A Homily for Septuagesima Sunday

+ Some of us are gifted sportsmen or women; some of us are not. Some of us are young enough to exert ourselves physically with relative ease. Others amongst us can only remember such days. Yet in this morning’s Epistle Saint Paul insists that we must all “run…for victory” so as to achieve the prize reserved for the winner of the race—an exhortation that might seem a pleasant challenge to some and an impossible task to others.

Of course, St Paul is not speaking about a sprint at a sporting event. He is referring to the marathon of perseverance in the Christian life—an analogy which is quite apposite on Septuagesima Sunday when our Holy Mother the Church flags up our need to prepare ourselves for the spiritual effort that the exercises of Lent will soon demand of each of us.

For perseverance in the Christian life is no small or transient matter. The piety and zeal of youth is soon confronted with all of its temptations and all too many fall prey to the lures of the devil they disguise. The responsibilities of adult life, vocational and professional, make constant demands that can leave us exhausted physically and spiritually and tempt us to ‘cut corners’ and sacrifice our faith and principles in order to succeed more easily in the eyes of the world. Middle age can see us question the choices we have made and fret about all that we have not been able to do, inducing panic and despair as the reality of having lived the greater part of our lives sinks in. Nearing retirement can threaten us with the terrifying approach of the cessation of a busyness behind which we can hide for decades, tempting us to believe that our personal productivity and worth is about to come to an end; our very purpose for living can appear to be almost over. The burdens of the frailty and illnesses of old age can tempt us to the despair of believing that we are worthless burdens on others who are themselves rightly busy with their lives.

In all of this—as we sprint along the level, seaside roads or enjoy the panoramic views afforded by the higher plains, as we climb the steep hills and avoid the dangers of an all-too-fast descent down their other side, and even as our pace slows down with the continued effort this marathon demands, or as we struggle, injured and exhausted toward the finishing line—St Paul’s exhortation remains: “run…for victory”.

The question that this exhortation poses for each of us, wherever currently we are in the race, is: What is my goal? What am I aiming for? What is the ultimate end of my priorities, of my ambitions, of my daily actions? Put another way: Whom do I love and serve and speak about more: God or myself? Do I spend more time looking at the Cross, or in the mirror? Are my activities ordered to the Glory of Almighty God, or to my own? These are questions for the monk and the cleric, for the prince and for the prelate, just as they are for everyone else. For if I am to run for victory, I must have my destination clearly in view and the route must be cleared of obstacles.

In this light we must ask ourselves: Where are we going, and what is getting in the way of our getting there? What stands in the way of my winning the imperishable crown of which St Paul speaks and for which he is prepared to discipline and subdue his perishable body? Am I prepared to accept the discipline necessary to be victorious?

The temptation to give in to fatigue, to stop running the race, is very real. Sloth is one of the deadly sins. It saps us spiritually, leaving us sitting by the wayside to rot spiritually like garbage, as it were. And it is precisely in the face of this ever-present temptation that our wise mother, the Church, addresses us with St Paul’s exhortation so as to spur us on, to get us back onto our feet, to call us to advance once again towards our God-given end.

Septuagesima is not Lent, certainly, but its purple serves as a clarion-call to get up and get on with what needs to be done. We need to warm-up spiritually, to renew our determination, to get back into training, so that in Lent itself we can make real progress towards our goal.

It may be that we have been out of the race for some time, or that obstacles of our own or others’ making have been long-since in our path, and that the discouragement that they occasion has caused us to give up. It could also be that we have never considered the reality of the race, or of the prize that those who finish it shall gain. If that is so, let this morning’s poignant Gospel give us courage: even at the eleventh hour we are able to start it. And lest we who are well fatigued with the length of the route to date be tempted to complain at the short-cut offered to such latecomers, together with the generosity underlined in this morning’ Gospel, let us also remember that “there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” (Lk 15: 7)

“Run…for victory.” Wherever we are in this race, let us resolve this morning to take whatever steps are indeed necessary to make further progress, for as Our Lord teaches, only “he who perseveres to the end shall be saved.” (Mt 24:13) +