Guardian
Insights from the CFP Spirtual Guardian: The Joy of the Franciscan Jubilee Year
Dear brothers and sisters in the spirit of our father St. Francis,
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As we stand on the threshold of this Franciscan Jubilee Year — eight hundred years since the holy death of our Seraphic Father — I wish to write to you not simply to inform you about an upcoming retreat, but to prepare your hearts for a grace the Church desires to give us. What lies before us is more than a series of conferences. It is an invitation to rediscover joy — not a shallow or passing joy, but the deep, demanding, and radiant joy that marked the life of St. Francis and continues to mark every authentic Franciscan vocation.
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This letter is written in anticipation of our retreat so that, when we finally gather, the soil of the heart may already be loosened, and the seed may fall upon ground ready to receive it.
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Why a Franciscan Jubilee Matters Now
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Every Jubilee in the life of the Church arises at a moment of need. God does not grant Jubilees merely to commemorate the past, but to heal the present and re-orient the future. The eight hundredth anniversary of the death of St. Francis comes at a time when joy has become rare, fragile, and often misunderstood. We live in a world of constant stimulation and persistent anxiety, where many are entertained but few are at peace, where emotions are plentiful but hope is thin.
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CFP Retreat 2026 -- Theme: The Joy of the Franciscan Jubilee Year
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Presenter: Fr. Joseph Tuscan, OFM Cap, CFP Spiritual Guardian
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St Felix Catholic Center, 1280 Hitzfield Street, Huntington IN 46750 USA -- 5 pm Wednesday, October 21 to 8 am Sunday, October 25. $220 plus $30 worth of food or paper goods OR $30 cash. -- Single day rate (no overnight) - $40 per day.
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Retreat Deposit of $50 can be made on the retreat link at www.penitents.org or by sending a note and $50 check made out to “CFP Retreat Fund” to Confraternity of Penitents, 1702 Lumbard Street, Fort Wayne IN 46803 USA. All invited, especially all Franciscans.
IN TIME FOR THE JUBILEE YEAR: LENT WITH SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISi AND HIS TESTAMENT
LENT WITH SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI AND HIS TESTAMENT: Jesus, Francis, and You for Spiritual Growth during Lent by Madeline Pecora Nugent, CfP, In time to celebrate the 800th anniversary Jubilee year of Saint Francis death, proclaimed by Pope Leo on January 10, 2026.
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Madeline Pecora Nugent, author of a Franciscan trilogy Francesco, Chiara, and Antonio (Pauline Books and Media, available as individual books or in a set from the CFP Holy Angels Gift Shop), takes the reader through Lent by exploring the depths of Saint Francis’ Testament. Dictated by Saint Francis shortly before his death in 1226, the Testament is what Francis considered to be a summary of his life’s high points and his most important teachings. Through it, he hoped to preserve the original intent of his Order after his death.
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Nugent couples the Testament with passages from the Gospels and the teachings of Christ, bringing out similarities that challenge the reader to deeper spiritual growth. Bulk discounts available. Available for pre-order. The booklet is being printed and will be shipped in time for Lent.
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Available from the CFP Holy Angels Gift Shop, 1702 Lumbard Street, Fort Wayne IN 46803 USA. Phone 260-739-6882 (does not take texts). $3.95 each including shipping. Quantity Discounts. 1 copy $3.95 each -- 2 - 5 copies $3.75 each -- 6 - 10 copies $3.50 each ---11-15 copies $3.25 each 16-25 copies $3.00 each --- 26-40 copies $2.75 each
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First Three Reflections:
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Ash Wednesday
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The Lord gave to me, Brother Francis, thus to begin to do penance (TSF)
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“In the beginning was the Word . . .” (John 1:1)
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Everything but God has a beginning. The Apostle John asserted that the Word was in the beginning, and that God the Father made all things through that Word Jesus Christ. John wrote his Gospel to summarize Christ’s life. “There are many other signs that Jesus worked and the disciples saw, but they are not recorded in this book.” (John 20:30).
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Saint Francis wrote his Testament when he realized that his death was imminent. In it, he summarized the high points of his life.
If you knew that your death would occur soon, what would you want your loved ones to remember? If you can’t think of much, or if you wish you had better memories to record, why not begin to create those memories? Who do you need to contact? To forgive? What charities should you donate to now? Have you made a will? How are you leaving this world a little better?
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Thursday after Ash Wednesday
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for when I was in sin it seemed to me very bitter to see lepers (TSF)
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“. . . just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve . . . (Matthew 20:28)
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Following Christ’s injunction to give alms, Francis used to throw money to lepers, while holding his nose against their putrid smell. Then, one day, he gave alms and embraced and kissed a leper. Imagine walking up to a homeless person, pressing a wad of bills into the outstretched hand, embracing the odiferous clothed body, and kissing the grimy cheek.
