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The
season of Lent is the time for our transfiguration, forty days wherein
we invite the Holy Spirit to renew us so that others will see us in our
glory—the glory of God’s beloved. Our transfiguration not only enables
God to say of us, “This is my chosen; listen to him,” but also for us,
like St. Paul, to say to others when speaking about ourselves, “be
imitators of me, and observe those who thus conduct themselves according
to the model you have in us” (Philippians 3:17).
This
image—each of us basking in the glory of God’s beloved and being able to
state full of confidence that others should imitate us—while uplifting,
is also challenging. The “uplifting” part is the hope we have been
given in the exodus Jesus accomplished in Jerusalem. His death and
resurrection have freed us from sin and have renewed within us the glory
of God’s beloved. The challenging part of this image is the reality
that we all have sinned and, by so doing, have forsaken the grace of
God. We need to get back “on track” by turning away from sin.
Perhaps
we’ve sinned because our god is our stomach. Perhaps our glory is our
shame. Perhaps our minds are occupied with earthly things. As St. Paul
reminds us in today’s epistle, when we make god our stomach, our glory
our shame, and our minds occupied with earthly things, we forsake
citizenship in heaven. We are merely dust and unto dust we will return
with no hope of eternal life.
Is that
the end our hearts long for? Certainly not.
As
Christians, we can arm ourselves with the Cross to battle temptation so
that we don’t sin. We do so, in particular, by making the sign of the
Cross. A Redemptorist priest, Fr. Dennis J. Billy, has written that we
oftentimes don’t utilize this powerful spiritual tool, one that can
assist us as we battle temptation each day.
So,
today, I’d like to reflect for a bit upon the sign of the Cross. How
can we use it as a spiritual tool to battle temptation?
Look at
the Cross. From the intersection of its vertical and horizontal axes,
the Cross moves in four different directions. Each direction represents
an aspect of discipleship that prepares us for success when we battle
temptation. The vertical axis points upward to the “things of heaven”
while it also points downward to the “things of earth.” The horizontal
axis points east and west—from sunrise to sunset—to encompass the
totality of human life. In the Cross, heaven meets earth and east meets
west in the person of God’s only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. And,
as we follow Jesus in the way he taught us to live, heaven meets earth
and east meets west in us!
We
begin the sign of the Cross as we bring the tips of our right hands to
our foreheads and say, “In the name of the Father.”
This
first bodily movement of the sign of the Cross corresponds directly to
what we are doing by making the sign of the Cross, namely, to engage in
prayer by first calling upon God the Father. At the same time, we touch
our foreheads to remind ourselves that God has given us a brain which
not only enables us to think and to reason but also to will and to act
rightly. Although we may not oftentimes reflect upon it, these two
dimensions of our human nature are integral to a solid prayer life.
Think
about it. Our minds and our wills are the noblest dimensions of our
human nature; they are what distinguish us from other nonhuman animal
forms. As we make the sign of the Cross, the first thing we do is to
lift our minds and wills up to God the Father in prayer. Note, however,
that as we do this, we are turning our minds and our wills away from
preoccupation with ourselves.
That
simple physical movement, beginning the sign of the Cross by touching
our foreheads with the tips of our right hands and saying, “In the name
of the Father,” reminds us that God our Father has given us a mind and
the power of will to live as God’s beloved. When our minds and will
power are focused upon and directed by the things of heaven, God will
say of us, “This is my chosen; listen to him.” Like St. Paul, we can
also say to others with regard to ourselves, “be imitators of me, and
observe those who thus conduct themselves according to the model you
have in us.”
The
second movement when making the sign of the Cross involves extending the
tips of our right hand down to the pit of our stomachs and saying, “…and
of the Son.”
God has
reached down from heaven and drawn each of us up from the earth,
animating what otherwise would be dust with His divine life. God
has breathed His life into us and, in doing so, has joined the things of
heaven and earth in us. Touching this part of our anatomy in the
second movement of the sign of the Cross, then, reminds us of the
physical, animal dimension of our nature as human beings.
We’ve
all experienced “feeling something in our gut.” That’s why, over the
centuries, the stomach has been considered the “seat of emotion.” At
the same time, however, the stomach also is our “center,” physically
speaking, and it orients our sense of balance. Moreover, our stomach is
that part of our body where passions become inflamed. Hunger pangs,
outbursts of happiness, anger, and courage as well as our sex drive
become inflamed not by our minds and wills but from within this “vital
center” of our being.
Spiritually speaking, the downward movement of our right hand during the
second part of the sign of the Cross also reminds us of the mystery of
the Incarnation, that is, God’s only begotten Son, Jesus, became human,
lived, and died among us. By assuming our human nature, Jesus not only
took upon himself our mind and power of will, but also our emotions and
senses. The letter to the Hebrews reminds us that Jesus became “human
like us in all things but sin” (2:17) and, as we heard in today’s
epistle, Jesus “was tempted in every way that we are, yet never sinned”
(4:15).
Think
about that! Jesus experienced every temptation that we can experience.
But, Jesus never sinned! How was that possible? Well, perhaps it was
because Jesus focused his mind and will first and foremost upon God and
lived his days “In the name of the Father….”
When we
live “in the name of the Son,” we strive to imitate Jesus by living our
days as Jesus lived his days. We don’t spiritualize ourselves in such
ways that deny our humanity—after all, Jesus didn’t—but we also don’t
allow our vital center to overpower and control us. Yes, we get
hungry. Yes, we experience happiness. Yes, people and events can make
us angry. Yes, we need to be courageous. And, yes, our bodies remind
us that we have a very powerful and potent sex drive. These aspects of
our human nature aren’t bad because, after all, God did create them!
