The New Lent
February 26, 2012, 1st Sunday of Lent
Genesis 9:8-15 I Peter 3:18-22 Mark 1:12 -15
A reading
from the holy Gospel according to Mark
Glory
to you, Lord.
The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert, and He remained there
for forty
days, tempted by the Devil. He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to Him.
After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming
the Good News from God. "This is the time of fulfillment,” He said. “The kingdom of God
The
Gospel of the Lord
Praise to you, Lord
Jesus Christ.
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Introduction
Wednesday, Feb. 29, 2012
- Leap Day
This coming Wednesday, Feb. 29, is Leap
Day. In a Leap Year February has 29 days instead of the usual 28. Accordingly,
a Leap Year has 366 days instead of the usual 365. Leap Years are necessary for keeping our calendar in alignment with the
Earth's revolutions around the sun. It takes the Earth approximately 365.242199
(!) days to circle once around the Sun. However, our Gregorian calendar has
only 365 days in a year, so if we didn’t add a day on Feb 29 every 4 years, we
would lose almost 6 hours off our calendar every year. After 100 years, our
calendar would be off by approximately 24 days! -- For simpler folks, a leap
year is simply a year that has 366 days instead of 365.
How we got Lent and Ash Wednesday
On
Ash Wednesday, this past February 22, we liturgically left Ordinary Time and
entered the Extraordinary Time of Lent. Green (the color for Ordinary Time) is
now exchanged for purple -- the centuries-old liturgical color for penance. In
honor of the forty days Jesus spent in the desert fasting, the Council of Laodicea
in 360 prescribed a penitential season of forty days in preparation for Easter.
That’s how we get the forty days of Lent.
This
year Easter is April 8. So counting back forty fast-days from April 8 (Sundays
not counted because they’re not fast-days) made Wednesday, February 22, the
first day of Lent this year of 2012. And because the Church smudges our clean
foreheads with ashes on the opening day of Lent (bidding us to remember “that
you are dust and unto dust you shall return”), that’s how we get Ash Wednesday.
Mark’s very sparse account
Jesus’
forty-day ordeal in the desert is always recounted on the first Sunday of Lent
in all three liturgical cycles. (Mt.
4:1-11; Mk. 1:12-13; Lk. 4:1-13) Mark's account,
however, is very sparse. It simply states that Jesus was tempted for forty days
in the desert. It says nothing about Him fasting and getting hungry. It makes
no mention of three specific temptations or of any conversation between Jesus
and the Devil.
The three temptations
according to Matthew and Luke
Mark’ account of Jesus’ temptation
is so brief as to tell us very little. On the other hand, Matthew and Luke’s
accounts are much more detailed and enlightening. Both evangelists
mention three specific temptations, and each temptation is rejected by Jesus quoting
Deuteronomy. In the first temptation Jesus, who has spent forty days and nights
in the desert without food, is tempted by
the Devil to change stones (lying nearby on the desert ground) into bread.
Jesus quotes Deuteronomy to the Devil: "It is written, 'Man doesn't live on bread alone; he also lives on
every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" (Mt. 4:4; Dt. 8:3)
Then
the Devil takes Jesus to the highest point of the Temple, and challenges Him to
prove He is God’s Son, by throwing Himself down, and trusting that God’s angels
would rescue Him from smashing his feet on the rocky ground below. Jesus again
quotes Deuteronomy to the Devil: "It is also written, ‘Do not put the Lord
your God to the test.'" (Mt. 4:7; Dt.
6:16)
Finally,
the Devil takes Jesus to a very high mountain, and shows Him all the glitter of
the world’s kingdoms, and promises to give it all to Him, if He would only bow down
and worship him. A third time Jesus quotes Deuteronomy to the Devil: "Get
away from me, Satan! It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God. He is the only
one you should serve.'” (Mt. 4:10; Dt.
6:13) Then the Devil leaves Jesus, and angels come to minister to
Him.
Themes of the fast-fix and the gaudy
Scripture’s statement of Jesus’ three temptations
in the desert is rich and artful, and there are as many interpretations of them
as there are preachers. In Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky, the Grand
Inquisitor asks Christ, “Dost thou think that all the combined wisdom of the
world could have invented anything in depth and force equal to the three
temptations put thee by the wise and mighty Spirit in the desert?” (Ch. V, Bk.
V).
This preacher sees themes of `the fast-fix’
and `the gaudy’ underlining the
three temptations. In the first one the Devil tempts Jesus, saying, “Change
these stones into bread.”(Mt. 4:3) Changing
stones into bread smacks, indeed, of the gaudy. What’s more, it’s a fast-fix
for bread. There is no fast-fix for bread; there’s only the long haul: wheat
ground into flour, flour kneaded into dough and dough baked into bread.
When that attempt fails, the Devil takes
Jesus high up to the steeple of the Temple and challenges Him to prove He’s the
Son of God by jumping from the Temple’s heights, and counting on God’s angels
to snatch Him up before dashing his feet on the stones below. (Mt. 4:5-6; Ps.
