Homily

Has anyone ever told you to stop being so thankful, stop being so content, stop being so happy? Probably not. Has anyone ever told you to stop complaining? Probably yes, and it may even have been you, talking to yourself. We seem to be more inclined to paying attention to the people and things in our lives that are negatives, problems, troubles, and we tend to spend a lot more time and effort, thought and emotion on the difficulties we find facing us than we do on the positive people and events that are in our lives. We have all asked other people who appear sad, upset or angry, "What's wrong?" But have you ever gone up to someone and asked, "What's right?" (They would probably answer back, "what's wrong with you?")

Deep in the core of our spiritual awareness, we believe our lives should be filled with love, contentment, peace and a sense of well-being and satisfaction. So when something threatens or upsets the good life we believe we should have, it really gets our attention. That's why we invest more interest in what is wrong in our lives than we do about what is good in our lives. We want to fix it. But there's another problem here. Generally speaking, we usually think that most of what is wrong in our lives is coming to us from "out there" and not from "in here." So even though we acknowledge that we are sinners and that we have faults, what really gets us disturbed are the sins and faults of others, and the troubles and problems that come to us from "out there." Fill in the ending of this sentence: "My life would be so much better if _______." Is it something "out there," or something "in here"?

The Lenten season is often seen as a season of "nots," a time of negatives: giving up foods or other enjoyments, spending more time in prayer or at services in church (and even that can seem like a negative because I tell myself I am "so busy" I just can't take the time to do it), going to confession and confronting my sins, changing my daily routine, doing more spiritual reading instead of something else, setting aside money to help those in need, forgiving those who have offended me. We know that all of these things are good things in our minds, but many times we resist doing them because when it comes down to the nitty gritty, they actually seem negative to us. We resist doing them perhaps because when it gets down to answering the question, "What will make my life better?" we want to find those changes coming from "out there" and not from "in here" — because changing "in here" just seems so very hard to do. (But changing "all that - over there" is so very easy, right?)

Christ came to save us. He came to save us "in here." He came to save us so that we could live in Him. He came to save us despite the fact that we are sinners, because He is the one Who forgives us our sins. He came to save us that we might have lives that are as full and rich as they can possibly be, and to heal the wounds that have marked and weakened our lives in this world. He came to save us from all that is deadly and evil, from all that is inhuman. And even more than from other people, he came to save us from ourselves.

I know I need saving, but too often I think of being saved from people and things out there, but that's not the first place where I need it. So I ask you to consider this and see these coming weeks without any negative attitudes towards any extra spiritual work. Instead let us focus on the positive blessings that Lent can bring us to share in, because we positively need the help of the Savior. If you have any negative thoughts about the Great Fast, and usually those negative thoughts translate into spending this time basically the same way we spend our time the rest of the year, I ask you to please think about it again. What's right with Lent? It's a great opportunity to draw closer to the Savior. So that we can get right. So we can be genuinely right. Not out there, but in here. And let us give thanks to God, because even though we are often unfaithful and ungrateful and lazy about our own salvation, He still holds out His hand for us to take.