“Even now, says the Lord.
return to me with your whole heart,
with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;
Rend your hearts, not your garments,
and return to the Lord, your God.” (Joel 2:12-13)
These words form a part of a prophecy. This prophecy is uttered by the prophet Joel. It was occasioned by a plague of Locusts. The plague of Locusts disrupted all order in life. The Locusts came frequently.
In the face of one such plague, the prophet Joel exhorts the people to turn to the Lord with their whole hearts.
“Blow the trumpet in Zion,
proclaim a fast,
call an assembly;
Gather the people,
notify the congregation;
Assemble the elders,
gather the children and the infants at the breast;
Let the bridegroom quit his room and the bride her chamber.
…let the priests…weep, And say, “Spare, O Lord, your people…”
(Joel 2:15-16, 17)
It is with this tone of urgency, and desperation, occasioned by a plague of locusts, that the prophet urges the people to turn to the Lord.
Now sin in our lives can be like a plague of Locusts. The things we do which are wrong…we know that they are wrong… yet, we do them freely…and frequently.
They are our own plague of Locusts.
We are tempted by them.
We give in to the temptation.
We commit the sin.
We seldom confess the sin.
Yet, we return to the same pattern of sin.
This is indeed our own personal plague of Locusts.
It can disrupt the order of our lives. It may disrupt the order of our home and family life. It may adversely affect the lives of countless others. It certainly distracts us from our true vocation in life which, the scripture tells us, is to be holy as the Father is holy.
And so the Church our Mother and Teacher, like the prophet Joel of old, places before us the discipline of Lent… places before us the challenge of ongoing conversion of heart.
The gospel mentions the three time-honored penitential practices for Lent…Fasting, Prayer and Almsgiving. However, the gospel issues a warning first of all. “Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them.” The point is, do not perform righteous acts merely for others to notice.
Why? Because these external gestures are meant to express a much deeper reality. They are meant to express a desire for conversion of heart. Remember the instructions of the prophet Joel. “Rend your hearts, not your garments.” Hearts not merely garments!
The liturgist tells us that the observance of Lent did not begin as a commemoration of the Journey of Jesus to Jerusalem, to his passion and resurrection. Rather, it began as a reflection on the 40-day desert experience of Jesus… as he prepared for his public ministry.
None-the-less the image of the journey, the image of the pilgrimage is one which remains with us. For example, Pope John Paul II in his message for Lent a few years ago said:
“Lent is a journey of evolving, creative reflection which inspires penance and gives impetus to every aspect of our commitment to follow the Gospel. [He goes on.] It is a journey of love which opens the hearts of believers to our brothers and sisters and draws them to God.”
He calls Lent a journey of “evolving, creative reflection which inspires penance and gives new impetus to every aspect of our commitment to the Gospel.” He had a reason for saying that. Up until Lent of 1966 all Roman Catholics were bound by a universal law obliging them to abstain from meat on Fridays. This universal obligation was relaxed in 1966 by Paul VI. His intention was to renew the understanding of penance in the Church. He stressed that penitential practice is not so much an obligation to be prescribed by law, but is a responsibility of every Christian who must live out the ongoing conversion begun in baptism. The unfortunate thing is that the obligation was relaxed, but the reason for that was completely forgotten.
In addition Paul VI indicated the need for our penitential practice, our Lenten observance, to have a definite social dimension. This is another point largely forgotten, so it seems.
In the absence of specific and universally binding directive, we are being told our Lenten observance must be “evolving and creative.” That is to say, relevant to our needs. And we are not to neglect the social or community dimension, for this is a journey of love which opens our hearts to others and draws them to God.
Where does this leave us? My dear friends, it leaves us with the gospel. The Gospel today speaks of fasting, almsgiving and prayer. This gospel is but a part of the great Sermon on the Mount which is the very core of the teaching of Jesus. Recall how earlier the gospel says: “You are the salt of the earth, but that salt must not loose its flavor. You are the light of the world but that light must not be put under a bushel basket.” (Matthew 5:13ff) Care for others. Be concerned for others. Get to know others and their needs and concerns. Deepen the sense of community among ourselves. We are fond of speaking about the ‘old days’ when everyone in the neighborhood knew everyone else. All the youth were answerable to all the adults in the community. We speak fondly of those days. Let us make an effort to deepen the sense of community among us this Lent.
There is a coda to our gospel today. These are its parting words.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, not thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will be your heart.” (Matthew 6:19-21)
As Lent begins then, let us ponder and pray and act upon ways to care for others and thus strengthen the sense of community among ourselves.
We are asked to Fast and Abstain on this day. We are invited to have Ashes imposed upon us. We are challenged to take our devotional duties much more seriously throughout the next 40 days.
All these are ways of acknowledging the Locust of sin in our lives and doing something about it. Let us try, with God’s grace, to turn away from sin and to live the gospel. That is what the Season of Lent is for. For that purpose…
Now is the acceptable time! Now is the day of Salvation!
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