1st Sunday of Lent

PASTORAL LETTER

on

A PERSONAL JOURNEY OF FAITH

My Dear People,

“What are you doing for Lent?”  We’ve all been asked that question at one time or another and, by and large, our answers will range from the routine to the heroic.  I want to suggest in these few thoughts that it is perhaps the wrong question to ask anyhow.

Simply doing something for Lent can mean that we’re running away from the important challenge of this wonderful season of the Church’s year.  Lent isn’t just about doing things, it’s about a) looking at the face of Christ, knowing that when we find it, we will discover there an immense love for us b) Looking into our own lives and discerning what it is that keeps us from an ever deepening relationship with the Lord.  Any form of penance, almsgiving and fasting that we embrace is meant to assist us in overcoming those inner drives that keep us from Him.

Asking about doing is putting the same question that the rich young man asked of Jesus in the Gospel. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  I think he already knew the answer and was just seeking reassurance that he was alright.  And if you read the story (Mark 10: 17-22) you’ll see that Jesus tells him what to do – He lists the commandments for him.  But that wasn’t enough – more was needed. Jesus was trying to reach the young man’s heart, not just hear what he was doing.  We know this because the Gospel goes on to say that “Jesus looked steadily at him and was filled with love for him”.  The tragedy was that he wasn’t ready to experience that face to face encounter with Jesus and the overwhelming love that flowed from it.  He was unable to respond fully to what Jesus asked and “his face fell and he went away sad”.

Lent is very much a time when Jesus looks steadily at us and loves us.  He’s not so much interested in what we do but in who we are.  He wants to hold our eyes with His and lead us into the experience of His unconditional love for us.

Through today’s Gospel He makes similar demands of us as He did to the rich young man to put aside the temptation to wealth, power, deception.  Are we able to enter into ourselves and do battle with such things and make our lives what they could be, in the eyes of the one who created us?  Or do we, too, go away sad and take refuge in something less demanding?

Through our journey of faith during Lent, may we come to the joy of the Easter celebrations and rejoice together in the great gift of God, which is the new life of the Risen Christ.

+Thomas McMahon

Bishop of Brentwood