Live for God
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
I welcome all of you to the beginning of a wonderful journey of forty days called Lent.
The Cyclops is that strange monster of Greek mythology with one big eye in the middle of its forehead. We pretend to ignore the truth that, for 325 days of each year, taking out these 40 days of lent; we are all Cyclops because there is ONE GREAT BIG “I” right in our heads! If we are skeptical about this assertion, we might watch our words for one day, from morning to night. What’s the first thing we think about each morning? “What am I going to do today? How will I do it? What will happen to me today? How will I feel today?” I, I, I. And all day long, what do we say to people? We say things like, “I think this” and “I think that” and “I agree” and “I disagree” and “I like this” and “I don’t like that” and “I just want to say...” I, I, I. And what’s the last thing that we think about at night? “I wish that so-and-so would stop doing thus-and-such to me” and “I really did a good job today” and “I wonder what I’ll do tomorrow.” The problem with seeing with one eye is that we’re half blind. Everything looks flat and two-dimensional because with only one eye, we have no depth perception. Consequently we go wrong in assessing people. In Greek mythology, the Cyclops was killed when Odysseus and four of his men took a spare staff of the Cyclops, hardened its tip in the fire and used that to destroy the monster’s one big eye. It is precisely this that we must do on Ash Wednesday. With two strokes of his thumb smeared with ash on our forehead, the priest will cross that “I” out of our head. By this sacramental ritual we are asked to take that “I” at the front of our mind and cross it out by “self-denial” and “self- mortification.” Doing so will help us to see the beautiful creatures of God all around us and replace “I” with “You."
The Ashes tell us what the purpose of Lent is. It is to die to myself so that I may rise more with Christ. It is to live more deeply the baptismal life that I received many years ago.
Remember, man, you are dust and to dust you will return. Without God we are nothing. We are a bunch of chemicals, carbon, water, that are worth about 25 cents if we were split apart and sold for our chemicals. With God however, we are made in the image and likeness of the Triune God and with that we become priceless treasures.
Lent is a time to remind ourselves that without God we are nothing. It is a time to rend our hearts and tear from them anything that might keep us from God. Everything of this earth is dust and to dust it will return.
Throughout this penitential season, we must constantly return to two key questions: Do I welcome the love of Christ? And, Do I share the love of Christ?
One sure way that we can both welcome the love of Christ and share it is to keep “custody of the senses.” We must keep custody of the eyes lest we see something that leads us to sin. We must keep custody of the ears lest we hear something that leads us to sin. We must keep custody of the mouth lest we lead others to sin. The well-known phrase, “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” is quite poignant, even today.
Keeping custody of the tongue is, perhaps, the most difficult to control but at the same time it is the one that does the most harm. When we are tempted to gossip about someone or some situation, we would do well to remember the words of Jesus: “What comes out of a person, that is what defiles” (Mark 7:20).
Let us make a concerted effort this Lent to root out the evil of gossip from our lives. Let us not only refuse to listen to it or to read it, but also and especially let us refuse to speak it.
So our Lenten prayer, fasting and almsgiving must have one focus only: making more space in our busy and noisy lives for God. The Psalmist of old knew this well: “Be still,” he says, “and know that I am God” (46:10)
Let us pray not only for ourselves but for each other that sin may be removed from our lives. Let this be our prayer: “A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew with me… Give me back the joy of your salvation, and a willing spirit to sustain me” (Psalm 51:12, 14).
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
I welcome all of you to the beginning of a wonderful journey of forty days called Lent.
The Cyclops is that strange monster of Greek mythology with one big eye in the middle of its forehead. We pretend to ignore the truth that, for 325 days of each year, taking out these 40 days of lent; we are all Cyclops because there is ONE GREAT BIG “I” right in our heads! If we are skeptical about this assertion, we might watch our words for one day, from morning to night. What’s the first thing we think about each morning? “What am I going to do today? How will I do it? What will happen to me today? How will I feel today?” I, I, I. And all day long, what do we say to people? We say things like, “I think this” and “I think that” and “I agree” and “I disagree” and “I like this” and “I don’t like that” and “I just want to say...” I, I, I. And what’s the last thing that we think about at night? “I wish that so-and-so would stop doing thus-and-such to me” and “I really did a good job today” and “I wonder what I’ll do tomorrow.” The problem with seeing with one eye is that we’re half blind. Everything looks flat and two-dimensional because with only one eye, we have no depth perception. Consequently we go wrong in assessing people. In Greek mythology, the Cyclops was killed when Odysseus and four of his men took a spare staff of the Cyclops, hardened its tip in the fire and used that to destroy the monster’s one big eye. It is precisely this that we must do on Ash Wednesday. With two strokes of his thumb smeared with ash on our forehead, the priest will cross that “I” out of our head. By this sacramental ritual we are asked to take that “I” at the front of our mind and cross it out by “self-denial” and “self- mortification.” Doing so will help us to see the beautiful creatures of God all around us and replace “I” with “You."
The Ashes tell us what the purpose of Lent is. It is to die to myself so that I may rise more with Christ. It is to live more deeply the baptismal life that I received many years ago.
Remember, man, you are dust and to dust you will return. Without God we are nothing. We are a bunch of chemicals, carbon, water, that are worth about 25 cents if we were split apart and sold for our chemicals. With God however, we are made in the image and likeness of the Triune God and with that we become priceless treasures.
Lent is a time to remind ourselves that without God we are nothing. It is a time to rend our hearts and tear from them anything that might keep us from God. Everything of this earth is dust and to dust it will return.
Throughout this penitential season, we must constantly return to two key questions: Do I welcome the love of Christ? And, Do I share the love of Christ?
One sure way that we can both welcome the love of Christ and share it is to keep “custody of the senses.” We must keep custody of the eyes lest we see something that leads us to sin. We must keep custody of the ears lest we hear something that leads us to sin. We must keep custody of the mouth lest we lead others to sin. The well-known phrase, “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” is quite poignant, even today.
Keeping custody of the tongue is, perhaps, the most difficult to control but at the same time it is the one that does the most harm. When we are tempted to gossip about someone or some situation, we would do well to remember the words of Jesus: “What comes out of a person, that is what defiles” (Mark 7:20).
Let us make a concerted effort this Lent to root out the evil of gossip from our lives. Let us not only refuse to listen to it or to read it, but also and especially let us refuse to speak it.
So our Lenten prayer, fasting and almsgiving must have one focus only: making more space in our busy and noisy lives for God. The Psalmist of old knew this well: “Be still,” he says, “and know that I am God” (46:10)
Let us pray not only for ourselves but for each other that sin may be removed from our lives. Let this be our prayer: “A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew with me… Give me back the joy of your salvation, and a willing spirit to sustain me” (Psalm 51:12, 14).
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment