2011

On this first Sunday of Lent, we hear about temptations, those of our first parents and those of Jesus.  Temptations are very much a part of life and we all experience them, otherwise we would not be truly human. A man in Alabama learned the hard way that they can really cause trouble. He broke into a house and began bagging the valuables. While handling a pistol, he accidentally shot himself in the leg. Despite the pain, he wasn’t about to seek medical help. Just then, the homeowner walked into the house.

The burglar felt that he had no choice but to tie her up. That added seriously to the original burglary offense. Wounded, the man now needed a car so he stole the homeowner’s car. Now he was also guilty of grand theft. The loss of blood and pain caused him to drive erratically. This caught a cop’s attention.

The burglar pulled over and the cop pulled up behind him. Now desperate, the fleeing criminal shot through the windshield of the patrol car and wounded the officer. Once in the woods, he apparently came close to a moonshine still. At least that might explain why someone put three .22 slugs into the guy’s rear end.

By the time the police finally captured him, he had been wounded four times. He faced charges for attempted murder, armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, and grand auto theft, all because he was initially tempted to simply rob a house.

Hopefully your temptations never get you into such a mess, but they certainly have the potential to do so. As the first reading reveals, temptations have been around from the beginning of human existence.  No one can escape the daily challenges of temptations, not even Jesus.

When you think about them, the temptations Jesus faced after spending 40 days in the desert were much like ours. How often are we driven by the quest for bodily comforts and pleasures, the esteem of others, and/or the pursuit of wealth and power?

Temptations are always lurking, waiting to ensnare us when we least expect them. We can be tempted at any age, with any degree of sanctity. Believe me, Pope Benedict wrestles with temptations just as much as we do. In all likelihood, though, he does a better job of resisting them.

Some of us are not so resistant to temptations.  Instead, we make excuses for our sins, the consequences of giving into temptation. As a confessor, I have listened to a fair number of excuses. We may see ourselves as victims of circumstances, genetics, our upbringing, or hormones. Like Flip Wilson, the comedian who often cracked, “The devil made me do it,” we might blame Satan or others for the wrongful choices we make. Whatever our excuse may be, however, the choice to sin is ours.

When we sin, we are choosing not to act as a child of God by ignoring God’s commands. That was the choice Adam and Eve made when they listened instead to the serpent, who committed the world’s first sin by lying. In his struggle with temptations, Jesus rebuffs Satan by quoting scripture. Finally, he tells him outright, “Get away, Satan! It is written: The Lord your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.”

His resistance to temptation is placed before us today as an example for us to strengthen our resistance to temptation. If we want to resist temptation and rebuff Satan, then we need to pray, just as Jesus did. Like him, we need a desert where we can encounter God, away from blaring TVs and other distracting electronics. We need to retreat to our inner space and be still so that we can give God the chance to speak to us. We can create this setting in a quiet corner of our home, in a local park, here in this church, or even in our car on a ferry crossing.

If you aren’t in the habit of examining your conscience, consider making that part of your daily prayer. If you aren’t in the habit of praying alone, start simply, like praying before going to bed or upon waking up. Make prayer a part of your daily routine like brushing your teeth. Take time to thank God for the gift of a new day, then reflect on how you can be more Christ like in what you say and do, thus becoming less likely to give into temptation.

Think of Lent as a forty day retreat. That is why this season began centuries ago. Move beyond praying quickly by putting aside at least 15 minutes of quiet time to dialogue with God even in your own words. Is that really asking too much of your time, considering that all the time you have is God’s gift to you?

Is it possible for you to attend daily Mass, even one day a week? If not, how about Stations of the Cross on Friday afternoons or Taize prayer on Wednesday evenings after the soup supper? If you can’t get out of the house, turn off the TV or the computer and spend time alone reading the bible or other spiritual writings. Prayer enables us to be mindful of God in all that we do each day so that when faced with temptation, we are more apt to follow Jesus’ example and rebuff Satan.

Years ago, there was a campaign against drugs, in which the motto was, “Just say no.” That is the message which Jesus is giving us today. We are responsible for much of what goes on in our lives. We can say no to our bad habits, like laziness or procrastination; our destructive addictions, like gambling or gossip; or our inclination to blame others. We can be as resistant to temptation and sin as we want to be. The choice is ours. We have the power to say no all the time to the things we don’t like or want, so why not say no to temptation by saying yes to God’s invitation to pray as his son did for forty days?  

