In the Desert with Jesus, Face to Face with Mortality, Immortality

+ J. M. J.+

Homily Outline for the First Sunday of Lent, Year C

With Ash Wednesday this past week we have entered to Holy Season of Lent… many of you received upon your foreheads the ashes of humility and mortality, and you heard the words, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” These words were especially striking to me this year in light of several recent and very concrete experiences… about 3 weeks ago I caught a bad cold, boy does that remind you how weak you are! Then I had four difficult funerals in close succession: John Ballone, Ron Gehring, and Dave Lynott, and then Fr. Jim Challancin’s funeral in Ishpeming. All four of these men died before their time. Two fought cancer, one died after heart surgery, and one after a tragic bicycle accident. Three of them I knew well and counted as friends. I don’t mean to detail this as a downer, for indeed every one of those funerals was grace-filled for me personally, and I hope for the families and friends of these four men. It may surprise you, but I actually enjoy celebrating funerals in this sense: I very much see the Lord at work in the liturgy, in the prayers, in the community, and in the Word of God. It is always a privilege and a blessing for me as a priest to be able to accompany a family through these rites, even as it is often difficult. It is a joy when the family desires the full funeral rites, as was the case in all four of these funerals, because I see how helpful and fruitful they are, from the vigil service and visitation the night before, through the Funeral Mass, and eventually the graveside service and burial. At each step we come face to face with death, a reality we MUST face, a reality we WILL EACH encounter. But as we encounter death, we also encounter the Lord’s grace and His promises to us.

The people of Israel were enslaved in Egypt, even as their nation grew strong and numerous. God led them to freedom through the Red Sea, but also into the desert. God’s power freed them, but their hearts, minds, and souls were still attached to the comfort and idolatry of Egypt. They had to be purified in freedom as they wandered in the desert, where the very emptiness and poverty allowed them to come face to face with themselves. In our first reading Moses is telling the people how they are to give thanks for this rescue and purification with a sacrifice of the firstfruits of their harvest, remembering what God had done. Likewise, every Sunday, we gather here on this first day of the week to offer God our whole lives, these firstfruits, these first minutes and hours of the week. In Lent, in particular, we are called also to experience our mortality and poverty face to face. We see this reflected in the simplicity of the liturgy: simpler music, simpler decoration, the absence of the Gloria and the Alleluia, the absence of flowers. And those ashes on our foreheads and the words that accompany them remind us that we have here no lasting home, that this earthly dwelling place will indeed come to an end, both our bodies, and this whole world. We are pilgrims and sojourners, not citizens of this mortal world.

Let me reiterate… this reflection on mortality is simply an acknowledgement of reality, of the bare facts! We will die… I will die, you will die, and we will stand before the Lord. A fact! The Church wants us to remember so that we will keep both the joys and the sorrows of this life in an eternal, a heavenly perspective! Not so that we will be grim and mope around, but so that we can joyfully give thanks for the blessings of this mortal world without worshipping them and becoming enslaved. And here we see the role of fasting, and here we see why Jesus went into the desert! Now, I suspect no one here is going to have a heart attack when I tell you I’m not very good at fasting! When I was in college, I would try not only to abstain from meat on Friday’s during Lent, but also to fast! I still try to do so. However, I remember not a few Lenten Friday’s at Purdue when I would eat only a little bread and drink only a little water all day… but then as midnight approached I would order the Papa John’s pizza special! Yikes! Even at the time I knew that wasn’t quite the full spirit of fasting!

One thing we discover when we fast, whether it’s from pop or coffee, or sweets, or TV, or Facebook, or fill-in-the-blank… one of the things we discover is how weak we are, how conditioned by habit, how attached we are to small things! Jesus was not broken by sin as we are, He was free from the weakness of the will and the darkness of the mind that flow from original sin, but when 40 days had passed in the desert, He was hungry, and at least on a physical level, He had to have been very weak. At this moment the Enemy arrives, sensing this weakness, perhaps unsure about who this man really was, but desirous of testing and tempting Him, and perhaps corrupting and controlling Him.

The devil tries first to get Jesus to use His power for His own convenience and comfort… to turn the stone into bread. Perhaps the devil, Himself a liar and a thief, interpreted Jesus’ refusal as an admission that He couldn’t do it, because next the devil offers Jesus power if only He will worship Him. One little bow, one little tarot card, one little horoscope, one little amulet or charm, and power will be yours! One little lie, one little compromise at work… just look the other way, and promotion or a pay raise opens before you. These temptations still exist, my friends. Do not imagine that our Gospel today tells us merely some myth or cartoon legend.

Jesus once again refuses to bite. Again, perhaps the devil was emboldened… Jesus doesn’t say, “I won’t worship you because I’m God.” So the devil brings Jesus to the high parapet of the Temple, and invites Him to manipulate God, to force God’s hand… throw yourself down and the angels will catch you. He even quotes Scripture…the Word of God can be manipulated for false purposes. Jesus is steadfast… He will not put God to the test. The devil goes away, but notice what the Gospel says, “he departed from him for a time.” When once again the devil sees Jesus weak, trembling in His humanity before the prospect of the Cross, once again He will test and sift Him, and His followers.

During this Lenten Season, as we embrace prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, the Church calls us into training, and to know of our weakness. Jesus has passed through this road ahead of us, and we emulate His self-sacrifice. We enter into the desert, clearing space and fighting against our petty weakness and habits. We seek to know not only a desire for chocolate or TV, but even a desire for God that lurks in the depth of our hearts. Let me close with these hope-filled words from our 2nd reading… St. Paul quotes Deuteronomy,

“What does the Scripture say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.’” 

May this be all the more true of us of during these days of Lent: may God’s word be in our heart and on our lips at every moment. May we pray, fast, and give alms in love and charity. May we know our weakness, and God’s strength. May we know our mortality, and the eternal life we are offered at this altar.

+ A. M. D. G. +