Reflection for Friday in the Third Week of Lent

Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your mind,
and with all your strength…

One of the most ancient and revered prayers of a pious and observant Jew, is the Shema Yisrael.  It is prayed in the morning and evening service and is the last words that are spoken before sleep and the first words that are taught to a child.  Hear, O Israel!  The Lord our God is Lord alone!  This prayer is a solemn remembrance in the oneness of God which was Israel gift to the world.   

We must never forget that Jesus was a pious Jew for whom the Shema Yisrael was ever on his lips.  Yet, as the eternal Word of the Father, he revealed a radical new understanding of God’s oneness as creator, redeemer and sanctifier.   

In Mark’s gospel today, Jesus joins the ancient Shema with the two-fold radical command that summarizes the teaching of the ‘law and the prophets.’  To love God with our whole being and to love our neighbor as ourselves captures the essence of the Judeo-Christian ethic.   

We Catholics pride ourselves in a rich theological tradition from the Fathers of the Church to the scholastics to the theologians of our modern age.  Yet, we must never forget that all these volumes that have been written are in reality merely commentary on that two-fold command: to love God with all that we are and have and to love our neighbor as ourselves!

Reflection for the Solemnity of St. Joseph, Husband of Mary

Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.
Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ. 

Yesterday, I heard an interview with the director of the largest hospital in the northern Italian town of Bergamo, telling of the wrenching decisions that his medical staff have to make determining who will get limited life-saving ventilators and who will not in the midst of this novel coronavirus pandemic.  Inevitably, if the choice is between an 80-year-old or a 40-year-old with a family, the choice is sadly obvious.  He wept when he shared the fact that since visitors are rigidly restricted due to the virulence of contagion, many of the older patients die alone.  Because of the numbers of deaths and limited medical personnel, calls to relatives sadly notifying them of the death of their loved ones, can be delayed days.  

In the midst of this world-wide crisis, the Church pauses in the midst of our Lenten journey, to mark and celebrate the Solemnity of St. Joseph, husband of Mary and foster-father of Jesus.   

We know only the faintest outlines of Joseph’s life from sacred scripture with pious tradition filling in the rest.  St. Joseph has down through the ages been the patron of a ‘happy death.’  Why? Because tradition has it that both Mary and Jesus were there when he died, that is why! 

Because of our belief in being part of the Body of Christ and our solidarity with all those who have gone before us in faith in the communion of saints, no one of us ever truly dies alone.  While we long to be surrounded and companioned physically by our loved ones at the time of death, we are never truly alone in that definitive leave taking.  The holy ones are there to lead us to that fulness of life prepared for us from the foundation of the world, to rejoice forever with Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

Reflection for Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. 

The great American evangelist, Billy Graham, once said, “If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus Christ.”  At the heart of the good news is the profound belief that in Jesus, the God who lives in unapproachable light, embraced humanity in one like ourselves.  Jesus is the eternal Word of God made flesh. 

One of the early Church Fathers, St. Athanasius, said that “the Son of God became man so that man could become god!”  This beautiful teaching in the theology of the Eastern Church is called ‘divinization.’  The fullness of the law and the prophets that Jesus spoke of in today’s Gospel is precisely to share now and in eternity in the very life of God himself.   

My friends, you and I are made for and destined for transformation and divinization!  Nothing in life is ever truly ordinary because all has been redeemed and made new through the amazing grace of Christ the risen Savior.

Reflection for Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent

Do not let us be put to shame,
but deal with us in your kindness and great mercy.
Deliver us by your wonders,
and bring glory to your name, O Lord.” 

It has sometimes been said that the God of the Old Testament is a God of judgment and vengeance while the God imaged in the New Testament is one of love and mercy.  Such a caricature of the God of the Hebrew Scriptures could not be further from the truth.  While indeed there are stories that speak of God’s righteous judgment in the narrative of Salvation History, there is one beautiful word in Hebrew that summarizes the Lord’s overriding care for the ‘works of his hands’ in divine revelation as found in the Hebrew Scriptures.  That word is Hesed, often translated as God’s loving kindness toward his people. 

