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01 Mar 2009 - First Sunday of Lent, Cycle B

The challenge of the preacher is to help the congregation first of all take to heart the life-and-death seriousness of the season of Lent, and second, to take concrete steps to make spiritual progress this Lent. Expectations on the faithful during Lent have simultaneously been lowered and expanded in our lifetime. Gone are some of the more stringent regulations for fasting and abstinence. What remains is the necessity of personal conversion, day-by-day, through this season. To give this obligation structure, we can always rely on the traditional practices of Lent: prayer, fasting (from food, drink, TV, gossip, etc.), and almsgiving. Invite each person to be creative in determining which one practice is calling them, and which will do the most spiritual good for them this season.

Lent spiritual progress Prayer Fasting almsgiving

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The inner word

10 Mar 2019 - First Sunday of Lent, Cycle C

How is the season of Lent different from other seasons? This is the season in which we tend to the spiritual tasks of penance, prayer, fasting, and almsgiving in order to deepen our experience of God’s presence and strengthen our faith. We fast so we’ll know what else we hunger for. We ground ourselves in prayer so that we hear God’s call. We give things up so we’ll come to appreciate what remains. What spiritual progress do I hope to make this season of Lent? What steps am I prepared to take toward that end? Moses recounted for people the story of their liberation. What saving action of God am I grateful for in my own life? Do I remember to offer God the first fruits of my own efforts? Do I nurture the virtue of gratitude in my heart? Jesus rejects Satan’s temptations of immediate gratification, power, and safety. How am I doing in regard to these temptations in my own life? What help do I find in the traditional practices of Lent: prayer, fasting, almsgiving?

Prayer Fasting almsgiving

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Exploring the word

08 Mar 2020 - Second Sunday of Lent, Cycle A

The Lenten terrain keeps changing. Last week, we crossed a desert. This week, we scale a mountain. No one said the journey of faith would be easy. But neither were we warned that this level of athleticism would be required. Is the spiritual path really as challenging as the metaphors would make it seem? The answer is—hopefully. If we’re doing it right, we ought to be flexing some serious spiritual muscle. The church has long used the language of journey and movement to describe the life of faith. The notion that our time on earth is a pilgrimage en route to the Beatific Vision is older than Dante, more traditional than Pilgrim’s Progress. Luke’s gospel was the first Christian story to be structured around the journey theme, tracing the ministry of Jesus as a long road between Galilee and Jerusalem, the epicenter of Judaism. The format worked so well that Luke employed it for Acts, too, transcribing the way of the early church from Jerusalem to Rome at the heart of the ancient world. As Luke would have it, the Good News of Jesus Christ conquered the world in two giant steps: first Palestine, then the Empire itself. It seems so simple the way Luke tells it. But we know that the gospel must actually confront the world in three giant steps: first Jerusalem, then Rome, and finally the individual human heart. That last step, it turns out, is the biggest one of all. That is where the leap of faith meets its greatest obstacle: me. Or you, as the case may be. The sinner, by any other name. Which is one reason why the season of Lent is so vital to the church. It limbers us up to take that breathtaking leap beyond the self. Some of us may need a personal trainer to get in shape. Spiritual growth Many of us, it must be admitted, are not on a spiritual journey much of the time. We are spiritually parked, as it were: in the pew where we always sit, or stuck in neutral in the same old habits of sin. Oh, our sinfulness is pretty run-of-the-mill, nothing to get excited about. We’re greedy, lazy, selfish, and judgmental. And, of course, dishonest, because we rarely admit that we’re greedy, lazy, and so on. Not even in the confessional, when you get right down to it. Most of our habits of sin may seem too tiresome to mention. But they are obstacles to the spiritual life all the same, because they keep us from embracing the exuberant fullness of the love of God urgent to be expressed in every moment of history. Being spiritually parked, we don’t “walk by faith,” so we don’t grow in faith either. Instead, we acquire sacraments and accumulate prayer hours as if they were so much religious flab; not all calories are created equal, as we know. We may grow fat with pious practice, but that’s not the same as achieving spiritual strength. Strength comes when religious practice translates into grace-in-action. In order to get somewhere, obviously, we have to go somewhere. As easy as that is to understand, it is not always so easy to do. The time-honored practices of Lent—fasting, prayer, and almsgiving—jump-start the heart muscle. Fasting is a great foundational exercise: Get hungry, somewhere in your well-fed American life, and know how small, fragile, and vulnerable you are! Hunger puts us on the ground floor of humility, that indispensable virtue. It teaches us to be still and know who God is—and who we are—by displacing us from the center of power and sufficiency. Self-knowledge moves us next to prayer, which opens communication between God and us. Prayer is a two-way street, of course; we don’t do all the talking. Our newfound skill of humility ought to enable us to do some thoughtful listening, and our prayer should be richer and more productive than usual. Finally, as the movement of the Spirit in us grows more agile, we will naturally be led to share. Generosity is not an afterthought to fasting and prayer, but the direct response of knowing how deeply loved and provided for we are. Trusting in God, we can give ourselves away with greater freedom than ever. Money, time, skill, presence—we have more than we need, and furthermore, we know why it came to us in the first place. Transfiguration Climbing that Lenten mountain with Jesus seems like a lot of hard work. But what do we encounter at the summit of the spiritual mountain? Something called Transfiguration. It means we see what was always there, but hidden before. We see truly. We see as God sees. This new vision is given to those who are willing to go there to get it. It won’t come to us if we don’t climb the mountain. It won’t come to those who are spiritually parked and waiting for enlightenment to be handed out the drive-thru window like a happy meal. Eucharist does not come in fast food varieties. Eucharist is slow food. It takes a lifetime of remaining steadfast on this journey to absorb it completely. But if we want a preview of coming attractions, if we want to know where this life is leading us, if we want what the disciples got on top of the mountain, we can have our glimpse of Transfiguration. It is a sustaining vision that can lend us courage in our most difficult hours. It is a privileged view that can teach us what no preacher can say better. The Transfiguration reveals the God in the flesh, and the glory in the humility. Transfiguration reminds us that Christ is hidden in surprising places, and that is why we fast, pray, and give alms. Christ is hiding right now in the poor ones. If we want to see him there, we have to take this path and climb this mountain. Applying the word Hills brought low We might prefer a straighter, flatter route to holiness. Exercise is not always welcome, be it physical or spiritual. But never fear: The Lenten terrain will keep changing—desert one minute, mountain the next. Who knows what next Sunday will bring? (The prepared homilist does!) If we keep one foot in front of the other, our faithfulness will be rewarded by glorious moments along the way, when Christ springs brilliantly into view. Related scripture links Journey theme in Luke: Luke 2:4, 2:22, 3:4-5, 3:41, 4:1; 5:11, 8:1-3, 9:3-6, 9:23, 9:51-62, 23:26, 24:13-32 Walking by faith: 2 Cor. 5:7 Be still and know God: Ps. 46:11 Other spiritual mountains: Horeb/Sinai: Exod. 3:1-10, 19:11-25; 1 Kings 19:8-18; Mount Zion: Isa. 2:2-5, 60:1-6, 62:11-12, 66:7-13; mountain of choosing: Mark 3:13-19; Sermon on the Mount: Matt. 5:1-7:29; Mount of Olives: Matt. 24-25; Great Commission: Matt. 28:16-20

Authors Alice Camille

spiritual journey spiritual strength lent practices Fasting Prayer almsgiving Transfiguration vision enlightenment

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