1ST READING Deut. 11:18,26 – 28,32
2nd READING Romans 3:21 – 25,28
GOSPEL Matt: 7:21-27

This is the last weekend in this period of Ordinary Time and this coming Wednesday is Ash Wednesday and the start of our Lenten season which is my favorite time in the Church year.

What most likely comes to many Catholics minds when they hear the word LENT is; what do I give up this year? What can I give up that is not as hard to give up as this or that? I probably should go to “CONFESSION” at least once; I’ll see what happens when the time comes! I can’t eat meat on Fridays. What a drag!!!!

Lent is not a time of confusion in what to give up, or what to do, as some people find it is. Lent is a time to look at ourselves, to look inward at our most deepest thoughts, to see our souls. Lent is a time to reflect and to contemplate on our lives and if we have built a solid foundation for our day to day lives by accepting the Father’s will which leads us closer to him.

And so, we gather here today to hear God’s inspired words, to hear the stories of people past on their journey in this earthly life. We hear of their trials, their sacrifices, their shortcomings, their blessings in order that we might see ours knowing that God is always here for us as he was and will be for all of humanity, past, present, and future.

When we hear God’s inspired words in scripture, de we accept God’s will for us by letting him transform us bringing us ever closer to him? What happens if we do? What happens to us if we don’t?

To have a solid foundation is to accept God’s love. Like Fr. Rick stated last week, we need to let go and trust Him. God’s love is the only foundation that is rock solid and is manifested and revealed to us through His words and in the word made flesh, Jesus Christ.

This brings us closer to God as we journey through the Lent and Easter seasons and beyond this earthly life until we are with Him in paradise.

In the first reading today Moses is setting before the people two very distinct paths: that of a blessing or that of a curse. It is their choice.

They are heading into their future, the land promised them, the land of Canaan. But they will have to keep remembering by keeping the traditions and activities which have and will continue to form them.

And so, the long trek of forty years through the desert has reached its conclusion. Moses would not be going into the Promised Land himself, so he has to impress upon the chosen people God’s love for them, brought to lite in God’s fidelity to them through the Commandments he gave them, not only etched in stone but hopefully in their hearts.

Since God guides us toward what is truly best for us, God’s Commandments are like a key into the storeroom of God’s blessing.

Use the key and the blessings flow. Ignoring God’s Commandments results in a loss of potential blessings, not as a punishment from God but rather the result of one’s own refusal to use the key.

As Moses reflects on their journey from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land of Canaan, he realizes one thing. God has always done his part. He has broken the power of Pharaoh and delivered them from slavery.

They faced annihilation at the Red Sea and the Lord rescued them. In the desert he had provided them food in the form of manna and quail. Even the rocks gave forth water when thirst was the enemy. This was their lesson; believe in the one true God and make the choice to live within His Commandments and he will always be there for them. He will be their solid foundation on which they will build their lives.

Now, Jesus comes on the scene. Jesus Says: “Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven”. It is easy to say we believe. But the blessings come when we live what we profess to believe!

This is the lesson Jesus gives us in the gospel today “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and ACTS on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.”

Jesus is teaching the importance of building one’s life on the solid foundation of hearing God’s word and putting it into practice. In order for this to happen we must accept God. And to accept God means to accept his love. And to accept His love is to accept His will for us by a life lived in the image of his son, Jesus Christ.

This is what Paul was telling his listeners in his letter to the Romans, that a new justification comes with faith in Jesus Christ, that this faith does not replace the law but brings a new grace to it through the redemption Jesus Christ has won for us through his sacrifice on earth which is really the sacrifice of love.

The Christian way of life , however, isn’t always the easiest and most attractive. More worldly life styles can be very tempting but are usually built on sand. The storms of life still come. How will we come through times of financial setbacks, health problems, marital difficulties, or the death of a loved one?

How will we and especially the generation coming of age deal with the lure of drugs, alcohol, pre-marital sex, and accumulation of material things? That will depend largely on the foundation which you have set for your life and as parents began and encouraged for your children and upon which they continue to build by their own decisions, their own choices.

And all of us here, whether we have had children or not, have a stake in all this. We, as the body of the church, have the responsibility to set the example of our faith built on a solid rock foundation by living what we hear every Sunday in scripture, taking it to heart by allowing ourselves to be transformed by the words, to live them out in our daily lives.

We gain the strength to do this by receiving Jesus in us through his body and blood in the Eucharist. Again, another reason to be here every Sunday.

