Joel's message: Try harder to know God

Lent is a time for some "real soul-searching," believes Edward Martin, and a time to follow the prophet Joel's recommendation to "rend your hearts and not your garments."

Joel's words constitute a strong message for modern Catholics entering Lent, Mr. Martin believes, and he'll talk about that message during a talk on "The Prophet Joel's Message to the People of God in the 21st Century."

The free talk is the first in a five-week Lenten series at the Chapel & Cultural Center at RPI in Troy. The Feb. 28 talk, at 7 p.m., will be preceded by Mass and a meatless potluck supper.

Lent's movement

During Lent, Mr. Martin believes, Catholics "must move from good to better."

A hospital volunteer who has been a parishioner of Christ Sun of Justice parish on the RPI campus for 18 years, he explained that the Book of Joel, with only four chapters, differs in substance from other prophetic books in the Bible.

Joel is not speaking against a specific sin committed by the Jewish people, he said, and he has no criticism about the worship at the Temple or the people's behavior.

Heart for God

In the book, the people of Israel -- recently returned from exile in Babylon and enduring a devastating plague of locusts -- are simply not trying hard enough to reach God, Mr. Martin said.

They're not moving from the external signs of repentance, which included tearing of one's garments, to truly readying their hearts and minds for God's message, he said.

"Joel is saying, 'You are doing all the right things, but your heart isn't in it,'" Mr. Martin explained. "The internalization is what is necessary."

Repentance

Joel's message is particularly important in the season Lent, when Catholics are called to "repentance with our whole hearts. We're used to the terminology without ever thinking it out," said Mr. Martin.

Catholics can heed Joel's message, he said, by doing more than going through the motions of fasting, abstinence and prayer; they can put their hearts into it.

"The issue is: Are we up to truly internalizing, as supposed to simply going through the motions?"

Getting better

Catholics may be doing all the right things on the outside, Mr. Martin said, but the "call for us [during Lent] is that we have to be even better. The issue is that too many people are comfortable. We are called to sanctity, no doubt about it, but we're not there yet. We have to move on. We can't be comfortable. We can't be satisfied. We may not be big sinners, but we must be better."

In modern culture, where Catholics are bombarded with contemporary values that aren't always conducive to Lenten reflection and repentance, it isn't easy to engage in true soul-searching, he said.

"But if people are going to be different coming out of Lent, they have to examine this. If we're not thinking about it, if we're 'kind of' satisfied, it's not conducive to good Christianity. Just going through life with the externals in order isn't good enough. I would like more people to be taking their spiritual life seriously, moving from good to better."

(2/22/07) [[In-content Ad]]