During Lent, we are called to voluntarily empty ourselves and deepen our prayer life
We have gotten into the habit of deciding who the good people are and who the bad people are. We pretend that some of us are sinners and others are saints. The truth is, we are all sinners in need of God’s mercy and love. Until we get to the point where we can say who we are, we will never see others in the true light of God’s love. As long as we have to make other people the scapegoats for sin, we will always have a hard time recognizing sin in ourselves. We’ll always make sure that somebody else’s sin looks bigger than ours. It gives us a good excuse to exclude them without excluding ourselves. The greatest gift is that God’s love excludes no one, except maybe the self-righteous. When we become infected with arrogance and self-righteousness, we believe that we need no one else’s help, including God.
The Scriptures for the first Sunday of Lent do their best to clear our eyes and hearts so we can acknowledge that we are sinners. We hear the Gospel story in which Jesus is led into the desert and tempted by the devil. Most of us know that story well, except maybe the details. The temptations in the desert are meant to focus on those areas of human existence where we are most easily tempted.
Turning stones into bread seems very tempting when any of us is very hungry or thirsty. Because of our modern conveniences, we want to avoid waiting for our wants to be satisfied. We would instead like some divine magic. We pretend as if we deserve that instant satisfaction because we’re such great people. The quenching of thirst and the satisfaction of hunger is possible for all people, if only we would learn to share what we have and trust in abundance. God has never been outdone in generosity, yet we doubt over and over again.
Many of us believe that if only we were given the power to make other people do what we wanted them to do, the world would be a much better place. We are the same people who can hardly keep our own lives together, yet we think we can run the world. We have not been able to discipline our own lives, so we blame others. We think thoughts of manipulation and retribution. We think thoughts of explosion and domination. Somehow, we think that acting in these ways will bring about order, peace and tranquility. If we are honest, we just want things to go our way. We are tempted by power and manipulation.
Assuming God’s love and mercy is something we should be able to do, but it shouldn’t be the shield that keeps us from seeing the plight of others. The strength and security that God’s love and mercy give us is meant to free us to focus our attention on how to live a more radical life of service, love and generosity. Our lives should open up to a wider horizon of connections between all of God’s creation. Say no to the great temptations that Jesus experienced in the desert, which opened Him to the wider horizon of all of humanity.
During this season of Lent, we are called in a very habitual way to voluntarily empty ourselves, deepen our relationship with God through prayer, notice the needs of others and respond to them generously. Whatever practices we might habitually initiate during this season, make sure that they are somehow connected to the call of Lent. Be with Jesus in the desert, be with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, be with Jesus on the cross, into the grave and into the resurrection. This journey will come through the cross, whether we like it or not.
