Homily: 1st Sunday of Lent – Cycle A
Here at the beginning of Lent, it
seems as if God has put us on a 12-step program. Perhaps many of you aren’t familiar with the
12-step addiction recovery program; and so, if not, let me give you a quick
rundown of the fundamental elements of the program:
The first and most fundamental step to
this program involves acknowledging the reality of the situation. In the case of someone dealing with an
addiction, this is admitting that he or she is weak and overcome with a compulsion
to engage in destructive behavior. In
conjunction with this step is an acknowledgement that this person is unable to
break this compulsion by his or herself.
Next, this person needs to acknowledge that there is a power greater
than him/her that can help him/her break this compulsion and, thus, that he/she
needs to submit him or herself completely to this power. Then the person needs to strive to make
amends—both with God and with others—for the negative effects that this
destructive behavior has caused. And,
finally, he or she needs to strive to help others who suffer from the same
compulsivity to achieve the same freedom and healing.
Given this description (and I pray
that I’ve been accurate), I think that we can see that our journey through Lent
is not unlike working through a 12-step program. First we acknowledge that we are sinners and
have fallen short of what God expects of us.
Then, we acknowledge that, by ourselves, we are unable to overcome our
sin, and that we need God’s help. The
call of Lent, therefore, is to break free from our will (which has led us into
sin) and to submit ourselves completely to his will (and to his mercy) once
again. It is a time to take an inventory
of all of the concrete ways in which we’ve failed God and others and then to
confess these in the sacrament of reconciliation. It’s also a time that calls us to make amends
with those that we’ve hurt and to strive to live renewed lives, obedient to God’s
will in all things. And, finally, it
calls us to lead others to follow this same journey so that they might know and
experience the freedom that comes from God.
Today, it seems, our scriptures are
emphasizing this point by highlighting some of these “first steps” of the
journey. In the reading from the book of
Genesis we were reminded of the sin of our first parents and that, thus, we are
weak and subject to giving in to temptation.
In the reading from Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans we are reminded
that death is the consequence of sin and that, therefore, since all men die,
all men, too, are sinners. Thus, these
readings are calling us to acknowledge the reality that we are all sinners (and
sometimes compulsively so).
In the Psalm we hear how the psalmist
not only acknowledges his sinfulness, but also that he is powerless to break
free from his sinfulness; and so he turns to God, acknowledging that God is
much more powerful than himself, and he submits himself completely to God’s
power so that he might break free from his sin.
Then, in the Gospel, Jesus shows us
that there is a power greater than our weakness that can help us and sustain us
in our fight against sin. After fasting
for 40 days and 40 nights in the desert (which, in biblical terms, means that
he’s weak: physically, mentally, spiritually), the devil comes to tempt Jesus. In each of those three temptations, Jesus
chose to submit his will—both his human and his divine will—to his Father’s
will, as revealed through the scriptures.
Through this, Jesus demonstrates that by submitting ourselves to the
will of God—which we come to know by coming to know what he has revealed of
himself to us, both in the Scriptures and through Sacred Tradition (that is, the
teachings handed down to us through the centuries)—we can break free from sin
and the attacks of the devil.
Notice, however, that the fundamental
act that helps someone move from compulsivity in a destructive behavior to
freedom is, ironically, to submit his or her life over to the will of God: in
other words, to give up the freedom to choose for him/herself. Saint Paul confirms this clearly in the
second reading when he wrote, "Just as through disobedience of the one man
the many were made sinners, so, through the obedience of the one, the many will
be made righteous." Obedience,
therefore, is the key to freedom. Our
sin was to disobey God's command and we were led into it by allowing ourselves
to believe that by knowing what was good and what was evil—that is, by becoming
more like gods—we would be better off.
History has proven, however, that this has not been the case!
The fear that Adam and Eve immediately
succumbed to—that the other has the capacity to use me for evil means—was
evidenced by their desire to cover their nakedness. By knowing what was good and what was evil,
they then knew that they had to protect themselves, even from one another. By acknowledging that this knowledge has only
made us infinitely more susceptible to sin, we can then submit ourselves once
again to God's will and, through obedience, find true freedom.
My brothers and sisters, let's not
engage in empty practices this Lent (or, at least, practices that only scratch
the surface of what keeps us separated from God). Rather, let's allow the traditional practices
of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving to lead us on this journey to freedom once
again: the freedom that we knew at our baptism; the freedom that will be
renewed at Easter; the freedom made possible for us through the obedience of Jesus,
whom we encounter here in this Holy Eucharist.
Given
at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN – March 5th, 2017
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