2nd Sunday of Lent
“The fast of Lent has no advantage to us unless it brings about our spiritual renewal. It is necessary while fasting to change our whole life and practice virtue. Turning away from all wickedness means keeping our tongue in check, restraining our anger, avoiding all gossip, lying and swearing. To abstain from these things— herein lies the true value of the fast.”
~St. John Chrysostom
So we are now 11 days into Lent, a week and a half. By now, most of us have fallen short a time or two in our planned & promised Lenten Fasts. I have. We may have bitten off more than we can chew…. or simply ate more than we pledged. We may have been too optimistic or to zealous in our initial take. We often approach the ‘works’ or ‘tasks’ of Prayer, Fasting, & Almsgiving in terms of what ‘we will do.’ It has the very real tendency to become a personal project of self-improvement. Even when the desired outcome of giving up some particular vice is praiseworthy and true in itself, we must accept that the first step is rarely what ‘we will do about it’ and simply ‘surrendering to God in it’. If we could fix ourselves, then Jesus would not have needed to come. If we could just smooth our own faults & failings with a bit more attention and intention, then there would have been no need for the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit. If we could straighten the whole of our lives out (and those of our family, friends, and even enemies, while we are at it!) by our own wisdom, insight, intelligence, then we would hardly have had need of the Word made Flesh, of Wonder Counselor, the God Hero.
To properly enter Lent, we would do well to remember we are like the drowning man. If they could swim, or fight the undertow, or power stroke through the waves on their own, then they would not, by definition, be drowning. If the drowning man could breathe oxygen from the water like a fish with gills, then he would not be drowning. If he were not in dire straits, on the verge of going under, and facing imminent death, then drowning would not be so bad. But it is, because he can’t – not on his own – rescue himself. He needs the life guard, the Coast Guard, the lifesaver. He needs something that is beyond himself. We too need this in Lent. We want to address our problems, do for our self, and get ourselves better. But, if we could really, truly do those things, then we would not need Lent, nor Good Friday, nor Easter Sunday. We would not need our Savior Jesus Christ, or the Grace of Almighty God. Like the drowning man being saved, we need to cooperate with our Savior. Many a person has drowned after the arrival of the life guard, because in their panic, or their arrogance, or struggle, they refuse to accept his help, to listen to their instructions and try to pull the lifeguard under. They don’t work with the First Responder, and allow themselves to be saved. We are not without responsibility in Lent, but it more resides in pliability and responsiveness to Christ’s work in us than our external work for Christ.
St John Chrysostom reminds us that “fasts of Lent” are to bring about “spiritual renewal”. That our “fasts of Lent’ should have ‘advantage to us’. This is true. As we offer, surrender, hand over the ‘whole of ourselves’ to Christ our Savior. Allowing His words, His deeds, His sacrifices, His Sufferings, His Peace, to not only reside in us, but to guide & govern us, so we may be truly transformed from the inside out & outside in. External bodily fastings changing interior spiritual faults, and interior faith changing exterior facets of our being.
But such transformation is not free, nor easy, nor painless. There will be suffering in the change. And the suffering freely embraced through Prayer, Fasting, & Almsgiving can be the helpful – but difficult – medium by which God will work in you. These sacrificial offerings & challenging endeavors can be sanctifying – are sanctifying – to the extent that they are rooted in openness to God’s work of spiritually renewing each one of us. All to the extent that the exercises embraced are rooted in what God really wants for you. If this holy Lent began with guidance from God and surrender to His Holy Will, then embrace the suffering. Do not turn from the hardship. Pay the price. For such suffering will sanctify you, by shaping you to Christ upon the Cross.
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Lenten Adoration of the Most Holy Eucharist
didn’t sign up? Don’t worry. Just Show up & Pray!
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Nothing Less than saints for the Holy Family of God.
Holy Family, Led by the Holy Spirit, Pray for us.
~ Fr Jeremy M. Gries
