March 14, 2022
Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily on the 1st Sunday of Lent (Year C) on March 6, 2022, at St. Austin Catholic Parish in Austin, TX. 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?
But first, let us acknowledge the moments in our lives when we’ve failed to reach out to God and to one another.
The most famous chapter in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s epic novel The Brothers Karamazov is a story told by Ivan, a bitter, nihilistic character. 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 he 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 of the temptations have led the world to unrest, confusion, and misery.
We know that such reasoning contradicts our understanding of a God of love who allows us free will. It’s sickening. 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 we do, assuring ourselves that these acts are good and holy. The opposite happens, too: people come to believe that 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. In isolation, away from others, our stray thoughts can grab ahold of us and overtake our gifts of reason and faith.
For the past two years, many of us have been in a kind of social and psychological desert. Many of us 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. Until March 2020, so much of my “self care” as a priest had revolved around dinners with friends and attending live performances. Since then, without those interactions, I have not the necessary emotional processing to keep myself on an even keel. It’s taken a toll.
So this Lent, maybe 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 in Lent 2022 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 try to rekindle our sense of interdependence. We are more of who we’re called to be when we’re together.
This Lent, we need to ask God for what we need the most. We’ve been lonely, tired, frustrated, and afraid. What do we need from God to overcome these challenges?
And then, we need to ask ourselves, why don’t we think that we deserve these gifts? Why do we so often think that someone else is more important to God than we are? Let us boldly ask for what we need, and then let us work with God to use those gifts, along with the ones that God has already given us. Marianne Williamson gives us a gentle prodding. She writes:
“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!