Homily: Tuesday - 2nd Week of Lent 2017 - Holy Self-Forgetfulness

Do you remember the Gospel of Ash Wednesday? We hear it every year.

"Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them…When you pray,
do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners
so that others may see them…When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites.” Right at the beginning of Lent, Jesus condemns activity which draws attention to ourselves, instead of helping us turn our attention to God.

In the Gospel today, Jesus again condemns the scribes and Pharisees for using their positions of teaching the faith to draw attention not to God, but to themselves. As Jesus said, “They do all their deeds to be seen by men.” They sought the place of honor at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues and reverent titles. They were guilty of pride and vanity. They had forgotten the one whom they were supposed to be serving—God.

Rather the attitude and the behavior of the Christian is to turn ourselves to God, in order to bring others to God. This is the reason why Jesus places such great emphasis on humility, who came not to do his own will, but the will of the one who sent Him. He indeed shows us what humility looks like, on the cross

C.S. Lewis wrote, “By this virtue [of humility], as by all others, [God] wants to turn [our] attention away from self, to Him and [to our] neighbors.” Humility is not a matter of thinking less of ourselves—but less about ourselves, forgetting ourselves and turning outward in love. Not thinking less of ourselves, but less about ourselves.

Vanity and pride are so deadly because they turn our focus away from God to how look, how we appear, how others think of us. We live in a truly vain age—where there is greater concern for how many ‘likes’ one gets on facebook or youtube or followers one has on twitter, and less concern over the state of the soul.

The Pharisees are not gone: they’ve simply got new jobs as politicians, journalists, college professors, social justice warriors, internet stars, and perhaps even some priests, and are virtue-signaling like never before—appearing to be concerned about the poor rather than actually serving the poor and actually growing in virtue.

Rather, God calls us to engage in self-forgetful practices: the sort of prayer and charitable service where self is forgotten and Christ is discovered.

May our Lenten observances humble our earthly pride and vanity and bring us that holy self-forgetfulness which deepens our communion with God and neighbor for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For greater devotion in our Lenten prayer, greater self-restraint in our Lenten fasting, and greater selflessness in our Lenten almsgiving.

That civil leaders will use their authority to protect the dignity of human life and the well-being of the poor, the marginalized, the oppressed, those who suffer from discrimination, and the unborn.  We pray to the Lord.

For the grace to turn away from all that keeps us from deeper communion with the Holy Trinity.
For those preparing to enter the Church at Easter, that these weeks of Lent may bring them purification and enlightenment in the ways of Christ.  We pray to the Lord.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation or illness: that the tenderness of the Father’s love will comfort them.  We pray to the Lord.