1st Sunday of Lent 21 Feb 2021 Sermon

 

1^st Sunday of Lent 21.2.21 Strength for the battle

Our Lord predicted His crucifixion and that might seem a strange way to achieve His ends.

Now today He demonstrates the value of fasting, something also a little strange.

How does it help to deny oneself of apparent source of strength?

And we are encouraged to do the same.

We are in a spiritual battle, hoping to overcome but not to cause harm.

Our aim is to give everyone a chance to hear the Gospel and be converted, so finding the way to eternal life.

The world does not specially want to know, but we know that they need it, so we tell them anyway!

A certain withdrawal from the world is necessary to sort out our own priorities.

There has always been a debate among Christians whether we should withdraw, and how much, from the world.

These days any withdrawal is seen as wrong, but with proper understanding it makes sense. The old phrase has it: we are in the world but not of it. We interpret things spiritually and make our decisions on that basis.

We travel light and fast, avoiding excessive attachments.

This is where fasting or penance come in. If we can regulate our own desires and gain control over our minds and bodies, then that is a major step forward.

We feast when it is a feast, but we realize also the need for fasting.

We fast (or do other penance) in the hope that it will make us stronger in all important areas.

We must avoid certain snares.

One snare would be to seek the praise of others for our efforts (Mt 6,16).

True penance is aimed at an interior humility whereby we are acknowledging it is heavenly bread we seek; the way of God; the will of God; greater knowledge of God. These are the things we really need, and seek.

The devil will tempt us to give up. He will especially attack disordered desires and appetites.

The less of those we have the less ways he has to attack us.

We withdraw a little to become stronger, to re-focus, to remember why we are doing this.

The liturgical re-enactment of forty years/days invites us to go through the same process of cleansing and realignment.

We are thus equipped for battle.

We grow stronger. This is another object: we are preparing for Heaven, so we need to get rid of all the vices and faults.

It is good to do penance, but here is another snare – we might think that the penance of itself is enough. No, penance is a means to an end, not an end in itself. The real end is that we come to love God more.

Penance is largely forgotten by Catholics these days and we can see the fallout. So much loose thinking and so many bad decisions follow.

There is a time to feast but it is not all year round! We have not finished the battle yet.

There are too many mines lying around, needing to be cleared.

We have become very soft as far as self denial is concerned. It is up to us to help reverse the trend.

This is part of our message to the world. A saturated jaded world is still seeking its own forms of pleasure, on its own terms. But this does not lead to happiness, as has been observed many times.

We have to go somewhere else for that elusive happiness. First the desert, then Calvary, then Glory.