In our reading today from the Book of Daniel, that notion of God’s wondrous loving kindness and mercy cannot but touch our hearts – Do not let us be put to shame, but deal with us in your kindness and great mercy. 

Sin is ultimately rooted in forgetfulness – our forgetfulness of who has loved us into existence and who sustains us by his loving mercy.  Sin is foolishly thinking that we can somehow ‘get a better deal somewhere else.’  Such moral short-sightedness inevitably leaves us empty and sad.  For as St. Augustine reminded us, “Our hearts are restless, O God, until they rest in you.” 

Lent is the time of great remembrance.  It is the time for us to recall and celebrate the unfailing loving kindness of the God who stands ready to make us new in his great mercy.

Reflection for Monday of the Third Week of Lent

Again, there were many lepers in Israel
during the time of Elisha the prophet;
yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian. 

The origins of the Lenten Season go back to the earliest days of the Church as a time of proximate spiritual preparation for the transformational moment of Baptism.  Adults who had literally been journeying for years to experience the Sacraments of Initiation into the Body of Christ, saw their long-awaiting goal on the horizon.  The final 40 days, prior to Easter, were a time of intense final spiritual preparation.  Through ancient rites of prayer, invocation of the Holy Spirit for strength and healing, anointings, fasting and prayer, the ‘elect’ were prepared in heart and mind for the singular and life-changing moment of ‘putting on Christ’ through water and the Holy Spirit. 

The scriptures during these 40 days will often focus on baptismal themes of ‘washing’ and ‘cleansing’ to underscore the healing and forgiveness of sin that comes with Christian Baptism. 

The story of Naaman the leper holds for us a two-fold significance.  This gentile, not a member of the covenant household of Israel is granted the unforgettable gift of healing from leprosy from the Lord at the hands of Elisha his prophet.  It was a powerful sign that God’s goodness and mercy is for all peoples.  That universality of the Lord’s goodness is experienced through the waters of baptism for all who wish to experience the fullness of life in Christ.

Reflection for the Third Sunday of Lent

And hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 

As a junior in College Seminary, I was riveted to the 1969 techno-thriller by Michael Crichton, Andromeda Strain.  The harrowing plot tells the story of a team of scientists investigating the outbreak of a deadly extraterrestrial microorganism in Arizona.  It was an unbelievable page-turner that was subsequently made into movie in 1971. 

Sadly, science fiction has given way to reality as we presently find ourselves in the grip of a pandemic with the novel coronavirus that is rapidly spreading throughout the world.  While its immediate impact in China and other parts of the Orient appears to be subsiding due to stringent quarantine measures and social distancing as well as universal testing, it’s impact in the West remain in many respects unknown.  Public health officials warn that the replication of the virus has not peaked and undoubtedly millions will be infected with this new virus.  Sadly, 2 to 3% of those contracting it, particularly the elderly and those with compromised health conditions, will die. 

While we in the United States have blessedly been freed from such pandemics since the devastation of the 1918 “Spanish” flu pandemic that killed over 50,000,000 people worldwide and an estimated 675,000 Americans, the present moment has rightly gripped us with understandable terror and panic.   

As Christians, we never face such moments alone.  St. Paul reminds us that when one part of the Body of Christ suffers, we all suffer and when one part rejoices, we all rejoice.  To be a Christian in the deepest and most profound sense is never to live our lives in lonely isolation but to realize that we are all bound together in the loving solidarity that truly enables us to call one another, brother or sister in Christ. 

With that in mind, how providential that we should hear the comforting and encouraging words of St. Paul, spoken to the early Church in Rome, “hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts…”. For it is precisely in moments of ‘crisis’ that we are challenged to make ‘choices’ that either can build up the Body of Christ or contribute to the fear and terror that grips many of our sisters and brothers. 

