Homily Fourth Sunday of Lent: “It’s Halftime. Bring Out the Band”
Homily Fourth Sunday of Lent: “It’s Halftime. Bring Out the Band”
Children on a long car ride will often ask their parents, “When will we get there?” A parent who wants to keep their children from complaining will often say we are halfway there, or we are almost there. Today, we have the liturgical celebration of Laetare Sunday. Laetare means praise in Latin. What are we praising God about this Sunday? We are happy because we are halfway through our Lenten penance.
Children often give up something for Lent. Maybe we have given up candy for Lent. People used to give up smoking. Some people stop drinking. Others might give up cursing. At first, when we do this it might seem like six weeks is not all that long. But when we are three weeks into our penance, we can grow tired.
We could compare it to going out for a run. When we go out for a run, which I used to do, the runner sets out for a certain distance. When we are about halfway through, we have the experience of “hitting the wall.” We tempted to stop and to walk awhile, perhaps just to sit down and to rest. But if we keep pushing usually, we will get a second burst of energy which carries us to the finish line. We could say Laetare Sunday acknowledges our fatigue with Lent, but we must find the will to keep our Lenten resolutions if they are really going to have the needed effect on our spiritual life.
What can motivate us to not lose heart with difficult situations in life? One thing that can help us is if we have a feeling that what we are experiencing won’t last forever. If we feel that our difficulties are only going to last for a certain period of time.
Our national leaders have used this motivation throughout the pandemic. How often have heard that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Dates are even established when we might see the end to our isolation. During the past week we were told that by July 4th we will be able to start having small gatherings safely with our families. We might say to ourselves, “That is a long time, but I can do it.”
But what if the struggles we are having do not have a predictable end. How do we endure? Victor Frankl was a Jewish Holocaust survivor. He was also a psychiatrist. He went through the experience of being a prisoner during the Nazi atrocities. The concentration camp inmates were put in a most difficult situation. No one could predict how long imprisonment could last. The only way to escape the horrors of concentration camp, it seemed, was death.
Many of the detained, with good reason, gave up. The prisoners Frankl observed who died suppressed their emotions and values. Men and women existed only in the moment. Some prisoners looked out selfishly for themselves. Others were heroic in their charity. What Frankl noticed was that those who had the will to live saw purpose in the lives. Also, they refused to let go of their human dignity.
One fascinating story from the concentration camps is the story of the many musicians who lived in the camp. The Nazi’s had orchestras that played for various events. For, instance when the trains would come with new arrivals for the camp the orchestras would play to calm people down. Musicians had a better chance at staying alive than other prisoners. Also, they were able to stay in the same barracks.
One way the Jewish musicians would cope with all the horror they were seeing was that they would write music. Compositions were written on any scrap of paper that could be found. Some were even written on toilet paper. A man name Francesco Lotoro, an Italian, has made it his life work to collect these compositions and to complete them and perform them. He realizes the significance of these works. The people who wrote them refused to let their impossible circumstance dictate what they were going to with their lives. The musicians based their hope on the possibility that one day their musical compositions would touch the world. The composers believed that the operas, oratorios and other music they wrote was a reason to keep living. Now their hope that their music would be heard is realized.
Many people are despairing in the present moment. We can learn from those Jewish imprisoned Jewish musicians. St. Paul writes in his Letter to the Ephesians today, that by grace we have been saved. If we believe we have an intimate relationship with God, that God won’t forsake us in any circumstance, that can help us to endure. We aren’t saved by our own efforts, but because of the love of God. We don’t have to make heroic sacrifices to please God but our relationship with God gives meaning to the crosses we carry. If we believe that we have reason to continue our Christian journey. If we believe our destiny lies with God that belief can sustain us today and give us hope for tomorrow.
Reflections Questions:
- How has my Lent been so far? Is my penance helping me become a better Christian?
- Do I have reasons to live? What are they?
Dear Parishioners,
Lent is passing by. How has it gone? Sometimes I hear people say, “I have not kept my Lenten resolution.” They say it with a sense of defeat. But are our Lenten promises related to our promise to carry the cross?
Each week Lent we have a time when we pray the Stations of the Cross together. What we notice as we do that devotion is that Jesus falls three times. He does not stop when he falls, but he gets up and moves forward. Just because we have failed at our Lenten penance once that does not mean we have to give up on the whole enterprise. We still have a couple of weeks of Lent, what could we do during these two weeks?
A good lesson we can learn during Lent is even if we fail God will love us. Confidant people fail and try again. Are we confident in the Lord? Lent can be a time when we see how much faith, hope and love we have.
May Our Lady and all the Angels and Saints watch over us.
Fr. Mark
P.S. I wanted to acknowledge several people who helped with our move to a new living space. I apologize in advance for anyone I miss on this list. We had to limit the people who helped because of COVID 19 so we were lean and mean and worked quickly:
Diane Kennedy and Pat Julius put in many hours making drapes for the priest’s quarters.
Denise Maynard, Sarah Murray, Sandy Madison, Linda Wolbers, Mary Drymiller and Jennifer DeWitt moved the kitchen and organized it.
Mike Maynard and Dave Coene coordinated a number of younger parishioners who moved the furniture.
Kate Schaefer and Bobbie Vidmar moved the linens.
Dick Curry has done numerous handy man projects that have saved the parish a lot of money.
As I said before Don Lewis and Pami Triebel oversaw the painting
THANKS TO ALL THESE PEOPLE AND TO ANYONE I MISSED.