First Sunday in Lent
Gen 9: 8-15; 1 Pet 3: 18-22; Mark 1: 12-15
You have absolutely no excuse, because God has given you 40 days. Yes, you have 40 days- and that’s a long time- to prepare for Easter and the Resurrected Christ.
Why do you need to prepare, you might ask? Because just like the man Jesus, your human nature is seeking the real meaning of your life and what God’s will is for you. It’s called the process of conversion, and conversion is an ongoing activity, a continual need. Yes, you and I all need to be converted from our normal, everyday way of life, which is based on our needs, our goals, and our desires; to a life that is primarily centered on God’s will for us.
Many of you remember Fr. Larry Richard’s recent Mission with us. Well, that was his basic message to us too- we have got to have Jesus so ingrained in our being that everything we say and do is part of God’s plan for us.
And so, just like Jesus, you too need to get away from it all, and enter into the wilderness so that you can listen to God and find out what God’s will is for you. And if you seek after that, then just like Jesus, the Spirit will drive you to a time and place and a means where you can commune with God. But just like Jesus, you will be tempted along the way by the devil, who is hell bent on having you do anything except commune with God. You won’t have the time; you will have other commitments; you will be distracted; and you will have interruptions; and there will be plenty of other reasons to avoid a truly Lenten renewal. But the fact is, 40 days is a long time, and ultimately you will not have any excuse.
“Lent”, as St. John of the Cross proclaimed, “is a time when men and women collaborate with God in creating something divine”. That’s how sacred and special these 40 days are. Because if you live according to God’s true plan for you then you will be doing something really sacred; you will be led to sacrifice something of yourself, whether it be your agenda. your selfishness, or your comfort, for the purpose that God intends for you, whatever that is. And that is a piece of the divine plan; it is God in action.
Now it doesn’t need to take all 40 days to commune with God because God can hit you over the head with His truth in just a moment. But, you do have to give God your undivided attention to hear what He wants from you. And unfortunately, for most of us, that can take some time. Why? Because of the influence of the devil- those temptations, those distractions, and those interruptions that occur when even the best intentioned of us are seeking the Lord. They will keep you from hearing the Lord. So, you need to be persistent, and stick to your guns.
Secondly, you need to be in the right frame of mind, a frame of mind that gives you the time and the energy to listen to God.. And that’s why the Church recommends Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving- so that you can be in the right frame of mind. I want to share some thoughts with you now on these three- prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Let’s talk about fasting first.
Why fast? Well first of all, fasting isn’t really effective if it is just giving something up that meets the letter, but not the spirit, of fasting. Classically, we all fast from food or drink. And if you are really dedicated, you might fast from something you really like, such as beer or chocolate. Ugh! But according to St. Leo the Great, fasting needs to be a form of great hearted abstinence- abstinence with a goal, abstinence that transcends our wants, but rather, gets to the heart of our sinfulness. For example, you could fast from idle chatter and gossip. Or you could fast from addictive watching of sports on TV. Certainly you can see how this type of fasting gets you closer to the right frame of mind to talk to God.
Second, let’s talk about almsgiving. Almsgiving is not just dropping a few extra bucks in the basket, or taking a load of your excess to St. Vincent de Paul. Almsgiving needs to be from your heart. St Augustine says that almsgiving means: “Expelling from the heart that which is more difficult on us to keep than to give away.” Now at first, that doesn’t seem to make sense. But when you really think about it, it makes perfect sense. Augustine means that almsgiving should include those things that bind us up, keep us occupied, and so, they make it more difficult for us to do God’s will than if we gave them away. That’s why some classic saints like St. Anthony of the Desert and St. Francis of Assisi, gave away their wealth, so they would not be distracted by that wealth in living God’s will. And so, what is it that you have that has value that you need to give away so that you are not distracted from God’s plan?
Lastly, let’s talk about prayer; because that’s how we communicate with God. And it is not just any form of prayer. Rather, we need to have an authentic union with God through prayer that is selfless. What does that mean? Well, a lot of our prayer is asking for something from God. But selfless prayer is different- it is opening our hearts and minds to what God wants to say to us, not what we want to say to Him. It is the kind of prayer where we hear God’s tiny whisper that answers our heart’s pain, the things that trouble us, that we feel guilty over, or that we don’t know what to do about. It is that tiny urge that moves us in a direction we might not like, but if we are honest, that God is pointing us towards when we hear Him.
Yes, these are the three tools that we need to get in the right frame of mind for a Lenten conversion.
You know, it seems like just yesterday when we were all sitting around the Christmas tree celebrating the joy of Christmas. But in reality, 40 or so days have passed since Christmas. And you know what, 40 days from now we will be celebrating Easter. You have a choice. Those 40 days can pass by like a flash as you go through the blur of everyday life. Or they can be 40 days that change your life. The choice is yours. How will you use those 40 days?
