Lenten Meditations: Saturday 2 March 2024

Mar 2, 2024 by Jill

SECOND SATURDAY IN LENT – St. Chad of Litchfield, Bishop and Abbot, 672

LITURGICAL THEME FOR THE DAY:  Chad’s early life is that he was a student of Aidan at the Celtic monastery at Lindisfarne. Not long after Chad became abbot, Saint Wilfrid of York was chosen Bishop of Lindisfarne, a see which was soon moved to York. Wilfrid went to Gaul for consecration and stayed so long that King Oswiu declared the see vacant and procured the election of Chad as bishop of York. Chad felt unworthy, but threw himself into the new vocation, traveling his diocese on foot, evangelizing where he could. When Wilfrid returned in 666, Saint Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, decided that Chad’s episcopal consecration was invalid and that Chad must give up the diocese to Wilfrid. Chad replied that he had never thought himself worthy of the position, that he took it through obedience, and that he would surrender it through obedience. Theodore, astonished at this humility, consecrated Chad himself, and appointed him bishop of the Mercians in Lichfield in 669.

He founded monasteries, including those at Lindsey and Barrow-upon-Humber, evangelized, traveled and preached, reformed monastic life in his diocese, and built a cathedral on land that had been the site of the martyrdom of 1,000 Christians by the pagan Mercians. Miraculous cures were reported at the wells he caused to be dug for the relief of travelers.

Much of what we know is from the Venerable Bede who describes Chad as “a diligent performer indeed of what he had learned in the Scriptures should be done.” Bede also tells us that Chad was teaching the values of Aidan and Cedd. His life was one of constant travel. Bede says that Chad visited continually the towns, countryside, cottages, villages, and houses to preach the Gospel. The model he followed was one of the bishops as prophet or missionary. Basic Christian rites of passage, baptism, and confirmation were almost always performed by a bishop, and for decades to come, they were generally carried out in mass ceremonies, probably with little as systematic instruction or counseling.

BIBLICAL MEDITATION OF THE DAY: Psalm 27 reminds us that prayer builds up individuals and the Body of Christ even if the prayer doesn’t result exactly as we might have hoped and prayed. This is a good Psalm to remind us that the activity of prayer enriches a relationship between the one who prays and the one to whom we pray — God. It may be worthwhile to consider how often Chad prayed with fervency in this Psalm. It was a desire to simply dwell in the house of the Lord that was the monastery, yet it seemed that he was being called to minister in a wider fashion. He truly had to wait on the Lord as it was asserted that his very ministry was not valid. How often are we faced with questions of credibility and legitimacy in our workplaces, families, and associations? Our first inclination is to get defensive and assert our rights, but the Psalmist reminds us that waiting on the Lord and the promises he offers will outpace and far surpass the recognition or grandeur of this world. It also serves as a good reminder that prayer is individual and communal; it binds petitioners and the one God in an intimate relationship of trust and hope.

ANCIENT WISDOM/PRESENT GRACE:  “We should implore God’s mercy, examining the innermost recesses of our hearts and purging out the dregs of our sins, and behave with such caution that we may never deserve to be struck down.— St. Chad of Lichfield

PRAYER OF THE DAY: Almighty God, for the peace of the Church your servant Chad relinquished the honors that had been thrust upon him, only to be rewarded with equal responsibility: Keep us, we pray, from thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, and ready at all times to step aside for others, that the cause of Christ may be advanced; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen

Lenten Lyrics- Lord, With Glowing Heart, I Praise Thee (St Chad)

Lenten Discipline – Go to https://www.pwct.co.uk and take the virtual Pilgrimage of the Way of Saint Chad to Lichfield.

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