The Season of Lent begins this coming Wednesday – Ash Wednesday. This Liturgical Year of Grace is moving right along! And in the light of the Advent and Christmas Season that we have just celebrated, and the Sundays in Ordinary Time that we will suspend for several weeks beginning today, with its practical applications of the coming to earth of Jesus – we will now enter into two seasons which highlight the main point, the main reason why Jesus came to us, from the right hand of the Father: to FORGIVE SIN and to CONQUER DEATH so that we might have everlasting life. Unless we are very clear about these two things then we have missed the whole point of the Incarnation: the Word of God becoming Flesh: God's Friendship Becoming Man: Jesus coming to earth at Christmas.
And so for the next weeks of Lent you will hear in the readings and in the homilies about SIN and DEATH; the FORGIVENESS of sin and the TRANSFORMATION of death into eternal life! This leading up to the events of Holy Week, but also, to a Communal Service of Penance (Confession) to be held in conjunction with St. Mary's Parish in Bath at St. Mary's on Sunday, March 29 at 6:30pm. Fr. Rice, myself, and the Marists Frs. Ed and Andy will be there to celebrate God's immediate and direct forgiveness of your sins with you! By then, I am in hopes that many of you will find the need to attend. Some of you may have never even been to such a service – they are quite soothing and powerful indeed! As part of the "Friends Helping Friends" Program here at St. Ambrose there will be "carpooling" available on that night from here to St. Mary's.
Today, then, let our first lesson on the Lenten theme of Forgiveness and Life be this: sin is what we think and what we say and what we do that we ought not to have thought or said or done (both of serious and less serious matter); it is also thoughts and words and deeds that we don't do; that we omit, that we writ- off as "does not apply to me," – again both of serious and less serious content. We sin by doing and by not-doing! And understood properly everyone sins, everyday! In the Book of Job we read: "even a virtuous man sins seven times a day!" Now this is not to be morbid – or overly analytical – or pessimistic – but I relate this simply to encourage you to have your "sin radar" up and running at all times: so you can steer yourself back on to the middle of the highway of spiritual health and life if you should veer to the left or the right! With practice it can become easier and easier to stay on track!
Now about sin:
Taken from the first reading today from the Prophet Isaiah: God is speaking: "It is I, I, who wipe out, for my own sake, your offenses, your sins I remember no more." God does not like it when the relationship of friendship that he established with us is broken by sin! He wants us to be his friend – so for his own sake he wipes out our offenses and our sins – so that we can begin again! He also does it for our sakes – so that we can be forgiven, so that we can be healed, that we can be truly divine friends of his again!
The "Alleluia" verse today reminds us that Jesus is the one whom the Lord (God the Father) sent to bring glad tiding to the poor, and to proclaim liberty to captives: those who were enslaved and captured by sin! This is great news!
The second reading today from the Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians assures us that the promise God made to Noah – and indeed all the promises he made to mankind are always in effect! They are always "Yes." God does not change his mind – he is not "Yes" one minute and "No" the next – he is always "Yes" – in fact Jesus is "God's YES made Flesh!" When we see and hear Jesus we see and hear God keeping his word, his promise to have mercy on us, to forgive us our sins and to bring us to everlasting life! This is very hopeful and very comforting to know! God / Jesus is always on our side – always doing everything they can to refresh, renew and restore us in Divine Friendship with them!
The gospel passage, of course is the classic story, of Jesus ability and power – his "Yes" which cures both disease and illness, and which also forgives sin! He told the paralytic to
rise and walk – for his sins were forgiven! Thereby Jesus displayed a double power – over the natural world and the supernatural world! And everyone who saw and heard this was astounded that he could not only heal physically, but also spiritually!
Jesus wants to be our "Yes" too – not only over our sins, but also over our diseases – and so on the 4th Sunday of Lent (March 22) – "Rejoice Sunday," the first Sunday of Spring, we will have a healing service involving the anointing of the sick right here at Mass - with the "Oil of the Sick" blessed by the bishop! Keep this in mind so you can invite people to come and you can pray for an increase in faith – an increase of your "Yes" – so that those receiving that sacrament will get the full benefit of it. You will hear more about this at a later time. Those eligible to receive the sacrament are the elderly, the infirm, and those of any age suffering from any kind of illness of mind, body or spirit!
Lord, our God, heal us – for we have sinned against you – but we come before you with minds full of "YES" and hearts full of faith and love! Have mercy on us! Amen!
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