We're
all called to holiness as we journey during Lent. On this
first Sunday of Lent, we recall how several days ago, we gathered together as a
community of faith on Ash Wednesday to begin this holy season. We
received a smudge of ash on our foreheads as it was proclaimed to “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” We all
know that Lent is a time of repentance, conversion and renewal, a time of
fasting, prayer, almsgiving & works of charity. On this
first Sunday of Lent, we hear about Jesus’ 40 days in the desert, how he came
face to face with temptation in such a real way. We know
very well that Lent is going to be an arduous journey through the desert for us
as we accompany Jesus on his way to the cross, as we repent and try to resist
temptation. Even though
we know what Lent is all about, our Catholic churches are packed on Ash
Wednesday as the faithful came to publicly receive ashes and to declare their
intent to repent and turn away from sin. The large
crowds that we saw at St James on Ash Wednesday expresses our yearning and desire
to amend our lives and to deepen our relationship with God. As we are still near the beginning of our
Lenten journey, we might ask ourselves this morning what we desire from our
Lenten journey this year. What changes do
we want to bring about in our lives and what might lead us to these changes?
In our
modern world, we use so many different things to direct us to where we want to
go. Today,
many of us use a GPS system to get us to our destination. Father Albeen and I both have GSP systems in
our cars and it has been great using them getting around Tupelo and to the
other towns here in northeast Mississippi. Even
though a GPS devise is an amazing piece of technology, I’ve been in a car with
a friend using GPS, & it’s directed us down a one-way street in the wrong
direction, or it’s taken us far out of the way, so sometimes our technology
does not always work perfectly. Many of
you know that I hiked on pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela in
Spain – to keep us on the right route,
we had these yellow arrows all pointing us in the right direction. It
didn’t matter if the pilgrimage route took us through the wilderness or in the
middle of a big city, the yellow arrows were always there to direct us on our
pilgrimage journey.
So what
about Jesus when he was tempted in the desert? He
didn’t have a map, or a GPS system, or arrows to point him in the right
direction or to lead him away from the temptations by the Devil. The Devil
first tempted Jesus to satisfy his hunger, then tempted him with power and
glory, with the offer to let him be in charge of all the earthly kingdoms. Lastly,
the Devil tempted Jesus to put God to the test, to defy death itself. Jesus
resisted these temptations not through magic or supernatural powers, but by
relying on God, by continuing to be filled with the Holy Spirit, the same
Spirit who led him into the desert in the first place.
So, here
we are being led into the desert on our Lenten journey, with the Holy Spirit
giving us direction, helping us change and repent, helping us through the
temptations we meet along the way.
With the
Holy Spirit guiding us, we don’t need a paper map or a GPS system to direct
us. The 2nd
Vatican Council told us that we are a pilgrim Church, a pilgrim people: as
pilgrims, we are persons in motion, passing through territories not our own,
such as the desert of our Lenten journey. As
pilgrims on a journey, we seek completion, clarity, and a goal to which only
the spirit’s compass points the way.
Although I had arrows pointing me on the way on the pilgrimage route of St
James in Spain, although I had this wonderful guidebook with maps and all kinds
of directions, sometimes our journey takes us some very unexpected places. On one
stage of our pilgrimage route, we stayed in a hostel in the town of Fromista on
our way to the town of Carrion de los Condes.
We left really early in the morning, wanting to get an early start to
the day. And even
though I had the guidebook and these arrows supposedly pointing us in the right
direction, I ended up leading our little group of pilgrims in the opposite
direction to where we needed to go. It took
us a couple of hours to realize this and to get back to our starting
point. One of the ladies in our group
said that I absolutely freaked out. I
was so angry and frustrated at my error.
I thought that this would be the most horrible day imaginable. Well,
believe it our not, this day turned out to be one of our favorite days on
the pilgrimage route. Many things that
we happened to experience that day – going to mass at an historic church built
by the Knights Templar – meeting some very special people along the way – none
of those things would have happened if we had had not taken that wrong turn and
had lost those couple of hours on our journey. So even
though we have things guiding us along our way on our spiritual journey, we
might take what we think is a detour or a wrong turn. But, in our spiritual journey, making
mistakes and getting lost and struggling to find our way are all a part of the
journey.
As we begin our journey, we might ask ourselves some questions. What is our goal this Lent?What is
the Spirit moving us to change in our lives? As a
community of faith journeying through Lent together, we are going to carrying
these rocks with us on our journey just like the pilgrims do on the pilgrimage
route to St James in Spain. As we
carry our rocks this first week of Lent, let us reflect upon the desire we have
to change our lives, about what we wish God to change in our lives during
Lent. Let each
one of us take this to God in prayer: to express to God the desire to repent
and change this Lenten season, and see where the Spirit is moving each one of
us in our lives of faith. And
don’t worry about getting lost or taking some unexpected turns or going places
that you could have never foreseen. That
is all a part of the journey.
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