1st Sunday of Lent Year B 2015:
Happy Lent to you all! I know that this is a time of prayer and also
of penance and self-denial. So, thinking
of Lent as a happy time might not seem quite right. But, it is my experience that Lent is always
a wonderful season of grace, where God helps us grow closer to Christ, to grow
in our faith, and to overcome some of our imperfections. So, while it is a season of suffering and
self-denial, we become better people because of this season, which is why it is
a happy season.
As a parish, this year we are going
to spend time this Lent thinking about baptism.
In the documents of the Church, Lent is described as a season of
preparation for baptism. There are men
and women from our parish who are getting ready to be baptized. For them, Lent is a time to clear away
whatever holds them down, to grow closer to Christ, and be ready to take the
plunge, literally, at the Easter Vigil.
But, for those of us who are already baptized, Lent has a similar
significance. That’s because on Easter
all of us will have a chance to renew our baptism. Easter is a chance for us all to take the
plunge again, so to speak.
An important part of the baptismal
rite is the profession of faith. As you
may remember, the profession of faith in baptism takes the form of
questions. This is also true of all of
us who are renewing our baptism, we will be asked to renew our baptismal
promises. There are 6 baptismal
promises, there are also 6 Sundays in Lent.
So, for each of the next 6 weeks, we will take some time thinking about
each of the promises. You can read more
in the bulletin as well.
The first baptismal promise is
quite fitting with today’s gospel: do you reject Satan? At first this might seem like an easy
question: do you reject Satan? Who’s
going to say no to that?
When I was going to school in
Boston, one of the ministries there was giving catechesis to learning disabled
young people. There was one young man
who came for instruction named Charlie.
Charlie was preparing for confirmation.
The day for confirmation finally came.
He was all prepared and ready for the sacrament. Part of the rite of Confirmation is to renew
one’s baptismal promises. So the bishop
who was conducting the ceremony came up to Charlie and asked him the questions:
Charlie, do you reject Satan? Nothing…
Charlie, do you reject Satan?
Nothing… Everyone in the chapel was urging Charlie to make a response,
but he had just clammed up. So, the
bishop said a final time: Charlie, we can’t go on with the confirmation if you
don’t answer the question, so I ask you: do you reject Satan? Charlie almost yelled: you’re darn right I do
(only he didn’t say “darn”). The place
erupted and Charlie was confirmed.
Do you reject Satan? You’re darn right I do. We know that Satan is empty and hollow. He has absolutely nothing to offer. He only wants each one of us to be as
miserable as he is. He wants us all to
reject God just like he did. Do we reject
Satan? Of course. But, do we really? Over the next two weeks we will explore this
further because the next two questions are: and all his works, and all his
empty promises. But, for today, let’s
just think about this: do we reject Satan?
This rejection of Satan has to
begin in our hearts and minds. Of course
we say that we reject Satan, but do we really?
Is my heart really set on God?
Rejecting Satan means to have a hard and fast resolution to follow
Christ. We need to have a resolution to
turn away from evil, to take a hard look at our lives and see where we need to
change, where we need to grow. Rejecting
Satan and clinging to Christ is the very first step in the spiritual life. It will be impossible for us to overcome our
sins and become faithful disciples of Christ if we don’t start with this
fundamental stance toward Satan and toward evil.
Do we reject Satan? You’re darn right we do. May this season of Lent be for us all a time
of grace and renewal, so that we might reject Satan and hold fast to Christ our
Savior.
No comments:
Post a Comment