HOMILIES FOR LENT

Third Sunday Lent 2007 Luke 13: 1-9 – 5:30; 10:30 378. A beloved rabbi died and rose to heaven. There he was greeted with the hosts of angels singing and praising the rabbi for all his good works."Please don’t make such a fuss," the rabbi protested. "I was not so perfect as you make me seem."At that point the Lord God himself appeared in glory. "What’s the problem, my son? You lived a near-perfect life on earth. You deserve all the honors we can give you.""No, my Lord," the rabbi protested. "I failed miserably with my daughter. You see, she became a Christian.""I understand," said the Lord. "I had a similar problem with my son.” Like the rabbi often you may take a nose dive into guilt. As a result, you may think much less of yourself, or even be plunged into the depths of depression. For example, impatience or anger with the children, misunderstandings between husband and wife that explode into fiery arguments leaving third degree burns that take a long time to heal. Or gossip so petty that when you think of it, you’re embarrassed because the pettiness reminds you of how small and insecure you are. Gossip about co-workers or neighbors or in-laws or fellow students or family members, teachers, parish priests. You just hate to admit something we all have in common: we are all mistake makers. But Jesus reassures you through the parable of the fig tree that you always have second chances. In fact the parable of the fig tree has been called the gospel of the second chance. Since Jesus forgives you over and over, again and again, second chances become chances as innumerable as the stars in the midnight sky. Why then, I ask you, are you so hesitant, so reluctant, so uncertain that you will not forgive yourself? During Lent you recall your sins in order to do penance for them. But what about recalling your sins so that you can forgive yourself of them. I think on a spiritual level that one of the most forceful impediments to your development is your hesitancy or refusal to forgive yourself. On the psychological level, not forgiving yourself can be one of the heaviest boulders pulling you down into the suffocating depth of depression. A lot of psychological and emotional problems are caused by lack of self-forgiveness. I cannot emphasize enough how imperative it is for you to forgive yourself. If you want to feel as free as a soaring eagle, as happy as someone who’s just fallen in love, as released from bondage as a slave whose chains have been shattered, as carefree as a child jumping rope, then forgive yourself! Dominic Maruca in his essay, “A Reflection on Guilt,” says, “The memory of things past is a worm that will not die; whether that worm continues to grow or is changed into a brightly colored winged creature depends on whether we can find the forgiveness we need to bestow.” And I would add, to bestow first and foremost on yourself. Not forgiving yourself only indicates that you do not actually believe in Jesus’ infinite mercy, that you shove into the archives of forgotten stories, the parable of the Prodigal son, that you prefer to be haunted by the ghosts of past sins than to embrace the cross on which Jesus died for the forgiveness of all sins and for your power to forgive yourself. Jesus’ infinite mercy will not get through to you if you constantly put up the barrier of not forgiving yourself. Even more! How can you truly forgive others if you won’t forgive yourself? Remember the words of the prophet Isaiah: “Though your sins be like scarlet, they will become white as snow.” If you will not forgive yourself, then your religion will be an unbending, inflexible, judgmental legalism. The legalism Jesus constantly preached against. Your relationship with God will be a stodgy, stuffy, dull, pompous, humorless religion. If you do forgive yourself, you will live your faith in joy and happiness, in good humor and laughter. After all since God gives you the gift of laughter, then God himself must laugh. There is a story that should encourage you to forgive yourself. A young nun in the 14th century was reputed to be having visions of Jesus. Typical of the bureaucracy, the bishop summoned her. “You’re having visions of Jesus, are you?” “Yes, your Excellency,” the young nun answered with expected humility and respect. “Well,” the bishop blustered, “the next time you have one of these visions, you ask Jesus what the great sin was that the bishop committed before he was crowned bishop.” “Yes, you Excellency,” the young nun answered with expected humility and respect. Months passed. Then the young nun showed up at the bishop’s palace. “Oh,” the bishop said, “you’ve had another vision of Jesus?” “Yes,” your Excellency,” the young nun answered with expected humility and respect. “And did you ask Jesus the question I told you to ask? What great sin the bishop committed before he was crowned bishop?” “Yes,” your Excellency,” the young nun answered with expected humility and respect. “So tell me,” the bishop commanded, “what did Jesus say?” “Your Excellency, Jesus said, ‘I don’t remember.’” HUMOR : Story about Peter O’Toole, the famous actor who is in his 80’s. He was asked if he exercised. He replied that the only exercise he gets is walking behind the caskets of those who exercised. THOUGHT Use Lent to forgive yourself.