We are not so different from the Old Testament nation of Israel who on their journey to the Holy Land of Canaan faltered along the way. We to falter along our journey to God all the while finding him there to help us, to save us.

At the beginning I said that Lent was my favorite time in the Church year. The reason is this: I find spiritual growth through the contemplation and reflections on my life. I learn much about my relationship with God. I also realize what I need to grow more, to make my foundation more solid in order to weather all that this life throws out.

But the most important reason for me is the realization that Jesus, on his journey, was alone. I have Jesus accompanying me on my journey which can lead me down roads I thought not possible.

What can be better than to realize there are more ways to God than what we have experienced so far. This life is a journey and one that, with faith and trust in God, building a solid foundation for our lives, will lead us to the promised land of heaven.

In these difficult times when jobs are scarce and homes are being foreclosed in record numbers, Jesus’ advice about not worrying may seem naïve and even insensitive yet as always, he has a timeless message for us to heed. He is cautioning us not to let our pursuit of worldly goods push God aside.

“No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”  Mammon? Now, that’s a word we rarely hear, even in scripture.  It was a Hebrew word for material possessions, not just money, in which a man would place his trust. Jesus is challenging us to ponder where we are placing our trust. Might we be guilty of idolatry?

Idolaters are people who overemphasize human values. They worship technology, bravery, sexual love, prosperity, relaxation or communication. Each of these human values can be associated with an ancient Greek god: Vulcan, Mars, Venus, Pluto, Bacchus, and Mercury. Do any of these “gods” matter more to you than Jesus?  Before answering that question, consider your priorities. What really matters to you? Is it having the latest bit of technology? Is it working out daily at the local gym to be in top shape? Is it surfing the internet to indulge in certain fantasies? Is it playing the local casino or stock market to fatten your portfolio? Is it lounging on the beaches of Maui? Is it mastering the latest communication gadget?  Today as back then, Jesus knew that human values commanded the attention of his listeners, so much so that God could easily become second fiddle to the many gods that are more appealing to some people.  While any of these gods can make life more interesting, do they enrich our lives in the long run?

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear.”  Let’s not kid ourselves. Often caused by external circumstances, worry is something that affects all of us.  Worry comes from an ancient Anglo-Saxon word that meant to strangle or to choke. Worry is wasting today’s time to clutter up tomorrow’s opportunities with yesterday’s troubles. Worry chokes off the opportunity to live the present moment, leaving us prone to a life of feeling bad. Worry is another god that commands center stage in some people’s lives. Instead of worrying, Jesus invites us to turn from our idols and to trust in God. “Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more important than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?”

I suspect many anxious persons would think so, but worrying in itself doesn’t add a single moment. In fact, worry is needless, useless, and even dangerous to one’s health. Just ask anyone who suffers from ulcers. Worse yet, it’s an example of bad faith.

Urging his listeners not to worry about what they are to eat, drink or wear, Jesus then points out, “Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.”

Notice the verb that Jesus uses is need, not want. A German mystic, Johannes Tauler, who lived 800 years ago, shares this story to highlight the difference. Upon encountering a beggar at the front door of his church, he said, “God give you a good day.” The beggar replied, “I thank God, sir that I never had a bad one. I thank God that I am never unhappy.”

Tauler asked him what he meant. “Well, when it is fine, I thank God; when it rains, I thank God; when I am hungry, I thank God; and since God’s will is my will, and whatever pleases him pleases me, why should I say I am unhappy when I am not?” said the beggar. Tauler then asked him, “Who are you?” The beggar replied, “I am a king.”  “Where then is your kingdom?” asked Tauler. The beggar answered quietly, “In my heart.”

Freed of the idol of worry, the beggar was a king because he had learned to live in the present moment, savoring what God has blessed him with.  The devil on the other hand wants us to live in the future, fearing something that might happen or dreaming of a time when all will be perfect. The crisis in the Middle East, for example, is jacking up the price of oil. Are you already worrying about what will happen to your budget when gas hits $4 per gallon? What will such worrying accomplish?

Can anyone think of believing in God without trusting Him? Is it possible to trust in God for the big things like forgiveness and eternal life, and then refuse to trust Him for the little things like clothing and food?

To trust God does not mean sitting back and acting irresponsibly as if food, money, and clothes are not important. Without food, there is no life. Without clothes, the body is unprotected against the elements of nature.  Jesus isn’t advocating reckless living. As stewards, we are to make good use of our resourcefulness and plan our lives in a responsible manner. However, worry, which arises from being overly concerned with our own welfare, is a wasted effort, unbefitting of one who claims to trust in God.

