This is my homily for today, the First Sunday of Lent, Cycle B. The readings for today are here.
“Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” That was Jesus’ message coming out of the desert. If you were here this past Wednesday to celebrate Ash Wednesday, then those also were the words you heard when we smeared ashes onto your foreheads. “Repent, and believe in the Gospel”. What fine Lenten focuses those two key words are: repentance and belief. As many of you know already, the church’s three traditional spiritual practices for Lent are fasting, praying and almsgiving. I encourage all of us to embrace one or more of those three traditions. We should pursue them with a view to helping us to repent, and helping us to believe. For now I’ll say a few words about each of those traditional practices: fasting, praying and almsgiving.
Let me start
with the one which is in some ways the most common among Catholics, but also in some ways the
most counter-cultural of the three traditional practices. I’m referring to fasting. When I was a kid, it was very common for Catholic
kids to engage in some rather simple fasting as a form of Lenten
discipline. For example: giving up
chocolate or ice cream. There is nothing
wrong with that sort of thing for young children: it teaches them some
self-discipline and self-denial, which are helpful for discipleship. Going
without chocolate or ice cream may help children appreciate some of the
material blessings in our lives. Also, going without in this simple way may also
help children to empathize with our brothers and sisters who don’t have enough
food to eat every day. These are good
lessons for children, and they’re important lessons for adults, too.
But for us adults here today who are fasting during Lent, I want to encourage us to set the bar a little higher than simply going without chocolate for 40 days. Let us see if we can do some more substantive spiritual fasting. There are many things which can be said about fasting; today I’ll mention just a couple. The most obvious thing about fasting is the sensation of hunger. Embracing spiritual fasting means embracing being hungry during the day. The idea is that our physical hunger will also sharpen our spiritual hunger to have God in our lives.
Spiritual fasting doesn’t have to be extreme, and it shouldn’t be unhealthy. If I were advising myself, I might recommend that, when I drive through Burger King to buy lunch, I order the single Whopper rather than the double. The small fries rather than the large fries. Those choices will mean I’ll get hungrier for dinner earlier in the day. And that’s the point: it will prompt me to think about my spiritual hunger.
Second: traditionally, fasting is associated with penitence and mourning; fasting is one of the ways we tell God we are sorry for the sins we’ve committed.
Finally
– and this is the idea about fasting which, for some reason, resonates the most with me – in the Bible,
fasting is associated with purification. We fast to purify ourselves in preparation to encounter God. This is one
of the reasons the church has us fast for an hour before receiving the
Eucharist. In my parents’ day it was
sterner: they had to fast from midnight forward. In seeking to purify our bodies, we’re also
asking God to purify our souls from the sin and evil which have built up in
it.
Next, let’s
consider prayer. I saw an article
recently whose headline was along the lines of, “Which is more likely to bring
you closer to God: 40 days without chocolate, or 40 days of prayer?” To ask the question is to answer it. There is no doubt that, if we pray to God
more, our relationship with God will grow stronger. If your relationship with God could use some
work, then praying for 40 days surely is the right choice for you. Many of us don’t have a strong sense that God
is in our lives. If you feel that God has
been missing from your life, then praying every day can allow you to reconnect
with him, and enjoy all the spiritual benefits that come from having a close, intimate relationship with him. Finally,
if you feel unsure of where your life is going, or if you have been resisting
something which you think God may be calling you to do, then this season of
Lent may be the time for you to have that overdue long conversation with him to understand
what he wants from you.
If you
haven’t prayed in a long time, my advice is: start small and simple, and build
from there. Start with five minutes a
day. It could be five minutes after your
alarm goes off in the morning before you’ve gotten out of bed, or five minutes
before you turn off your bedside lamp at night to fall asleep, or five minutes when
you need to take a break from your daily work or studies. I’d suggest you spend those five minutes
talking with God about four things: 1: God, here is something that happened yesterday
or today for which I want to thank you. 2. God, here is something I did yesterday or
today for which I ask you to forgive me. 3. God, here is something which happened yesterday
or today for which I want to ask your help.
4. God, what do you want me to do
today or tomorrow? If you start by
praying those four things every day, your relationship with God will grow and
blossom and bear sweet fruit.
Ok, we’ve looked
at fasting and prayer. Now let’s think
about almsgiving. The spirituality of
almsgiving is rooted in our recognizing that we’re not alone: we live among
other people, and we have a responsibility to them. In fact, they are our sisters and brothers. Even complete strangers, and even those whom
we dislike. We’re connected to everyone,
and if we are able to help others, we should.
