A Homily for the Third Sunday of Lent

+ “Eratis enim aliquando tenebræ: nunc autem lux in Domino. Ut filii lucis ambulate…” (You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.) 
 
As this holy and grace-filled season of Lent proceeds, these characteristically blunt words of Saint Paul proclaimed anew to us in this morning’s Epistle summarise well where we are and what we must do. So too, this morning’s Epistle clearly catalogues all that we must avoid if indeed we are to live as children of light, if we are to hope for heaven: “Be sure of this,” Saint Paul insists, (and through her Sacred Liturgy, the Church teaches us today):
 
“No fornicator or impure man, or one who is covetous (that is, an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for it is because of these things that the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not associate with them.”
 
St Paul is nothing but consistent. In his first Letter to the Corinthians, he is similarly explicit in his list of those who will not inherit the Kingdom of God. “Do not be deceived,” he warns us, listing the immoral, idolaters, adulterers, sexual perverts, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, and robbers. It is quite a list – apposite reading, surely, for Lent – to which St Paul adds six sobering words: “And such were some of you.” (cf. 1 Cor. 6:9-11)
 
Light and dark; virtue and vice; good and evil; sin or grace: these are the choices that are before us. And yes, many of us have made the wrong choices at times, even gravely wrong ones. We have risked or even squandered our inheritance in the Kingdom of God for worldly pleasure or gain, in the pursuit of power or out of pride. We have loitered in the shadows, taking more than tentative steps along the dark paths that in fact lead to perdition, howsoever we may have been persuaded otherwise by the Prince of Darkness and his disingenuous allies.
 
As Lent progresses, by recalling these hard – and perhaps embarrassing – truths, the Church, as a wise mother, does us a great service. For these truths are just that: truths – and upon them we shall be judged. According to our freely made, conscious decisions in respect of them we shall deserve the eternal punishments of hell or the unending bliss heaven. In Lent, above all, we must be utterly clear about this. If there are areas in which we still linger in the shadows, now is the time to turn around and to walk towards the light. If past sins have wounded us, Lent is the time willingly to offer Almighty God joyful penance in reparation for the damage we have done. If we have torn down the Kingdom of God by our actions, this holy season is the time to rebuild it through prayer and almsgiving.
 
So too, our Holy Mother, the Church, warns us in the Gospel of this Mass lest we become complacent: even if our soul is cleansed from sin and vices have been swept away, we must be prudent and be on our guard lest the devil send worse and stronger temptations to conquer us. Prudence is not paranoia and being on guard should not lead us to anxiety or despair. Rather, prudence is to be found in the use of the regular means of grace, most particularly in fervent daily prayer, frequent confession and the fruitful worthy reception of the Most Blessed Eucharist. For if we follow this course, it is the Risen, Victorious Christ who guards us! Hope Himself banishes all anxiety and despair!
 
St Benedict exhorts his monks, and those who would become monks, in the Prologue of his Rule thus:  
 
“Up with us then at last, for the Scripture arouseth us, saying: Now is the hour for us to rise from sleep. Let us open our eyes to the divine light, and let us hear with attentive ears the warning that the divine voice crieth daily to us: Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. And again: He that hath ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. And what doth he say? Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Run while ye have the light of life, lest the darkness of death overtake you.”
 
The import of these words, almost entirely taken from Sacred Scripture, is perennial. In Lent their import ought to be all the more clear. For “while there is still time” we must “hasten to do now what may profit us for eternity,” no matter what our state in life or current stage of progress (or lack of it) in our particular vocation.
 
Through the mercy of Almighty God and the merits of Christ’s suffering and death on the cross, we are able to live in the light of the Lord’s Resurrection, even if once we were in darkness. Before His altar this morning let our thanksgiving for this be profound, and let our humility be real, so that we may be ever more open to the particular graces we need in order to take further steps, decisive and heroic ones if necessary, this Lent, further away from the darkness of death towards the light of Everlasting Life. +