Lenten Meditations: Thursday 29 February 2024

Feb 29, 2024 by Jill

SECOND THURSDAY OF LENT –

LITURGICAL THEME FOR THE DAY:  Structurally, the Gregorian calendar is indistinguishable from the Julian calendar. The only thing that separates the Gregorian from the Julian calendar is the correction of the leap year day. Pope Gregory XIII “corrected the calendar” by deleting three leap days from the years that begin the centuries, except those divisible by the number four. Leap day is the extra day that accumulates every four years due to the length of the astronomical year being 365.241299 days and not 365. It can be seen that the fraction .241299 is not quite 1/4, which would be .25.

The Julian calendar did not take this into account, hence an error crept in that caused the spring equinox on the calendar to fall some ten days behind the solar moment of the spring equinox—a fact noted by the conquistadors when they encountered the Mayan calendar, which had no such discrepancy. Thus, in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII “improved” on Julius Caesar’s calendar, some 1627 years later, by adopting the rule that there would be no extra day on centuries—00 years—except on those that are multiples of four. Hence, there was no leap day in the year 1900, but in the year 2000, a multiple of four, there was.

 BIBLICAL MEDITATION OF THE DAY    In Psalm 74,  we ponder a feeling of national lament as the Psalmist writes about the disaster in which the temple in Jerusalem was entered by an invading army, sacked, and ruined. No doubt these very sentiments are echoes in many places in modern-day Israel given the violence of Hamas and the subsequent war. We know from the Old Testament that Israel has been seized and damaged many times, but the seriousness of the damage described in this psalm seems to point to the fact that this was a turning point in Jewish life then as now for an attack on Zion is an attack on Israel.  In our culture in the West, we have a level of detachment from our places of worship and the ground they occupy. This is not the case for Israel in this Psalm or today. Perhaps we need to have a deeper spiritual attachment to the places and experiences that are holy ground as Christians that might compel us to have an unyielding devotion to the truth of the Gospel in Jesus Christ and the holy experiences it brings about. It is not just about buildings and where they are located. It is about the story of God in those places and our sharing in that story.

PRAYER OF THE DAY: Father, through our observance of Lent, helps us to understand the importance of praying on Holy Ground and teaches us to honor people and places who have gone before us in faith as our spiritual forebears. Grant that we may be instruments to the witness of the holy stories told on holy ground. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

ANCIENT WISDOM/PRESENT GRACE: “Tread softly! All the earth is holy ground.”- Christina Rossetti

Lenten Lyrics: This is Holy Ground by Elias Dummer 

Lenten Discipline –  It is a leap day in a leap year, a day that we normally do not have in our routine. Use part of this day to break your routine and seek to engage with people and in acts that normally are not your own. Spend lunch in prayer at the local church. Read a spiritual resource you normally do not access. Extend yourself in an act of charity that you never would take the time to do in your usual routine. What we found is that the things that are exceptional in the life of faith are best when they are normative.

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