That is the spirituality of the Good Samaritan parable: we encounter
others on our journey through life, and rather than pass them by, we should
stop and help them.
In its most
literal sense, almsgiving means donating money or goods to those in need. There is nothing wrong with that: in fact, it’s
a necessary part of inaugurating God’s kingdom.
There are many good and responsible organizations which will put your
alms to work to help those in need. We have some right here at St. Edna, like
Outreach, and the Food Pantry, and Prison Ministry, and Community Table. But the spirituality of almsgiving can go far
beyond writing a check or bringing a bag of groceries to church. For many of us, the most precious thing we
possess is not money but our time. If we
can donate some of our precious time to help others, perhaps by volunteering with
a community organization which helps others, then we are doing Jesus’s work
here on earth. And finally, as we become
more aware of the injustices and unfair conditions which are root causes of so
much suffering in our world, we may find ourselves wishing to work to build a
more just and fair society. This can
take us into advocacy and activism. All
of these are examples of helping Jesus to inaugurate the kingdom of heaven.
So there is fasting, which is about spiritual hunger and penitence and purifying ourselves; there is prayer, which is about improving our relationship with God; and there is almsgiving, which is about helping others. These are three different dimensions of living a life of discipleship. These are three different methods for repenting, and believing. Prayer, fasting, almsgiving: which way is right for you?
Good one, Jim. Your four suggestions for prayer makes me think of the acronym, ACTS, for the four ends of prayer; adoration, contrition, thanksgiving, and supplication.
ReplyDeleteHi Katherine - I am not sure that I have run across ACTS before. Maybe we've discussed it here before?
DeleteIt was just something I learned in school days. Kind of like memorizing the names of the Great Lakes using the acronym HOMES.
DeleteOn Prayer
ReplyDelete“If you feel that God has been missing from your life, then praying every day can allow you to reconnect with him, and enjoy all the spiritual benefits that come from having a close, intimate relationship with him. If you haven’t prayed in a long time, my advice is: start small and simple, and build from there. Start with five minutes a day.”
The research data indicates that about 60% of Americans pray daily, whereas only about 30% go to church most every weekend. That means that most of the people who show up in church already pray daily. Failing to recognize that most people already have a relationship to God through daily prayer is part of the clericalism of pastoral staffs. Bringing back people to church attendance should begin by recognizing that most of them already have a relationship to God that includes prayer.
There is a huge richness and diversity in prayer that is available to appeal to a variety of people and life experiences. During this pandemic I would have brought attention to some of those which are available to people in their homes, including corporate prayer like the Divine Office, and various forms of individual and group prayer. In other words, the parish should be there to help not judge.
The whole idea is not to denigrate people by focusing upon their problems but rather build upon their gifts and assets not only for themselves but for others. I spent my whole life in the mental health system communicating to my colleagues that approach to mental illness. I think it applies equally to pastoral care.
I think, though, that a reminder to spend more time in personal prayer is appropriate, even if people are regular church attenders. There have been times in my life when about all the praying I did was a morning offering and grace before meals. Lent is a good time to get back on track. Jim mentions time as part of almsgiving. It can also be part of fasting, such as spending less time surfing around online and more time in prayer, in whatever form of prayer one gravitates toward.
DeleteThanks to both of you. Good point that many/most people pray already. My own prayer life can get a a bit stale, so suggesting ideas for ways to pray might be well-received, even by some folks who already pray regularly.
DeleteFASTING must be completely rethought for modern times.
ReplyDeleteFood does not have the same importance in consumption as so much else, beginning but not ending with television. The whole aim of Lent should be rethinking both individually, as a parish, and nation the patterns of consumption that are threatening both us and this planet. As prophets we must be willing to say “fasting from food is not the fasting that God desires.”
When it comes to food choices, diets that emphasize vegetarian protein both for health reasons and in solidarity with the poor and the environment need to be given preference. It does not help to eat lightly for most of the day on Friday so we can experience the hunger of the poor, and then go to the all you can eat church Fish fries to support parish programs. That is a perversion of fasting.
Our parishes should be supporting people like Stanley who want to change their diets but don’t have the time and skills to prepare excellent quality vegetable protein meals. I am sure that most parishes have people who are excellent cooks who could do that. I suspect parishes could actually make more money on high quality vegetable protein than on fish.
