Ash Wednesday Homily 2009
For a number of years now
I have had the pleasure of being able to care
for a small patch of garden or flower patch
and I have learned much in doing so.
In some important ways the spiritual life we have with Christ
is analogous to being given a garden to tend.
Fundamental nutrients are essential to grow vegetables,
flowers or anything else.
The soil has to be prepared, tilled, and compost added.
You can feel richness of organic matter or filth in the soil.
There has to be sufficient moisture for plants to flourish.
By analogy, Lent is a season
to nourish our relationship with Christ:
by being faithful to Sunday Eucharist,
or participating at the 5:00 p.m. Eucharist,
here or at Saint Ben's
to listen to the scriptures, to receive the sacrament.
Nourishment is also present in taking time for silence,
even a short time, each day,
time to hear ourselves think, to know our own desires.
We need to be able to hear the Spirit move in our hearts.
When I was a kid I remember thinking that
if we did a really good job of picking rocks one year,
maybe we would get them all.
Next year came -- there were rocks again.
Where do rocks come from -- where do the weeds come from?
"Surely an enemy hath done this."
There must be seeds
that have been sitting in that soil for a thousand years,
just waiting for a chance to germinate.
With weeds or rocks, there are no ultimate victories.
Weeds in our spiritual life --
what might they look like?
One might be that I don't value the gift of faith and Christian life
that has been given to me.
It is just something that happened along the way.
I can take it or leave it -- it doesn't really matter.
This is a very human phenomenon --
our default position for so many important things,
is to take them for granted.
Lent is a good time to talk to someone
for whom a living faith matters:
a faculty resident, a faculty member,
someone in campus ministry, or a friend.
If you are taking a theology class,
really give yourself to it.
(I wouldn't be here, but they made me do it!)
Read, study, think, pray!
Ask the flat-footed questions that bug you.
There a lot of other weeds to talk about but this is a big one.
The relationship that each one of has with Christ
has to be truly ours, not somebody else's.
Another kind of weed that can strangle
our relationship with God and each other is sin.
If I don't treat myself and others with care
because of my use of alcohol;
if I am just uncaring and mean to a roommate or friends;
if I treat the world as my wastebasket;
in the Catholic world we call that sin.
Lent is a time to turn away from sin
and turn toward the Gospel.
Recently some provocative atheist organizations
have taken out ads on buses in England that say:
"Most likely God does not exist --
so stop worrying, enjoy yourself and love life!"
Pretty cheeky, I think,
because the implication is that if God does exist,
we should be worrying and not enjoying life,
which is baloney.
We need to remember that Lent is not an end in itself,
it always takes us through the cross, yes,
to the resurrection of Jesus and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Lent is reminding us of this possibility of transformation,
big and small, that is part of our relationship with Christ.
We live in hope and in joy because of our faith in Christ.
Maybe the question to live with in this season is:
"What are you doing with the garden?"
Abbot John Klassen, OSB
February 25, 2009
|