My friends, in this moment, more than ever, we are all called to be signs of hope to one another through the attitudes and actions we bring to this moment.  While many in our communities are ransacking stores and hording goods, we have the opportunity of joining those who perhaps can bring food to those among us, the elderly and shut-ins, who fear venturing out into the public.  While taking the necessary precautions to safeguard our own health, telephone calls and social media can be a way of maintaining our compassionate and loving solidarity with our family, neighbors and friends.  We live in hope and are called to be signs of that hope to one another in this moment.  It is through this hope made flesh that the good news can be experienced even when we are surrounded by the challenge of the daily news.  

Reflection for Saturday of the Second Week of Lent

My son, you are here with me always;
everything I have is yours.
But now we must celebrate and rejoice,
because your brother was dead and has come to life again;
he was lost and has been found. 

Good teacher that he was, Jesus knew the power of a good story.  No wonder, then, that we find parables and stories at the heart of so much of the Lord’s teaching in the gospels.   

Of all the stories that have touched the human heart from the heart of Jesus, there is probably no one more familiar and cherished than the one we find in the 15th chapter of St. Luke’s gospel, the Prodigal son from which our Gospel is taken today. 

Prodigal means lavish and extravagant.  The son was called ‘prodigal’ because he was foolishly extravagant and lavish in going through his early inheritance.  In the end, his fair-weather friends abandoned him and he found himself alone and far from home. 

This story could equally be called the Story of the Prodigal Father.  Rather than meeting recrimination on his return shamefacedly, to his Father, he was met with lavish and extravagant love, mercy and forgiveness. In fact, so joyous was the father on his son’s return that he even ordered a party to celebrate his homecoming. 

For all ages, this story has stood as a powerful image of the way that God welcomes sinners.  No sin is ever outside of the boundaries of God’s loving mercy for those who ‘come to their senses’ and are anxious to come home to the Lord’s loving embrace.  That is good news indeed!

Reflection for Friday of the Second Week of Lent

When his brothers saw that their father loved him best of all his sons,
they hated him so much that they would not even greet him. 

Jealousy is one of the most destructive and self-corrupting vices that can overwhelm the human heart.  More often than not, it is rooted in one’s blindness to see and accept one’s own inherent goodness and giftedness.  And so, our hearts are in perpetual turmoil at the good fortune of others; the giftedness of others, their successes and even their beauty and goodness. 

Jealousy is like a cancer if left unchecked or healed can metastasize and destroy whatever goodness that remains.  It is this kind of blindness that took control of the brothers of Joseph in the Biblical story of today and led them to sell him into slavery. 

However, in the unfolding of salvation history, God would not let this moment of desolation have the final say in the great saga of his unfailing mercy and love for his people.  God, indeed, writes straight with crooked lines.  The Lord would eventually place Joseph in a prominent place of authority in the court of the Egyptian ruler and when famine gripped the land, he would paradoxically and providentially save his brothers and family.  For, you see, jealousy and revenge would have no part of the heart of Joseph. 

Has jealousy touched our lives?  Have we permitted it to replace our ability to see, accept and celebrate our own unique goodness and giftedness?  If so, let us pray for the grace of conversion that our hearts may root out this cancer and we might bask in the unfailing goodness and mercy of God.

Reflection for Thursday of the Second Week of Lent

There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen
and dined sumptuously each day.
And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,
who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps
that fell from the rich man’s table… 

The Gospel of Luke from which the story of the rich man and the poor man named Lazarus is found, has often been called the ‘gospel of the poor,’ ‘the gospel of women’ and the ‘gospel of sinners,’ because the poor, women and sinners play such an important role in Luke’s recollections of the ministry and words of Jesus. 

