March 5, 2017
Lenten season is the forty-day period before Easter. It begins with Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Thursday. This is to give special preference to the Triduum (mass of the Lord's Supper, Good Friday and Easter Virgil). The Easter Virgil this year will be a special celebration for us in the English-Speaking Mission because we shall baptize our seven catechumens who have been preparing assiduously to receive the Sacrament of baptism. Two among them attend Mass and other programs regularly in our community, All Saints. May we continue to pray for them. One of the practices in Lent is Fasting. Both the Bible and the unbroken tradition of Christian living testify that fasting is a great help to avoid sin and all that leads to it. Fasting is not a recent invention. St Basil says it is as old as humanity itself. He says the law of fasting was prescribed in Paradise. It was the first commandment that Adam received: “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat”. Through the words, “you shall not eat” St. Basil says the law of fasting and abstinence is laid down. The story of the fall of man in the Garden of Eden was presented to us in the first reading. We see how dramatic and catastrophic the encounter with the devil in the Garden was. The name devil, “diabolos”, reveals him and his ways and what he stands for: Muddling up everything, causing disorder and havoc, twister and master of fake-news or architect of alternative facts. The simple antidote against his wiles was obedience to the instruction: “Of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat”. The disobedience of this simple instruction led to the fall of man. It is fascinating to see how paradigmatic the account of the fall in Genesis is to every actual sin that we human beings commit. The effect is that we lose the relationship we have with God, a relationship that is based on trust and simple obedience. Fasting especially during Lent is a very effective instrument to restore our relationship with God and our obedience to his commandments. The gospel reading presents us with the temptations of Jesus. The location of this temptation is the desert. Already the ancient people of Israel made the experience that the road to the Promised Land led through the desert, a frightening experience. But trust and obedience were demanded of them. It was surely not by chance that the Spirit led Jesus into the desert before he should begin his public ministry. Pope Benedict XVI pointed out something common to all three temptations of Christ in the desert. At the heart of all the temptations he said is the act of pushing God aside because we perceive him as secondary, if not actually superfluous and annoying, in comparison with all the apparently far more urgent matters that fill our lives. In place of God, bread, power, pride, insatiable desire for possessions take the position of more serious matters. Archbishop Koch explains: “Man the Maker’ is the common creed of our culture” That means man becomes the maker and the architect of happiness and good. Often he says we want to achieve by ourselves what only the Almighty can do. Instead of committing ourselves to the task of cooperating with his Spirit in this world, we endeavor to put ourselves in his place. Through fasting and abstinence, we seek to reconcile again with God. Fasting is not limited to food. Rather, it is about giving God the primary place that he deserves in our lives. It is about submitting to his will and obeying his commands. It is also about recognizing that only God is the sumum bonum - the ultimate good, as St. Thomas Aquinas will call him. What are you giving up for Lent? This is a question many of us may have received since Ash Wednesday. Pope Francis reacts to this question thus: "If you want to change your body, perhaps alcohol and candy is the way to go. But if you want to change your heart, a harder fast is needed. This narrow road is gritty, but it isn't sterile. It will make room in ourselves to experience a love that can make us whole and set us free." This Love is beyond all material pleasures.
Fr Sylvester Ajunwa