When we put God first, our happiness is no longer dependent on the contents of our closets, our bookshelves, our garages, or the people that move in and out of our lives. When we put God first, our happiness flows from the experience of the presence of God’s love in our lives. When we put God first, we have the time and the ability to enjoy life, to look at the birds in the sky and the wild flowers and say, “God, how beautiful they are. How good you are. How caring you are. How blessed I am for in your love, you have not forgotten me.”

Late one night a cheerful truck driver pulled into a roadside diner for a coffee break. While he was eating, the atmosphere became tense as three wild looking cyclists entered, wearing dirty black leather jackets trimmed in metal. Immediately they targeted the truck driver. One poured salt on his head; another flipped the doughnut on the floor, while the third “accidentally” bumped the coffee, spilling it onto the driver’s lap. Meanwhile, the driver said nothing. He quietly got up, slowly walked to the cashier, calmly paid his bill and left. “Man, that doodle ain’t much of a fighter,” sneered one of the cyclists. The waiter behind the counter peered out the window into the night and replied, “He doesn’t seem to be much of a driver either. He just ran his truck over three motorcycles!”

Getting even is the game many people play whenever they have been victimized. In good conscience, they defend their right to get even with the line taken from Leviticus, which Jesus quotes in today’s gospel, “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”  But they fail to consider why God even gave the Levites this bit of advice in the first place. Before then punishments were rather harsh. If you wronged someone, his buddies would likely murder your entire clan. God is now urging that the punishment should never be more severe than the crime itself.

Confusing retribution with vengeance, many people feel that real justice is found when we can get even. If we can’t get even, we tend to hold a grudge against the wrong doer. In either instance, the pain of the wrong persists. The sentiments of bitterness and hatred cause us much suffering. No wonder, Jesus is urging us to move beyond revenge and break the cycle that perpetuates the hurt. Instead of seeking revenge, he challenges us to forgive.

“Oh no, I can’t do that. I can’t forget what that person did to me,” might be your first reaction but let’s get one thing straight. Forgiving and forgetting do not mean the same thing. So what should we do when find it impossible to forgive someone who has wronged us? I offer you three steps.

For starters, we can ask for the grace to forgive that person. Corrie ten Boom was a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp, incarcerated along with her family for helping Jews in Amsterdam during WWII. After the war, she traveled about, urging the citizens of Europe to forgive one another for the hurts and crimes they endured. One night after a talk in Munich, a man walked up to her and held out his hand, seeking forgiveness. Corrie froze when she recognized him as one of the most hated guards in the camp where she had been imprisoned. At first, she couldn’t reach out to take his hand, so she prayed for the grace to do so. “Jesus, I cannot forgive this man. Help me to forgive him.” At that moment, Corrie was able to take the man’s hand in a spirit of true forgiveness. She did not forget the pain that man had inflicted on her yet she received the grace to move on with her life.

The Jesus, who commands us to love our enemies, will give us what grace we need to forgive others. Practicing what he preached, he even prayed for those who were about to kill him. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

That brings to mind the second thing we can do and that is, we can pray for those who have hurt us. One penance I often suggest when celebrating reconciliation is to pray the Lord’s Prayer thoughtfully, then keep the promise you have made. When penitents look puzzled, I remind them, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” For some people, that is the most difficult line they will pray today.

That archaic word, trespass, means to cross the line. When we say that prayer, we are saying that we will forgive those who cross the line of common decency so that we also might be forgiven for the times we have crossed the line ourselves. I advise penitents to forgive anyone who has hurt them in any way and if they cannot yet do so, then at least pray for that person.

Someone once told me, “When I want to change a negative attitude toward someone, all I have to do is begin praying for them. After about a week of prayer, my attitude toward them begins to change.” That brings us to the third thing we can do, which is to see that person in a new light.

So often, when we have been hurt, we fail to see the person who has hurt us as a fellow human being. When we pray for those who have hurt us, we begin to walk in their shoes and see that they too are hurting. When we pray for others, we see them not as our enemies but as people whom God loves unconditionally and whom Jesus loved enough to die for.

Speaking of enemies, Abraham Lincoln was once confronted by someone who protested his decision to pardon a Confederate prisoner of war, claiming that this was no way to destroy one’s enemies. In response, Lincoln said, “Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?”

