First Sunday of Lent (B)
In the first reading, the Lord points to the rainbow as the symbol of the covenant He is making with Noah and, through Noah, all humanity. The rainbow is a good symbol for the liturgical year as well. Just as the one white beam of light, passing through a water droplet or a prism, is bent so that its varied colors become visible to us, so, too, the liturgical year “bends” the mystery of what God has done for us in Christ into varied colors that can be seen and contemplated in turn.
Each season of the liturgical year focuses on one aspect of our salvation in Christ – something that is true every day of the year, but something we focus on at a certain time of the year. In this way, year by year, we gradually absorb the whole mystery or, rather, we are gradually absorbed into it.
Advent, for example, focuses our attention on two realities: Christ has come already, born among us in Bethlehem, and Christ will come again to complete the renewal of all creation. This is true every day of the year, but on Advent we pay more attention to it so that we will better remember it all year long.
As we begin the season of Lent, our attention shifts to another reality – the reality of testing. Our Christian faith, hope, and love are tested every day of the year, of course. During Lent, we focus our attention on this aspect of our faith lives, in order to accept it as a part of life and to be more open to the grace and guidance of the Lord – without whom we could not hope to persevere.
What might this testing be like?
If you’ve ever been on Route 17 between Rumford and Rangeley, you may have stopped at a place called Height of Land. There, you’ll find a turnout where you can park and enjoy the view which overlooks some lakes. The photo above was taken at Height of Land.
Imagine that you live in a place like that: perched at a height overlooking the surrounding country. One day, the Lord calls you to do something surprising. He wants you to build a boat. Not a little scale model boat, mind you. No, a HUGE boat, for you, your extended family, and a promised cargo of all kinds of wildlife. Why? You are told that it will rain. Serious rain. So much rain that everything, even your high perch, will be under water.
You start building. Passers-by think you have lost your mind, and say so. After all, what flood could reach your home, way up on that hill? Besides, there is no sign that such a catastrophe is about to happen. The Weather Channel sees sun and dry weather ahead. You may wonder if you might have lost your mind every now and then. But in faith, you persevere. Some people actually believe you, and help. People you never expected to believe you, do.
This is the kind of testing that we often see in the Scriptures. Noah’s faith was obviously tested as he persevered in building this ark, an ark that was many miles from the nearest sea. Abraham and Moses also saw their faith tested. Many saints, known and unknown, have been tested. Jesus himself, by going into the wilderness for forty days, accepts a similar testing.
We also see this kind of testing in the great film sagas of the last forty years. Luke Skywalker is called to become a Jedi and learn the ways of the Force. He must undergo a period of testing, as well as some initial setbacks, before he is ready for his destiny – to save his father by NOT choosing the way of hatred that his father did years before. Frodo and Sam find themselves missioned with taking the One Ring to Mount Doom in order to destroy it. They are tested all along the journey, as are everyone who accompanies them.
In both cases, the task seemed impossible and ridiculous. How could a farm boy challenge Darth Vader and the Emperor? How could two homebody hobbits hope to succeed against Sauron and his Black Riders? Yet, they do in the end, by fidelity to their calling and by what we can call grace – unexpected help at various points along the way. The greatest moments of grace are at the end of each story. Darth Vader himself saves Luke, and is thus saved by his sacrifice. Gollum takes the Ring at the end, but then falls into the lava pit of Mount Doom, thus enabling Frodo to complete his mission. Yet, without the faith of Frodo or Luke, the victories would not have happened.
We, too, are tested. We find ourselves in a polarized culture which is open to our faith in some ways, but which rejects it in others. Each political party accepts some of our Catholic moral teachings but rejects others out of hand. Our fidelity to our mission from the Lord is thus tested. Will we be faithful to the Lord’s words to us as passed on through the Church, or will we be drawn into the cultural divisions that also affect the Church? It is only by our fidelity to the Lord and the Church that we can witness to our culture that there is another way. Perhaps we can become a means of the healing of our culture.
We are tested in other ways. We are called upon to believe that the Lord has truly given us the grace to resist every temptation to evil and destructive thinking and behavior, even as at least some of those temptations still hold considerable power over us at times. We are called upon to witness to the Lord’s promise that his truth and love will prevail, and that all who believe will see not only themselves brought to new life but all of creation somehow purified and made fully the house of God, the New Jerusalem – even as daily news headlines make us feel that the opposite is true. We are called upon to welcome all human beings as Christ, from the unborn to the immigrant, in an age that seeks its scapegoats and victims to offer to its own gods. We are called upon to forgive in an age that sees forgiveness as weakness, and revenge as strength.
On the other hand, just as Jesus in the wilderness was ministered to by angels during his testing, so are we. The Lord helps us in so many ways. There are the ‘expected’ ways: the sacraments, prayer, the Bible, the teachings of the Church, the ministry of those who serve in the Church’s name. Then there are the ‘unexpected’ ways: the person we assumed would not understand us, ends up not only understanding us but actually challenging us to become holier. The word of encouragement from a stranger; the seemingly chance meeting with someone who tells us just what we need at the moment; the person who does something to us thinking it will hurt us – but then we find that the experience of hurt and forgiveness actually blesses and strengthens us. We are not left alone. Angels minister to us in surprising ways.
As we begin this season of Lent, we are reminded that life involves testing. This is not a punishment; it’s just the way things are. Anyone who follows the Lord will discover that there is something else out there that will resist our path of faith in any way it can. This ‘something else’ is not easily dismissed. We are tested from without, and also find that the darkness still has a grip on parts of us within. But the journey is not impossible, because it does not depend on our own ability. It is the Lord who goes before us and with us. We are baptized into His death and resurrection. By persevering in faith, hope, and love, we will continue. When we have reached the point when we feel we can go no further and that it is foolish even to try, all we need is to offer that one last yes. Like Luke Skywalker. This is who we are. Then, we will be amazed to see that the Lord will then win the victory for us in an amazing way – just as his own victory over death amazed his disciples.