Lent 1 2015

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