Thursday, February 14, 2013

2/17/2013 – Luke 4:1-13 – 1st Sunday of Lent


       We're all called to holiness as we journey during Lent.  On this first Sunday of Lent, we recall how several days ago, we gathered together as a community of faith on Ash Wednesday to begin this holy season.  We received a smudge of ash on our foreheads as it was proclaimed to “Repent and believe in the Gospel.”   We all know that Lent is a time of repentance, conversion and renewal, a time of fasting, prayer, almsgiving & works of charity.  On this first Sunday of Lent, we hear about Jesus’ 40 days in the desert, how he came face to face with temptation in such a real way.  We know very well that Lent is going to be an arduous journey through the desert for us as we accompany Jesus on his way to the cross, as we repent and try to resist temptation.  Even though we know what Lent is all about, our Catholic churches are packed on Ash Wednesday as the faithful came to publicly receive ashes and to declare their intent to repent and turn away from sin.   The large crowds that we saw at St James on Ash Wednesday expresses  our yearning and desire to amend our lives and to deepen our relationship with God.  As we are still near the beginning of our Lenten journey, we might ask ourselves this morning what we desire from our Lenten journey this year.  What changes do we want to bring about in our lives and what might lead us to these changes? 

     In our modern world, we use so many different things to direct us to where we want to go.  Today, many of us use a GPS system to get us to our destination.  Father Albeen and I both have GSP systems in our cars and it has been great using them getting around Tupelo and to the other towns here in northeast Mississippi.   Even though a GPS devise is an amazing piece of technology, I’ve been in a car with a friend using GPS, & it’s directed us down a one-way street in the wrong direction, or it’s taken us far out of the way, so sometimes our technology does not always work perfectly.  Many of you know that I hiked on pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela in Spain – to keep us on the right route,  we had these yellow arrows all pointing us in the right direction.  It didn’t matter if the pilgrimage route took us through the wilderness or in the middle of a big city, the yellow arrows were always there to direct us on our pilgrimage journey. 
      So what about Jesus when he was tempted in the desert?   He didn’t have a map, or a GPS system, or arrows to point him in the right direction or to lead him away from the temptations by the Devil.  The Devil first tempted Jesus to satisfy his hunger, then tempted him with power and glory, with the offer to let him be in charge of all the earthly kingdoms.  Lastly, the Devil tempted Jesus to put God to the test, to defy death itself.  Jesus resisted these temptations not through magic or supernatural powers, but by relying on God, by continuing to be filled with the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit who led him into the desert in the first place. 
      So, here we are being led into the desert on our Lenten journey, with the Holy Spirit giving us direction, helping us change and repent, helping us through the temptations we meet along the way.
With the Holy Spirit guiding us, we don’t need a paper map or a GPS system to direct us.  The 2nd Vatican Council told us that we are a pilgrim Church, a pilgrim people: as pilgrims, we are persons in motion, passing through territories not our own, such as the desert of our Lenten journey.  As pilgrims on a journey, we seek completion, clarity, and a goal to which only the spirit’s compass points the way.
      Although I had arrows pointing me on the way on the pilgrimage route of St James in Spain, although I had this wonderful guidebook with maps and all kinds of directions, sometimes our journey takes us some very unexpected places. On one stage of our pilgrimage route, we stayed in a hostel in the town of Fromista on our way to the town of Carrion de los Condes.  We left really early in the morning, wanting to get an early start to the day. And even though I had the guidebook and these arrows supposedly pointing us in the right direction, I ended up leading our little group of pilgrims in the opposite direction to where we needed to go.   It took us a couple of hours to realize this and to get back to our starting point.  One of the ladies in our group said that I absolutely freaked out.  I was so angry and frustrated at my error.   I thought that this would be the most horrible day imaginable.  Well, believe it our not, this day turned out to be one of our favorite days on the pilgrimage route.  Many things that we happened to experience that day – going to mass at an historic church built by the Knights Templar – meeting some very special people along the way – none of those things would have happened if we had had not taken that wrong turn and had lost those couple of hours on our journey.  So even though we have things guiding us along our way on our spiritual journey, we might take what we think is a detour or a wrong turn.  But, in our spiritual journey, making mistakes and getting lost and struggling to find our way are all a part of the journey.    
     As we begin our journey, we might ask ourselves some questions.  What is our goal this Lent?What is the Spirit moving us to change in our lives?  As a community of faith journeying through Lent together, we are going to carrying these rocks with us on our journey just like the pilgrims do on the pilgrimage route to St James in Spain.  As we carry our rocks this first week of Lent, let us reflect upon the desire we have to change our lives, about what we wish God to change in our lives during Lent.  Let each one of us take this to God in prayer: to express to God the desire to repent and change this Lenten season, and see where the Spirit is moving each one of us in our lives of faith. And don’t worry about getting lost or taking some unexpected turns or going places that you could have never foreseen.  That is all a part of the journey.  

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