3rd Sunday of Lent 3 Mar 2013 Sermon

3rd Sunday of Lent 3.3.13 Staying on course


The Gospel message to sinners is Repent! Convert! If you have done these things the message becomes Stay converted!

Many people fall away after a conversion experience. It could happen to any one of us, if we are not vigilant.

We are grateful that we have come from the dark to the light but we must not think we are so strong or so good that we could never fall from grace.

We can, of course, make it certain that we do not fall away but only by the grace of God, and only if we co-operate with that grace. We cannot do it just by our own willpower. We need spiritual help.

So in Lent we are trying to strengthen the foundations of our spiritual lives; putting a bit of iron in the soul; so we are not so easily shaken or deflected from our objectives, but able to persevere to the end of the race.

St Paul in the Epistle puts it in terms of dark and light. Before you were in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Why would you want to go back to the very things you have been set free from? If I have a bath I don't roll in the mud afterwards. Maybe my dog does but I would not!

Whereas we tend to hanker for the sin, even though we know it is a bad thing. But such is the subtlety of the spiritual warfare that we can prefer evil even though we know a hundred times over that the good is better.

Church teaching is routinely regarded as too strict and impossible to keep. But if we put the matter as simply as this: that keeping away from sin is just the same as keeping away from things that would harm us – like spiders or poisons - then it becomes clearer and perfectly logical. Sin harms us; so we do not return to it.

The Gospel gives us the same theme. If we get rid of a demon make sure he is got rid of and don't let him back in, or it might be worse. Once we have tasted the sweetness of the Lord we do not abandon that or allow ourselves to return to captivity.

Many have done so. How does it happen? Complacency, easing off on prayer and sacramental reception; starting to chase false gods (other interests which come before the faith). We really have to work hard to keep the focus; to make sure we are still pursuing the things that matter the most.

We have to work on it but this is not some incredibly difficult task. It is hard in one way not in another. Hard to keep the focus because there are so many distractions. On the other hand it is relatively easy to keep the focus if we do simple things like pray each day, keep good company, stay aware of the main game. It is just a matter of having everything in the right place and proportion.

Staying ‘converted’ could be likened to other tasks that we do - difficult in themselves but manageable if we apply ourselves to the task: eg driving in traffic. It can be done if we stay within our limits, don’t take risks etc.

But these tasks do take concentration and perseverance, and so does being saved.

This is the thrust of what Our Lord is saying. You have been set free; you are on the way to heaven but be aware of the vulnerability of your position because the devil will be back if you relax too much.

Be converted! Stay converted!