+ J. M. J. +
Homily Notes for the First Sunday of Lent, Year A
As some of you may know, I was able to ski the 50 K Classic race at the Great Bear Chase in Calumet today, and I think it was particularly appropriate during this Lenten Season of Penance… I’m not light, or light on my feet, and I’m not in great shape, and with about 10 miles to go, I tweaked one of my hamstrings, so I had plenty to offer up!
Why is penance so necessary in our fallen world? Why does the Church call us to penance so steadfastly?
Our readings today in our readings unveil the source of sin and death, and also of tell us of Christ’s victory over both sin and death.
We begin in Genesis… Adam and Eve are created free, free from sin, but free to choose toward God or away from him. When they encounter the serpent, the dragon, they give into fear and cunning. We often imagine Eve alone with a snake, but the Hebrew text really suggests Adam present but standing back, letting Eve face the Enemy alone, and the word that we often translate snake or serpent, had more the connotation of dragon or monster. With disobedience to God, everything began to unravel… and I suspect you can relate to this in your own life, I know I can!
One of the favorite metaphors in our Catholic Tradition of our encounter with the Enemy and with sin is “spiritual combat.” The point is not that we are called to violence, nor to glorify war, but rather to recognize that we DO have an enemy who desires our despair and destruction. It can be daunting to realize that spiritually we are at war, but it would be far worse to be under attack and to pretend it’s not happening. In our popular culture, one of the devil’s biggest victories has been to convince many people he doesn’t exist.
Adam and Eve do NOT resist, rather, they listen, and Eve enters into conversation with the tempter, she allows a note of doubt to enter in, “Did God really tell you not to…..” Again, I suspect that most of us recognize that voice all to well.
As we recognize that we are in fact under attack, that there are in fact enemy forces who seek our ruin, our Gospel gives us great reason for hope and courage… Christ has encountered the Enemy, He has done battle, and He has won. In the desert, three times Christ was tempted in His humanity, and those three temptations line up with St. Paul’s list of the sources of temptation: The World, the Flesh, and the Devil.
Christ encounters first the temptation of the Flesh… to use His power to provide Himself with bread, even though the Holy Spirit has taken Him into the desert to fast and pray. We often have opportunities to satisfy our physical and spiritual hungers contrary to God’s law, both in obvious ways, like lustful actions or gluttony, but also in more subtle ways, like sloth or pride. It seems to us in the moment of temptation that only acquiring what we desire will bring us peace… and Christ gives us the true answer, that we do not live by bread alone, but rather by the word of the Father.
Next, the devil attacks through the temptation to tempt God, to presume on God, and to gain power in a worldly way. When we make the things of God subservient to the world, when we seek to shine in the eyes of others rather than God, when we treat faith and sacrament as a means to worldly respect, we worship the world rather than God. What sets the agenda in our lives? Is it the world’s voice, or worldly ways? Or is it God and His Church? Each one of us can go deeper in placing God first and at the center, and allowing His Law to structure our lives.
Finally, the last temptation is the devil, he attacks Jesus through the attraction to worship him and so gain immeasurable power. It is often the case that we can get ahead in the world by sinning, and it is often the case that faithfulness to God comes with a price. Perhaps there are not so many people who have literally sold their souls to the devil, but there are very many who began cutting a corner here, and a corner there, and got ahead, but ended up deeply embroiled in sin. Again, at least in small ways, I think this too we have all experienced.
The devil departs, having been vanquished by the Living Word, Jesus Christ, at least for a time. In the Gospels, the battle will continue through the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Romans, and it will reach its climax on Calvary. It is sobering to recognize clearly that we are under attack, but it is true, and in that attack, we also know that we have a victor and a savior… as St. Paul says, “…through the obedience of the one, the many will be made righteous.” That victory comes to us now on this altar… may we bring all the places we are tempted and attacked into the light of prayer, place them on this altar, and receive from this altar the victor, Jesus Himself, and His Saving Remedy, His Body and Blood.
+ A. M. D. G. +
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