ALMSGIVING
ReplyDeleteMore and more I am seeing personal almsgiving of time and resources to individuals that we know as being more important than checks sent to large organizations. I give most of my money to the Saint Vincent DePaul society and the Food bank of our parish because I know those volunteers serve the needs of real people in our neighborhood.
Sometimes it even helps to give help to our family members. When my father died I gave ten thousand dollars to his sister Ann. She would have received that amount if she had had to serve as executor for his estate instead of me. I told my Dad that I was going to do this, and he gave me this wise advice. “Do it if you want but remember that Ann will just save that and give it to one of her children or grandchildren when they get into trouble.”
When Dad died I put the ten thousand plus some additional money into a joint checking account. The additional money was for any expenses that Ann might have in taking care of Dad’s house for me until it was sold. I told her she had to spend the ten thousand on herself.
Well she did a much needed job on the roof of her house, plus a lot of other cosmetic changes. Everybody from family to neighbors to church people marveled at the transformation of her house. Even greater was the transformation of Ann. She had lost her husband about three years before. Her energy and sense of purpose now returned. She said all this was made possible by Johnny and Jack. Eventually about ten years later when she had to sell the house to move in with her daughter, she got top dollar on that house.
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ReplyDeleteI don't have much appetite, so food fasting isn't a hardship. Instead, I try to fast from the sins I really enjoy--from being bossy and self-absorbed, and from buying anything unnecessary, which means cancelling entertainment subscriptions and using the library.
ReplyDeleteI am rethinking the fast from purchases during the pandemic because I want to support some local businesses. But not buying from Amazon and the like.
As a low-income retiree, I don't have a lot of cash for alms. What there is goes to monthly auto-deduct donations to UNICEF's malaria program, my NPR station, and the local animal shelter. So I have been giving "alms" by knitting up my yarn stash into scarves and mittens to donate to the mitten basket at the local elementary schools. Also writing letters to friends. Spreading cheer not as good as money, but better than nothing.
I have taken up morning prayer with the Dean of Canterbury Cathedral (thanks Jack!) in lieu of my perpetual novena, which is getting a bit rote. The only disheartening thing about worshipping with the Dean is being reminded how early spring comes to the UK.
Betty will be glad to hear that you are joining us with a daily trip to Canterbury. I am glad that spring comes early. I hope the Dean has a lot of warm underwear, etc. under his cassock for all those cold and snowy days that he spends in the garden. He seems to get through them by reciting the Canticle from Daniel "frost and snow bless the Lord."
DeleteGreetings to Betty. I hope they are able to let those guinea fowl out of their pen pretty soon. When Dean Robert sits by them, I can't hear him over their squawking. Today there were crocuses and daffodils!
DeleteHere in Michigan, the Great Lakes warm up more because we get such hot summers. A day or two above 90 was about it, but in recent years we get 90+ weather for days on end. That seems to stave off winter until early January (instead of mid-November when it used to arrive). Once we get a really bitter cold snap, like the last couple of weeks, the lakes start freezing around the edges and water temp drops, and that seems to keep winter and heavier snow around through March and into early April. Cannot remember an Easter recently when I wasn't wearing black winter pants, boots, and a sweater. Maybe it's similar where you are in Ohio.
Ha, yes, I really want to put a muffler and gloves on Dean Robert, but I see it's been in the mid to high 50s over there today. So just projecting my own chills onto him, I guess.
Oh, was going to add that watching this reminds me that Jesus did most of his preaching outdoors. I sometimes wonder what kind of noises he had to contend with--people who showed up with their crying kids, those with sheep and goats in tow, wind around mountains and lakes carrying his words away, noises from passing pedestrians and carts.
DeleteHe does a good job of "finding God in all things" whether that be the BCP, human creativity, all sorts of animals, trees and plants, and the events of history.
DeleteI love to listen to him praying and watching him managing the cat at the same time (who is going back and forth between his lap, the prayer book, and finishing his breakfast).
Betty says he is a combination of Saint Francis and Mr. Rogers.
Charity should be close and far. Both are needed. I gave some to AOC's Texas fund even though I hate Texas. But yes, the best can be just giving help directly to someone who needs it. No administration costs.
ReplyDeleteI can't begin to express how grateful I am for this discussion. Many thanks for all the ideas and suggestions (and even the gentle corrections!)
ReplyDeleteJack ( or Jean) could you provide the Canterbury link? Thanks
ReplyDeletehttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TERTUn1UsLk
DeleteJack, thanks so much for all your input.
ReplyDelete