It Is Our Choice

Homily for the First Sunday of Lent
9 March 2014

“To live is to change, and to become perfect is to have changed often.”

        These words by the English theologian Blessed John Henry Newman truly sum up for us what should be not only our Lenten experience, but the course of our lives.

        My brothers and sisters, our readings this day set before us the context by which our lives are to change and we are to become perfect: our choices. Our First Reading and Gospel explicitly show us how in Salvation History choices made by individuals have made an impact not only on their own relationship with God, but ours as well.

        Adam and Eve were created perfect by the hand of God, as was the Devil. Yet because of his own pride, the Devil chose to live a life contrary to what God gave him – for we must remember that angels, too, have free will like us. And since misery loves company, the slithery serpent entices our First Parents to join him in that broken relationship with God. Out of their own free will, Adam and Eve choose to listen to the enticement of the Devil, knowing full well what God has commanded and asked of them.

        Fast forward a few millennia, and we find that same Devil tempting God, Himself, in the Divine Person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is hungry and tired, having been fasting and wandering in the desert for forty days. Yet, because He is the “New Adam”, Jesus is able to resist the enticements of His adversary. Our Lord, knowing how the Devil works, is able to choose His relationship to the Father over what His humanity would desire.

        One Adam chose his desires over his relationship with God and his spouse. One Adam chose to follow the will of His Father over the desires His flesh may have had.

        And now, two thousand years later, the choice is still ours.

        The Devil still knows his way around the human heart; he still knows how to entice us to choose that which will lead us away from God. And despite knowing God and knowing His commandments, we are still tricked into choosing that which is not the good, true or beautiful – that which is a bag of dirt with a bow on it. We still choose sin over the love of our God.

“To live is to change, and to become perfect is to have changed often.”

        If we are hoping to become perfect as our God, we need to constantly be changing. Not from fad to fad; not from personality to personality. Our authentic self needs to be constantly be changing to become more like Christ, to become more in-line with the eternal Love of God that created us.

        To become perfect, to truly enter into this Lenten journey, then we must constantly be tuning our hearts to the Sacred Heart of our Lord. For us to change often is to allow our hearts to pour mercy and forgiveness toward those who have wronged us, no matter how long ago it has been. And the change that we desire for must come from those items, those choices in our Lenten practices which should transform the entirety of our lives for the better.

        If we truly want to become perfect, if we truly want to be changed, if we truly want to live, then we have to make the choice to do so. We cannot simply think that giving up one cup of coffee or a little piece of chocolate will transform the whole of our lives. The choice to transform our lives to become more like Jesus Christ must begin with the choice to truly encounter Christ daily, to learn who He is, to fall in love with who He is, and to live out our relationship with our Lord.

        It is within our human nature to be like Adam and Eve: selfish in our desires and “looking out for number one.” However, it is through our Baptism and the living out of Christ’s Paschal Mystery that we have the opportunity to not only choose to become more like our God, but we also have the choice to shoo the Devil from our hearts and our lives.

        It is our choice to be like Adam and Eve, and succumb to the temptations of the Devil; or it is our choice to be like Jesus, and trust in the will of our God.

        And so, if we choose to follow our Lord more closely in this Lenten season, how will we do it? Will we run out of the church after Communion or the final blessing, or will we stay an extra minute or two and offer a prayer of thanks to God? Will we have loud conversations with our friends and family in the church, or will we allow the sacred space to truly be silent and sacred for all who wish to pray? Will we simply fit God in to our days, or will we allow our days and its activities to revolve around our relationship with God? Will we allow our hearts to be converted to God’s love, or will our selfish desires become that which continues to guide the choices that we make?

        It is our choice to become perfect.

        It is our choice to change.

        It is our choice to live.

        It is our choice to be like Adam and Eve.

        It is our choice to become like Jesus.

        It is our choice to enter into this Lenten season with joy.

        It is our choice to see Lent as a “spiritual chore”.

        It is our choice to eat the forbidden fruit.

        It is our choice to reject the Devil and all his empty show.

        And now, within the context of our lives, we have the opportunity to repeat the history we have just heard – by either choosing to be like our First Parents, or choosing to be like our Savior.

        For us gathered here [this evening / this day], I would like to believe that we have chosen to become more like Christ, knowing that the choice for temptation is a simple cross over the fine line. I would like to believe that each one of us here has chosen to be here [tonight / today] to have their hearts converted to become more like the Sacred Heart of our God. I would like to believe that each one of us has chosen the invitation to that deeper relationship that Christ invites us to.

        I would like to believe . . . but I don’t know your hearts.

        But I know the choice you made to be here [tonight / today].

        My brothers and sisters, the choice to follow Christ is before us every moment of every day – 24 / 7 / 365. If we truly believe that “to live is to change, and to become perfect is to have changed often,” then we must choose Christ above all else.

       

       

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Enjoy the journey . . .