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February 19, 2023: Lent - A Season for Greater Holiness and Greater Witness to Christ
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As the holy season of Lent approaches this coming week, it would be fitting to engage in some small preparation before Ash Wednesday arrives. For lack of a better example, short preparation for the holy season of Lent of 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness of this world can be likened (somewhat) to attending a sporting event. Remember when the New England Patriots used to make the Super Bowl most years? The anticipation and excitement of the game finally arriving on Sunday evening at 6:30 p.m. or thereabouts? A level of anticipation a fan can feel only when your team is playing in the game, which we became used to. We had all week (2 weeks in fact) to prepare mentally and physically for the game. The physical part revolved around enough food to be consumed and which clothes were going to be worn. Was the shirt coming from the closet going to be Brady, Gronkowski, Wilfork, Hightower, McGinest, or Edelman? Tough choices. The mental preparation was centered on “are they going to win?”
The same goes for Red Sox fans, many of whom are Patriots fans too. When the Red Sox used to be good enough to make it to the playoffs, then advance to the World Series, our nighttime schedule would be altered from going to sleep at 10:00 p.m. or so, to whenever the game ended, usually after 11:00 p.m., once in a while going past midnight. We didn’t seem to be bothered all that much for two or three weeks while they advanced through the playoffs, We prepared ourselves each night after work and dinner for a baseball game with much meaning to it. It was like, “Yea, I’ll make up my sleep when all this is over. In the meantime, I hope I don’t fall asleep at work, especially if I drive for a living.”
Something we have here in New England, or been blessed to have for about 20 years and running, is our ability to adjust from our daily routine to another routine that revolves around sports. We love our teams so much, maybe at times in inordinate and excessive ways, that, when all is on the line for a world championship, we make any life adjustments that will serve our fan appetite so we can enjoy the fullness of the experience before us. An experience that is momentary, meaning in the moment, but one that has the potential to be remembered for years to come. Such as the breaking of the Curse of the Bambino in 2004. Here we are in 2023, almost 20 years after the fact, and I remember it like it was yesterday. And, if I lived to be 981 years old like Noah or one of those great people of God way back then, I would still remember the breaking of the Red Sox curse at the age of 980 like it was yesterday. Even if I had dementia. The 2 things I will never forget in my life are, one, the combination of the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be. And second, the breaking of the Curse of the Bambino. I confess, I’m a diehard Red Sox fan. But I will never apologize for my love for my Catholic faith.
Again, this may not be the best example of preparation for the season of Lent. If anything, the process of preparation may be similar, but for very different reasons. After all, we begin Lent with a Gospel on prayer (which is very good), fasting (which is good for the body and soul, but tough to do at times), and almsgiving (giving until it hurts). Then, we move into a Sunday Gospel on the first Sunday of Lent that has Jesus, the Son of the living God, being tempted by the Devil in the wilderness on what is unaffectionately known today as the Mount of Temptation. And Jesus thought he was heading out to the wilderness all alone. Well, maybe the Lord thought the evil one might possibly rear his ugly head, but the Lord was hoping for the same we hope to know this Lent; 40 days of quiet time with his Father, with a few angels to care for him. Instead, he got some disruption and interference when the Son of God was hoping for silence and intimacy with the first and third Persons of the Holy Trinity.
While the sports fan in us (or many of us, but not all) approaches a game or series with the highest anticipation caused by excitement of the highest sort, our approach to the season of Lent is much more solemn. It would be fair to say that in both situations, we hope for the same result. We hope to win over the opponent. In sports, the number one opponent for us in this area of the world is, hmm, the New York Yankees. And if we lived in New York, the number one opponent would be the Boston Red Sox. The level of excitement these two teams draws for a playoff series could only be considered off the charts. How can anyone not love this level of anticipation for a sporting event, as long as it does not result in families breaking apart. On the other hand, the level of excitement for Lent and addressing temptations of the devil is, shall we say, addressed in a more personal and internal manner. We tend not to go about our home and work environments talking to others about how we are going to defeat sin over the next 40 days and beyond. My hope and prayer, however, is that there is present some degree of excitement and anticipation towards the cleansing of our souls as we, with the help of God, seek to lay low the opponent of all opponents who has the potential to torture us in ways that even the Yankees cannot.
I guess we could say there are at least two types of excitement and anticipation. First, that of our sports team making it to the playoffs and all that follows them earning a spot in the post-season. Lots of food; potato chips, shrimp cocktail, pizza, appetizers galore, and other good-tasting junk food, accompanied by yelling, screaming, cheering, booing, and those who stand in the corner conversing about climate change, trying to play God and save the world, not caring much about what’s going on with sports. And second, the type of excitement that looks forward to winning some battles over the temptations of the pitchfork man through the grace of God and His almighty power, carrying our victory forward each day throughout Lent and for years beyond. This is, as stated above, a more solemn excitement and satisfaction, more internal, where the Spirit of God resides. There’s no yelling or screaming at TV’s, or even pounds of junk food on surrounding tables and counters. But there is humble satisfaction when we win battles, and the greatest satisfaction when God leads us to winning the war that brings us home one day. When this happens, of course, the celebration makes breaking the Curse of the Bambino look like small fries. I’m sure many of us have heard a group of fans go crazy when something good happens for our sports team during a big game, and how loud and boisterous they sound. I would compare this as near silence when placed aside the choirs of angels celebrating our victory as we enter through the Pearly Gates, ensuring our eternal victory over the bad man with bad fire in his ways. Rather, we enjoy the good fire of the Holy Spirit forever, where death is no more and life is eternal.
Lent is a special time set apart by God’s Church for us, its occupants, to go deeply internal with our desire to right any present wrongs in our lives. Such wrongs could be sins of the flesh; they could be battering people’s reputations, or being complicit in such acts; it could be our lack of concern or generosity towards the poor, the immigrant, the alien, widow, or orphan whom God defended to the max in the Old Testament. It could be a lack of visiting someone we absolutely should be visiting, but have not done so because we consider our lives to be “too busy.” This is where adjustments are to be made, whenever we use “I’m too busy” as an excuse that prevents us from carrying out an act of love that should be automatic. Very simply, make time. Our desire this Lent to right any wrongs could be connected to family and all that can go so badly wrong in this most important part of life. Societies depend upon healthy families for survival. This takes Christian courage and the ability to forgive like Jesus did. The wrongs to right could be associated with finances, with truth-telling, with unnecessary exaggerations, with absence or lack of devotion to prayer.
The temptations of this world are many. Some would say too many to count. We can also say, not so many that God cannot handle them with us. As we begin this great season of conversion and repentance, may we approach it like it just might be our last one before we head home to the place where angels sing and Saints intercede. This has become a prayerful thought of mine over the past number of years; “Will I be around next year for Lent to take advantage of the opportunity to cleanse my soul even more during a specific holy season we have in the Church in preparation for the greatest excitement of heaven?” Or, is this my last Lent? Who knows how the next year will play out for any of us. Have no fear to grab this Lent by the horns in search of the holiness that forms and shapes a Christian to live in the world, but not be of the world. The first Christians after Jesus’ resurrection were seen as different from the pagans who lived by the spirit of the world. The first Christians adopted holiness from Christ, understanding and trusting that Jesus was with them in Spirit giving them the strength to win victories and persevere in the faith. Sports this is not. As Jesus says in the Gospel, there’s something greater going on here. And so it is for Lent. A greater season for greater holiness and greater witness to Christ.