by Fr. Tommy Lane
Lent is a time of grace for us, a time to open ourselves more to God and to the gifts that God wants to give to us. People talk about doing all sorts of things for Lent and about giving up things. These are all good in themselves, but Lent is above all about opening ourselves to God. The things that we do and the things that we give up are to help us open ourselves more to God. Lent is about opening ourselves more to God and to his grace that he wants to give to us.
During these days of Lent we remember Jesus in the desert as we heard in our Gospel today (Mark 1:12-15). By overcoming temptation in the desert, Jesus was steering the course of his ministry for the next three years on the path the Father wanted. Lent is our time to consider the path we are on and if there is anything we need to do to be more centered on the path to God. It is the time to “repent and believe in the Gospel” as we heard Jesus say in today’s Gospel passage (Mark 1:15). It seems like the whole of Europe has been on a path these past weeks dancing to a song in the Zulu language called Jerusalema. It is a spiritual song which says that “my place is not here” (Ndawo yami ayikho lana) and “my kingdom is not here” (Mbuso wami awukho lana) and “Jerusalem is my [spiritual] home” (Jerusalema ikhaya lami). Lent is our time to set our path towards the heavenly Jerusalem, the kingdom of God, because our place is not here, and our kingdom is not here. That is what Pope Francis, in his homily just days ago during Ash Wednesday, asked us to consider as he said,
Lent is a journey that involves our whole life, our entire being. It is a time to reconsider the path we are taking, to find the route that leads us home and to rediscover our profound relationship with God, on whom everything depends. Lent is not just about the little sacrifices we make, but about discerning where our hearts are directed. This is the core of Lent: asking where our hearts are directed. Let us ask: Where is my life’s navigation system taking me—towards God or towards myself? Do I live to please the Lord, or to be noticed, praised, put at the head of the line…? Do I have a “wobbly” heart, which takes a step forward and then one backwards? Do I love the Lord a bit and the world a bit, or is my heart steadfast in God? Am I content with my hypocrisies, or do I work to free my heart from the duplicity and falsehood that tie it down? (Pope Francis, Ash Wednesday Homily, 2021)
The lockdowns we have experienced since last year (2020-2021 pandemic) give us lots more time to consider where our life’s navigation system is taking us. We have more time to consider if we are saying “Yes” to God in everything in our lives. Saying “Yes” to God brings a blessing. Listen to an invitation from Jesus to you in Matthew’s Gospel:
Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light. (Matt 11:28-30)
In the last book of the Bible, Revelation/Apocalypse, this is Jesus’ invitation:
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me. (Rev 3:20)
In the Gospel of John, we hear this invitation from Jesus:
Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. (John 15:4)
Later in the same chapter of John we read,
As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love (15:9-10)
These are all the words of Jesus from various places in the New Testament. These are beautiful invitations from Jesus to each of us, invitations to set our navigation system towards Jesus, to say “Yes" to God.
As we say a bigger “Yes” to God this Lent, it is good to remember that angels assisted Jesus in the desert as we heard in our Gospel today (Mark 1:13, also Matt 4:11). Luke tells us that an angel also strengthened Jesus during his agony in Gethsemane (Luke 22:43). We believe God in his mercy has given each of us a guardian angel to assist us. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that from our beginning until death, we are surrounded by the watchful care of the angels (CCC 336), and it says, “Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life.” (CCC 336 quoting St. Basil). We see many examples in the New Testament of the help given by angels. For example, we read in the Acts of the Apostles that when Peter and the other apostles were imprisoned in Jerusalem for preaching the Gospel, during the night an angel opened the doors, led them out, and told them to continue preaching (Acts 5:19). An angel directed the deacon Philip to go to the road from Jerusalem to Gaza and there he baptized someone who was reading the Scriptures (Acts 8:26-38). Later, when Peter was in prison again in Jerusalem for preaching the Gospel, an angel woke him during the night, the chains fell off him, they passed by the sleeping guards and the iron gate opened by itself (Acts 12:6-11). These are some of many examples in the New Testament of angels giving assistance. Jesus accepted help from angels, so we need the help of angels all the more. As we say a bigger “Yes” to God during Lent, as we repent and believe in the Gospel, it would be good to be grateful to our guardian angel and pray to our guardian angel sometimes. What a lot our guardian angels have to put up with sometimes. Poor angels! They deserve our love, our gratitude, and our obedience.
Lent is a time of grace for us, a time for us to open ourselves more to God and to the gifts that God wants to give us. On Wednesday Pope Francis asked, “Where is my life’s navigation system taking me—towards God or towards myself?” Again and again in the New Testament, we read beautiful invitations from Jesus to us such as, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me.” (Rev 3:20) During this Lent, with the help of our guardian angels, may we hear Jesus knocking, open, let him in, and dine with him!
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2021
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More Homilies for the First Sunday of Lent Year B
Refocusing on Jesus during Lent 2024
There is One Lord and Savior: Jesus Christ 2018
Related Homilies: From ashes to new life with Jesus 2020
Overcoming temptation
and sin during Lent because we love Jesus
2008
Dying
and rising with Jesus during Lent
Reliving the
temptations of Jesus
Praying, fasting and
almsgiving during Lent Jesus’ call to repentance:
Repentance meets the mercy and love of God
2024
Repent and be happy!
2018 stories for
Lent
Old Testament Readings during Lent