91, vs. 12) That temptation also smacks of the gaudy and the fast-fix. Proving
one’s self a Son of God comes only through the long haul.
One last try: the Devil takes Jesus to a very
high mountain, shows Him all the gold, glitter and glory of the world’s
kingdoms spread out before them,, and promises, “I
will give you all this, if you will drop to your knees and worship me. (Mt.
4:8) That temptation also smacks of the fast-fix and the gaudy.
The God of the new Lent
Some
of us remember the God of the old Lent, who had gone into a deep pout or anger because
of our sins, and needed to be appeased with forty days of glum and gloom. At
the end of the day, such a God is not much better than the angry gods of
ancient Greece and Rome, who needed to be placated. Before giving up meats,
mints and movies, or anything else that makes life pleasant, the new Lent invites
us to give up our pouting or angry God.
The
God of the new Lent is the God described by Jesus in his immortal Parable of
the Prodigal Son. An upstart son grabs his inheritance, takes off for a foreign
land where he squanders his money on parties and prostitutes. When he’s reduced to slopping the pigs, he `changes his
mind’ (the root meaning of repentance) and decides to return to his father’s
house. When the father (who has been waiting and praying for his son’s return)
spies him on the horizons, returning home, he’s overcome with joy and runs out
to meet him. The son (prodigal with his inheritance) falls into the arms of a
father (prodigal with forgiveness and love). The father wraps his son’s
skeletal body in a rich robe, places a ruby ring on his boney finger, straps
soft sandals to his son’s calloused feet, and orders that his fatted calf be
slaughtered, and that a great banquet be prepared, to celebrate a son who was
lost but now has been found. (Lk 15:1-24)
In
the old Lent God needed to be appeased with Lenten penance. In the new Lent God
is like the prodigal father looking to the horizons, hoping and praying to see
his wayward son returning home. In the new Lent God is described as “rich in
mercy, swift with forgiveness and slow with retribution,” as the first reading at
Mass on Ash Wednesday, reminds us. (Joel 2:13) The new Lent is not about God changing
His mind about us; it’s about us changing our own minds about matters that need
to be changed.
The fast of the new lent
The
fast of the old Lent concentrated on food. Only one full meal a day was
allowed, plus a sparse breakfast and lunch. All eating in between meals was
strictly forbidden. All Fridays were days of strict abstinence from meat. After
Vatican II, the emphasis on food has been greatly toned down. Now there are
only two obligatory days of fast: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. And only the
Fridays of Lent are strict days of abstinence.
After
Vatican II, the fast of the new Lent concentrates on something more important than
simply cutting down on food (though cutting down on food is, indeed, important
for us Americans; 33% percent of us are obese!) In the first reading from the prophet Isaiah
at Mass on the Friday after Ash Wednesday, the Lord God says,
This is the kind of
fasting I, the Lord, want from you: release those bound unjustly, untie the
yoke of injustice and set free the oppressed. Share your food with the hungry,
open your home to the homeless, clothe the naked, and do not refuse to help
your own relatives. (Is 58: 6-7)
In
days past, we used to add little penances of our own to the Church’s fast and
abstinence -- like giving up candy or movies for the forty days of Lent. (Such little
privations in some strange way always seemed to make God happy.) The new Lent
does not concentrate on penances imposed on us either by the Church or
ourselves but on those penances imposed on us by life itself. The new Lent
spells out fasting in the same spirit of the prophet Isaiah.
This is the kind of fasting, I, the Lord,
want from you in Lent 2012: You who have been bereaved of a beloved spouse this
past year – that’s your Lenten fast. You who are coping with a serious illness
- that’s your Lenten fast. You who have to carry the emotional and financial
weight of a chronically ill child –
that’s your Lenten fast. You who have to deal with loss of job or home
foreclosure in these hard economic times - that’s your Lenten fast. Etc.
Conclusion
The new Lent
One of the many Prefaces for Lent prays:
Father, all-powerful and ever-living God, we do well always and everywhere
to give you thanks through Jesus Christ our Lord. Each year you give us this joyful season when we prepare to celebrate the paschal mystery with mind and heart renewed. You give us a spirit of loving reverence for you, our Father, and of willing service to our neighbor. As we recall the great events that gave us new life in Christ, you bring the image of your Son to perfection within us. Now, with angels and archangels, and the whole company of heaven, we sing the unending hymn of your praise:
Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God of hosts.
Heaven and earth are
full of your glory.
The
new Lent does not send us off on a glum and gloomy journey of forty days.
Rather, it ushers in “a joyful season”
peaking in spring and Easter. The new Lent is not for appeasing an angry God. Rather,
it is to “bring the image of your Son to perfection within us.” The new Lent doesn’t say goodbye to
the nice things of life. Rather, it says hello to “willing service to our
neighbor.” The new Lent puts us prodigal
children in touch with a prodigal Father who is “rich in mercy, swift with
forgiveness and slow with retribution.” (Joel 2:13)
