January/February 2024 Four County Catholic
Rend Your Hearts!
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
In the grace-filled embrace of our Lord Jesus Christ, I extend heartfelt greetings to you as we anticipate the unfolding of a new year and the forthcoming sacred season of Lent — a journey marked by introspection, repentance, and renewal. The words of the prophet Joel, from the first reading on Ash Wednesday, beckon us to "return to the Lord with our whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; to rend our hearts, not our garments, and return to the Lord, our God" (Joel 2:12-13).
The understanding of "rending our hearts" requires our earnest consideration. To “rend” is to separate, to tear asunder, a concept that appears in various scriptural instances where individuals, in sorrow, tore their garments as an outward expression of contrition. Yet, similar to the notion that mere utterance of "I'm sorry" does not always encapsulate a genuinely repentant heart, outward displays of remorse should correspond with an interior transformation.
As I reflect upon these words, my thoughts are drawn to a compelling analogy inherent in the ancient Japanese art of Kintsugi. Envision a fractured piece of pottery, marked by flaws and imperfections. Rather than obscuring the damage, the artisan meticulously restores the vessel with a blend of lacquer and powdered gold, metamorphosing it into a masterpiece that emanates new life. This process, termed "golden joinery," transmutes brokenness into beauty, embracing and illuminating scars rather than concealing them.
In our spiritual trek toward the foot of the Cross on Good Friday, we are summoned to partake in a parallel process of heartrending. The Lord invites us to lay bare our brokenness before Him, to acknowledge our imperfections, and to yield ourselves to His healing grace. A grace which permeates our contrite hearts, transforming our brokenness into a testimony of His boundless mercy and love, much like the powdered gold in Kintsugi accentuates the mended crevices.
The Lenten season furnishes us with the tools for this divine reconstruction. Through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we carve out a space for God to operate within us. The sacraments, particularly Reconciliation and the Eucharist, emerge as instruments of God's golden joinery, rectifying the fractures in our souls and rendering us whole once more.
Contemplating the adversities of the preceding year, we acknowledge the collective tribulations endured. However, amid these trials, the Christian spirit perseveres. As a spiritual family, we unite, ceaselessly offering prayers for those departed and extending our hands to uplift our neighbors in need. Your steadfast support of the diocesan ministries and programs, especially Catholic Charities and Saint Vincent de Paul offices, stands as a luminous beacon of hope for many.
As we gaze upon the horizon of the approaching year, let us rejoice in the positive outcomes born from the challenges encountered. King Solomon in the book of Proverbs admonishes us that "a joyful heart is the health of the body." Therefore, let joy guide our travels through this Lenten season and into the auspicious year of 2024.
I extend my profound gratitude to each one of you for your benevolent generosity, for heeding the call to "Love one another," and for embodying living testimonials of God's transformative grace. May we, with hearts rent and mended by the divine hand, persist in reflecting the beauty of Christ both in our lives and in the broader world.
Sincerely yours in the grace of Christ,
Michael R. Cote
Bishop of Norwich