There
was a popular business management book, written by Steven Covey, that was wildly
popular not too many years ago. It’s
called The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. And I think Covey’s “Habit #2” is especially
appropriate as we begin the Holy Season of Lent this day. Habit #2 goes like this – Begin with the End
in Mind. Begin with the End in Mind. Meaning, whenever you set out to do anything,
tackle a project, take a class, or run a business, it pays to think ahead to
the end, before you begin. Think ahead,
before beginning – what is it I want to achieve?
The
Company I work for does this – long before 2015 began, there was a feverish
push to put together an operating plan for the upcoming year – what do we want
to achieve, and what’s our strategy to get there? A golfer isn’t very successful if she just walks
up to a putt and hits it without standing behind the ball, crouching down low
to see the slope in the green, and spending a moment to visualize the ball
going into the hole. Even sitting down
to write this homily, I had to have a picture in my mind – what do I want the
good people to take away from this – what’s my message going to be?
So
now here we are at the beginning of Lent, and I think it makes sense for us to
pause and think ahead to the end of Lent – what is it that we want our Lent to
achieve? Do we just give up chocolate
and other than that, go about our business?
Or do we stop to think – what’s this holy season about, and what is it
going to look like at the end? What’s my
faith, what’s my relationship with Jesus Christ, going to look like at the end?
For
if our relationship with Christ is no different forty days from now than it is
now, well our Lent will have been a failure.
Wasted time. Wasted
sacrifice. No, we should envision now
that come Holy Thursday and Good Friday we will be different people. Living differently. With a stronger faith in the Lord, a deeper,
more intimate knowledge of the Lord, and most importantly, more in love with
the Lord! And so much more on fire to
serve the Lord and our fellow humanity.
So
if that’s the end, the goal, to be living differently, in deeper relationship
with the Lord, more in love with the Lord and His people, how are we going to get
there?
First
of all, by putting First Things First, which is Steven Covey’s “third habit.” The First Thing, of course, isnt’ a thing at
all – He’s a person. Intentionally make
the Lord the center of your day, and the beginning, and the end. We do this by spending time with Him – first
of all in prayer. No love relationship
thrives, or even survives, without constant, close, intimate communication, and
this is especially true in our relationship with Christ. To grow in that relationship, we must spend
time alone with Him, speaking to Him, and then simply listening to Him with our
hearts.
Spending
time with Him could also be daily Mass, daily receiving Our Lord, Body, Blood,
Soul and Divinity, or in quiet Eucharistic adoration, or Stations of the Cross.
Putting
first things first in our relationship with Jesus also means seeking healing in
that relationship. Pausing to reflect,
during this holy season, on my sinfulness – what I have done, and what I have
failed to do. Where am I failing, what
sinful habits do I have? Or what is it
that I know deep down inside is wrong, but I rationalize away? And what sins do I have that I don’t even
realize are sins?
If
we make an honest assessment of the state of our souls, we will realize how
much we’ve failed the Lord, fallen short of the goal. But rather than to despair of our sinfulness,
He beckons us to come to Him for forgiveness, healing and strength to go
forth. We Catholics are so blessed to
have the Sacrament of Reconciliation, where we experience in a tangible sense
Our Lord’s unfailing love and mercy, and we receive the grace and strength to
go and sin no more.
Sacrifice is an important part of any relationship, and this is especially
true of our Faith. We fast, we give
things up, for a purpose – to empty ourselves of attachments to stuff, to
things, so that we can be ever more securely attached to the Lord. And our hunger pangs, or the whiff of a
cheeseburger on a Friday, should remind us of the magnificent sacrifice Our
Lord made for each of us on that Friday 2000 years ago.
And,
we give alms – but we give not only of our money, but also of our time and
talent. If our love relationship with
Jesus Christ is growing, how can we not be growing in love for His people? We will want to pour ourselves out for Him
and His people, as He did for us on the Cross.
Sisters
and brothers, we begin Lent with the end in mind. And we look to where we’ll be, where our faith,
our relationship with the Lord will be, on Easter Sunday morning, when we
celebrate His glorious resurrection. But
it’s important to realize, I think, that the real “end” we need to keep in mind
is our own Easter Sunday, when it’s our own glorious resurrection we will
celebrate. You see, we only are given so
many seasons of lent in our lives, and if we look around the Church this
evening, well it’s certainly possible that someone you’re seeing won’t be with
us a year from now.
So
we should take advantage of this holy season while we have time. “Behold, now
is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
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