Readings – http://www.usccb.org/nab/031311.shtml
Well certainly the church looks different today from what it did last Sunday! That’s of course because (after long last this year) we find ourselves in Lent.
Now the Gospel Reading of the First Sunday of Lent always sends us into the Desert. On the Second Sunday of Lent, we’re always sent to the mountain top. That happens every year. Then for the third through fifth Sundays of Lent, the journey is a little different from year to year. And then we come to Palm Sunday where we again remember each year Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem to begin Holy Week.
I mention this because the Liturgy reminds us that each year has a "little bit of the same" and "a little bit that is different." So our lives are neither ones of total, unending chaos, nor ones where "nothing ever changes."
Very good. This year, like every year on the First Sunday of Lent, we are invited to follow Jesus into the Desert. Normally, this practice reminds us take this time to reflect on our lives, identify one or two things that distract us in our lives and invite us to let go of them or perhaps take-up one or two spiritual practices during Lent to help bring us closer to God.
Indeed it's been a long-time tradition to give up something small but fairly important in our lives to remind us of the larger purpose of this season. So as I've been doing for several years now, this year, in solidarity with the kids, I’m giving up something simple; I'm giving up potato chips ;-), something that most kids could understand. I’m also doing some additional spiritual reading, hope to attend the Taize Services that our parish plans to offer, etc. But again, in solidarity with the "little ones" in the parish, I’m giving up potato chips ;-).
A couple of years ago, I gave up cookies for the same reason, but I found myself making a surprisingly large number of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at the end Lent that year. Technically, it wasn’t cheating, but it kinda felt like it ;-). So last year, I tried to give up sweets altogether. But that turned out to be a problem. During Lent last year, I was visiting relatives. They made a lot of sweets then, and for whatever reason there seemed to be a fairly large number of parties that I was part of last year, and it did not seem right to "abstain" in front of others who were trying to honor one or another person. So giving up sweets altogether did not work. And I’d also certainly advise anyone who tries giving up sweets or cake altogether to please, if your "grandma" is celebrating her 75th birthday during Lent, just have the piece of cake at her party. This practice isn’t worth making others feel miserable when they are celebrating something nice.
However, potato chips seem doable. So that’s what I’m giving up. I’ve been eating a whole bunch of potato chips in recent months while watching TV in the evening. It seems something that I can give up and something that pretty much everybody, even a kid could understand.
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But even though this is the most common understanding of the first Sunday of Lent – we’re placed in the desert with Jesus in order to look at our lives and see what distracts us from God and see if we can give it up -- each year brings its own insights. And so, I’m looking at the Gospel Reading from Matthew differently this year.
I’m looking at it different, because over the past couple of years, I’ve started to understand Jesus’ saying elsewhere to "not be worried about those who can only hurt (kill) the body but the one who can both hurt (kill) the body and as well as the soul." Throughout my live, I’ve found that saying rather strange, esoteric, etc. But in recent years, I’ve started to understand it better – no matter how tough life is, no matter how many obstacles are placed in front of us (in any number of ways and for any number of reasons) we can still _choose_ to make the situation bettor (or _worse_) based on how we respond to these obstacles.
Applying this insight to the Gospel Reading today, there are times that our lives may feel dry or lifeless. We also may feel lost. We may feel, in fact, like we're walking in a Desert. It is in those times that we may be tempted to "give up" in various ways. And I see in ALL THREE of the temptations that Jesus faces, the temptation to do exactly that – to reduce one’s sights, to "give up" in one way or another. Let me explain ...
Regarding the First Temptation, feeling overwhelmed or feeling that our life to be particularly "dry," we may be tempted to "reduce our sights" and say "Well, my life doesn’t seem to have meaning, so I’m just going reduce my goals to simply making ends meet, to provide something eat for myself and my family, to provide a roof over our heads and that’s it. The rest just doesn’t make sense." Well Jesus reminds the Temptor as well as _us_ that we have a right to expect more from life than just having our physical needs met, that God in fact, provides us with both hope and meaning when we call upon him and _especially_ when our lives feel dry.
Regarding the Second Temptation, which I feel could effect particularly the young, we may again feel that "life doesn’t make sense" and so decide to live it recklessly, "go bungie-jumping" as it were. Most of you know that I like movies. There was a movie last fall, named "127 hours" about a young person who didn’t think much of his life and led it quite stupidly. He lived on his own, not caring much about others or even himself. And he took stupid risks, like rock climbing in a cave alone. Only when he found himself trapped in a cave, with his arm caught under a rock did he start to realize how isolated he was – Nobody knew where he was, no one would know where to look for him. And there he was with his arm pinned by that rock. He comes finally to the conclusion that he’s going to have to cut his arm off to set himself free. He does so, but in the process he also comes to understand how many others he had been needlessly hurting (mostly his parents) by previously not paying them much mind.
Also, it’s Spring Break time now. I had a friend in college who had a friend from high school who died during spring break. He was in Fort Lauderdale, he and his friends were all drunk. For some reason he decided that he wanted to go to the next room. Rather than walking through the room to the door, then down the hall to the next room, he decided to try to jump from the balcony of one room to the other – this was on the 8th floor of a hotel. Well, _he missed_. What an awful and utterly senseless way to die! Now was this friend of a friend particularly stupid? No, most of us do some really stupid things when we’re young. Only sometimes to we find ourselves paying for such stupidity. But there is a cautionary tale in that incident – Please don’t take your life so much for granted. You may find yourself hurting not just yourself but many, many others.
Finally, the regarding the Third Temptation, which I feel effects older or middle aged people like me. We can again despair of life’s difficulties, and dryness and try to compensate by "making little kingdoms" for ourselves in this world, seeking to "make ourselves important." I’m always fascinated to see someone who’s otherwise mild mannered but given even a little bit of power (made head of the Rosary group or the coach of a little league team) and even that little bit of power going to their heads, running that "Rosary group" with "an iron fist," even as far as "purging malcontents" etc.
There’s a great line in the play A Man for All Seasons, in which the future Saint Thomas Moore, former Chancellor of England is betrayed in his trial by a former underling. He asks the former underling about a pendant signifying some new authority that the former underling was wearing. He responds, that he had been made "Chancellor" (or governor) of Wales. The future Saint Thomas Moore responds "Our Savior told us ‘what profits a man if he gains _the whole world_ but loses his soul? But (to lose it) for _Wales_?"
We’re asked to not sell out our integrity for the fleeting glory, for yes, "fleeting things."
So out there in the Desert, Jesus asks us to reject these temptations even if our lives may at times _feel very dry_. And lest we forget, the First Reading today reminds us that these temptations need not even happen "in the Desert" during the tough times in our lives. God placed Adam in Paradise. He had just about EVERYTHING and yet he wanted _more_.
Let’s take this time therefore to look at our lives and to resist the temptation "to give up", "to reduce our sights," to trade in our integrity, our soul, for something that is passing, or small. And let us try to remember that no matter how much we have, none of it matters without God.
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