From the Deacon's Desk

I will be delivering the following homily at all Masses today (the Third Sunday of Lent) at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Indianapolis, IN:

Now that we have reached the halfway point of Lent, it may be a good time to reflect on the intent of this liturgical season. We speak often of the recommended behaviors of Lent – prayer, fasting, and almsgiving – but less often about the why of Lent. What is the purpose of Lent? Why is it necessary?

The Church sets aside time each year to reflect upon our constant struggle to maintain a strong faith – the ongoing cycle of reconciliation, conversion, and hope.

Carol and I used to lead a marriage preparation retreat called Tobit. It was a weekend experience for engaged couples focused on the integrated relationships of marriage: Each of the spouses’ individual relationship with God, their relationship with one another, and their joint marriage covenant with God – the extent to which they welcome God into their marriage.

One of the talks we gave at the retreat was called Dream, Disappointment, Discovery. In the talk, we shared about the cyclical nature of marriage. Marriage is not puppies and rainbows all day every day. There are ups and downs, hills and valleys to navigate.

The married couple begins their life together in the Dream stage – the love is strong and everything is going just as they always imagined it would. However, they are imperfect beings, and one or the other or both of the spouses will say or do something hurtful, or life will throw them an unexpected curveball, and they enter the Disappointment stage – the marriage is not going as they expected. Eventually, by putting in the work – prayer, honest communication, seeking help from others – they are able to restore the relationship. The Discovery stage emerges. The love the spouses have for one another is re-discovered, and the relationship is strengthened by going through the experience. Then the cycle starts all over again.

Dream, Disappointment, Discovery.

Such is the cycle of our faith. Such is the focus of Lent. However, instead of dream, disappointment, and discovery, the cycle of Lent goes from reconciliation to conversion to hope.

We are imperfect, sinful human beings. Try as we might to reach perfection, we stumble and fall again and again. The Lenten season calls us to acknowledge our brokenness and use the tools of Lent – prayer, fasting, and almsgiving – to seek reconciliation. Quite simply, that means to return to a “right relationship” with God, to come back into balance in our faith life and begin to tip the scales in God’s favor.

Reconciliation, while a necessary step, is only a first step. Reconciliation should lead us to conversion. Once we have recognized our need for reconciliation and taken the necessary steps to achieve it, we have to be willing to ask ourselves tough questions: What do I need to do to improve myself? How do I need to grow? What changes are necessary?

Reconciliation gets us back on our feet, conversion gets us moving forward.

Remember the words we say in the Act of Contrition: I firmly resolve…to sin no more (reconciliation) AND to avoid the near occasions of sin (conversion). Once we have been offered forgiveness, we need to discover how we can grow from the experience. 

Reconciliation, conversion, and finally, hope. During the six weeks of Lent, we use the tools of the season to reconcile our relationship with God and reflect upon ways to continue to grow and strengthen our faith. We do this with the end in mind – the hope made available to us through the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Lent allows us to stake a claim to our share of that Easter hope.

Reconciliation, conversion, hope.

The very fact we are imperfect is why it is necessary to repeat Lent each year, to ensure we regularly commit to restoring and energizing our relationship with God.

Just as marriages go through continuous cycles of dream, disappointment and discovery, so must our faith cycle through reconciliation, conversion, and hope if it is to continue to grow, strengthen and endure.

Regardless of the number of times our brokenness brings us back to the need for reconciliation and conversion, the hope offered by Jesus remains ever available to us.

In the passage we heard earlier from the Letter to the Romans, Paul wrote: “Since we have been justified by faith…God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”

In Catholic theology, being justified by faith means receiving the free, unmerited gift of God’s grace, moving a person from a state of sin to a state of grace, from sinfulness, to reconciliation and conversion, to hope.

Moments ago, we heard the beautiful gospel story of the Samaritan woman at the well. The woman came to the well at a time she expected no one else to be there. She was ashamed to be seen as her neighbors were very aware of her sinfulness.

In the short time Jesus spent with her, he invited her to step into her own personal cycle of faith. He encouraged her to seek reconciliation and to embrace conversion. Finally, he offered her the gift of hope.

The woman said, “I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ…” and Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking with you.”

Reconciliation, conversion, hope. There is always hope.

We can go through the reconciliation and conversion of Lent with confidence, knowing that the hope of Easter in on the way.