2nd Sunday of Lent Homily

As we began the Season of Lent, last Sunday, we started a new homily series we’re calling “From Hiding to Healing.” Lent is a season for seeking reconciliation with God. God wants to show us compassion and mercy but we block the way. This series is about removing those barriers so we can accept God’s healing. 

Last week we saw hiding is one of the ways we block God. We try to hide our sin. That was Adam and Eve’s first reaction after eating the forbidden fruit. Immediately, they hid from each other by covering their nakedness. When God come into the garden, they hide among the trees. If we are going to let God heal us, we have to stop hiding our sin from God’s love.

This week we’ll discuss the need to move away from sin and along the path to embrace God’s healing. I’ve spoken to you about the decline in Catholics’ participation in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It is our Church’s special sacrament to encourage us to face our faults and failures, resolve to put them in our past, and accept God’s healing love. Sadly, Catholics aren’t taking advantage of the opportunity. I’ve found that is regrettably the case here at Holy Redeemer also.

This Lent I want to move our parish along the path towards a greater understanding of the Sacrament of Reconciliation so we can embrace it’s grace in our lives. To help start that movement, on Sunday afternoon at 3 pm, we’ll be celebrating a Lenten Reconciliation Service. We’ll be conducting that service using The Order of Reconciling Several Penitents with General Confession and Absolution. This service is part of the Church’s new Order of Penance. 

This Order of General Confession and Absolution does not include individual confessions with a priest. It is designed to forgive penitents of their venial sins and only those venial or lesser sins. Those we most often commit. The service will last about a half hour. It will include several passages of scripture, a homily, time for an examination of conscience, and then the offering of general absolution of venial sins. If during the service a person becomes aware of committing grave or mortal sin they will need to receive forgiveness from it in an individual confession. 

I’m available for that sort of Confession Saturday afternoons from 3-3:45 pm. During Lent I’m also in the Reconciliation Room, at the back of the church, Friday afternoons from 3:30-4:30 pm, before our recitation of the Stations of the Cross. Later in Lent we’ll have a second Reconciliation Service with the opportunity for individual confessions. Other priests will also be available for confessions then. 

Many Catholics express confusion about what exactly is considered sin today. They have been out of practice and forget the format for the sacrament’s celebration. They are ashamed how long since their last confession of their sin. They fear admitting they have failed. Everyone has plenty of excuses. My hope is those who use these reasons to avoid confession will find Sunday’s service none threatening and take advantage of it. They will come, chose to reflect on their sinful tendencies, seek God’s forgiveness, and move along the path to embrace God’s healing mercy.

I’m expecting a good response. Several people have told me they are looking forward to it and felt disappointed when we had to cancel it in Advent because of snow. I’m looking forward to seeing you this afternoon at the Reconciliation Service. 

The first part of the Book of Genesis relates how sin and division entered the world. We read stories about Cain and Abel, Noah and the Great Flood, and the Tower of Babel. All stories regarding the harmful effects of sin. Beginning with today’s first reading things take a turn as we hear how God will begin to implement a plan to overcome sin and redeem the world. 

It starts with the call of Abram. God calls Abram to begin the movement away from sin towards a relationship with God. Abram is to leave the safety and comfort of place and family and embark on a movement to a new, unspecified land where God will make of Abram a new nation, give him a great name, bless him, and give him an advantage over his enemies. 

This Lent God calls us to move away from our sinfulness. God calls us to go forth leaving behind patterns of sin that feel normal to us, harmful habits that numb us, and the excuses we use to polish our grudges. It is easy to resist God’s call to move to a new place in life. Fear keeps us stuck in patterns of sin. We excuse our sin with responses like “It is just how I am,” I’ve always struggled with that,” “It’s my personality.” 

We have so many fears like, “If I forgive, who will I become? “If I let go of my resentments, how will I protect myself, “If I surrender my addiction, how will I cope?” “If I give up my sin, who am I?” that block our movement towards God. We are less afraid of sin than we are of change and moving towards God. “Do not be afraid” is God’s most common words of encouragement to our citing fear as impeding our moving to embrace God’s grace. Like Abram we need to follow God’s call to us to set out to discover the new person God calls us to be.

Today’s Gospel story of Jesus’ Transfiguration shows us where God’s plan to move us from sin to grace will end up. It will end with the glorification of Jesus. Today’s gospel tells us Jesus took his closest apostles, Peter, James, and John up the mountain to witness Jesus’ true identity. They get a preview of how God will complete God’s plan to heal us from our sins. It is Jesus going obediently to the cross and being raised to glory at Easter. 

For the three apostles to fully understand God’s plan they have to come down from the mountain and follow Jesus on the last leg of the journey. They must follow their Lord to Jerusalem and His death on the cross. They need to move along the path to receive God’s healing by taking up the cross themselves. 

That movement is our call this Lent. For some of us it will mean taking concrete actions. We will see the need to make a good confession after being away from the Sacrament of Reconciliation for years. It could be realizing the need to end a relationship that pulls us away from God. We will act to make daily prayer a habit, seek help for a hidden struggle, or offer forgiveness for a hurt we have withheld for a long time. For others of us it will be interior, letting go of self-hatred, surrendering control of our lives, and trusting God’s mercy. 

Abram didn’t know where God was leading him. The disciples didn’t clearly comprehend what they saw on the mountain or what it meant to go to Jerusalem. They trusted and moved anyway. Opening ourselves to reconciliation and moving towards healing is an act of faith. It is saying to ourselves, “Lord, I trust you with who I can become.” It is saying not just, “Lord forgive me for what I have done,” but asking, “Lord, lead me to what you mean me to be.”

Lent is so much more than just a season for spiritual self-improvement. It goes deeper to being a season of holy relocation. It is listening to God, trusting God and following God’s voice out of our complacency, fear, and patterns of that no longer serve us for salvation. 

As we progress through Lent it is our call to ask ourselves several questions. Where in my live is God calling us to “go forth?” What lands do we need to leave so God can settle us in a place where we can flourish? What comfortable compromises have we made with sin that we need to surrender? What fears do we need to place in God’s hands?

God has shown us the end of our journey. It is to share in the glory Jesus revealed on the Mount of the Transfiguration. It is claiming our share in the glory of Jesus. To get there we need to evaluate our souls, listen to God, and start moving towards God’s healing. We can not be transformed into truly faithful disciples if we refuse to move from hiding to healing. Today, take Jesus invitation to “Rise, do not be afraid and follow to embrace God’s healing love and mercy.