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Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta wrote, “Today it is fashionable to talk about the poor. Unfortunately, it is not fashionable to talk with them.” The Son of Man came “to serve.” What is “service”? Giving money to the poor? Or actually serving them? Who are the “lepers”? The disheveled and shabby poor? Those with different life styles, values, political parties, and religions? The abandoned elderly in nursing homes? A rebellious child? An in-law who is more like an outlaw? How can you minister to your leper?
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Friday after Ash Wednesday
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and the Lord Himself led me amongst them and I showed mercy to them. (TSF)
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As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” (Luke 17: 12-13)
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After Francis’ first close up encounter with a leper, he began to visit leper colonies, bringing money and provisions. He washed the lepers’ sores, and ate with them. Since he was a tailor, he likely patched their garments and made them new ones. No doubt he also listened to them. Henri Nouwen called listening a form of “spiritual hospitality”.
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Listening is more than allowing another to talk while waiting for a chance to respond. Listening is paying full attention and welcoming the other into our very being. Those who are listened to begin to feel accepted and understood. Tensions lessen, confidence increases, problems become less formidable, and solutions begin to appear. Listening is a priceless gift. Can you be present to someone by listening? Who might that be?
HUMOR
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Sometimes I wonder what happened to the people who asked me for directions.
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I tried donating blood today. NEVER AGAIN. Too many questions. Whose blood is it? Where did you get it from? Why is it in a bucket?
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It’s been months since I bought the book “How to Scam People on Line.” It still hasn’t arrived.
NO GREATER LOVE: THE CRY OF ABANDONMENT
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As the Lord Jesus hung on the Cross, He cries out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46, Mk 15:34) The evangelists give the words of this cry in mixed Hebrew and Aramaic and then translate it into Greek. The bystanders who heard this thought Jesus was calling out to the ancient prophet Elijah. However, Mary, the mother of Jesus, Mary’s sister who was Mary the wife of Clopas, Mary Magdalene, and the John the beloved disciple, were very near to the Cross. (Jn:19:25-26) They must have heard the cry correctly, which was a cry to God.
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Was this a cry of despair? No. It was the beginning of Psalm 22. This psalm tells of a person in great distress and yet it ends in triumph and praise of God. The Passion of the Lord is anticipated in this psalm. It seems as though the Father has abandoned His Son on the Cross, and yet the Father answers the cry of His Son in His own way. The Passion of Jesus was not a meaningless defeat, but rather triumph and salvation, not only for Jesus, but all of us who accept Him.
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Pope Benedict, in Jesus of Nazareth, tells us of the two levels of the Lord’s cry of abandonment to the Father. I think that the Church Fathers' way of understanding Jesus' prayer was much closer to the truth. Even in the days of the Old Covenant, those who prayed the Psalms were not just individual subjects, closed in on themselves. To be sure, the Psalms are deeply personal prayers, formed while wrestling with God, yet at the same time they are uttered in union with all who suffer unjustly, with the whole of Israel, indeed with the whole of struggling humanity, and so these Psalms always span past, present, and future. They are prayed in the presence of suffering, and yet they already contain within themselves the gift of an answer to prayer, the gift of transformation.
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On the basis of their belief in Christ, the Fathers took up and developed this fundamental theme, which modern scholarship calls ''corporate personality" in the Psalms, so Augustine tells us, Christ prays both as head and as body (cf., for example, En. in Ps. 60: 1-2; 61:4; 85:1, 5). He prays as "head", as the one who unites us all into a single common subject and incorporates us all into himself. And he prays as "body", that is to say, all of our struggles, our voices, our anguish, ·and our hope are present in his praying. We ourselves are the ones praying this psalm, but now in a new way, in fellowship with Christ. And in him, past, present, and future are always united.
