[The following is a homily written for my "Intro to Homiletics" class on the readings from the First Sunday of Lent, Year C]
In the
United States, we grow up hearing certain axioms by which to conduct our
lives. Here are a few examples:
“I cannot
tell a lie.” – George Washington
“A penny
saved is a penny earned.” – Benjamin Franklin
These words, and many like them,
come to us from the legacy of
our nation. They are sage sayings of the
Founding Fathers that encourage us to follow a life guided by a certain
morality and sense of responsibility.
For
Christians, There is another saying that has grown in importance especially in
our own time. It is an axiom that has
shaped our understanding of who we are
and who God is:
“[God]
will command his angels to guard you,… lest you dash your foot against a
stone.” (Psalm 91:11-12)
The question we ought to ask ourselves is: “Who gives us this guidance in our
lives?” In other words, who do we listen to when
we think of God’s providence?
The readings from the 1st Sunday of Lent give us two options:
The first is the Psalmist. The responsorial
psalm of the day is Psalm 91, and it is of an unparalleled trust in God’s ability
and willingness to rescue us from
the snares of sin and destruction.
It is where we are given a song of faith in the Lord, Who is our refuge and fortress, our God in Whom we
trust. (see Psalm 91:3)
It tells us that God’s love is present to us when we
are found in right relation to Him, and that this same love protects us from
anything that could harm us.
The evils
and afflictions of this world
cannot overcome us;
the
stones of sin and error cannot impede
our journey to life everlasting;
the
dangerous and ravenous temptations of Satan are placed under our feet;
as long as we are found in the shadow of the Almighty, clinging to His
strength and His message of
salvation.
When
we are found in this relation, we want for nothing. God is with us, how could we?
The second time we witness this saying is in the Gospel for the day, and while it is the same words of the Psalmist that
we hear, it is Satan who
delivers the words to us.
After bringing Jesus to the parapet of the temple,
metaphorically, the highest point of the Jewish world, He says:
“If you are the Son
of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written: “He will command his angels
concerning you, to guard you, and: With their hands they will support you, lest
you dash your foot against a stone.” (Luke 4:9-11)
This
passage has always sent shivers down my spine. It shows the cunning of the Enemy we face.
Satan is a Bible scholar!
He
is able to produce elements of Sacred Scripture at a whim to meet his needs,
and use them in a coherent fashion.
And, think about it, he has a point. I mean, if Jesus is the Son of God, then he has the power to do whatever
he wills.
He can turn stones
to bread;
He can call upon
the myriads of angels, and they would
present themselves for service.
So
why not do it? Why not show Satan who the boss is here?
But instead of the answer we want to hear, we are left to
wonder.
We look around us, and evil
still exists;
afflictions overwhelm us at every turn;
sin
and error are like a bad cough
that we can’t seem to shake;
and the lions and vipers of temptation are lake waves breaking upon the beach of our
miserable lives,
incessant and merciless.
We need only look at the suffering we witness in
those of around us who have been met with seemingly
unimaginable hardship to see that our stones are still stones. Indeed, they have replaced our
hearts...
So, is this it? How
can we bring ourselves to trust a God who doesn’t seem to know how to answer
us? Or, at least, how we want Him to
answer…
And
that’s the point; We have to let go.
As
our new Holy Father, Pope Francis is quoted to have said as archbishop of
Buenos Aires:
“To those who are now promising to fix
all your problems, I say, ‘Go and fix yourself.’ . . . Have a change of heart.”
If
we can somehow allow ourselves to be carried by God to that place of trust,
where there is an assurance of things hoped for, (Hebrew 11:1) we will see that Christ
answers it all, just not in the way we’d expect.
Because Christ clung to the refuge and fortress of Almighty God,
his will was accomplished because his
Father’s will was accomplished.
The
evils and afflictions of this world he overcame
by living with us, suffering with us, and dying for us.
The
stones of sin and error did not impede him
because he transformed them into the Bread
of Life by embracing them in his Passion.
The ravenous
onslaught of evil was drowned
underneath the Cross by His own blood.
This is trust, my friends, but
more importantly, this is love!
Don’t you see? Love
is our legacy! Christ has given us an example to follow that
surpasses the power of evil in our lives, and it is love!
It is a conviction of the heart that, as St. Paul tells us
in his letter to the Romans, justifies
us and saves us
(Rom. 10:10) because it transforms us by bringing us into a communion with one another that defies
distinctions and barriers!
According to our modern mentalities, it is an irrational,
even irresponsible love, because it is selfless; it is generous to the point of
exhaustion, even death.
This is WHO our God is, and
this is who we, as members of His Body and His Bride, are called to be as well.
“[God] will command his angels to guard you,… lest you dash your foot against a stone.”
Who is it, my friends, giving us this guidance in our
lives?
Is it He Who wishes to deliver us from distress and glorify us (Psalm 91:15)?
Or is it the one who wishes to destroy any hope of our fulfillment?
We have a choice here; pray that we choose the
better part.
Amen.
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