It is only in the Gospel of Luke that we have recorded the story of the rich man and Lazarus; the story of the Prodigal son, Mary’s exultant hymn of praise, the Magnificat, and the story of the good thief.   

St. Luke was keen on capturing the words and deeds of Jesus that showed his unfailing and extraordinary love and compassion for those who lived on the margins of society.   

The heart of the authentic Christian should always be shaped by the one whom Luke names as merciful and forgiving.  St. Theresa of Calcutta understood well this good news when she said that when the poor and the dying are embraced and cared for, we do that to Jesus himself. 

May our Lenten itinerary of conversion bring us closer to see the face of Jesus in the outcasts and powerless of society each day and in doing so may we reverence the real presence of Jesus in our midst.

Reflection for Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent

Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve
and to give his life as a ransom for many.” 

One of the most beautiful and ancient titles of the Bishop of Rome and the Universal Pastor of our Church is, servus sevorum Dei – ‘servant of the servants of God.’  Despite the historically scandalizing Popes who have failed to live up to that title and lived lives that were the antithesis of that of the Savior, the truly holy Popes have exemplified this title in their humble and loving service to God’s holy people. 

The notion of ‘servant-leadership’ is the hallmark of a true follower of the Lord. All ministry in the Church is servant leadership.  The very word, ‘ministry’ comes from two Latin words, ‘minus’ and ‘stare’ that mean ‘to stand less.’  Every minister of the Church if they are to truly serve in the name of Christ are to ‘stand less’ and never lord it over those whom they are called to serve. 

Servant-leadership is not only a hallmark of those who minister within the Church but should be a central characteristic of all Christians as they bring the transforming gospel of Christ to the marketplace. 

One who serves the common good in the noble calling of politics is truly effective in that role to the extent that they are willing to ‘stand less’ so that the common good can shine for all.

Reflection for Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent

Whoever exalts himself will be humbled;
but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” 

One of the most important of all the virtues, next to love itself, is the virtue of humility.  The problem, however, with humility is that it is probably one of the most misunderstood of all the virtues. 

More often than not, when most people think of ‘humility’ or the ‘humble’ person, often the image of the groveling, completely self-facing individual comes to mind.  Of course, such images could not be further from the true definition of humility and the humble person. 

The English word, humility, comes from the Latin word, humus, which means ‘earth’ or ‘ground.’ A person, then, who is humble and practices humility possesses a clear-eyed understanding of their true identity.  As human beings, we are the created and not the creator.  Humility is a profound understanding of our deepest identity as creatures who have been gifted with inestimable value and an eternal destiny.  That is the ‘right order’ of creation. 

It is when we foolishly are deceived into believing that we are ‘not of the earth,’ not the creature but ‘the omnipotent creator’ that such arrogance inevitably leads to heartache and disaster in this life and the next.  For it is when we ‘exalt’ ourselves that we are ‘humbled’ but in ‘humbling’ ourselves, that we are exalted.

Reflection for Monday of the Second Week of Lent

Jesus said to his disciples:“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. 

Every Sunday noon in St. Peter’s Square in Rome, the Holy Father leads the thousands of folks who gather from all over the world in the traditional prayer of the Angelus.  Prior to the prayer, he offers a few brief reflections, often on the scriptures of the day.   

Last year, in speaking of the Prodigal son, Pope Francis, said that ‘mercy is the very face of God!”  I found that such a powerful image living in the midst of a world that often seeks to extract revenge and recrimination and where ‘mercy’ is for wimps.   

How true Isaiah prophesied when he said, “God’s ways are not our ways…” The vulnerable human heart often thinks that protecting ourselves through insulating ourselves by being a bully in life is the only path to success.   

The Good Lord, however, invites us to walk another path in life – the very one that His own son walked in showing unfailing mercy, especially for the losers and the wimps in life. 

Forgiving our enemies and showing mercy are the paradoxical keys to the kingdom for those are willing to turn from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.

