If I asked you “where do you live?”: you might answer, Lyndhurst, or Mayfield Heights; you might say, off of Brainard, or if you are in a witty mood, you might say, the third planet from the sun, or if you are in a patriotic mood, you might say, the good old USA.
If I asked you “when do you live?” that’s a different question. Again with a variety of answers. You might say, In the year 2016, in the second decade of the 21st Christian century. Star Trek fans might say, “Star date 9-3-7-6-2 dot 6-3.” (Yes, that the accurate star date, by the way)
That question “when do we live” can also mean something a bit deeper—talking about a state of mind, or a state of soul.
For some of us, we are living in the present—we are focused on the here and now, with minds recollected for the worship of God. Yet haven’t we all met others who seem to be living in the past—trapped in the past, unable to move on from something that happened to them in the past. And haven’t we also met others who seemed to be consumed with the future—who are overly worried about the future, who are worried about what others will think of them, some time in the future. If you are more worried about what you will have for lunch, or what you will watch on television this afternoon: come and focus on the present.
Our Lenten readings today offered us to consider our relationship to past, present, and future—of past sins, of present struggles, and future concerns. And at about this midpoint of Lent we encounter this very important spiritual principle: God is calling out to us to live in the present; to deal with the past—not to be suffocated by it, not to be enslaved by it; and to prepare for the future, not to be anxious about what might happen, not to put off for tomorrow what can be done today.
Looking at this First Reading today, it is a famous reading; you’ve heard it before in the past, you may have seen it depicted in movies. It is one of those readings that if you are not careful you can miss some of the details because you think you are familiar with it. Moses is in the wilderness and he is tending his father-in-law’s flock. He sees an angel of the Lord within a burning bush calling out to Him. Moses goes to examine the bush, and God calls out to him from the bush: “Moses! Moses!”
Listen how God reveals himself to Moses—he reveals himself in the present: “I am”. “I am”. Not, I was the one who created everything. Not, I was the one who was God to your ancestors. No, “I am.” God is active. God is present, then and now.
Remember why Moses was in the wilderness at all. Moses fled to the wilderness after he committed murder. He fled. He committed a grave sin. And even though Moses had done this terrible, terrible thing, God is calling to this sinner, like God calls to all of us sinners, here, now. God is bigger than any past sin.
And then what do we hear in the second reading? St. Paul recalls how God led the people of Israel out of slavery, through the waters of the sea, and in the desert God was feeding them with food from heaven. But even though they were in the presence of God they were grumbling and desiring evil things. They began living in the past, thinking that slavery in Egypt wasn’t so bad compared to this arduous journey God was leading them on.
St. Paul says that we need to learn from their mistakes. When life’s journey gets difficult, we aren’t to turn back to our former sins, but persevere in faith—live faithfully in the present. They took their focus off of God and what God was doing in their midst—purifying them, preparing for the promised land. So, too, we often, lose sight of God and we begin to grumble. And we begin to think, you know, sin isn’t that bad, it’s pleasurable.
Fainlly, in the Gospel Jesus’ parable of the fig tree. This fig tree had not born any fruit for three seasons, the owner of the tree was ready to cut it down. The gardener on the other hand, and isn’t God the Master Gardner, the gardener, argues to give this fig tree one more shot, he’s going to cultivate the ground and fertilize it.
Jesus gives us a very important insight into the heart of God. Don’t be suffocated by your past. Don’t live in the past. You are baptized into God—your identity is in God and God is in “the now” So live in the present. Live in the light. If you didn’t do great in the past, if you committed serious sin, if you didn’t bear fruit in the past, reconcile that to God. Make a new beginning, and commit to living the faith as you are meant to.
A priest I know often says, the devil’s favorite day is tomorrow. The Enemy works to distract us from fulfilling our Christian vocation today, so he tricks us into putting our faith in tomorrow. Oh, I’ll start praying tomorrow, oh, I’ll start fasting tomorrow, oh, I’ll talk to my spouse about some of the problems in our marriage tomorrow, I’ll cook dinner and bring it to the homebound widow next door tomorrow, I’ll give up watching so much television tomorrow, I’ll start working on overcoming my addictions tomorrow. To quote Meredith Wilson’s “The Music Man”: You pile up enough tomorrows, and you'll find you are left with nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays.
During Lent, we strip away our distractions: all the noise, all the diversions, all the material things and pursuits of pleasure, all the empty promises, and enter into the quiet desert so we may hear, and see, and experience what is going on NOW: God working to build up the body of Christ now, God drawing me more deeply into his divine life NOW.
If you haven’t yet this Lent. Make a good confession. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is a new beginning, it’s wiping the slate clean. In the Sacrament we accuse ourselves of our past sins, we state our intention to do everything in our power to avoid these sins in the future, we receive God’s mercy, and his grace to remain strong in the face of temptation. Much progress in the spiritual life is hindered by unrepented sins. Those big sins that we’ve been hiding, those little sins that have been piling up, they hinder our growth, locking us into the past.
Come to Reconciliation, hand your sins over to God, start over, start anew. The Lord is kind and merciful, and all we have to do to understand and appreciate and experience that mercy is to fall on our knees and say, “that was the past, and that’s who I was, and I’m sorry, I want to live in the now, and want Jesus to be the Lord of my life NOW.”
Let us not be discouraged by our failures and weaknesses this day, but have confidence that the Lord is kind and merciful. He calls us to repentance because he desires that we live with Him now, that we walk with Him now, not tomorrow, but today. He frees us from the shackles of the past and the future, so that we may freely live in perfect love and perfect charity for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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