Wobbling our way through Lent.

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Gospel: Luke 4: 1-13

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan
and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days,
to be tempted by the devil.
He ate nothing during those days,
and when they were over he was hungry.
The devil said to him,
“If you are the Son of God,
command this stone to become bread.”
Jesus answered him,
“It is written, One does not live on bread alone.”
Then he took him up and showed him
all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant.
The devil said to him,
“I shall give to you all this power and glory;
for it has been handed over to me,
and I may give it to whomever I wish.
All this will be yours, if you worship me.”
Jesus said to him in reply,
“It is written
            You shall worship the Lord, your God,
                        and him alone shall you serve.
Then he led him to Jerusalem,
made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him,
“If you are the Son of God,
throw yourself down from here, for it is written:
            He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,
 and:
            With their hands they will support you,
            lest you dash your foot against a stone.
Jesus said to him in reply,
“It also says,
            You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.
When the devil had finished every temptation,
he departed from him for a time.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Do you remember learning how to ride a bicycle?

I’ve seen pictures of myself peddling my plastic tricycle in our family driveway as a toddler. Then I became a “big boy,” graduating to a real bicycle with training wheels. Eventually, I outgrew those, too, and had to learn how to pedal on my own.

That’s the scary part.

I’m sure many parents have had that heart dropping feeling of watching your child wobble without training wheels. At first, you hold onto the back of their seat as they struggle to find their balance.

Soon enough, children develop a sense of confidence, insisting that you let them go as they push and pedal on their own. For some, that command leads to a crash landing. 

For others, newfound freedom.

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That’s what Lent is all about.

Learning how to wobble. Pedal. Push. Balance.

Spiritually speaking, how to grow up.

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Most of the year, we fight with the Lord, trying to wrestle control of our lives, without really wanting God to let go. Think of a child trying to pedal on their own, while finding comfort knowing that Mom or Dad is still holding on.

During these days of Lent, in a sense, God lets go.

He puts us to the test.

He allows us to pedal on our own, discovering for ourselves what we’re made of, how spiritually mature we are. 

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In today’s Gospel, Jesus is put to the test; he’s tempted. 

At his baptism, the heavens are torn open as God affirms Jesus, saying, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” Immediately afterwards, the Spirit drives him into the desert, where Jesus must learn how to resist the devil – and, you might say, pedal on his own.

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Generally, when we think of the word “temptation,” we think about it in a negative sense. Temptations are those people and things that are not really good for us, yet we allow them to exercise control over our lives.

As Mark Twain once said, “The best way to get rid of temptation is to give into it.”

However, in the bible, the word “temptation” has a double meaning; it’s not only used in a negative sense, but also in a positive sense. 

While it does imply the trickery of the devil, or things that lure us away from virtuous living and the Lord, the word “temptation” also implies a divine “test.”

God tests our hearts – not to make us fail; rather, to strengthen us to do his will. In the case of Jesus, the desert is the place where he prepares for his public ministry.

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During the course of his ministry, Jesus does many wonderful things for others, but his own personal journey is riddled with difficulty. 

He is criticized by the religious authorities, misunderstood by his own family, betrayed by Judas, abandoned by his friends, and eventually left for dead, beaten and bloodied on a cross.

Yes, the devil attacks him. Yes, Jesus is confronted by evil. But through it all, he perseveres and does his Father’s will perfectly because of the strength he cultivates during those forty days in the desert.

Humanly speaking, you might say, that’s where Jesus learns how to ride. He wobbles. Pedals. Pushes his way through those desert temptations.

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As we prepare for yet another Lent, perhaps God is calling us to dive deeper. Not simply to give up chocolate, coffee, or social media for forty days, repressing a particular appetite, but to really examine our conscience, asking questions like:

How important is God in my life? How much control do certain temptations have over me? How rich is my prayer life? How considerate am I of others?

Spiritually, have I learned how to ride my bike? Am I truly free to choose good and reject evil? 

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May God cast out any fear from our hearts, allowing us to wobble our way through Lent. To push. Pedal. Strive. Balance.

To discover that freedom, which allows us to do our Father’s will, to Calvary and beyond.

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Image credits: (1) (2) Today’s Parent (3) istock

Don’t hold your breath during Lent.