Reflection for the Second Sunday of Lent

“Lord, it is good that we are here.
If you wish, I will make three tents here,
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 

Peter, James and John, in today’s Gospel story about the Transfiguration of the Lord on the high mountain, stunned them to the core.  It was one of those unforgettable experiences that, I’m sure, they carried with them for the remainder of their lives. 

As close companions of the Lord and as the familiarity that is characteristic of all friendship, grew, they were taken aback when the familiar gave way to the inexplicable.  On that ‘high mountain’ which was a highly symbolic image of the place of encounter with the Holy One, something happened.  In a brilliant flash of light, the disciples were privileged and graced with a moment of insight. ‘Insight,’ that marvelous English word that points to a deeper meaning of a reality beyond mere surface appearance.  In this extraordinary moment, the disciples were given an ‘inner’ glimpse of the deepest and most profound reality of the one whom they had come to know and call, Rabbi – Teacher.   

Words alone could not capture the deepest meaning of this moment.  It was left to symbolic and physical gestures to convey its unforgettable impact on these privileged witnesses.  In the presence of this radiant moment, the three fell prostrate in adoration and homage.  When they finally spoke, their first inclination was to memorialize the place of this extraordinary occurrence, “I will make three tents…” Deep in their heart of hearts, they wanted to remain, for this moment filled them with inexpressible joy, “Lord, it is good that we are here…” 

The early 20th century Lutheran theologian, philosopher and comparative religionist, Rudolf Otto, in his famous book, The Idea of the Holy, defines those moments when we sense the powerful touch of the holy in our lives as ones that initially ‘astound’ and call forth ‘reverential fear,’ while, at the same time, beckoning us with an indefinable beauty and goodness. 

Many of us, at one time or another, have had glimpses of such moments.  They might be in the presence of an extraordinary display of nature’s beauty or power.  Parents have sensed the power of the holy as they cradle their newborn child in their arms for the first time. Often, the moment of first love can touch us with the otherworldliness of being immeasurably gifted with unspeakable goodness and beauty. 

These and countless other moments of ‘transfiguration’ are reminders that our lives are much richer than what we so often settle for in the everyday humdrum and monotony of daily existence.  Our lives are fashioned for far more than the ordinary. All life holds the potential to be ‘sacrament’ for us, revealing and disclosing the very holiness of God in the beauty of creation.

Reflection for Saturday of the First Week of Lent

Jesus said to his disciples:
“You have heard that it was said,
You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
But I say to you, love your enemies,
and pray for those who persecute you… 

There is no question that in the list of challenges that the good news of the Savior sets before us, there is probably no more difficult one than the command to ‘love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…’ 

Over the years, this command has invariably been a stumbling block to many in fully embracing Christ and his good news.  Perhaps, that is because we so often confuse ‘loving’ with ‘liking!’  It is humanly impossible for us to ‘like’ everyone.  Human nature being what it is, how in the world is it possible for us to be attracted to those whose lives are so corrupted by evil, selfishness and hatred of others?  We are naturally repelled by such offensive folks – and rightly so.  Jesus did not call us to befriend such folks.  But, he did call us to ‘love’ them!  This has nothing to do with feelings of affection or friendship but, rather, to see them as God himself sees them, with the ‘possibility’ of conversion of heart and his desire that they be open to his amazing grace that can make ‘all things new’ even the cruelty of the human heart.  That is what loving our enemies truly means. 

It is that kind of ‘love’ that can lead us to the possibility of forgiveness, even for those who may have hurt us the most in our lives.  I sometimes hear from folks that feel that it’s impossible for them to forgive one who has hurt them greatly in life.  God does not expect the impossible but he hopes that we might begin to take the slow and difficult steps toward a renewal of heart.  Perhaps, the first step is merely asking God to forgive our unforgiving heart!  

Reflection for Friday of the First Week of Lent

Jesus said to his disciples:
“I tell you,
unless your righteousness surpasses that
of the scribes and Pharisees,
you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven. 

