Prepare for Conversion

Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
February 27, 2022 — Year C
Readings: Sir 27:4-7 / Ps 92 / 1 Cor 15:54-58 / Lk 6:39-45
by Rev. Mr. Mark De La Hunt, Permanent Deacon

I have a tongue-in-cheek conversion story for you. My wife was preparing dinner, and I walked into the room and asked if she would like to listen to some music. She said, “Yes,” so I jokingly said, “Alexa, play risqué music.” Alexa paused and then said, “I can’t seem to find that, how about some Contemporary Christian music?”  Ha! Our family’s musical habits have led Alexa to Christ. Hopefully, Alexa’s conversion goes viral in Amazon’s algorithms.

Alexa’s conversion, however, wasn’t a random thought while shaving. It leads into the fact that today is the last Sunday before Lent begins. Ash Wednesday is in three days. Interestingly, even though it is not a Holy Day of Obligation, it is in the middle of the week, and the Church tells you that “You are dust and to dust you will return,” and smudges ashes on your forehead.  It tends to be well attended by young and old alike.

Why? I suspect it is because, in our heart of hearts, in the depths of our soul, we sense a call to conversion. And that call begins first with acknowledging that we are sinners, second, with the hope that we can be freed from sin, and lastly with confidence that Jesus is THE WAY to that freedom (Acts 19:9).

In the gospel, Jesus uses a bit of humor to open our eyes to our sin. “Can a blind person guide a blind person (Lk 6: 39)?”  How many times have we chuckled and said, “There goes the blind leading the blind,” as we watch one young or lost person lead another? It’s not that they are bad in some way, but more that they don’t know what they don’t know and so, as Jesus said, “Both fall into a pit (Lk 6:40).”

There is a saying that doctors do not self-diagnose well. The spiritual equivalent of that wisdom is that the person who is his own spiritual director has a fool for a spiritual director. Jesus said it this way, “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own (Lk 6:41)?”  The truth is, we are better at perceiving another person’s flaws and sins than we are our own. We need help to see that beam in our eye, so that we can progress in virtue and move towards deeper conversion.

Who do we turn to, to help us “see the wooden beam in our eye” and to help us learn how to remove it? We turn to Jesus… in prayer, in the scriptures, in examining our conscience, in going to Confession, and in coming to Mass. It is Jesus that we hear in the readings at Mass and in the homily. It is Jesus we speak to and are forgiven by in Confession, and it is Jesus we receive in the Bread of Angels (Jn 6:51, 53). In all these forms, Jesus helps us notice that uncomfortable, aggravating wooden beam in our eye.

Once we recognize it, we can repent and begin the Lenten journey of deepening our conversion, from being centered on self to being centered on Jesus. In fact, that is what repent means, to turn away from MY WAY to Jesus’ WAY; THE WAY (Acts 2:38; 19:9). His way is conversion, and it will lead us to grow in the virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love (1 Cor 13;13).

To acknowledge this spiritual need for conversion, only through Jesus, is a mark of Christian humility, the virtue required to progress in all other virtues. Thus, it is the arch virtue. Satan is powerless against it, because he is eaten up by pride. He can’t understand and therefore cannot defeat humility. Mary and Joseph had humility in spades, and they passed that virtue on to Jesus who perfected it in His obedience in the Garden, and His Passion and Death.

Humility is not natural to us, though. It must be practiced. Lent is set up to help us practice humility through the three pillars of repentance or conversion explained by Jesus in Matthew 6:5-18. Those pillars are Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving or Charity. We practice humility through Prayer, where we are a humble beggar before God, fully aware that we can do nothing good without Him (CCC 2559-St. Augustine). We practice humility through Fasting, where we deny ourselves enough that we might fail and therefore be humbled by how weak we are. And we practice humility through Charity, where we are humbled by the gratefulness of the people we love through acts of mercy and kindness.

Accordingly, the Church teaches us that Fasting, Prayer, and Charity “express conversion in relation to oneself (fasting), to God (prayer), and to others (charity) (CCC 1434).  Jeff Cavin’s bible study on the Gospel of Matthew said it another way. He said fasting combats lust of the flesh, prayer combats pride of self, and charity combats lust of the eyes (Mt 6: 1-18; 1 Jn 2:16).

Between now and Wednesday ask the Holy Spirit to help you choose how you will fast, pray, and do good for others during Lent. The Church asks those between the ages of 18 and 59 to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday and those age 14 and up to abstain from meat every Friday of Lent (USCCB.org).  That is the minimum. We can go beyond that. I recommend abstaining from activities we spend too much time doing or from devices or hobbies we spend too much time on. In doing so, we free up time for Prayer and Charity. And the charity is enhanced by the grace coming from that extra prayer.  You see, the three pillars are mutually reinforcing.

For prayer, consider trying a different type of prayer like Lectio Divina, where you read a passage from the Bible and ask God what it means for you. Or pray the Rosary, which is a meditation on the key moments of Jesus’ life. Or Liturgy of the Hours, which is prayer using the Psalms and Hymns prayed in the morning, mid-day, evening, and night. You could do just morning and night if you are busy with children and work. Stations of the Cross on Fridays of Lent are another great way to pray. And do not forget that Mass is the greatest prayer we have; consider going during the week where you can.

For Charity or Almsgiving, consider abstaining from eating out and movies, etc., and keep track of the money saved, and give it to the poor at the end of Lent. Call people you need to call, especially the homebound and sick and your children or parents you don’t speak with enough. Do random acts of thoughtfulness for your spouse like you did when you were falling in love. If you can, serve at one of our community charities for the poor.

I do not think I can summarize Lent much better than St. Paul did in today’s second reading from 1 Cor 15.  “Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be firm, steadfast, always fully devoted to the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain (1 Cor 15: 58).

