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Sts. Joseph & Paul Catholic Church |
Homily Archives | |
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Ash Wednesday Sts Joseph and Paul February 21, 2007 A devout and holy priest once said, “In my youth, I was on fire with a great love for God. I thought I would convert the whole world. I soon learned that I could not do that, so I thought it would be enough to convert the people in the parish where I was assigned. I tried for a long time, but I failed. I finally realized that my quest was still too ambitious, so I turned to my family and concentrated on reforming their lives. But I could not convert them either. Then finally it hit me. I will simply work on myself. But even in that, I have stumbled and fallen in my attempts to change even myself.” Many of us start out to change the world. We wish to change the hearts of all people. We speak out for a greater respect towards life. We stand on the streets and raise our voices to stop war. We band together in an effort to control greenhouse gases and global warming. We try to raise greater awareness to end hunger and supply clean drinking water for all people. We may make some progress with our efforts, but they seem less then satisfying. This message says, instead of trying to change the world, we should focus on changing ourselves. Lent calls us to focus our efforts on ourselves. The world is changed one heart at a time, and the first heart that must be changed is mine. The Lenten sign that calls us to this individual reform, to change my heart and not yours, is the cross that is smeared on our foreheads. At the tracing of the cross, each person is told, “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel.” The Greek word that means to turn, to change, is Metanoia. A Metanoia is a sudden change of mind. It marks a conversion in one who has been thinking in one direction, but now begins thinking in another direction. We have all experienced changing our minds. Lent calls us to change our minds about God and to change our minds about sin. When we sin, we stop growing in God. We cut off God’s relational love with us and, without that love, we will die to God. Lent offers us a time to reconnect with God and grow in God’s love. The gospel gives us three ways that we can grow in love for God. The first thing the gospel calls us to do is to pray. When we pray, we clear away the world, and we connect only with God. During this Lent, pray individually, pray as a family, join a prayer group, pray more intently during the Sunday Eucharist, come and pray the Stations of the Cross. The gospel then says that we should fast. To fast is to do away with a food, or consumerism, or an attitude and, in those holes, put God. Finally, the gospel says we should give alms. Acts of charity recall for us what Jesus did as he gave us his life on the cross so that we might have life. When we give, we give others life. Our world does need changing. But to get on my soapbox and hold up my placard, for this cause or that, will not change it. To preach to this parish and tell you how you need to change your lives will not change it. To point my finger at my family and challenge them to reform will not change it. For true change to happen, I must change. I must accept the lavish mercy of God given to me from the cross and grow in God’s love. May this individual change happen for each of us.
sdrose@bellsouth.net |