Don’t catechize in Lent

Okay, that’s a little strong. But if your lenten catechesis for the elect looks a lot like the catechesis that was going on during the period of the catechumenate, something is amiss. The rite is pretty clear. If you have your RCIA handy (or maybe even if you don’t; go get it) open to paragraph 139:

[Lent] is a period of more intense spiritual preparation, consisting more in interior reflection than in catechetical instruction….

If, in Lent, you have both elect (who will be baptized this Easter) and catechumens (who won’t), you’ll have to do a little bi-locating. The catechumens will need to continue their grounding in and exploration of the content outlined in paragraph 75 of the RCIA. So, at the dismissal time during Mass, you’ll need two catechists—one to go with the elect and one to go with the catechumens.

While our ministry to the catechumens remains crucial during the lenten season, our concern for the elect in paramount. Check out paragraph 121:

The election, marked with a rite of such solemnity, is the focal point of the Church’s concern for the catechumens.

All that we have been doing with the catechumens is to get them to this point—the point at which the bishop declares them to be candidates for baptism. At that moment, it is pretty much a done deal. It’s like getting engaged—so engaged that you’ve sent out the invitations, rented the hall, and booked the flight for the honeymoon. There really is no turning back now unless something really drastic and unforeseeable happens.

So lenten catechesis is not about “catching up” on stuff that got missed in the catechumenate. It is about preparing in a soul-filled, prayerful way for a life of joy—and a life of sacrifice.

What catechesis of the elect looks like

Well, then, what does the actual lenten catechesis look like? It looks like what is happening in their lives. The major events for the elect over the 40 days of Lent are going to be the three scrutinies on the third, fourth, and fifth Sundays of Lent. Lenten catechesis for the elect will ask three questions, each with a strength and weakness side to it:

1. What have you most drunk in of Christ? What do you continue to thirst for?
2. What have you seen that you never saw before? What do you remain blind to?
3. What is most life-giving in your new intimacy with Christ? What is still dead that needs resurrection?

Structure the 40 days as a retreat for the elect centered on these questions and you will have answered the challenge of the rite “to uncover, then heal all that is weak, defective, or sinful in the hearts of the elect” and “then strengthen all that is upright, strong, and good” (141).

The Goal of the RCIA

I’m writing this on the First Sunday of Lent. Today is typically a hectic day in many catechumenate ministries. The candidates for election are stressed and may show up late for the parish Mass and the Rite of Sending. The catechumenate director or liturgist has a thousand details to attend to. There are friends and families of the candidates wandering around, perhaps sitting in the wrong pews. The pastor got an emergency call right before last week’s rehearsal and may be doing the rite “blind” today. And then, after it’s all over, you’ve got to get everyone together again at the cathedral for the Rite of Election, find the right seats, remember how the ritual goes, and not let your nervousness show. It can be like herding cats in a rainstorm.

So today might seem like an odd day to call to our attention the vision of the rite. On the other hand what better time than Lent to refocus and renew ourselves in what the RCIA—and the Spirit of God—call us to as catechumenate ministers?

Today, all those who will write their names in the Book of Life will move to a new stage in their journey. In a sense, you and the catechumenate team are handing them over to their godparents who will be their primary spiritual guides from now on. You might be thinking the godparents just flew in yesterday and have no clue how to continue the formation of the elect. Nevertheless, your discernment that these catechumens are now competent to live the Gospel means they are moving beyond your maternal care. It is time to look forward, to the future, to what the Spirit is asking of us.

I’d like to encourage you to look forward to Easter Sunday. If stress or fatigue or insecurity ever causes you to question what it is we do and why we do it, look forward to the day St. Augustine describes as the day the newly baptized “who a little while ago were called competentes—are now called infantes. They were called competentes because they were thumping in their mother’s womb, begging to be born; now they are called infantes because they—who had first been born to the world—are now born to Christ.” (Harmless, 314)

Augustine, weary from the Vigil the night before, would often drastically abbreviate his usual three-hour homily and simply point to the neophytes standing in their white robes. If you want to see the scriptures enfleshed, he would tell them, look there. Augustine made clear to his parishioners that the neophytes were a living enfleshment of the Word.

The vision of the RCIA is that day, that moment, that miracle, when we can point to the newly baptized and say, “There is Christ made flesh.”

Choreographing the Scrutinies

When you are planning for the scrutinies, be sure to move the Elect out into the midst of the assembly. The goal is to strive for both visibility and intimacy.

• If you only have one candidate for initiation this year, the action of the scrutiny should take place where it is most visible—usually at the head of the center aisle. The Elect would face the assembly.
• If you have two candidates, place the second about half way down the center aisle.
• If you have three, place the third in a side aisle, and so on.
• When it is time for the rite, the godparents move the Elect into their designated places.
• It is very important for the godparents to keep a hand on the Elect throughout the entire rite.
• When it is time for the laying on of hands, the presider would walk solemnly to each candidate and press his hands on top of each head.
• You might adapt the rite to have the director of the catechumenate follow behind and do the same.
• Similarly, each godparent might lay hands on his or her candidate as well.
• Note, the laying on of hands is a gesture of exorcism, not absolution.
  

Do not rehearse with the Elect. It is up to the godparents to guide the Elect.

The key to a reverent and dignified celebration is rehearsal. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.

BUT, do not rehearse with the Elect. It is up to the godparents to be well prepared and know how to guide the Elect through the rite. Their care for the Elect in the rite is symbolic of their commitment as godparents.

Readings for the Scrutinies

I’ve received some questions asking if Year C readings can be used for the Scrutiny Rites on the third, fourth, and fifth Sundays of Lent this year.

If an assembly will be celebrating the Scrutiny Rites, the readings for Year A should be used for the third, fourth, and fifth Sundays of Lent. These readings are so crucial to the Scrutiny Rites that the RCIA mandates that even when the Scrutinies are celebrated outside of Lent or on other days of Lent, because of unusual circumstances, the readings of Year A for the third, fourth, and fifth Sundays of Lent are to be used (cf. RCIA, 146).

The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults explicitly names the readings that are to be used whenever the Scrutinies are celebrated: “In every case the ritual Masses ‘Christian Initiation: The Scrutinies’ are celebrated and in this sequence: for the first Scrutiny the Mass with the gospel of the Samaritan woman; for the second, the Mass with the gospel of the man born blind; for the third, the Mass with the gospel of Lazarus” (RCIA, 146).

I know that it could get “boring” for the parish to hear this set of readings every year. But one way to look at this is to understand that the Scrutinies are primarily for the Elect, and most likely, this will be the first time the Elect will have heard these readings in a liturgical setting. These three Gospel readings are so crucial to the Elect’s understanding of Christian faith. They are the foundational stories of what happens when we become united to Christ through baptism, and they are the pre-eminent stories of healing and strengthening that are at the heart of the Scrutiny Rites. These readings also parallel the gradual unfolding of recognizing Christ that is the catechumen’s journey. As good as the Year B and C readings are, they are not the most appropriate readings for the Scrutinies. So I would encourage your parish to continue using the Year A readings for the Scrutiny Rites because they are so central to the rite and are for the benefit of the Elect.