A Homily for the First Sunday of Lent

+ In these holy days of Lent, and especially during this Holy Mass, the Church dwells at great length on the ninetieth Psalm, the “diabolic Psalm.” This reference to as being diabolic is on only two grounds: it describes the acts of the Devil in some detail; and it is the passage which the Devil quotes in his only recorded use of Scripture. Yet it is not so much singing of the Devil’s activity, as the numerous manners in which God protects us from the Devil and gives us the grace to conquer him. St Benedict, thus, gives it to his sons to sing as a daily exorcism at the office of Compline.

Connecting this Psalm with Lent follows naturally from within the classical framework of symbols which now lies largely forgotten – yet it is stated clearly in the Gospel — a Gospel passage which even our literal world has not entirely forgotten and which offers a Christological parallel to our Lenten fast. The desert is understood to be the domain of the devil – a dry dead wilderness without water or comfort. Christ goes out to the desert “that He should be tempted by the Devil,” or as St Benedict would describe it: an anchorite will “go out well-armed from the ranks of the community to the solitary combat of the desert” (RB 1) — a description shows a principal motive of the desert fathers leaving the city to enter the desert – clearer still in the life of Saint Anthony where he starts his eremitical life in a sepulchre – “death having come through sin” (Romans 5:11). The desert is diametrically opposed to Christ Who is Life (cf. John 11:25).

Entering the desert is to take the combat against sin and death into the domain of the devil himself. This is what we undertake during those sacred days of expiation and purification. This is what St Benedict recognises should always be a characteristic mark of the monk’s life; yet few, he recognises, “have the strength for that” (RB Chapter 49). Our Lenten disciplines are to allow new life in grace to flourish within our persons, rather than causing us an empty discomfort.

The struggle for renewed life in Christ should never be confined to oneself but be offered also for others. So too ought our Lenten discipline helps bring Christ to those others around us who do not know Him – prayer and fasting for the conversion of sinners, and also as charitable works such as instructing those ignorant of the truth of God. Whilst outside of Lent we are satisfied with keeping guard so that the devil cannot enter, in these days of grace we march taking the battle out to him. And our marching song is Psalm 90.

In the first words of the Psalm, we recognise the keystone, which the Devil tried to remove when quoting the Psalm to tempt Our Lord: Without living in the help of the Most-High, there can be no victory. Unless we rely on His Grace, we shall fail in the one thing that matters – salvation. All that is undertaken in the Lenten discipline, as was the retreat of the desert of the fathers, is for the ultimate intention of salvation; certainly, there can be other more proximate intentions, but they themselves must be motivated as an aid to salvation, not as an end in themselves.

Our reliance on the Grace of God should not be confined to individual moments or situations, we must live in it; it must be our continual and habitual state. This does not mean that we presume to do things that are far beyond our capacity — any man will die if he jumps from the pinnacle of the temple — but that we do all things relying on Him that they may bear fruit, even fruit that we cannot foresee. God never fails, although we may not understand His acts until long afterwards – if we ever do before judgement. Whilst God never fails, He does allow us licence to depart from Him if we so choose so to do.

What God asks of us is to overcome sin, to “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). This is the grace that God gives to those who have a complete and full trust in Him. This is to ask for more than simply not sinning; but to give glory to God. But we are not there yet. We do not always trample the serpent inviting us to sin (cf. Genesis 3:4-5). We sometimes allow a falsehood to enter through the shield of truth, which allows us to act outside the manner envisioned us for salvation. This can only happy if we choose to act from ourselves rather than God.

We should take great comfort from those parts of this Psalm which are put before us for contemplation more directly. God will hear our cry when it raised up to Him. He will liberate us from our temptation and sin if we truly Him to so do. He will give us the full protection of His truth encircling us and overshadowing us. He will lead us to glory and Himself us give us the due measure of glory which accords with our response to His grace. We must ever follow Him remaining attentive to what should be done unto His glory in any given situation. The devil will then truly be vanquished through his own jealousy of the glory God has given us. +