1st Sunday of Lent C - Homily 3

 Homily 3 - 2016

Jesus was perfectly at home in his own skin. He knew his human dignity. He knew that he was loved by God. He wanted to be human, fully human, fully alive. So crude self-interest was not his interest, nor was control over people, nor power, either coercive or manipulative. Consequently, temptation got nowhere with him, even though, being human, he genuinely felt its attractiveness. He was perfectly content to be simply who he was – with all the wonder, and the limitations, that that presented.

With Jesus’ experience as background, I would like to look today at the Lenten journey that we have just begun – during this year’s Year of Mercy. The occasion suggests that we consider the value of having a specially focussed time where we look again at the well-tried traditional Lenten practices of prayer, fasting and alms-giving. Interestingly, Muslims opt for the same trio during their sacred period of Ramadan. There is something genuinely human in it, after all. I said above of Jesus in confronting his temptations that he was perfectly content to be simply who he was with all the wonder and all the limitations that that presented. I think a similar dynamic can be brought to bear here. Lent is the occasion to freshen our approach to the on-going invitation, made to us by God, basically to become fully alive. We usually do not look at life, particularly our Christian life, that way – hence the value of a recurring opportunity, such as Lent, to re-focus. Nor do we generally look at prayer, fasting and alms-giving under the heading of becoming fully alive. Let’s try it!

Prayer is basic – at least when understood as relating personally to God in quiet reflection or contemplation. It is where everything starts. Without prayer, we inevitably get Lent wrong. Prayer puts us in touch with God as the source of our being, our being alive and especially our being lovingly alive. Just by creating us, God, who after all is love, gave us something of God’s own essence. We become human, we become who we are, by drawing on our triple capacity to be, to live and to love. In a sense, God becomes enfleshed in each one of us, not only in Jesus [though perfectly so in him]. God becomes more wonderfully present within creation through human persons fully alive – through you and me, as we become ever more fully human, lovingly human, persons. 

This is where fasting comes in. It is a means to our becoming ever more genuinely human, lovingly human. Fasting is to be understood as the generic heading for the various shapes of inner discipline needed for that human growth to become real. It starts from the joyful appreciation of and wonder at our unique and individual humanness; and in this, it differs profoundly from dieting which is usually prompted by dissatisfaction at who we are and how we look and feel. Often it even masks a mild self-hatred. Fasting, on the contrary, expresses the desire to become more fully alive; and is a practical way to say thanks to the God who made us. A long time ago, Saint Irenaeus made the claim, “The glory of God is the human person fully alive”. 

The third traditional Lenten practice is alms-giving, best understood as embracing all practical reaching out to others in need. It, too, springs from our having been created to love, and becoming human through loving.  It is the ultimate expression of genuinely contemplative prayer. It is relational, reflective prayer’s purpose and practical fruit. Since authentic alms-giving flows from God’s gratuitous love for us and our response of love to God, it is not accompanied by any sense of superiority [or of mere pity for those who suffer]. It is certainly not a means simply of removing any awkward feelings of guilt, but is an outflow of human solidarity, and a celebration of human brother-and sisterhood. We need to love because that is what we are.

I wish you all a truly joyful and vital Lent!