Homily for Lent 3 - March 7, 2021

 

Homily for Lent 3

March 7, 2021

Spiritual Maturity

 

            It struck me the other day that these First Readings during Lent all have a common theme: they tell the story of Salvation History through the Covenants.

            We began, on the first Sunday of Lent, with God’s covenant to Noah. Last week we read about Abraham; today we see God swearing a covenant with the Israelites through Moses. Then comes David, and finally the covenant with Jesus. Each time, God is increasing His people – from a family to a tribe to a nation to a kingdom to the entire world!

            So what? What does it matter to us? A great deal! Relationships are two-way – and God required the Israelites to respond to His initiative in the Covenants. God promised Abraham that he would inherit the Promised Land and be the father of many descendants – but Abraham had to respond with faith, believing in God’s promises. Through Moses, God promised to adopt these people as the Chosen People – but for their part, they had to obey His commands. David was offered the promise of having the Messiah come from his lineage, and his response was to become a man after God’s own heart. Finally, Jesus offers us transforming union with Him through grace, where we “put on Christ”.

            These stages build upon each other! First a person believes in God, then they obey God, then they think and act like God, then they live their life in union with Him. God was trying to bring Israel to spiritual maturity by gradually helping them grow from a basic faith to the transforming union of grace!

            So, where are you on this spectrum? Some of us are here because we have faith – we believe in God and we believe that Jesus died for our sins. That is a good start! But it is only a start. I frequently pray my walking Rosary through a rough part of town, and I often pass by these six or so guys sitting outside their apartment complex, drinking and cursing and making lewd comments. Inevitably, whenever I pass by, they call out to me and ask me to pray for them – and most times they ask if they can have my Rosary! (I’ve given away more than a few!). These men have faith – they believe in God – but are not yet ready to obey Him.

            Some of us here are in the second stage, obedience. That too is good! We may be trying to generally avoid sin and follow these Ten Commandments. But a person who is still in the “obedience” stage often wants to know “how far can I go before I sin?” That is a dangerous question, though – how close do you want to get to the edge of the Grand Canyon before you fall in? Obedience is good, but it addresses behavior, not the heart. For that we will need…

            The next step of spiritual maturity, which is becoming a man or woman after God’s heart. That means we see the world as He sees it, loving what He loves and staying away from what distances us from Him. I know an eleven-year-old from a divorced family whose dad got him a smart phone for Christmas. When I went over to visit him and his mom, Christopher wasn’t using it – he was using an old-fashioned flip phone (even more old fashioned than my dinosaur phone!). I asked him why, and he said, “I got rid of the smart phone because I figured it wasn’t helping me get closer to Jesus. It was a waste of time and I’d be tempted to look up bad stuff.” There is a young man after the heart of Christ!

            But then the final goal of spiritual maturity is transforming union with Christ through grace. A Protestant man once took a pilgrimage to visit St. John Vianney, and when he returned, his friends asked what his impressions were of the holy priest. He responded, “I have seen God living in a man.” This is the goal of the Christian life – to live like Christ here on this earth, which is possible through the transformative power of grace. As St. Augustine said, “A Christian is another Christ.”

            How do we advance along the path of spiritual maturity? It might be different for everyone. Some souls might need to start a real prayer life; other souls need to repent of their sins and make a good Confession. Some souls need to go on a retreat; other souls might need to rid themselves of things that tie them to the world, such as possessions, money, or unhealthy relationships. Some souls will advance through the crucible of sufferings.

            But all souls need to make spiritual maturity their goal, because this is what God wants for you! He wanted it for His chosen people – and you are His new Chosen People! So often I hear Catholics say to me, “Oh, I just hope to make it to Purgatory by the skin of my teeth.” Why settle for so little? Why aim so low? If we were invited to a fancy four-course meal, would we stop at the appetizers, saying, “Oh, that’s enough for me.”? No, of course not! We would want everything we were invited for! God wants to invite you to full spiritual maturity - don’t settle for less!

            These Covenants show us the stages we must go through. Faith leads to obedience; obedience leads to being a “man or woman after God’s Heart”; being a person after God’s Heart leads to the transforming union with Christ through grace. Let’s not settle for spiritual immaturity when God wants us fully mature and alive in Him!