Homily: First Sunday of Lent

March 2 , 2003

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Auxiliary Bishop of Denver

My sisters and brothers in Christ:

The Entrance Antiphon of today's Mass helps us to address the main message of today's readings, the Love of God for us, "The Lord has been my strength; he has led me into freedom. He saved me because he loves me" Ps. 17, 19-20.

Once again the Church wants us to think about God's love for us. The 1st reading from the book of the Prophet Hosea describes in a figurative way the love of God for the human race comparing it to a faithful espousal love and talking about the characteristics of it: fidelity, justice, mercy.

"Divine love, St. Thomas Aquinas says, is a love that creates and infuses goodness into creatures" with total disinterest. He really loves us" Cf. In Conv. 3.62.1.

The 2nd Vatican Council affirms: "For if man exists, it is because God has created him through love, and though love continues to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts himself to his creation" GS, 19.

These days as we worry about the danger of war and terrorism, the fragile state of the economy, we have to think about the love of God for us. It is true that we are weak and not as faithful as we would like to be. It is also true that in many ways our society is rejecting God but we can always count on that faithful love of God for us.

Today's 1st reading came about in the middle of "the continual apostasies of the Chosen people" which are "an image of our own backsliding and falls: and yet God went on winning them back through mercy and love, just as day after day He comes seeking us" (Cf. In Conv. 3.62.1).

Among others, there are two consequences for us, one, that we have to trust in God and two, that we should correspond to God's love for us.

The more that we are aware of the love of God for us, the more we have peace in our hearts. "Sometimes we may be tempted to want to control the future, forgetting that our life is in God's hands. …God gives us our days, one after another, for us to fill them with holiness" In Conv. 3.61.2.

Trust in God is not lack of responsibility or naiveté, it is "a hopeful happiness, as we take up our daily task, concentrating our mind, our heart and our energies" in our personal daily duties, keeping in mind that "every day of our life is watched over by our Father God, who loves us so much" (Ibid.).

Then we have to consider how we can correspond to that great love of God for us. In general terms we know that we should correspond loving God, "love is repaid by love", but let's talk about what it means in practical terms.

In today's passage of the Gospel we discover two ways to correspond to God's love. First coming to the realization that the times have come to "fast": "But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day".

It is a different kind of fast, not like the ones prescribed in the Old Testament. "Jesus' words point to that simplicity of heart with which his disciples might practice prayer, fasting and almsgiving. From apostolic times onwards it is for the Church, …, to set out the different forms fasting should take in different periods and situations" NB, Mt, 9,16.

In any case, it seems to me that one practical conclusion, could be, that the time has come for us to have a more serious commitment to practice our faith with works of prayer, penance and missionary action. This is not the time to be comfortable and lukewarm. We are in the middle of challenging times for our country, for the Church and for the whole world.

There is one aspect in our Christian life that has become especially important these days as the danger of war looms over our country. That is, peace.

We are called to pray for peace in the world. Pope John Paul II, on Feb. 23, asked us "to be like guardians of peace in the places where we live and work."  The Holy Father has asked us to carry out the task of being guardians in a very special and intense way during this week as we begin the Lenten season. He has invited every Catholic to pray and fast with particular intensity on Ash Wednesday for the cause of peace, especially for the Middle East.

The Pope has also asked that on Ash Wednesday we raise to heaven "an ardent prayer for peace praying the holy rosary. I trust, the Holy Father said, that also in parishes and in families the Rosary will be prayed for this great cause on which the good of all depends".

Then, there is another way of corresponding to God's love from today's Gospel and that is to have a "new spirit". Jesus talks about it as he clarifies the differences between the Old and the New Testament.

"This new spirit will not be something extra, added on to the old; it will bring to life the perennial teachings contained in the older Revelation. The newness of the Gospel, just like new wine, cannot fit within the moulds of the Old Law" NB, Mk. 2,18-22.

New spirit that consists basically in the New Commandment, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you" St. Jn. 15,12, but that has many manifestations in daily life and that is always positive and young. A New Commandment that we can live with the help of the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in our souls.

Our challenge is to discover new ways of loving God and loving others. Jesus calls us to a deeply human life, filled with thoughts, emotions, struggles, doubts and decisions. Every day will bring new opportunities to show our love for God and for others and we have to be open to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit to find those new ways of giving ourselves to God and to others.

That is also what St. Paul refers to in today's 2nd reading, he says that his letter of recommendation was the lives of the Corinthians "written not in ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets that are hearts of flesh".

It probably was a big change in his life because he strictly followed the "letter of the Law" of the Old Testament, but in his conversion, he opened his heart to the Spirit of the living God. That Spirit should be the guiding force in our lives, helping us to live as Christ lived, leading us to worship God, care for our neighbor, serve with compassion, stand up for justice and strive for holiness.

The Holy Spirit leads us to be Christ to our families; to promote honesty and justice in our workplace; and to embrace the pain and suffering of our fellow human beings, to offer comfort and support through our prayers and our actions.

The Old Law represented boundaries and limitations; whereas the Spirit opens our lives to the greater love that Jesus taught us in word and deed. The Law has its place, but the Spirit expands our horizons, and that sanctifying power leads to a deeper practice of our faith, a more sincere worship of God and the active proclamation of our faith in word and deed.

There is much to be done in our journey of faith. That is why we should look forward to the Liturgical season of Lent that we start this coming Wednesday. We are always living in new times. This means we are always involved with new situations, new issues, new ways of becoming compassionate towards our sisters and brothers. As people who live by the Spirit of God, we must be continually seeking to discover anew what being a follower of Jesus means today. New wine -- new wineskins.

Let's ask the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of peace, as we pray for peace in the world, to help us to put all our trust in God and to try to correspond to God's love, opening our hearts to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and having enthusiasm and intensity in our Christian life, this coming Lenten season and always.