(The following homily was given by Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde at the Mass for the First Sunday of Lent on Feb. 13 at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington.)
There is a saying that a journey of one thousand miles begins with the first step. You and I took the first step of a very specific journey just five days ago. What is this journey we are taking? The journey called Lent! The journey towards Easter! The journey of our conversion!
In some ways, this is not a new journey, because the journey of living as a disciple of Christ began at Baptism. Yet, this is a new journey, an annual journey, in fact, a familiar journey. We need to make this journey this Lent and every Lent because we are different people from the way we were the previous year; we are at new and different stages on the journey of Christian living. Above all, this Lent and every lent, we stand in need of conversion, of turning back to the Lord, of choosing more deeply God's way over our own.
Each day brings us choices. Shall we think, speak and act the way Jesus would or shall we choose instead our way and our will? In the end, we are being asked to choose between good and evil.
Is this not what temptation is all about? Temptation is not actually sinning; it is the testing of how we choose: God's way or our way.
Today's first reading from the Book of Genesis, the first book in the Bible, portrays with colorful imagery the choice or test faced by Adam and Eve. As we heard, they chose their way, not God's and thereby committed the first sin, original sin. We, who possess the same human nature as Adam and Eve have inherited a certain inner weakness, a certain tendency to follow their example of choosing our way and will over God's.
When we act like Adam and Eve, choosing our will over God's, then we sin. During the past year, if we are honest, we must admit that we have, in fact, sinned, choosing our will and not God's; in fact, we have thought, spoken and acted in ways totally opposite to the way in which Jesus would think, speak and act.
God knows our human frailty and weakness, our proneness to sin. He knows that we have, in fact sinned. Today, we honestly confess our failing the test, our sinning. “Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.”
And in response to our admission of sin, God gives us a Saviour to free us from our sinfulness; God gives us His own Beloved Son as our Saviour. Moreover, He gives us in Christ the example of overcoming temptation. The power of Christ in us " the power of divine grace " enables us to say “no” to the temptations or testings of the Evil One and to say “yes” to God our Father, just the way Christ did in today's Gospel account.
In His human nature, Christ was strengthened by the 40 days He spent in the desert, praying and fasting. Lent is our 40-day desert journey whereby through prayer, penance and almsgiving, we too are strengthened to overcome the tests, the temptations, and, as St. Irenaeus wrote, “to persevere and to remain in God's service.”
You and I need to travel this journey called Lent! God is calling us to reclaim and to deepen the dignity and destiny He gave us at Baptism: the dignity of being His sons and daughters and the destiny of inheriting eternal life.
Each day during this Lent, the contrast between Adam and Christ evident in today's first and third readings and referenced by St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans, (our second reading), will be the focus of our attention. Shall we be like Adam, who chose his own will and disobeyed God or shall we be like Christ, Who chose God's Will and obeyed His Father in loving trust? The temptations or tests we face are not easy. But, we do not face them alone. Christ desires to be with us, if only we let Him enter our lives!
So then, this Lent, let us travel, not alone, but with the Lord Jesus, our Saviour. If we open our hearts in welcome, He will accompany us as we pray together at home " a family united, as we celebrate the Sacraments of the Holy Eucharist and Penance " God's people assembled in faith, as we relive Christ's journey to Calvary through the Stations of the Cross, individually or as a parish community " disciples walking in His footsteps, as we embrace penance and fasting " disciples linked together by self-discipline, as we assist through almsgiving those in need " God's people reaching out in charity.
As we, the baptized, journey this Lent, we realize that some others are walking alongside us: those preparing for Baptism and those already baptized who are seeking full communion in the Catholic Church or who are preparing for Confirmation and the Eucharist. These are sisters and brothers to us and, later today, on this First Sunday of Lent, they will be enrolled as members of the elect or will be called to continuing conversion. As we journey towards Easter, seeking to become more converted ourselves, we also make a commitment to those making the journey for the first time, pledging to them the support of our prayers and the encouragement of our example.
The poet Robert Frost once wrote: “Two roads diverged in a road and I " I took the road less traveled by. And that has made all the difference.” For the disciples of Jesus, the road less traveled by is the road labeled Lent. We have taken the first step down that road, the first step in the journey of our deepening conversion.
If we travel together as the church, united with Christ Jesus, we can truly become more converted this Lent, more transformed into the image of Jesus, Who was faithful to God in His temptations. And that will make all the difference in our families, in this parish and diocese, in the Church beyond us and throughout the world!
