Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Lent - March 31, 2019

Homily for March 31, 2019

Fourth Sunday of Lent

New Creation

            St. Camillus de Lellis was a rather unlikely saint. His mother got pregnant with him rather late in life – she was almost 50, which would be a high-risk pregnancy – so as she was expecting, she prayed to the Lord for guidance about her child. One night she had a dream where she saw her child as a fully-grown man dressed in a long black robe with a bright red cross on it, leading other men who were dressed similarly. When she awoke, she was terrified – the only people who dressed like that were condemned criminals on the way to their execution! Would her son be condemned for a life of sin?

            And as a youngster, Camillus certainly lived up to that prophetic dream. He was expelled from school at age 14, and left home to go join his father as a mercenary in the army. He fought in a number of battles – and picked up all the bad habits of the soldiers, especially gambling, drinking, and womanizing. He and his father were “partners in crime” – sometimes gambling so much that they literally gambled away the shirts off their back.

            At a certain point, they had run out of money so desperately that they had to hire themselves out to work on a construction project, putting an addition onto a Franciscan monastery. For the first time, Camillus met devoted men of God – these monks radiated joy, peace, and love, which Camillus had never encountered before. He strongly considered joining the Franciscan monastery – but in the end, his old habits won out and when the job was over, he returned to his gambling ways.

            But, having lost everything in gambling once again, he finally came to his senses. Leaving everything behind, he went back to the monastery and applied for admission. They turned him down, however, because he had developed a serious leg wound which stubbornly refused to heal. So he went to Rome to visit a hospital to try to get the wound healed.

            While in the hospital, he was absolutely appalled at the horrific conditions. Rooms were overcrowded and hot; there was no hygiene as medical equipment would be used on multiple patients without even washing it off; people would be moaning in hunger and thirst and would not receive any food or water. After staying in the hospital for some time and finding the wound to be truly incurable, he decided God was calling him to start a religious order which would serve the sick with better care, motivated by zealous charity. He did just that, and took as his habit a long black cloak with a large red cross on it. His mother’s dream was fulfilled – but in a totally unexpected way! He spent the remainder of his life serving the sick, treating them as he would treat Christ, and is now a patron saint of the sick.

            But in order to become a saint, he had to leave his old life behind. The gambling, drinking, and womanizing had to remain in the past before he could become a holy man.

            The Greek word for “repentance” is “metanoia”, which literally means “turning around”. Doing a 180. Changing direction. And all repentance involves leaving behind that which is old and unhealthy and sinful, to embrace something new.

            A Protestant pastor once told Fr. Larry Richards, a famous Catholic priest, “You know what the problem is with you Catholics? You’re always confessing, and never repenting.” Much truth to that – how many times have we gone to Confession for a stubborn sin, something we’re struggling with, but we are unwilling to actually make a change? If we wish to be a new creation, we must get rid of the old habits, the friends who lead us into sin, the places that we know aren’t holy, the websites that we know we shouldn’t visit but we do anyway…are we really willing to make practical changes to become holier? Because that is one prerequisite to receiving God’s mercy! The only sins God can forgive are those we repent of!

            Imagine if the Prodigal Son from today’s Gospel had returned home, drunk and with a woman on each arm, calling out to his father, “Hey dad, I need more money!” I guarantee that the parable would have ended quite differently! In order to receive the Father’s mercy, the son had to walk away from his sin. The Father did not – and could not – give him mercy until he first turned away from his evil ways.

            Even our first reading speaks of this. The Chosen People have left the slavery of Egypt are about to enter the Promised Land – but they had struggled mightily in the desert with their old sins and old habits. They had worshipped a golden calf, they had doubted God, they complained to Moses. And now, as they are on the cusp of coming into the Holy Land, God lays down the boom – He says to them, “I have removed the reproach of Egypt from you.” In other words, all those bad habits you developed in Egypt like idolatry and sin and doubting God – you leave them here at the border, because when you enter this Promised Land, you will be a new people – the Chosen People!

            So what does that mean for us? , St. Paul says that “whoever is in Christ is a new creation.” The old has passed away – we’ve gotten rid of it, we’ve turned from our sin. We cannot be in Christ if we are still living in our old ways! So the man who comes to confession who is living with his girlfriend outside of marriage – you must give that up if you are to receive forgiveness! The woman who wants to repent of being worldly but still keeps all 85 pairs of shoes – you must give that up if you want to be a new creation in Christ! The woman who says she is sorry for sleeping in and missing Mass, but purposely does not set her alarm on Sunday mornings – you must give that up! The teen who says he wants to be pure, but doesn’t take steps to avoid bad websites – you must give that up! We cannot walk the path of sin and the path of Christ at the same time!

            This takes practical steps. Sometimes we deceive ourselves and think, “If I just pray more, I won’t fall into this sin.” No, my friends – grace builds on nature, as St. Albert the Great says. We have to take practical steps. A friend of mine struggled with looking at bad things on his smartphone – so now he has a flip phone, because he was willing to get rid of it. I know other people who have given up friendships because they knew they would always be led into sin through these people. Some people find that they are always cursing others behind the wheel – they can change their habits by leaving five minutes earlier so they’re not rushed. We can’t just “try harder” – we need to change! Repentance means leaving our sinful past behind – making changes in our habits so that we are able to be truly free.

            So, I leave you with this question – what is the stubborn sin that is preventing you from living your life fully for the Lord Jesus Christ? And what habit do you need to change to truly repent of this sin so that you can become a “new creation in Christ”?