Homily Notes, 02-28-2021 - Penance and Detachment

 02-28-2021
Second Sunday of Lent

The Transfiguration by Lodovico Carracci, 1594

"This is the will of God: your sanctification."

St. Paul's words today are good and applicable.  As we saw a few weeks ago, St. Paul reminded us that life is a race toward heaven and every day gets us further to that goal.  The following Sunday, he reminded us to be careful for the trap of pride, don't be prideful about your penance and sacrifices.  The next Sunday, we were told that the key to our lent (and life) is charity: love of God in all actions.  The next Sunday, we were told not to waste this opportunity.  It only comes once a year.  This Lent will not come again and God gives us this opportunity to grow in holiness, and we won't get that chance back.  Now this week, St. Paul is reminding us of our goal: this is the will of God, your sanctification.  God wants you to become a saint.  That is why He created you.

In today's Gospel, we catch a glimpse of Heaven.  Our Lord showed Himself to three apostles as He really is in His glorified form.  It was so glorious that they fell on their faces in fear.  We are meant to share in this glory.

Why are we doing penance during Lent?  Why does the Church require this of us and encourage us to do penance?  We often fall into an impression that we are doing it just because we have to.  That's a minor reason.  Doing penance to make up for past sin is true, but still not the whole picture.  "God has not called us to uncleanness but to sanctification."  Our penances are actually meant to sanctify us, meant to detach us from anything that holds us back from God and remind us that we will never be perfectly satisfied in merely earthly pleasures.  These things may be good in themselves but they are not perfect and will not fulfill our desires.  We are drawn to the good in material things - things that God created and can use to help us get to heaven.  But they are not perfect.  So during Lent we give up these attachments because they are not our goal.  Sanctity is our goal.  We live in a world where the thrill of modern technology dominates our lives.  It is intense, but short pleasure.  We get addicted, continually wanting more.  Cell phones are a great example.  They are an easy and cheap form of entertainment that is not lasting.  No effort went into it.  We need recreation, but the more effort we put INTO our recreation, the more we get out of it.  For example, a hike is difficult but refreshes the soul.  Humans are attached to seeking entertainment.  Addiction to cell phones is an animal behavior.

St. Paul reminds us: Lent is for our sanctification, to rid us of attachments on earth so we can go to God.  We need to rid ourselves of attachments whether we realize we have them or not.  And so the Church, knowing us and knowing human nature, encourages us to do penance.  We live in a world that draws us in and we become too attached to things.  The Church call us to penance to overcome anything that pulls us into sin.  What do we need Lent for?  To give up things, and find out what we are attached to.

Signs of attachment: 

1. getting upset overly trivial things. If the computer freezes, a webpage takes too long to load, someone doesn't respond to our text right away, the phone battery dies, someone interrupts our favorite tv show -- do we get annoyed and angry?

2. If someone accuses you of being attached, do you get defensive and make excuses?  If you make excuses not to give something up, you're too attached.

We are meant to give up these things in order to break ourselves of those attachments, even those things we don't necessarily think we are attached to.  Food is good for us and yet the Church asks us to fast during lent.  Give something good up in order to detach from it.  Ask yourself, are you using this thing for the right reasons or are you too attached to it?

Don't let this opportunity go to waste.  Give up cheap entertainment that the world uses to draw you in.  Put some effort into your life.  By your effort you will produce fruit.

By human nature, men are social creatures.  We need a society of others.  We can use the help of others to persevere in our resolutions.  You can overcome temptation to quit by involving others, by making a commitment together and holding each other accountable.

Have an intention for your penance: maybe someone you know needs prayers.  Make sacrifices for them.  Offer penances for those intentions, not just for yourself.  This also helps you preserve: making an effort for someone else and not for yourself.  When it gets difficult, think "this person needs my sacrifices."

"For this is the will of God, your sanctification."  Abstain from anything that holds you back from God.  God must be first.  This is the will of God.  We must work for it; we must work for our sanctification.

Put yourself in Our Lady's hands.  Prepare yourself for Easter the way she would have.  Ask her for the graces you need to persevere in your resolutions and to become the saint that God is calling you to be, the saint that God has destined you to be.