Homily: 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C

Readings: 1 Sam 26:2,7-9,12-13,22-23; Ps 19; 1Cor 15:47-49; Lk 6:27-38
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Here we are, just 10 days before Lent and through today's readings the Church offers us a beautiful pre-Lenten message. So maybe that's what we should focus on today: preparing our minds and hearts for Lent.

Most of us think of Lent as a time of sacrifice and self-denial - nothing drastic mind you, just small personal sacrifices... things like giving up dessert or putting a little extra in the collection basket, or maybe praying the Stations of the Cross on the occasional Friday.

Now don't get me wrong. Prayer, fasting, and sacrifice are good things, and given the growth of our parish, I know Fr. Peter will appreciate a few extra dollars. As the Church has always taught, Lent is a time for prayer, fasting, and alms giving. But these are not ends in themselves; rather, they are the means by which we draw closer to God and carry out His will in our lives. I think we sometimes get so caught up in the "things" of Lent, we forget why we are called to do them. 

Lent is really about conversion, about change. It's about interior change, change in here, in the heart, the same kind of change we hear from Jesus in today's Gospel.

How did Jesus begin?

"...love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you" [Lk 6:27-28].

Pretty hard stuff, isn't it?

"Love your enemies..."

I don't know about you, but for me these commands of Jesus are among the most difficult to follow. They just seem so counterintuitive, don't they? So un-human, which of course they are...because they are divine.

Some years ago, I caught a news story about a woman who was to be executed for her role in a brutal murder. She'd been on death row for years and during that time had experienced a deep conversion to Christianity.

During an interview, a daughter of the victim hoped to witness the execution.

"I want to watch her die," she said, "just as she watched my father die. I'm a Christian but some things just can't be forgiven. I hope she rots in hell."

Wow! I can understand her anger, but found myself praying more for her than for the murderer - a murderer who went to her death repentant, at peace, asking only for God's mercy and the forgiveness of those who suffered because of her sins.

"I want to watch her die..."

How did Jesus put it? 

"Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful" [Lk 6:36].

So often we think we can defeat the world's evils on our own, but of course we can't.

Certainly not through politics. Politics, the art of the compromise, must, therefore, always be imperfect.

Certainly not through man's justice, since we so often mistake revenge for justice.

And despite the courage of those who defend us, the application of power never seems to change things.

We live in a world in which the Prince of Lies employs his agents to kill babies, shatter families, corrupt priests (and deacons), and mock the Church.

Only one thing can overcome the evil of the world...only mercy.

As Jesus reminds us, mercy and forgiveness are divine; unattainable without God's help. And yet He commands that we imitate the perfection of Father: to be as merciful, forgiving, and loving as the Father.

How can we do this? We can't. For we can't save ourselves. We must turn to God in total humility. 

We are called to serve each other; but to serve another, to love another as God loves demands humility. I must lower myself and place the other higher. Only then can I see the other as he or she truly is: as a child of God who was loved into existence. 

As St. Peter instructed his fellow Christians: "...clothe yourselves with humility" [1 Pt 5:5].

For most of us, this calls for some pretty drastic change.

And that's what Lent's all about. You see, Lent really is about giving up something. It's about giving up yesterday, all of our yesterdays, the yesterdays of selfishness, sin, and death for the today of life. 

To change is to repent. But repentance means so much more than simply being sorry for our sins. Repentance is to turn around, to change direction, to re-think our lives. And in repentance I must turn more and more completely to a living Christ.

As St. Paul reminded us in our second reading, "we must bear the likeness of the heavenly one" [1 Cor 15:49], the new Adam, Jesus Christ who gave up the glory of His yesterday and in an act of divine humility chose the Cross.

He did that for you and He did that for me. That's right...He chose that Cross for you. That's how much He loves you. And if you were the only person in the world, He would have done the same thing.

That's how much He loves you.

We can easily give up a percentage or two of body fat, or an evening at our favorite restaurant, or, perish the thought, even a round of golf, but can you and I give up our yesterdays?

Can we refuse to be imprisoned by our pasts? And, believe me, the habits and sins of the past are all the more deadly because they are so damned comfortable...and, yes, I say that because they can be damning.

Can I give up that consuming concentration on the self where my days and nights revolve around me, around my delights, my worries, my frustrations, my fears, my needs, my wants?

If yesterday is sin, than today must be love. For love alone is the solution to sin.

If yesterday is the prison of sin, today is the freedom of the risen Christ. If you want to repent, then taste the freedom of God's love.

Open yourself to God in free obedience, open yourself to others in uncompelled love. This is no soap-opera love, not something out of a country-western song, but a love that keeps all God's commandments.

It's a love not crushed by the crosses we sometimes must bear.

It's a love that dies for another, a love stronger than death.

Such is the love of Jesus, the sacrificial Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

Lent, you see, looks forward to the Easter miracle, prepares us for the Risen Christ, the living Christ who remains among us.

Do you believe that?

Do you believe that Christ is alive, more gloriously alive today than when he walked the rugged roads of Galilee and Judea and Samaria?

Do you believe that with the risen Christ death no longer has power over you, that when it comes it will hold you for only the briefest moment?

Do you believe that through Jesus Christ you will cast off death and rise to an eternal life beyond your wildest dreams?

Do you believe that as a baptized Christian you are already risen with Christ, because His life courses through you like another bloodstream?

Do you believe you don't have to go searching for God, because His Holy Spirit is already right here within you? He came to you first in Baptism and comes to you again and again through the sacraments.

If you believe all this, then Lent will indeed be life for you.

If you believe all this, when you are sent into the world at the end of today's Mass, when you hear those words, "Go in peace, and glorify the Lord by your life," you'll know exactly what to do.

You will love your enemies.

You will do good to those who hate you.

You will bless those who curse you.

You will pray for those who mistreat you.

You will feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger and visit and comfort the sick.

You'll do all those things, because that's what Jesus wants you to do...and He wants you to do them today, and tomorrow, and every day.

Quite simply He wants you to love God and love one another.

He calls you to "be merciful just as your Father is merciful."

Try that for Lent.