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Isaiah 58: 1-9

Thus says the Lord GOD:
Cry out full-throated and unsparingly,
lift up your voice like a trumpet blast;
Tell my people their wickedness,
and the house of Jacob their sins.
They seek me day after day,
and desire to know my ways,
Like a nation that has done what is just
and not abandoned the law of their God;
They ask me to declare what is due them,
pleased to gain access to God.
“”Why do we fast, and you do not see it?
afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?””

Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits,
and drive all your laborers.
Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting,
striking with wicked claw.
Would that today you might fast
so as to make your voice heard on high!
Is this the manner of fasting I wish,
of keeping a day of penance:
That a man bow his head like a reed
and lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Do you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?
This, rather, is the fasting that I wish:
releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
breaking every yoke;
Sharing your bread with the hungry,
sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;
Clothing the naked when you see them,
and not turning your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed;
Your vindication shall go before you,
and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,
you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!

The Word of the Lord.

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I remember as a child playing a game with my cousins. We’d jump into our grandfather’s pool and see how long we could hold our breath for: ten, twenty, thirty seconds.

Sometimes the winner would have to wait underwater for over a minute until the loser was squirming, nearly blue in the face!

It was a pointless game, really. Boys being boys.

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That feeling of repression – of holding our breath in until we’ve nearly fainted – reminds me of a potential pitfall we face during Lent.

In addition to praying and giving alms, many of us give something up – caffeine, impatience, alcohol, social media, chocolate, etc.

The trick is doing so without becoming a grouch. Nobody wants to be around a “hangry,” irritable person. If fasting from caffeine only makes you tired and snappy, then something’s wrong.

As the prophet Isaiah warns the Israelites in our first reading: “Your fast ends in quarreling and fighting, striking with wicked claw. Would that you might fast so as to make your voice heard on high!”

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Yes, fasting can be painful at times. But it’s meant to direct our attention to our deepest hunger – our hunger for God – and towards the real hunger that many face without choice.

“Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless, clothe the naked when you see them,” Isaiah says. 

Do everything with a joyful, loving disposition. Then the Lord will hear us when we cry out to him.

Otherwise, if we’re just holding our breath until Easter, then we might as well dive underwater until we’re blue in the face.

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Image credits: (1) ibelieve.com (2) BBC Science Focus Magazine (3) maninthemirror.org

By the end of Lent, where will your cross be?

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Deuteronomy 30: 15-20

Moses said to the people:
“Today I have set before you
life and prosperity, death and doom.
If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God,
which I enjoin on you today,
loving him, and walking in his ways,
and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees,
you will live and grow numerous,
and the LORD, your God,
will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy.
If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen,
but are led astray and adore and serve other gods,
I tell you now that you will certainly perish;
you will not have a long life
on the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and occupy.
I call heaven and earth today to witness against you:
I have set before you life and death,
the blessing and the curse.
Choose life, then,
that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God,
heeding his voice, and holding fast to him.
For that will mean life for you,
a long life for you to live on the land that the LORD swore
he would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

The Word of the Lord.

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In our first reading, Israel is on the brink of returning from exile – a punishment which God allowed because of Israel’s repeated infidelity. Now they have the opportunity to re-enter a covenantal relationship with God through Moses.

“I place before you life and death,” he says. “Choose life.”

These are two extremes. There is no returning from death, nor is there an end to life in the Lord. But Israel must make a definitive choice now – as we all must during Lent.

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Interestingly, the verb Moses uses in his appeal to Israel – “return” – implies the turning back of both parties, Israel and God. 

God is ready to receive Israel again, but Israel must also choose life.

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At the very center of Moses’ message is the circumcision of the heart. Just as physical circumcision lays bare a most sensitive part of the body, the circumcision of the heart means the removal of any covering that disables the sensitive perception of God’s will.

The Lord asks the same of us during Lent.

Now is our time to remove sin from our midst; to return to the Lord, forsaking the paths that led us astray like our ancestors. 

It’s also a time for us to return to one another, to beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks; to forgive our enemies; to work for peace.

These spiritual practices are a practical type of cross – the cross of Christian living – which no one can escape if we are to be genuine disciples of Jesus, as he commands us to be in today’s Gospel.

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Today the Lord tells us to take up our cross – the practical cross of Christian living – and to follow him.

By the end of Lent, what will be the state of your heart? And where will your cross be?

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Image credits: (1) Endofthematter.com (2) The Heaton File, WordPress (3) Cedric Poole Ascetics