Mercy and Repentance

Homily for the Third Sunday of Lent
Sunday, 3 March 2013

       I often feel bad for the collects of the Mass. (Those are the prayers which “collect” our prayers together under one prayer.) Usually, everyone is just waiting to get through them, to say “Amen”, and to go on to the next portion of the Mass. The two “big” collect prayers are at the beginning of the Mass – our “Opening Prayer” – and the Prayer after Communion . . . you know, the one nobody hears because they leave before the Mass is over.

       Did you hear what today’s opening collect was asking of the Lord? Let’s take a listen to it again:

              O God, author of every mercy and of all goodness,
              who in fasting, prayer and almsgiving
              have shown us a remedy for sin,
              look graciously on this confession of our lowliness,
              that we, who are bowed down by our conscience,
              may always be lifted up by your mercy.

       My brothers and sisters, our readings today talk to us about God’s mercy and our repentance, and how our repentance helps us bear fruit for the Kingdom of God.

       We all know we’re sinners, and that’s why we have the Penitential Act at the beginning of Mass – to, as our collect today reminds us – “confess our lowliness”. This act of humility on our part helps us to recognize that we can’t live this life on our own . . . that we need God’s mercy. And the way that we are “lifted up by [God’s] mercy” is to always be repentant.

       But that “repentance” – that turning back to God – can only be done when we understand what it is that we have done. It is “with knowledge” that we turn to the Lord. That’s what “conscience” means, after all: “with knowledge”. We can’t bear fruit for the Kingdom of God if we’re not truly disposing ourselves to His mercy.

       Repentance is more than saying, “I’m sorry”. It’s more than seeking the mercy of God time and time again without trying to reform our lives. And we cannot simply presume the mercy of God – that’s a sin within itself. If we are supposed to be witnesses to our Faith and the mercy of God, what does it say when we are habitually late for Mass or when we leave right after receiving the Eucharist? How is that showing God that we want to live in a right and good relationship with Him? How is that presenting a great model of faith for our children and our neighbors? We simply tell God that we can fit Him in to our schedules when it’s convenient for us. We don’t want to take the time for the mercy of God to transform us because we’re too afraid to look at our lowliness through our conscience, because, with that knowledge, we would see how lowly we REALLY are!

       Yet, the act of repentance – especially through our complete celebration of the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation – allow us to be cultivated like the fig tree, and we bear the true fruit which tastes so sweet to others that they will want to come to know the Lord. But that’s not going to happen if we don’t look at our lives seriously, through the knowledge and insight we receive through the Holy Spirit – by taking that time in prayer. Our fruit will only be as good as the time we spend in soaking up the spiritual nutrients God is giving to us. And in these days of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, we are, hopefully, coming to that deeper knowledge of not only who we are and how lowly we may be, but that we may also come to know the full depth and width and breadth and height of the mercy of our God.

       This, my brothers and sisters, is the holy ground Moses once stood on. The ambo and the altar become the burning bush by which God comes to call us by name and send us out to gather His people again. And this God of mercy, this God who saves continues to call us back to Himself so that we may know Him better.

       This repentance is something that was called for on Ash Wednesday when we were told to, “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” Have we truly repented? Do we fully believe in the Gospel? Do we come before the great “I AM” now with full knowledge of our lowliness? Do we come to God truly asking for His mercy, or are we presuming it? Are we truly willing and waiting to be cultivated by God so that we may bear good fruit which will allow others to want to come to know Who Jesus REALLY is?

       Or do we tell God where we can fit Him in to our busy schedules?

       My friends, this is the moment to recognize our lowliness before God. It is now that we come before Him with full knowledge of who we are. It is here that we experience God’s mercy. For it is in the here and now that we do return to God with all our heart, and seek His tender faithfulness. Now is the moment when our God cultivates us to bear good fruit in the world.

       I believe a good summation was given to us by our most recent Holy Father, Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI, when he said:

The purpose of our lives is to reveal God to men . . . Only when we meet the living God in Christ do we know what life is. We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary. There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel, by the encounter with Christ. There is nothing more beautiful than to know Him and to speak to others of our friendship with Him . . . it is beautiful and wonderful, because it is truly a service to joy, to God’s joy which longs to break into the world.

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Enjoy the journey . . .