Father Devine's Lenten Reflection

Having taught for many years, I know that most teachers are very happy if they learn that their former students remember enough to quote them (hopefully, somewhat accurately). During my theological studies, Fr. Walter Burghardt was one of my instructors. I’m not sure how much of what appears below is my own and how much Fr. Burghardt’s. So be it.

This Lent, if you want to share in the dying/rising of Jesus, skip the latest diet fad, forget the carrots and cottage cheese, the apple and diet Coke. Simply listen! To listen is to risk. It can take precious time, often when we feel we can least afford it. Be open to your children, your spouse, your co-workers, your neighbor. This can open you to others’ problems when you have enough of your own. Real listening is an act of love, even when people “dump” on you because they know you are a good listener. Listening is wonderfully human, splendidly Christian, almost divine.

During Lent, we are challenged to give up our lust for things, our acquired need for absolute security and unbounded comfort and luxury. There are no luggage racks in a hearse. Let go of the passion for power over others, the desire to bend them to do your will. Jesus was tempted to use His power for Himself and His own needs as we are reminded the first Sunday of every Lent. Fortunately, He had the wisdom and the courage to say:”Get behind me, Satan!”

For Lent, give up self-absorption where you take yourself too seriously, when the days and nights rotate around YOU, your blood pressure and your hiatal hernia, your successes and your failures. For an asceticism of humor, you must distance yourself from yourself, see yourself in perspective, as you really are. You are a bundle of contradictions, a paradox. You hope and despair, act manic and depressive, love and hate, sometimes feel bad about feeling good, occasionally feel guilty if you don’t feel guilty.

Whether it’s turning 40 or 55, whether it’s family problems or a nursing home or forced retirement -- whatever the imprisoning situation, I can feel not only different but diminished. I can be tempted to hark back to my glory days -- remember when?  Let the past be past. As Jesus shows us after the crucifixion, the best is yet to come. Dare to hope and to dream.

Too many Christians are unable to accept Christ’s Good News, His forgiveness. They wallow in guilt, are terrified of hell, are tormented by past offenses. Not for this did God become one of us. Fix your eyes not on yesterday’s sin but on today’s forgiveness and healing. If you are searching for some meaningful self-denial this Lent, stop looking back. Let God be God -- and do not be afraid.