My dear friends, over the last 20 or 30 years, there has been a tremendous change in medicine, a change for the better. For I remember when I was a little boy, I always avoided going to the doctor until there was absolutely no possibility of avoiding it.
But now we are told that we should be more proactive. We speak of “wellness visits,” that we should take our health more seriously and do what’s necessary to prevent disease from coming in the first place because our health is a precious gift: the health of body, health of mind.
Well, that being the case, my friends, you and I gather here on this first (day) of the discipline of Lent so that we may begin a spiritual wellness check: to look at the health of our spiritual life, and if necessary, ask the Lord for the remedy. We might need to become more healthy in our relationship with him and our relationship with each other.
For example, as there is disease in the physical body, so there is disease in the spiritual life. And that disease, you and I know, (is) our sins. They are poison. They destroy the grace that is meant to dwell in our hearts. It turns us against God, ourselves and our neighbor. And first and foremost, if we seek spiritual wellbeing or health, our sins need to be admitted. They need to be placed before the mercy of God in the sacrament of confession. And he will forgive them. That, my friends, is essential for spiritual health.
These 40 days will allow us many opportunities to root out the disease of sin. But there is more to spiritual health. And in these 40 days, the Church asks us to look at three tools to help us to grow more spiritually alive: prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
And what does all that mean? Will allow me to ask you three questions, my friends?
How comfortable are you or I to sit in the quiet of our rooms, our cars, whatever place we choose, and to sit in the presence of the Lord and allow him to speak to us? That ultimately is what prayer is. It is more than saying prayers. It’s allowing the Lord to touch us with his mercy, his compassion, his warning, his admonition, his challenge, whatever it is he wishes to tell us. Any relationship requires two speaking, not one. And if you are sitting there saying to yourself, “Bishop, you know, I’m not exactly sure how to do that,” then in Lent is the time for you and I to learn it again: to learn to be silent, to learn to listen, to learn to understand the signs of God’s presence in our lives. For that takes us to ever greater health in the Spirit, to learn how truly to pray.
No different than fasting. You know my friends, we fast today (and) Good Friday. We abstain from meat from the Fridays of Lent, and you are invited to do it every Friday of the year. We do that for a reason. We deny ourselves to remind ourselves that everything is a blessing. Everything is a gift. We live in a world that’s entitled. We live in a world that wants us to believe our possessions are what really matters. And in that world, our possessions possess us. Fasting gives us freedom to understand everything is a blessing. And I can give up this or that or the other because by doing that, whatever I would have spent on that, I can give to you or to as someone in need. It’s freedom. How free are you and I?
And lastly, almsgiving. My friends, we are called to love our neighbor as ourselves. And in a world where talk is cheap, what do we in fact do to love our neighbor in the concrete, in the daily life? Today, you and me.
What I outlined for you and me today is not easy, my friends. It is a regimen far more difficult than any cardiac regimen, any exercise regimen, anything you and I would do with our physical diet. This is a lifetime’s work, but that is what we are called to do as disciples of Christ. Not only to value our physical health and our mental health, they are gifts. But to value our spiritual health and to be alive in Christ, to be the shining example of his presence in the world.
For in a few moments, you and I will come forward and we will be marked with these ashes. And you and I will be reminded that we are made of dust and unto dust we shall return. For no matter how much we are proactive with our health, the day will come when you and I will have to enter the mystery of death. This life cannot endure forever. And when you consider all that we do to continue to maintain our health, and rightfully so, isn’t it worth every effort you and I make to not simply be ready for our physical death, but to avoid at all cost? Our eternal death Lent invites us to walk the journey with Christ unto eternal life.
