Deuteronomy 26:4-10, Psalm 91, Romans 10:8-13, Luke 4:1-13
Listen to Sunday’s homily from St. Mary’s church in Saskatoon, SK
We are at the beginning of our Lenten Journey. The Gospel puts us and Jesus in the same context. Forty days ahead of us of prayer and fasting.
In Luke’s Gospel he talks about the three temptations. In Mark’s account of the same story he only tells us that Jesus was in the wilderness 40 days, he was tempted by Satan… he was with wild beasts, and the angels waited on Him.
I once spent 10 days in the desert… it was wild, I was tempted to go home, there were beasts.
I can imagine a little what it might have been like for Jesus, but it’s not necessary that we have ever been in a desert to understand this story because the desert journey is really just a picture of our lives.
How often do we fear, how often are we tempted by our desires, how often do we go without those things that we wish we had for ourselves or for our children.
Lent is a microcosm of all this. It is a play that we enter into with all seriousness and we act out over the next 40 days the struggles of our lives.
Almsgiving: we give to the poor because it reminds us that no matter how bad we think we have it there are always those that have it worse. We open our eyes to the blessings we have when we look at the places in the world that have so little
Fasting & Abstinence: By giving to the poor we don’t become poor, but when we fast we get the feeling of what it is like to be poor. Fasting means giving up something good for a higher purpose. We do this not to suffer but to become aware of those things that we take for granted. And fasting doesn’t have to just be about food.
Prayer & Penance: We remind ourselves through prayer that this is not a self indulgent exercise. This is not just another method of self improvement, that we don’t fast just so that we can lose weight and look better. Our Lenten journey is nothing if it does not connect us more closely to our creator. Prayer and sorrow for our sins is an important part of this process. It is the means by which we and God communicate together.
The focus of Lent then is not primarily on suffering and deprivation, but rather it is helping us to prepare a place in our hearts for that great promise that God gives us, the Easter promise of resurrection.
40 days of Lent might seem like a long time. But it is eclipsed by the even greater season of Easter which we celebrate for 50 days.
May God bless your Lenten journey.
Struggling with your own demons? Take time to recognize the difficult areas of your life.
Know that, even with your flaws, you are loved by God.
