1st Sunday of Lent 9.3.14 Living in two worlds
We have to travel lightly through this life; to be ‘in the world but not of it’. Not hiding from the world but engaging with it; seeing, however, everything from a Christian perspective, our loyalty being to Christ, above all.
With this attitude we learn to take whatever comes, not seeking power, status, wealth or pleasure. If these things come they come; if not, not. You might end up a president or lord mayor. If so, so be it. Christians do not have to shun such positions. It is better that they be held by Christians than by others. Only that anyone who does hold them do so by Christ’s standards.
The same applies to wealth. Use what you have for good, but never forget whom you are working for.
And we remember that it could all be taken away in a moment. We learn to serve Christ in poverty or plenty, long life or short. It all belongs to Him and must be given back to Him.
In this sense the whole of our earthly life is Lent. It is all one big Lent leading to one big Easter (in eternity).
We find all this discipline and detachment to be hard. And we frequently fall on these points.
We do get attached to things; we do worry about status, popularity, pleasure etc. We do have a lot of trouble trusting the will of God when it comes to organising our lives.
It is in this context that we can understand Our Lord’s fasting in the desert, and the general need for all of us to do penance.
We need penance to remind us that in this life there is no permanent home. Rather we are on a pilgrimage through to our real home in Heaven.
Going without food, for example, is a symbol of our detachment from this world.
It is like keeping a flag of one’s own country while in exile.
We are saying, by penance, that we are citizens of heaven, more than we are citizens of earth.
Penance enables us to gain control of our desires rather than that they control us. We become more focused on the task at hand.
It would be easier in a way if we were taken early; if we were martyred early in our Christian walk. It is hard to stay focused for many many years as we may be called to do. We are set adrift in a society which either complacently denies evil, or cynically denies good. It is so easy to be lost in such shifting sands.
The whole of our life is ‘Lent’ in this sense that we can never relax our vigilance. The actual season of Lent is like a refresher course to make sure that everyone still knows what he has to do.
Whatever we give up in this life, be it food or television; be it at a deeper level, father, mother, land or house – we will receive tenfold in compensation. Even in this life, not economically but in terms of happiness.
If we could all be saints; if we could claim enough of this world we would not have to renounce it. If we could make the world His kingdom we could say, Go out by all means and enjoy yourself, because it would all be heaven,
But until then we enjoy this life as much as we can - under the circumstances. When the storm passes we can relax a little, but not yet.
May the Lord keep us faithful to the end.
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