Today marks the first of three Sundays leading up to the beginning of the season of Lent. Traditionally, this time has fallen under various names. Today is Septuagesima Sunday, meaning roughly seventy days until Easter. Next Sunday can be called Sexagesima Sunday (sixty days until Easter), and the Sunday following can be called Quinquagesima Sunday (fifty days until Easter). The numbering is not exact, but is meant to convey to us that the great season of Lent – forty days of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving which helps us to prepare for the holiest days of the liturgical calendar – is very near.
On each of these Sundays, we will read from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 6. The passages we will reflect on at Mass, in the context of a time preparing us for Lent, ought to give us some food for thought that allow us to more conscientiously prepare for that great season so that we can begin even now to experience a season of repentance and preparation.
At the risk of ignoring Luke’s account of the Beatitudes, I want to spend some time on the end of the passage we hear at Mass. Today’s Gospel ends with a series of “woes”: Woe to you who are rich, who are filled, who laugh, and when all speak well of you. Each of these are good places for us to pause and examine our own lives. The “rich” to whom our Lord speaks are not only the materially wealthy, but those who find themselves in a comfortable space spiritually, and those who choose that comfort at the expense of everything else. This points at a sort of self-love that always wants more, a selfishness that we all might recognize from time to time in ourselves. What kind of selfishness to I see in my life, and how is Jesus asking me to leave it behind? The “filled” to whom Jesus refers are not only those who have enough food to eat, but all of us when we choose to satisfy ourselves first, rather than do without, rather than assist another, rather than experience a moment’s discomfort. Lent will provide us with an opportunity for hunger, especially in the form of fasting from food. Where do I seek my own desires, and how is Jesus asking me to share His hunger for souls? The woe Jesus announces to those who laugh is not meant to deny anyone the chance to have a sense of humor but is rather encouraging a moral reflection, a grieving over sin. Lent is a season of mercy and it is good for us to grieve and mourn our sins. Where does Jesus want to bring His mercy and grace into my life? Similarly, the woe which Jesus announces for those about whom everyone speaks well is not denying people deserved praise. Rather, Jesus is asking us if we might not sometimes seek the spotlight or be preoccupied with our external image or social profile. Woe to us, when this kind of pride takes over. Where might I need to learn humility, or put aside my pursuit of personal fame and glory?
We need to bring these questions to prayer, asking Jesus to reveal those places in our lives where we have become complacent, comfortable, selfish, and prideful. I would like to suggest a place for that prayer to happen, a place that includes in itself the answer to our complacency, comfort, selfishness, and pride. The location for that prayer is in Eucharistic Adoration. In the Eucharist, Jesus gives us the answer. He gives us the food that satisfies the soul, moves us out of our comfort zone and closer to His Cross, and humbles our selfish pride and ambition. If there is one single practice I could recommend for you, a practice that does not need to wait for Lent but can begin now in these pre-Lenten weeks, it would be this. Go, find Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, waiting for you in the monstrance, waiting for you in the tabernacle. Jesus who is meek and humble of heart, who promises us rest from our labors and burdens, Jesus who is the Bread of Life that gives life to the world.