There is probably no greater sin for a religious leader than the sin of hypocrisy.  No wonder then that our moral sensibilities have been outraged by the abuse crisis that our Church has been challenged with in recent times.  To call others to live lives of virtue while we ourselves attempt to live a shadow life that is the very antithesis of what it means to be a person of integrity is the very definition of hypocrisy. 

Hypocrisy is not only sadly experienced in some religious leaders but it surrounds us daily in the world of politics.  Perhaps that is the reason why many rallied around Lt. Col. Alexander Vidman or Ambassador Yovanovitch who refused to be cowed by the perceived safety of covering up what they saw to be wrong and were willing to speak ‘truth to power’ despite the consequences.  Isn’t that, my friends, the very definition of integrity? 

The Lenten season calls us all to take a long and patient look into our heart of hearts to determine whether we are a person of integrity or if hypocrisy defines who we are.  Let us pray for the courage to face that darkness and let the light of the good news empower us to be persons of integrity where hypocrisy has no place.

Reflection for Thursday of the First Week of Lent

Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds;
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 

Every now and then, either in the confessional or in spiritual counseling, a person musters up enough courage to confess that they have lost heart in praying.  After gently inquiring what may have prompted this, the individual often responds, “God just never seems to answer my prayers!”   

I suspect that from time to time, you have wrestled with that same feeling. I know that I have.  Following from the recent Gospel passage in which the Lord sets before his disciples the manner in which we are to pray, with childlike confidence as a son or daughter speaks to his or her own earthly father, the passage above may seem a bit of a cruel irony.  A wise priest once told me many years ago, that God indeed answers all our prayers, but sometimes the answer to our prayers is ‘no!’   

Just as good parents would never foolishly indulge their children with catering to their every whim, the good Lord at times exercises the ‘tough love’ of delaying gratification in response to our prayer requests. Why?  More often than not, so that a greater good or a wiser path may be opened for us.  In the end, what is needed is trust.

Reflection for Wednesday of the First Week of Lent

Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites,
so will the Son of Man be to this generation. 

Psychologists tell us that the religious imagery of childhood powerfully influences and shapes our religious sensitivities in adulthood.  I remember vividly receiving a colorfully illustrated Bible stories book when I was a child.  I loved it, particularly the story of Jonah and the whale – even though the scriptures don’t actually name the ‘big fish!’  That story and the image associated with it have stayed with me all these years. 

The true meaning of this story, sadly, can be missed with our obsession with the mechanics of how in the world Jonah survived in the stomach of the great fish! The Ninevites were gentiles, not part of the Mosaic covenant.  It was extraordinary that Jonah would be sent to preach a word of repentance to these individuals who were supposedly outside of the ambit of that special relationship that the Lord had forged with his chosen people.  The shocking truth of this story is quite simply that the ambit of God’s unfailing love and mercy is much bigger than what we so often think.  That message is as powerful today in the face of the human tendency to exclusion rather than inclusion.  As we continue our Lenten journey, may we never forget that there is indeed a wideness in God’s mercy.

Reflection for Tuesday of the First Week of Lent

“In praying, do not babble like the pagans,
who think that they will be heard because of their many words.
Do not be like them.
Your Father knows what you need before you ask him” 

What is prayer?  In the nearly 46 years of being a priest, that question has been asked of me in various ways down through the years.  It was precisely in response to a similar question, ‘teach us to pray…’ that the Lord set before us that cherished ‘prayer’ called by his name, the Lord’s Prayer.  However, it would be a mistake to think that Jesus was setting before his listeners another prayer text to be babbled through ‘like the pagans.’  Rather, Jesus in this prayer was pointing far more to the quality and texture that should inform all prayer –loving and humble trust. 

That quality of loving and humble trust is conveyed in the first word of this prayer.  Scholars tells us that Jesus did not use the more formal Hebrew word for the Lord, Adonai, but rather the familiar word that a child would use in addressing her or his own father, Abba. 

