First Sunday of Lent
March 6, 2022 Cycle C
A long time ago, when I was a new priest in Chicago, I was
fortunate enough to take several summer seminars on spirituality at Mundelein
Seminary. They were very good, and I was
taught that one of the first, most basic questions of spiritual mentoring is, “what
do you see?”
What do you
see? You see, where you are determines
what you see. So, if you are outside on
Guadalupe Street looking at our church building, what you see is the
front. But once you walk inside, you are
in the back, just the opposite. Right
now I am up in the front of the church, but from the outsid where I am looks
like the back. What do you see?
Our Gospel
today tells us that Jesus spent forty days in the desert, not eating anything
during those days, and when they were over He was hungry. What was Jesus hungry for? Well obviously for food, since He had not
eaten for 40 days. But probably Jesus
was also hungry for company, for other people, for human interaction. I don’t think Jesus ran into many other
people in the desert. Maybe He came
across no one. Now I admit that
sometimes the idea of not having to deal with anyone else for a couple of days
sounds pretty attractive, but to be isolated for 40 days, with no human
interaction, would be rather tough. So,
I believe Jesus was hungry for human interaction.
And I would be
willing to bet that Jesus was hungry for something green and verdant. The desert has its own special beauty, but 40
days of being in the wilderness, with no homes or stores, no gardens, no green
plants other than some cacti and creosote bushes, can be kind of
depressing. So probably Jesus was hungry
for something green and lush and growing.
As the Gospel tells us,
Jesus was hungry: for food, and for human interaction, and for life and
beauty.
But looked at
another way, it looks different. The
first words of our Gospel are “Filled with the Holy Spirit..” FILLED.
In one sense Jesus was hungry and
empty. In another sense, Jesus was
filled and overflowing. He was filled
with the Holy Spirit, and was absorbed with the presence of God. He was hungry, but also filled.
Jesus is able
to resist the temptations of the devil because He was filled with the Holy
Spirit. The emptiness is really
fullness.
The same is true with you and
me. Lent is a time of emptiness and
poverty, but also a time of great fullness and richness. So this Lent you put a dollar in the mite box
to help people in need. You are now out
a dollar. Is that a loss? … Or is that an act of generosity that makes
you a fuller and more compassionate, a more holy, person? Is it emptiness? Or is it fullness?
You spend some
time listening to a lonely neighbor or coworker, to their list of woes and
complaints. There isn’t anything you can
do about any of it, but the person feels heard.
Is that a waste of time, some time you could have been binge watching
your favorite program? A lost
opportunity to do some chore around the house?
Or is it an act of compassion that makes you a more sensitive,
other-directed, mature person? Is it a
loss, or is it a gain?
You resist
going to a porn site on the computer. Or
you resist spreading a juicy rumor you heard about a co-worker or
neighbor. Or you tell the truth when
you easily could have made yourself look good with a lie.
The way of Jesus is not about
deprivation and suffering and loss. The
way of Jesus is about seeing the truth differently: about seeing grace and
God’s presence when others see only loss and emptiness.
Our call this
Lent is not about emptiness, but about fullness: being filled with the Holy
Spirit. Lent calls us to see in a new
way, where what the world sees as loss is often gain, and what the world sees as
gain is in fact actually loss.
Jesus
triumphed over the temptations to see as the world sees. Jesus triumphed over the Devil who deceives
and manipulates to make things appear different than what they really are. Jesus saw clearly because Jesus emptied
Himself of his SELF, so that he could be FILLED with the Holy Spirit.
Jesus is our
example for Lent, to empty ourselves of our SELF, not so that we will be empty,
but so that we will be FILLED with the Holy Spirit, and hence, truly see.
What do you see?
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