March 10, 2025
Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily on the 1st Sunday of Lent (Year C) on March 9, 2025, at Old St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Chicago, IL. The homily is based on the day’s readings: Deuteronomy 26:4-10; Psalm 91; Romans 10:8-13; and Luke 4:1-13.
Every year on the first Sunday of Lent, we hear the story of Jesus being tempted in the desert. However, the other readings today do NOT emphasize temptation. They are all about crying out to God in faith when we are in need.
This Lent, what gifts do we need from God? And what’s holding us back from asking God for those gifts?
Let us acknowledge the moments in our lives when we’ve failed to reach out to God and to one another.
I confess…
The most famous chapter in The Brothers Karamazov is a story told by the character Ivan, who is bitter and nihilistic. Perhaps Ivan’s bitterness comes from his self-imposed isolation from the world. Or maybe his bitterness has caused him to isolate himself.
Regardless of his motivations, Ivan imagines that Jesus Christ reappears in the 15th century and is quickly arrested by the Spanish Inquisition. The Grand Inquisitor, a heinously sinful man, privately questions Jesus. He doesn’t expect Jesus to answer, so it’s actually a monologue. According to the Grand Inquisitor, Jesus was wrong to reject Satan’s offers. The Inquisitor, who thrives on power, sees Jesus as rejecting the three ways to grab people’s attention: miracle, authority, and mystery. If Jesus had provided unlimited bread to people, if Jesus had exercised political authority, if Jesus had proved his divinity by jumping off the parapet of the temple without dying, then, says the Grand Inquisitor, everyone would have unquestioningly followed him. To the Grand Inquisitor, Jesus’ refusal to succumb to the temptations has led the world to unrest, confusion, and misery.
We know that such disgusting reasoning contradicts our understanding of our loving God who allows us free will. The Grand Inquisitor – who is supposed to be a minister of God – has reimagined Christianity as a religion of power and manipulation. But let’s face it: sometimes those accusations ring true. We live in a time when various religious groups are accused of supporting political agendas, both domestically and abroad.
But the twisting of motivations and the rationalizing of choices is done more egregiously in spheres far removed from religion. As we all know, we live in a time of rampant disinformation. Even when some people are proven wrong, they continue to shout their falsehoods until many others believe what they’re saying.
Of course, the main crucible for twisting our motivations is in our own heads. Over time, we start to justify the wrong and sinful things that we do, assuring ourselves that these acts are good and holy. The opposite happens, too: people come to believe that the good and holy things they do are wrong and sinful.
The writer Augusten Burroughs may have said it best: “Your mind is like an unsafe neighborhood; don’t go there alone.” Jesus was able to spend 40 days and 40 nights alone with his thoughts, but I don’t think the rest of us are strong enough to do so. Both the Grand Inquisitor and Ivan, the creator of the story of the Grand Inquisitor, spent a lot of time alone. When we isolate ourselves, our stray thoughts can overtake our gifts of reason and faith.
With technology and the pandemic, many of us have isolated ourselves in a kind of social and psychological desert. We have spent too much time wandering through the dark recesses of our brains alone, making ourselves more susceptible to getting beat up by our own dark thoughts without anyone else there to defend us.
This weekend, the Church celebrates an ancient rite witnessing that we are not alone. Here at Old St. Mary’s, we bring forward our catechumens and our candidate — those adults who have been preparing to become Catholic. We express our love and support for them, and then we send them on to Holy Name Cathedral for the Rite of Election. Next weekend, we’ll celebrate that same rite for the children of our parish preparing for their Easter sacraments.
The Rite of Election kicks off the most intense phase of preparation for our catechumens and candidates, called the Period of Purification and Enlightenment. The excitement builds from here to the Easter Vigil, now less than 6 weeks away. In ancient times, Christians were so excited to celebrate this period with the catechumens that the Church invented a new liturgical season. Yes, friends: Lent has its origins in all of us celebrating that we are not alone on our journeys of faith.
This Lent, perhaps we still need to go to the desert to avoid distractions. But if we choose to go to the desert, let’s be sure to take some companions with us. The last thing any of us needs is more isolation! Remember: the Israelites spent 40 years in the desert, but they did it as a community. Perhaps this is not the Lent to value autonomy, but to rekindle our sense of interdependence. We are more of who we’re called to be when we’re together. Join one of our Lenten small groups, come to our stations of the cross services, join us for 4 other special prayer services and workshops in the next 2 weeks.
This Lent, let us ask God for what we most need. If we have been lonely, tired, frustrated, or afraid, what do we need from God to overcome these challenges?
And then, let us trust that God will provide us with the gifts we need, and let us use these new gifts along with the ones that God has previously given us. As Marianne Williamson wrote many years ago:
“It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
This Lent, even as we confront the shadows within us, let us allow our light to shine for all the world to see… together!
Photo credit: Damian Gadal/Flickr/CC BY 2.0