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The Lord’s prayer of the beginning of psalm 22, the cry of abandonment, is thus more than the cry of an individual in great distress. First, it is a cry of suffering Israel. Israel is God’s chosen people, his own, his “portion”. (Deut 32:8-9) Yet there were times when God seemed to have abandoned his portion. After the glory days of King David and King Solomon, the ten northern tribes of Israel, under King Jeroboam, broke away from Rehoboam, Solomon’s son and the King of Judah. The two nations remained separate and were sometimes at war with each other. However, in 722 BC, Israel, (the northern tribes) was conquered by Assyria and deported out of the promised land. Why? Israel had sinned against the Lord. (2 Kings 17:7-23)
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In 701 BC, Sennacherib, the King of Assyria also attacked Judah, whose King was Hezekiah. However, the Prophet Isaiah told Hezekiah not to be afraid of Sennacherib since the Lord would destroy him. (2 Kings 19:1-7) Before the Assyrian army could enter Jerusalem, a large number of the army died, probably in a plague, and Sennacherib went back to Nineveh, where he died. (2 Kings 19:35-37) Yet, during the reign of Hezekiah’s son, Manasseh, the people of Judah sinned greatly. (2 Kings 21:1-18). After the reign of the good king Josiah, the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, attacked and conquered Jerusalem. He then installed Zedekiah as King of Judah. However, Zedekiah rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, and he then besieged Jerusalem. The prophet Jeremiah advised Zedekiah to surrender to the Babylonians. (Jer 38:17) This is the opposite of what Isaiah told Hezekiah. Zedekiah listened instead to the princes of Jerusalem who probably believed that God would destroy Nebuchadnezzar just as He had destroyed Sennacherib. They were wrong since the Babylonians captured Zedekiah and sent him to exile in Babylon along with most of the people of Jerusalem. They destroyed the city and the Jerusalem Temple. (2 Kings 39:1-12) Because God has done a certain thing in the past does not mean that He will do the same thing again. The time of Isaiah and King Hezekiah was a time when God chose to show mercy to the people of Judah. On the other hand, the time of Jeremiah and King Zedekiah was a time when God chose to judge Judah for its sins.
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Not everyone in Jerusalem and Judah participated in idolatry and other sins or presumed that God would save them since they were God’s own “portion”. The prophet Jeremiah had many followers who preserved his writings and prophecies. Of course, Jeremiah would have been forgotten if his prophecies of the destruction of Jerusalem were wrong. In the book of Jeremiah, we read many prophecies of doom, destruction and exile. Yet, there are also prophecies of restoration and return to the promised land from exile. (for example, Jer 31:23-40) This mirrors the Lord’s cry of abandonment from the cross where He is quoting psalm 22, which ends in triumph and praise of God.
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As Pope Benedict tells us, psalm 22 operates both on the personal and “corporate” levels. It applies to the plight of Jesus on the cross, but it also applies to the Church and all who seem to be abandoned by God. The book of Jeremiah prefigures this when it tells of Jeremiah’s personal trials and stresses but also the trials and stresses of all the people of Jerusalem and Judah as they are attacked and defeated by the Babylonians. They wondered why the Lord, who had parted the Red Sea for them (Ex 14:15-31) or stopped the Jordan River for them (Jos 3:14-4:18) and did many other things for them was expelling them from the land He gave them. “Yet now you abandon and scorn us, you no longer march with our armies, you allow the enemy to push us back, and let those who hate us raid us when it suits them. You let us go to the slaughterhouse like sheep, you scatter us among the nations, you sell your people for next to nothing, and make no profit from the bargain.” (Ps 44:9-12) When Jesus cries from the Cross “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46, Mk 15:34), He echoes the cry of Israel during the exile and many other times.
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The Jews were allowed to return to the promised land in 538 BC after the Persians had defeated the Babylonians. (Ezr 1) Yet, they never had the independence they had before the exile, since they were under the Persians, then the Greeks, and finally the Romans at the time of Christ. Yet, the Lord had not abandoned them since they continued as a people even when they had no political independence.
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The Lord’s cry of abandonment was also echoed by the Church. After the emperor Constantine stopped the persecution of Christians with the Edict of Milan in 313 AD, the Church found herself very divided. Many Christians, including bishops, had embraced the Arian heresy which denied the divinity of Christ. The Church was reunited by the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. However, many councils were required after that, and questions and heresies continued to arise. In 1054 and afterwards, the Eastern Christian Churches, now known as the Orthodox, refused to recognize the headship of the Bishop of Rome over the entire Church. This schism has continued to the present day. In the sixteenth century, the Protestant Reformation split the Church further between northern Europe (Protestant) and southern Europe (Catholic) just as Israel split between the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom centered around Jerusalem after the reign of King Solomon. Even now, the Roman Catholic Church is split between those who want to reinterpret the doctrines of the Church to make the Church more relevant to “modern” people, and those who believe we have to be faithful to the teachings of Christ even if these teachings are offensive to some people. Many times, the Church has seemed to be abandoned by the Lord, and yet the Church is His Church and not our Church. Just as God purified Israel by the exile, God also purifies His Church in His own Way.
