FIRST SUNDAY of LENT, Bishop Paul J. Bradley

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT, Bishop Paul J. Bradley

Closing Mass for The Presence, high school retreat, Hackett Catholic Central, Kalamazoo
(Note: The following homily was given to approximately 100 High School students from around the Diocese participated in a Weekend of Eucharistic Adoration, Mass, Sacrament of Reconciliation, lively talks on the faith: by Fr. David Mary and Franciscan Brothers Minor, and Sisters from Fr. Wayne)

I am so happy to be with you today and welcome all the High School students from around the Diocese: the three parishes in Battle Creek, St. Ann (Augusta), Holy Maternity of Mary (Dowagiac), Immaculate Conception/San Felipe de Jesus (Hartford/Pearl); Holy Angels (Sturgis), St. Catherine of Siena (Portage), and our three parishes right here in Kalamazoo---St. Monica, St. Thomas More and St. Augustine.

Did I miss anyone? Of course, all our seminarians and affiliates; our Presenters/Retreat Directors---Fr. David Mary, the Franciscan Minor Brothers and Sisters from Fr. Wayne and my brother priests.

I’m SO pleased that, in spite of the snow, and any other wonderful options that you might have had available to you, that you chose to come here-----to be present with one another---to be present with the Lord----and most importantly, to allow the PRESENCE of Jesus Christ and the conviction of the faith which we share, BE WITH YOU!

This has been an amazing and memorable week!Monday’s huge announcement by our Holy Father; Ash Wednesday; and then this past Friday when you came here to begin this holy and special time with the Lord!

The study of numbers and what they mean is an interesting pastime. Take for example: “40”---that is a very interesting and special number----a “holy” number. We know that the Israelites “wandered” in the desert for 40 years----our First Reading this morning took place toward the end of their time, just before they would finally cross into the Promised Land!

We know that Jesus spent 40 days in the desert following His Baptism----our Gospel Reading told us about that, and how Jesus was tempted/tormented/tested by the Devil throughout that time.

We have just begun our Annual 40-day Lenten pilgrimage---only five days into it, and three of them you’ve spent here together. And, ironically, the times you’ve spent here since Friday evening is approximately 40 hours, give or take.

Let’s think about the 40 Years that the Israelites spent in the desert and the passage that we heard just a few moments ago in the First Reading.

We know that Moses had been chosen by God to deliver His people from slavery----to confront the powers of evil in the person of the Pharaoh who had “enslaved” the Jewish people for generations----and to lead them to “freedom,” through the desert and into the Promised Land.

That journey should have been a relatively brief journey---seven or eight days----two weeks tops. Yet, because of the influence of sin and evil, in-fighting, hard-heartedness, and refusal to follow God’s leadership in Moses, they got lost, and “wandered”---aimlessly---for 40 years----a period which God used to “purify” His people---to soften their hard hearts, and to draw them back to the loving heart of the Father. It took a long time---40 years!

I think it’s quite interesting that as we are still trying to deal with the fact that in less than two weeks, Pope Benedict will “lay down” his mantle of leadership as our Holy Father---that he will “step aside” for the good of the Church due to the limitations of his physical and mental condition, that’s exactly the situation that we see confronting the Israelites as they were on the verge of finally entering into the Promised Land. They were facing the fact that their beloved leader---their spiritual father---Moses was laying down the “mantle of leadership”----he would not be going with them. He was told by the Lord that he would see the Promised Land only from a distance.

And so that’s why Moses is instructing his people about their need to remember their past, and to stay connected to their history: “My father was a wandering Aramean who went down to Egypt with a small household and lived there as an alien. But there he became a nation great, strong and numerous.

A huge part of that “remembrance” is that Moses insisted that they had to always remember to give thanks to God for all His blessings---to bring their “first fruits” before the Lord, their God. And what did he tell them to do? “You shall bow down in HIS PRESENCE”!

Dear Friends----that’s a big part of what you’ve been doing here in these 40 holy hours that you’ve been spending with the Lord: remembering. Remembering who YOU are; remembering who GOD is; remembering, and reminding yourself, what you believe----what you stand for---what you’re about----and where you feel the Lord is calling you to go in your life.

