FATHER RICH'S GOSPEL REFLECTION

First Sunday of Lent

A - February 10, 2008

Lent is the Christian Community's yearly retreat.

The story of Jesus being led by the Holy Spirit into the desert constitutes the basis for the disciples of Jesus to go into their desert as well.  This movement into one's wilderness is the work of the God within us.  When God's Spirit, the Spirit whom Jesus calls the Spirit of Truth, sends us into the quiet of our souls - our desert - it is for the purpose of allowing us to be brutally honest with ourselves.  Brutally honest is the bold statement which Bogdan Janski, the founder of the Congregation of the Resurrection, uses for growth in spirituality.

Facing our demons is a commonly used phrase.  Is is, even in non-religious circles, a way of living honest lives.  Unfortunately, self deception is all too common.  The 12-step spirituality for addicted people insists on self-accusation for getting real.  The misunderstood chapter of faults of some monastic traditions is the way in which monks and nuns have used to keep themselves in touch with their own shadows.  A human community, or a single human being, runs the risk of living in a fantasy world if it considers itself without flaws, without sin!

I'll close in repeating what I wrote in 2005: [The desert] is stark, arid, harsh, and often frightening.  Liturgically, our church buildings are directed to be stark and arid during the Lenten season.  In our daily activity, we are asked to fast and abstain from certain foods.  In and of themselves, none of these things are significant; but symbolically, they can be powerful.  Out of the ordinary, such intentional behavior has the potential to be a catalyst for awareness of whom we are: graced, of course - but flawed, and more than simply flawed - and sinful.