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While the Lord’s cry of abandonment was the cry of Israel, it also was the Lord’s own personal cry. He knew what was going to happen, yet He knew He had to be abandoned for the Father’s plan to be fulfilled. However, we do not know God’s plan for us in the way that the Lord knew the Father’s plan for Him. Certainly, God tells us the path He wants us to take, but He does not reveal to us the whole path with its twists and turns, obstacles and reversals. Probably, it is better that we not know all that is ahead of us. There is, however, the temptation to guess what God is going to do based on what He has done for us in the past. The false prophets of Jerusalem made that mistake when they assumed that God would protect them for the Babylonians in the way that God protected them from Sennacherib and the Assyrians over a hundred years earlier. They thought they knew the Mind of God. However, we don’t need to know the Mind of God; we need to trust Him. Just as Jesus on the Cross never lost His trust in His Father, we need to trust this same Father. – Jim Nugent, CfP
That Sinking, Undeniable Feeling: An Exegesis of Romans 12:3-8
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"In other units you can grow spiritually, go back to your cell, and be yourself. Here, everybody is trying to out-Christian each other." -A comment I overheard in the Unit Six Kiosk Room
Think of our world: individualism struggles for ascendance. The question, "Who is the greatest?" echoes down the ages. People, pack animals by nature, constantly form and revise pecking orders. Performative behavior creeps into even our most selfless acts. Pride lurks.
As much as we might want to argue with the opening quote, there is truth in it. In Unit Six, as in any Christian community, the temptation is to jog out ahead of the people of God, to block out the image of God on the throne, and scream, "Look how great I am!"
Or, at the very least, to whisper it in mock humility.
And yet, as Dr. Davis notes: "To be saved in the biblical sense is to share in experiences as part of the people of God who are chosen to receive them. The new heaven and earth are to be inherited not by isolated individuals but by the new community that God has called out of the earth. Anyone who does not take up their place among God's people as they inherit these blessings is understood to be 'lost'" (Davis 30).
While we can agree with the brother decrying the "out-Christianing" going on around him, we cannot endorse his notion of keeping to himself. It is in conflict with the picture scripture paints of how to live as God's chosen people.
The Apostle Paul wrote about this topic. Here, we will look at what he has to say in Romans 12:3-8 (ESV).
(3) "For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. (4) For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, (5) so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. (6) Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; (7) if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; (8) the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes in his generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness."
Here, Paul meditates on what it means for the Church to live as the people of God. Paul's main point is that all of us, collectively, form one body in Christ (v. 5). We should not be prideful in the use of the gifts we are given (v. 3). The gifts come from and are portioned out by God (v. 6). Therefore, these gifts are given not to puff ourselves up, but to build up the people of God, the Church.
Paul's original message to his original audience living in Rome is about how to live as the people of God. In his letter, Paul compares and contrasts the New Covenant, poured out in the blood of Christ, with the previous covenant carved into stone at Sinai. He examines the newborn Church by the light of the lives of God's previously chosen people: the nation of Israel. Paul then asks, as he does in this passage, what sort of lives God's people should live.
Paul's answer to this question throughout the book of Romans and this passage in particular is many-sided. We could stare and be dazzled at the multitude of facets in Paul's picture of what it means for the Church to live as the people of God. We will focus on just three general principles that we find in the text.
First principle: To live as the people of God we must be humble. Our gifts, our inclusion in the body of Christ, our very salvation, come from God. We did nothing to earn any of it. He allows us to participate in building up his Church with the gifts he's given us - but it is all, from beginning to end - for his glory and by his power.
Second principle: As God's Church, we live for each other. We are one body. An ear has no purpose if it is severed and sitting on a shelf. Post-salvation, we are grafted into Christ's body: the Church. We have no real existence apart from it.
The third principle could easily be overlooked. We must use the gifts we are given. Gifts are given to be opened and used. Paul argues that gifts have been given for the building up and care of the Church. To live the fullness of life Christ came to give us, we have to faithfully and humbly use the gifts God gives.
So, how do we unwrap and use our gifts in a heavily individualistic and narcissistic culture without seeming to try to "out-Christian" each other?
One application is obvious: be humble. Live and act for one audience: God alone. Probably the best way to not "out-Christian" somebody is to live sacrificially like Christ. We would do well in how we live as the people of God if we stopped looking around us and instead looked up. We cannot hope to be the body if we are not fully connected to the head.
A second application is this: we should never do ministry alone. Look at Paul. He was always partnered with somebody. In my own ministry, at this point, I have made certain to partner with others. Whether I am working out and walking the yard or team-teaching a class, I need and have other believing brothers with me. In my earlier years I did not do this - to my own detriment. Life in the Church should never be a solo venture.
Think of our broken world. As much as we might want to argue it out of its ingrown individualism, maybe the greatest thing we could do is rip the wrapping off of the gifts he has laid out before us, to clearly frame the image of him sitting on the throne, and to scream, "Look how great he is!"
If we truly did this, if we lived as one body, the world might still choose to whistle as they pass us by. They might, however, get that sinking, undeniable feeling that we truly are the people of God. -- Robert Messer, CFP Novice 1, Alessandro Prison Ministry