Lent, like exercise, hurts so good, when we push ourselves as spiritual athletes in Prayer, Fasting, and Charity. And if we stumble, we get back up. Jesus does not need us to be perfect. He only needs us to get up each day, lace ’em up, and go at it again persevering in faith.

Our young like hype songs before big events. If I were to ask our new convert, Alexa, to choose a hype song to be a theme for Lent, I think she would play Zach Williams’ song, “Less Like Me”. I’m going to pray the first three verses from it. If you start praying it in song, feel free to prayerfully do so.

[Lord], I have days I lose the fight

Try my best but just don’t get it right

Where I talk a talk that I don’t walk

And miss the moments right before my eyes.

Somebody with a hurt that I could have helped

Somebody with a hand that I could have held

When I just can’t see past myself

Lord, help me be…

A little more like mercy, a little more like grace

A little more like kindness, goodness, love, and faith

A little more like patience, a little more like peace

A little more like Jesus, a little less like me.

Lord, may we have faith, that no matter how many times we lose a fight during this Lent, we may confidently pray St. Paul’s words, “Thank God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor 15:57).”

Amen

We Are Called

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
February 6, 2022 — Year C
Readings: Is 6:1-2a, 3-8 / Ps 138 / 1 Cor 15:1-11 / Lk 5:1-11
by Rev. Nixon Negparanon, Pastor

Our three readings today have a similar theme.  They all tell us about individuals being called to serve God.

In the first reading, we hear that the Lord said to the prophet Isaiah (who lived some seven hundred years before the birth of Christ), “Whom shall I send?”  Isaiah replied, “Here I am.  Send me.”  In the second reading, Saint Paul narrates that, after Jesus had appeared to many other people, He appeared to Paul himself.  Finally, in the gospel, Peter, James, and John are convinced that Jesus is the Messiah, after their boats are overloaded, and their nets are splitting because of the number of fish they caught.

Each of these men was called in a dramatic way: Isaiah’s sin being purged by a burning ember on his lips; Paul being knocked from his horse; and Peter, James, and John having their boats almost sink under the weight of the fish they caught.  You might say, if God called me by performing a similar miracle, I would probably accomplish great things, too.

The truth is, God has called each of us.  Maybe we didn’t hear His voice, or experience some miraculous conversion, but let’s face it, neither have most other people.  I don’t recall that either Mother Teresa or even Pope John Paul II ever revealed that they had a miraculous calling from God.  We may not consider ourselves in that kind of calling, but everyone has a call from God, although sometimes we don’t remember or even recognize the call.  When I was called to the priesthood, I didn’t experience any miraculous incident or something supernatural.  I thought about the possibility of becoming a priest, I prayed over it, and then decided that this is what God wanted me to do.

To those of you who are married, you had a call from God.  To the young people here, by the very fact that you were born, you have had a call from God.  We might say, but my call was so ordinary, nothing like that of our readings.  The most important fact, however, is not the call that counts, but how each person, such as Isaiah, Paul, Peter, James, and John, reacts to the individual calling received.  Those men merely accepted God’s invitation, and if we do the same, then our lives can be fulfilling, as their lives were.

For example, how does a married person react positively to the call of God?  Of course, by truly loving his or her spouse.  There is probably no husband or wife here who would say that is always easy to do.  It may be easy most of the time, but there are times when it is probably difficult.  That is the key.  God asked all of us to accept our calling and react in a manner that mirrors the reaction of His Son, Jesus Christ.  Remember, when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, He initially reacted exactly the way many of us react, when we find ourselves in situations that we find difficult or uncomfortable.

We might think we never experience Christ’s dilemma, but when husbands and wives don’t agree, or when children do not want to obey their parents, or when we are tempted to sin against the commandments, we, too, face a difficult decision.  Jesus responded to the possibility of His being crucified by moaning, “Let this cup pass from me, Father.”

Are any of you in that same situation right now?  My spouse and I had a fight.  My parents don’t understand me.  My boyfriend wants me to get more deeply involved than we should.  How we react to those situations determines whether we are truly answering God’s call to us.  Why do I have to make these difficult decisions?  Why do I have to think of God or other people?  Why not just do what I want to do?  These are questions we frequently ask ourselves.  Paul was called to evangelize the world.  Peter was called to martyrdom.  They reacted positively to their calling and that is what each of us must do.  We are expected to accept the conditions of our ordinary calling.

For us, answering the call, may be the courage to kiss one’s spouse and apologize.  It may be realizing God has given your parents the responsibility to expect reasonable obedience from you.  It also may be that you have the responsibility to tell your boyfriend or your friends, No.

This is one of the dimensions in the Synod on Synodality headed by Pope Francis.  The third dimension is what we call, the Mission.  Mission, because we are all called or we are all sent to evangelize and to witness God’s love to the world.  The question is, Is that an easy thing to do?  Not always.  Do not forget that in Gethsemane, Jesus was terrified.  He did not want to face the upcoming nightmare or trial, just as we often do not want to face any adversity in life.  However, we should give the same answer to our God as Jesus gave to His Father: “Father, not my will, but Yours, be done.”

The men mentioned in our readings today faced many difficulties.  At times they were under intense pressure.  We may not be as famous as they are, but we walk the same walk that they walked.  The pressures and the difficulties that we have are real.

As we face any difficulty in answering our call to follow God’s will, we should follow Christ’s example in the garden.  We should turn to His Father in prayer, and He will answer us.  He will give us the strength and courage to react in the same manner as did the men in today’s readings.  Isaiah said, “Here I am.  Send me.”  Paul said, “But by the grace of God, I am what I am and His grace to me has not been ineffective.”  The reply of Peter, James, and John was eloquent.  When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed Him.  We should, too.