Lent 2023
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
On a recent trip to the Holy Land, I found myself in the Church of St. John the Baptist, inspired by his message about the need for preparation. “A voice cries out: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” (Isaiah 40:3) Prepare. It’s a word that requires something from us, a word that necessitates action. It implies a lack of readiness, for if we had all the loose ends already tied up there would be no need for preparation. We must “make ourselves ready” for something important. We prepare for countless events - for holiday celebrations, Spelling tests, and important meetings. We prepare daily when we do laundry to ensure we have clothes to wear for the week or walk the aisles of the grocery store looking for the ingredients we need to make a healthy meal. However, John speaks of a different sort of preparation which does not involve decorating, studying, cooking or doing laundry. John speaks metaphorically about preparing our hearts for the coming of the Messiah. During Advent, we prepare the mangers of our hearts for Jesus to be born in us, just as he was born in Bethlehem on a cold December night long ago. Now, in this season of Lent, it is once again time to prepare ourselves, not for Jesus’ birth but for his death. God gives us these forty days of preparation to ready ourselves to receive the immense graces of the upcoming Easter season.
At Farm of the Child, these preparations take place throughout the season of Lent, but ramp up and become even more important during Holy Week and the Easter Triduum. Each community member has a role in making the Farm ready for Jesus’ gift of himself on Holy Thursday, his sacrifice on Good Friday and the miracle of his resurrection on Easter Sunday. The religious sisters prepare by decorating the church for the three Triduum masses, readying a special altar for Holy Thursday evening’s Eucharistic adoration, practicing with the lectors and members of the choir to enhance the beauty of these Holy Week celebrations. The children create a colorful alfombra, or sawdust carpet, depicting a significant religious image or motif. These alfombras decorate the church and the peace garden, reminding all who see them of the reason for the season. Costumes are brought down and ironed for the twelve community members who will dress as apostles and have their feet washed during the Holy Thursday mass. Special flower-decorated altars are prepared prior to Good Friday’s community-wide walking stations of the cross to present the image associated with each station, and the house aunts spend time cooking a delicious Easter brunch, which is enjoyed by the whole community on Sunday afternoon. But all of these preparations, while beautiful ways to honor Jesus and the importance of the Easter Triduum, are external preparations. The true work of readying ourselves to receive the graces of the Easter Triduum takes place internally – in our hearts.
During these forty days of Lenten preparation, we are called to pause and prepare our hearts to receive the gift of salvation. We are encouraged to take time away from our busy routines and to-do lists to reflect on our lives, to call to mind the ways in which our hearts may be hardened or in which we have remained deaf to God’s voice. We are called to ask ourselves, “On whom or what do I fix my gaze?” Today’s society teaches us that happiness, comfort, and stability are found in material goods, in money, in power, in doing whatever it takes to have a good time. But we as Catholics are called to look to Christ rather than the world to fulfill these needs. Lent is a time to refocus our gaze from the things of this world to the one who created it all, to the one who on Good Friday will give his very life to save us.
When I think about focusing our gaze on Christ, our Savior and Provider, I am reminded of the example of faith I see in the children at Farm of the Child. Walking through the Farm’s tall gates, my eyes are drawn to the school playground, where the littlest children run and play. I hear their carefree squeals of joy and remember that they do not carry the burden of providing for themselves. In fact, they are likely quite oblivious to the work that goes into the fundraising appeals and promotional materials which allow us to raise money to provide for their needs; they are unaware of the constant search for funds needed to better equip and expand each of the Farm’s ministries. They are not filled with worry about where their next meal will come from or whether they will have a bed to sleep in tonight. They simply trust that these things will be provided for them. Their unwavering gaze is fixed on Christ and they recognize him as the one who furnishes all that they need.
The needs of the Farm of the Child are great, and we humbly ask that as you gaze upon the face of Christ, you seek to also see his presence in the smallest members of his kingdom – in the beautiful children that call Farm of the Child their home. These children count on your willingness to be an aqueduct of Christ’s provision for their needs. Christ has bestowed abundant blessings on each of you, and I humbly ask that you share those blessings with Farm of the Child by making a financial contribution to help further the mission and care for these faith-filled children. In addition to the heightened costs associated with inflation, the Farm’s current budget is also being challenged in three different ways. First, the current missionary community is small and cannot fill all of the teaching positions normally allocated to missionaries. Therefore, our budget for education has increased as there is a need to employ Honduran teachers to fill these empty positions. In addition, the transportation budget is being stretched by the need for frequent repairs to our old cars, and it is impossible to drive the entire community twenty minutes to Trujillo for Sunday mass when the cars are out of commission. Finally, Farm of the Child has also welcomed five new children in the last two months, which incurs additional costs for food, clothing, education and medical care. This financial need cannot be met without your support. As you turn your gaze toward Christ and prepare to receive the salvation he won for you, consider participating in his salvific work by helping meet the needs of his children at Farm of the Child.
During this Lenten season, we pray that you open your hearts and turn your gaze back toward Christ so that you may rise with him this Easter Sunday. May you contemplate the face of Christ and embrace him in the smallest of your brothers. As John the Baptist recognized and proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah, saying, “Behold the Lamb of God.” (John 1:29), may you by your generosity and heavenward gaze proclaim to others the truth of Jesus’ salvation. Will you recognize Christ in the Farm’s children and allow him to use you to provide for their needs?
In Christ,
Zulena Pezcatore