2/18/2018 – Homily for the First Sunday in Lent – Mark 1:12-15

      We start off the first Sunday of Lent with Jesus being thrown into the desert, where he is tempted and tested.  Temptation: that is something all of us have to deal with in our lives of faith, isn’t it?  In fact, doesn’t it seem like we are tempted in a special way during Lent?  We can give up something like chocolate during Lent, and during other times of the year, we can go for weeks and weeks without eating chocolate or thinking about it, but then Lent comes around, and it seems like what we give up is everywhere we turn, calling our name and leading us into temptation. 

       What I find interesting, is that it is God’s Holy Spirit that drives Jesus into the desert as recounted in Mark’s Gospel. It is the Spirit that puts Jesus there, where he is tempted by Satan.  Yet, we know that Jesus is not alone in the desert wilderness.  Unfortunately, the wild beasts are also there, threatening to destroy him. However, the angels are also there, ministering to him.  We all have wild beasts or demons in our lives that threaten to destroy us, don’t we?  And we all have angels who help us and minister to us as well.   From today’s Gospel of Jesus being tempted in the desert, we can take away this message: Lent is to be a time of transformation and renewal.  

         In Mark’s Gospel, it states that Jesus is driven into the desert right after his baptism in the Jordan River.  Jesus was called to this time of trial and testing and transformation before he started his earthly ministry.   And we need to be driven into a time of conversion, transformation, and renewal as well.  All human institutions are in need of transformation, change, and renewal, because by its very definition, anything human is flawed and not perfect.  Our Church, our society, our lives – they are all in need of change and renewal.  We gave you these promise cards to fill out for Lent.  We asked you to turn them in because we wanted you to make a commitment to God and to our faith community that you are using this time of Lent for renewal, that you are serious about your commitment to God.  Several parishioners commented to me that they thought it would take a few minutes to fill those cards out, but it took a lot of time and thought, didn’t it?  Anything we take seriously in life takes a lot of time and thought and commitment, doesn’t it?

       When I was walking the Camino in Spain for three weeks these in January of last year, I heard someone say this: If you do not carry St James in your heart as you walking the Camino each day, if you do not bring him into your heart and in your mind, then you will not find him when you arrive in his Cathedral at the end of the pilgrimage route.   I found that to be so true. The minute I landed in Spain for my pilgrimage, I really felt that I had entered the land of St James.  I prayed with him each day on the Camino. I lifted up all my parishioners, my family and friends, and all my prayer intentions to the intercessions of St James as I hiked on his pilgrimage. And when I entered his Cathedral at the end of the hike, when I went up to hug his statue and thank him for helping me arrive safely, I felt so much emotion and joy.  Tears streamed down my face. I really felt his presence and his welcome.  And that is how we are to approach Lent as a special time in our liturgical year.  In our prayers, our fasting, and our works of charity; in our time during Lent at mass, in the sacrament of reconciliation, and in praying the stations of the cross; we are to feel God’s presence and are to walk with Jesus on our Lenten journey, to accompany him on his way to the cross. If we take Lent seriously and try to honor our Lent promises, then we will truly feel the joy of the resurrection at Easter.
          Mary Oliver is one of my favorite American poets.  Her poems are filled with honesty and a sense of a spiritual journey.  A few years back, I heard Mary Oliver recite this short prose poem in an interview with Krista Tippett on the radio program ON BEING on NPR:  “Things take the time they take. Don’t worry. How many roads did St. Augustine follow before he became St. Augustine?"  What a wonderful quote!  We all need patience on our Lenten journey.  We need commitment, steadfastness, and courage as we travel these 40 days.  Like St Augustine, we may need to purge, change, and transform a lot in our lives in order to become the person God calls us to become.  Catholic author Matthew Kelly calls this “becoming the best version of yourself.”  We may need to take a lot of radical steps to become that best version of ourselves.  Indeed, being in the desert with Jesus in not easy.  Being tempted and attacked by those demons and wild animals will not be easy.  But let us take courage.  Let us have faith.  God is with us during these 40 days.