During this Lenten pilgrimage, prayer is one of the three pillars of spiritual discipline together with fasting and almsgiving, that continually helps us to turn from sin and believe in the good news.  May our prayer express our loving and humble trust in the one who knows what we need before we ask him.

Reflection for Monday of the First Week of Lent

‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did
for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ 

One of my favorite quotes is found in a small book by the great Anglican apologist of the Christian faith, C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory. To paraphrase, he says that the holiest object presented to our senses is our Christian neighbor, for in him or her, God the Glorifier is to be found.   

With that challenging maxim in mind, there is no more powerful summary of the Good News of the Lord than what is found in the 25th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.  This chapter presents the ultimate litmus test for one who authentically wants to walk in the footsteps of the Master.  It will not be an obsessive adherence to right doctrine that will ultimately save us, but rather whether we have feed the hungry, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked and visited the ill and imprisoned.  For when we do that, we have reverenced the very presence of the Lord himself.

Reflection for the First Sunday of Lent

I first became aware that I was terribly nearsighted when I was in the 4th grade.  My father, an avid sportsman, would take me out in the backyard to play catch.  I think he was hoping that I would share his passionate love for baseball and would soon participate in our neighborhood Little League team.  There was only one problem – a big problem – I couldn’t catch the ball!  The more we practiced, the more I got hit – on my arm, on my leg, on my head.  With an apparent vengeance, the ball landed everywhere but the mitt.  Finally, after an eye exam, the optometrist quickly got to the core of my baseball problem.  I just could not see the ball coming until it was too late and then I’d get hit.  Well, the upshot of the story is, that by the time the diagnosis came and I began to sport glasses, you guessed it, I hated baseball! 

My vision problems, my ability to see clearly the things up close and not far away, presents us with a possible analogy for the struggle that is part and parcel of our human condition, the struggle with temptation and sin. On this First Sunday of the Lenten Season, the Church traditionally sets before us in the Gospel, the story of the Lord’s own temptation by the evil one in the desert.  This is preceded by the earliest Scriptural account of temptation in the Book of Genesis, the storied eating of the forbidden fruit by Eve.   

My friends, at the heart of all temptation is the allure of something that in our limited or short sighted moral perspective seems to be, appears to be, wonderful, good and pleasurable.  Temptation rarely if ever is the attraction for us to knowingly reach out for something that is obviously evil or self-destructive.  The temptation to infidelity begins with the alluring attraction to the beauty and goodness of another person.  It is only when we put on the vision of the moral values that give ultimate meaning to our lives, do we realize and see the bigger picture – that this lovely person belongs to someone else and we too have commitments of faithfulness that ultimately would make such a decision a violation of all that it means to be a person of moral integrity, truth and goodness. 

Just as it took a good eye doctor to help diagnose my problem with catching a baseball, providing glasses enabling me to see with greater perspective, so it is for us as people of faith.  We are all in constant need of broadening and deepening our moral vision that gives us the perspective of doing something so absolutely fundamental and essential in living out our life of faith daily – doing good and avoiding evil. 

That is why, my friends, this Season of Lent is so important.  We began this Season last Wednesday as we heard the words, Repent and believe in the Gospel, prayed over us as ashes were placed on our foreheads.  Clarity in our moral vision begins with honestly and humbly acknowledging that we are all in need of the healing mercy of our loving God.  The courage to do good and to resist the allure of temptation, requires the grace to keep before our eyes the bigger picture of our lives, the eternal destiny to which we have been called by the Lord.  The grace to resist the incessant call to give in to immediate gratification and to live for the eternal values that Christ, lived, died and rose for, is what repentance and Christian conversion is all about. 

May this Lent be a time for all of us to drink deeply of this grace and in doing so, see clearly the life to which we have all been called to live in Christ.