Jesus' temptation reveals the way in which
the Son of God is Messiah, contrary to the way Satan proposes to him and the
way men wish to attribute to him. This is why Christ vanquished the Tempter for
us: “For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our
weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without
sinning” (Heb. 4:15). By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites
herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert. - Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church/CCC 540
This year, I have a different
outlook on Lent, thanks to a student who approached me on Ash Wednesday and
asked what smudged foreheads were all about. He hadn’t really been a part of
any faith community, though his family were certainly spiritual. I realized
that the notion of humbling before God, examination of personal sinfulness,
desire to reconcile for being a miserable offender, etc., were just not going
to be rhetorically effective.
I read again the words at
imposition – “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” There
was a time before we were, and there will be a time after we are gone. And
between those times is the time of our existence, when we are created from the
fantastic elements of the universe. Being created in itself can be a humbling
experience, but not in the way that you might expect. It means also knowing
that we are individual – individually made, individually gifted, individually
provided with insights and resources which can have a positive impact on our
co-sojourners and on ourselves.
So I said to my student, “You
are created in love – you are invited to take time to think about the wonderful
gifts you have been given, and to ask yourself if you are living into your
created potential. The ashes are not a sign of false humility as much as they
are a sign of synergistic vitality.”
In the Roman Catholic
catechism, this perspective, while occluded by sin-language, is also shared. We
are invited in these forty days of Lent to journey with Jesus into a place
apart, where we can have a more clear perspective of our created-ness, and see
if we are living as God has created us to live. Not as the challenges of this
world would wish us to live, or in ways that other people think we should live.
Lent is a time for personal examination – but maybe not just of brokenness.
This Lent I am looking at the gifts I have been given by God and asking myself
if I am prepared, as Jesus was prepared, to use those gifts for the betterment,
not only of my relationship to my Creator, but also to my companions on life’s
journey.
I invite you, too, to journey
to the desert and celebrate your gifts and God’s invitation.
Peace,
Fr. Shawn