And “remembering” is a big part of what we do every time we come together to celebrate Eucharist----the memorial---the remembrance of what Jesus has done, and continues to do, as He gave Himself completely and totally for our salvation, and how He continues to give us Himself in His Sacred Body and Blood to be our spiritual food and drink for our journey of life.

If we forget who we are----if we get confused about what we stand for, or what is most important in our lives---if we allow ourselves to get distracted by wrong choices, or to believe false truths, or to give into sinful temptations-----we’ll get more “lost” than the Israelite people were in the desert for those 40 years.

Every year on the First Sunday of Lent, the Church gives us the Gospel account of Jesus’ temptation in the desert.

We know for a fact that all human beings are “tempted” to make wrong choices----we’re “tempted” to believe in false truths---we’re “tempted” to give into sin. But, I think it’s safe to say that not too many of us like to admit it. ----and maybe fewer of us are willing to share with very many others the nature of our temptations. While we know that to have temptations is not a sin, we don’t always feel very proud of the kinds of ways we’re tempted.

So, this Gospel passage of Jesus’ experience with some very serious temptations, which, in one way or another, is recorded in all four of the Gospels, is amazing for at least two significant reasons:

First, it kind of seals the teaching that Jesus, the Son of God, was fully divine, AND fully human.

Second, it is a tremendous teaching for all of us in terms of how we can deal with temptations when they come our way.

When the Devil went after Jesus in the desert, right after He had been baptized, and was about to begin His public ministry, the Devil went right for the “jugular” so to speak. He didn’t tempt Jesus with any of the small stuff. Each of the three temptations recorded had to do with the heart of Jesus’ ministry----how He would choose to use His divine Power, and how He would choose to accomplish His mission.

The temptations of the Devil were somehow trying to distract Jesus from his goal, which was to save the world from the power of sin and death, and Jesus knew that the only way He could accomplish that was through the Cross. And so the Devil was doing everything in his power to convince Jesus that he could be the Messiah without the Cross.

Of course, Jesus prevailed. But the temptations did not end. As we heard at the end of the Gospel: “When the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from Him for a time.” The devil would be back---many times.

We can learn three important lessons here: 1)Jesus wants us to know that if HE was tempted, we too can expect to be tempted; 2) But He also wants us to know that we have the same resources available to us as HE had available to Him: God’s Holy Spirit was with Jesus all the time. That same Holy Spirit is with us! God the Father’s abiding and unconditional love was constant for His believed Son. God loves each and every one of us in the same exact way. The Angels of God came to minister to Jesus to bring him comfort and protection through the temptation and afterward. And those same Angels of God are there to minister to us as well. And beyond that, we have the grace and strength of the Sacraments----the Truths of our faith----and the loving strength and support that comes to us through our membership in the Church---the Body of Christ! All these resources are available to each of you all the time---to give us strength, support and divine power; and 3) As Jesus remained focused on His goal ---to win Salvation for all the world through the Cross and His Resurrection---and rejected attempts to give in to seductive temptations to take the easy way out, so too do we need to keep focused on our ultimate goal---which is to spend all eternity with God in Heaven---by making sure that the choices that we make in our lives are the ones that will help us to get there.

Your 40 holy hours of being here in “The Loving Presence” of Christ, and the support and encouragement of one another, is coming to a close.

Soon, you’ll be returning to your homes, and tomorrow, back to school and all the activities, choices, and challenges of your lives. But you are not going home empty-handed or alone. You have the Gift of your Faith. You have the Truth of God’s Holy Word. You have the strength of the Holy Spirit living within you and His commitment to lead you in the right ways and to make good choices if you only allow Him.

You have the Loving Intercession of our dear Blessed Mother, and all the Angels and the Communion of Saints. You have the loving support of the sacraments of the Church, and most especially,

You carry “The Presence” of Christ through the Holy Eucharist with you always, as long as you remain “Present” to Him.

Remember the powerful words of St. Paul to the Romans in today’s Second Reading: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” And that conviction and belief, of course, leads to a strong witness in our lives of who we are as
faith-filled Disciples of Christ.

Dear Friends: Remember. Confess. Believe. Give Witness to your faith and keep your heart open to the loving and abiding Presence of Christ’s Love for you always!

God bless you, now and always!