But, we can allow the things of our “earthly creatureliness” to control
us in such ways that our minds and wills are rendered powerless. When
we allow this to happen, we actually choose to live in a way that is not
only sub-human but also below how nonhuman animals live.
That
simple physical movement, continuing the sign of the Cross by touching
the pit of our stomachs with the tips of our right hands and saying,
“…and in the name of the Son,” reminds us that God’s only begotten Son
became human just like us and, by keeping focused on living “In the name
of the Father,” Jesus has shown us how to use our vital center so as be
one of God’s beloved. When we do this, God will say of us, “This is my
chosen; listen to him.” And, like St. Paul, we can also say to others
with regard to ourselves, “be imitators of me, and observe those who
thus conduct themselves according to the model you have in us.”
The
third movement in making the sign of the Cross shifts us from the
vertical—where heaven and earth are joined in our bodies—to the
horizontal—where east and west meet in what is the totality of what
constitutes our lives. This third movement requires moving the tips of
our right hands to our left shoulders which, in turn, allows the palms
of our right hands to cover our hearts, and saying, “…and of the Holy….”
Pausing
as we say these words, we will feel our hearts pulsating. However, what
we feel is not just the heart pumping blood to be distributed throughout
the body. Because the heart isn’t simply a physical entity but also a
spiritual entity—the “seat of love” dwelling within—what we also feel
pulsating is the power of divine love. “God is love,” St. Paul writes
in his epistle to the Ephesians, “and he who abides in love abides in
God, and God in him” (3:16).
Mother
Teresa once said, “There is more hunger for love in this world than for
bread.” This third movement reminds us that God loves us and that the
power of God’s love is being pumped throughout our bodies. Aware of
this, our challenge is to extend God’s love to other people. As we
extend God’s love to those who are hunger for love, we make God’s
presence manifest on earth. Yes, we start with our family and friends.
But, as Jesus’ disciples, we also extend God’s love to strangers, the
poor, and, in fact, to anyone hungering for God’s love.
With
that simple physical movement, touching our left shoulders and pausing
to feel the power of divine love pulsating through our bodies and
saying, “…and of the Holy…,” we recall all of God’s beloved—like
ourselves—who hunger for love. Our obligation is to feed their hunger.
When we do this, God will say of us, “This is my chosen; listen to
him.” And, like St. Paul, we can also say to others with regard to
ourselves, “be imitators of me, and observe those who thus conduct
themselves according to the model you have in us.”
We
complete the sign of the Cross with a second horizontal movement, moving
the tips of our right hands in one sweeping motion across our chest to
our right shoulders and saying the word “Spirit.”
Feeding
those who hunger for God’s love requires more than “good will.” It
requires a special power—the power of the Holy Spirit—evidencing itself
when we are wise and understanding, when we know right from wrong, when
we are courageous, knowledgeable, and pious, and when we give first
priority to God in all things. These aren’t “virtues” in the
philosophical sense nor are they Robert Bellah’s “Habits of the Heart”
which characterize nice people. No, the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit
are supernatural and permanent “qualities of soul” that make us
attentive to God’s voice, that render us susceptible to the workings of
God’s grace, that make us love the things of God, and, consequently,
that render us more docile and obedient to the inspirations of the Holy
Spirit in our daily lives. In short, when we touch our right
shoulders with our right hands and utter the word “Spirit,” we challenge
ourselves to be vigilant.
Being
vigilant is so very important in our world today because we need to be
aware of what’s going on around us and to discern what dangers are
lurking out there. We also need to be vigilant for those ways we
deceive ourselves and might do harm to ourselves and others. Being
vigilant makes it possible for us to discover how we might improve
ourselves as opportunities to grow in grace and wisdom present
themselves serendipitously. Lastly, we need to be vigilant so that we
will take advantage of these opportunities. However, we cannot be
vigilant on our own. We need the power of the Holy Spirit.
Think
about the opposite. When we’re not vigilant, our defenses are
weakened. We don’t muster the courage to withstand temptation. We fear
change and don’t try to develop to our potential. We allow
relationships to become dysfunctional. And, as a result, we do great
harm to ourselves and others by crafting idols that drive love of God
from our hearts and also make it impossible to love our neighbor because
we only love ourselves.
That
simple physical movement, touching our right shoulders and saying,
“…Spirit…,” calls to mind the power we need—the power of God’s Spirit—to
be vigilant. When we do this, God will say of us, “This is my chosen;
listen to him.” And, like St. Paul, we can also say to others with
regard to ourselves, “be imitators of me, and observe those who thus
conduct themselves according to the model you have in us.”
When
prayed correctly, the sign of the Cross—“In the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”—joins the things of heaven and the
things of earth as well as the totality of our lives so that we will
engage successfully in battling temptation. The sign of the Cross has
the power to awaken us from indifference and lack of interest in the
things of heaven and to transfigure us by the power of the Holy Spirit
so that others will see us in our glory—the glory of God’s beloved. We
do so by lifting our minds and wills up to God the Father in prayer, by
remembering that God’s only begotten Son became human just like us, by
feeding those who their hunger for God’s love, and remaining vigilant
through the power of the Holy Spirit.
We can
start and end each day with the sign of the Cross. We can engage in the
activities of each day with the sign of the Cross. We can begin each
meal with the sign of the Cross. As we do this, we recall the totality
of who we are, heaven and earth as well as east and west conjoined in a
human being. As we live this totality, God transfigures us into
the sign of the Cross and says of us, “This is my chosen; listen to
him.” And, like St. Paul, we can also say to others with regard to
ourselves, “be imitators of me, and observe those who thus conduct
themselves according to the model you have in us.”
Our powerful prayer
is: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
And, the
congregation responds: “Amen!”
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HOMILY