Jesus spoke of going the extra mile. I recall years ago when Avis, then the second largest car rental agency in the country, bragged, “We try harder.” This message said to the customer that Avis would go the extra mile in service. That is what I hear Jesus calling us to do as his followers. We are expected to go the extra mile when forgiving and serving others.

Today’s readings call us to holiness, love, and perfection. “Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Jesus ends his lesson by urging us to imitate God when responding to those who have hurt us. Like Jesus, may we be slow to anger and abounding in kindness, doing our part to build a perfect world.

Hanging on the wall in my office is a shred of bark on which a calligrapher penned this line by Robert Frost. “Two roads diverged in a wood and I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” Looking back over our lives, we can all think of instances where we made choices that have made a real difference in our lives, such as the person we married, the career we pursued, the education we sought, the friendships we maintained, and the place we call home. Choices made in response to a commandment have, for better or worse, made a difference as well.

In the first reading, Sirach assures us that if we keep the commandments, they will save us, yet which road we take is up to us. “Before man are life and death, good and evil, whichever he chooses will be given him.” In other words, God gives us the free will to decide which road we wish to venture down.

We are who we are because we have free will; the choices we make shape our lives, literally and figuratively. When people have the right kind of relationship with God, they can read what God has put into their hearts. When they are distant from God, they begin to define their own code of conduct, likely ignorant of the wisdom behind God’s commandments.

Sirach exonerates God from all blame for the evil in the world and rightly so. The consequence of sin can be placed directly at the feet of those who choose to do so. Like Topsy in the classic, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, we might say, “The devil made me do it,” but we made the choice to listen to the devil in the first place and that is the concern Jesus is raising in the gospel.

The choice to keep or ignore God’s commandments is yours but so too are the consequences of your decision. As Sirach points out, the evil choices will burn us like fire while the good choices will refresh us like water.

Every age in human history has reflected its own wisdom. Aristotle contends that we become what we are as persons by the decisions we make. Jesus comes along and essentially proposes that we make the decisions we make because of the persons we are. We make or should make decisions precisely because we have been graced by baptism.

Paul tells us of a timeless wisdom that comes from God. “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him, this God has revealed to us through the Spirit.” The more we love God, the more we can see this wisdom which will enable us to appreciate the beauty of God’s law, not just the commandments but also the moral teachings of the Church.

Some of us tend to read the commandments literally, perhaps unaware that they are really the reader’s digest of God’s moral teachings. For this reason, Jesus calls on his listeners to go to the root of each commandment. Far from declaring them obsolete, he broadens a few of them to include thoughts and words in addition to deeds. By covering all dimensions of human behavior, Jesus hopes to lead us to a fullness of life with his wise counsel on how to avoid temptation in the first place. In a nutshell, he is instructing his disciples to watch out for the little things that undermine our relationships.

For example, I suspect few of us have ever actually killed anyone, but how often have we allowed uncontrollable anger to harm another person or even kill a relationship? Anger in itself is not a sin, but how we express anger can be deadly. Jesus provides the antidote, “Go and be reconciled with your brother.” Unfortunately, pride sometimes stops us from apologizing, so in the mean time, the fury of anger eats away at us and our relationships with others and God.

I also suspect that adultery is an uncommon experience yet speaking as a confessor I know that chastity is likewise not so common. How often has lust tempted you to act inappropriately? Lust can impact a relationship, leading to sexual misconduct such as fornication, date rape or child molestation that, like anger, can destroy lives and relationships.

Two monks were on a long journey. They came to a ford in a wide river and wanted to cross. Standing there was an exceptionally beautiful woman with a low cut dress who also wanted to cross. One of the monks picked her up on his shoulders and waded into the river carrying her across. When they reached the other side he put her down and the two monks continued their journey. When at long last they got to where they could spend the night the other monk scolded his companion.

How are we going to explain to the Abbot the disgrace you have brought on the monastery? People could have seen you carrying that woman across the river. Had he forgotten that he was a monk? How dare he touch a woman, let alone one so provocatively dressed? He went on and on. Finally, the first monk said: “Brother, I left that woman on the bank of the river; you seem to have been carrying her all day.”

Also on my wall is another piece of art by the same calligrapher; this one features a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson, “What lies beyond us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” What we choose to dwell on has the potential to enrich or destroy the dignity of others as well as our own. Jesus urges us to take the road that leads to reconciliation, respect for others, compassion, and love. Granted, this path is a challenging one yet a more rewarding one as well.