A Homily given by Fr. Ben Jones,
For St. George’s Anglican Church, Raleigh, NC;
On the Third Sunday in Lent; A.D. 2010.
“Children of Light”
+ In the name of God the Father, and of God the Son,and of God the Holy Ghost, Amen.
St. Luke 11:17.
“But He, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth.”
Ephesians 5:8.
“For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the lord: walk as children of light: (for the fruit of the spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.”
The Third Sunday in Lent marks the mid point of our Lenten journey. At this mid point, are we individually a “house divided” or are we walking as “Children of Light”? Let’s investigate how we can walk as “Children of Light” through the remainder of this Penitential Season of Lent. Most importantly, what does “Penitential Season” mean? What does being “penitent” mean for our faith? We hear and say these words quite frequently during Lent. So what do they mean; what are we saying??
In our gospel lesson we heard, “He that is not with Me is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth.”1 This is the heart of the message that Jesus has been teaching. There CAN BE NO neutrality. Plain and simple; you are not going to coast with God. His teachings concerning the Kingdom of God bring about the real hard facts of overcoming evil. He continues to say that those who reject His doctrines are looked upon as adversaries, accepting of the way of Satan’s interests. There is no middle of the road with Jesus. Christ throughout His entire earthly ministry taught the doctrine of His Father’s Kingdom to bring about the defeat of Satan’s grip on mankind, which guarantees to all of us, His faithful followers, the benefit of His victory, Salvation. There are a couple of verses in the Revelation according to St. John the Divine that come to mind each and every time I read these verses from Luke. “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”2 Christ is telling us that a lukewarm attitude or just plain, out right, indifference to the doctrine of His Father’s Kingdom is the worst position known in the world. Christ wants us and expects us to declare ourselves in earnest either for Him or against Him. In either case, He can work with us. Of course He would much rather we declare ourselves to be a part of His Father’s Kingdom. In other words, lukewarm belief leads to rejection. Where the absolute danger lies in this attitude of indifference is in the REJECTION. Far be it for Christ to return to that which has been rejected by the Father. In the verses from Luke and from Revelation, we are told that He knows our intentions or our desires, He knows our hearts, and He knows our thoughts. This is the reason we prepare our hearts and our minds during the “Season of Lent”. Our preparation brings to us a closer relationship with our Lord and Saviour.
We draw closer in our relationship with our Lord and Saviour in His gift to us of the “forgiveness of our sins”. The gift of forgiveness is freely given to those who ask. This is the importance of the “Penitential Season of Lent”. We are given an opportunity to immerse ourselves in disciplines of turning it all over to God. We hear it in the Absolution each time we attend Mass, “Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who of His great mercy hath promised forgiveness of sins to all those who with hearty repentance and true faith turn unto Him;”3 We hear it in the Collect for the first day of Lent, commonly called, Ash Wednesday,
“Almighty and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou has made, and dost forgive the sins of all those who are penitent; Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”4
Being penitent; this is our focus during our Lenten discipline.
The word penance is derived from the Old French and Latin, poenitentia, both of which derive from the same root meaning repentance, the desire to be forgiven. Our desire to be forgiven was referenced in the Collect for Ash Wednesday, for God to create in us new and “contrite hearts”. What is a “contrite heart” and how do we obtain this “contrite heart”? A “contrite heart” is most important in that it ensures the gift of forgiveness of all sin. Being contrite is being sorry for sin that has been committed, being truly sorry. Not just sorrow on the account of what we may have lost due to our sin, being that communion with God here in this world. Nor is being contrite just being sorry that we got caught in our sin or the punishment that may result from our sinful act. True Contrition is that sorrow for sin which flows from the love of God in our souls, being our realization that we have separated ourselves from God’s love by our sin. There are five fruits that we can use to evaluate the completeness of our Contrition.
The first is our readiness to confess our sins. We use the Parable of the Prodigal Son as our example for this fruit. “I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee.”5 Thus the first sign of true Contrition is a desire to confess our sins. The second fruit is our readiness to forsake or to amend our sins. The prodigal son did not return to his evil life after confession. We must amend our lives. The third fruit is our readiness to avoid temptations. The prodigal son didn’t leave his fathers house again. We have to give up occasion to sin. The fourth fruit is our readiness to forgive those who have sinned against us. We petition God for this every time we say the Lord’s Prayer. “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” The fifth fruit is a readiness to make satisfaction for our sins to God and man. We make restitution for our sins. Following true Contrition, we humbly confess our sins and receive absolution.
Contrition involves prayer and meditation as we can see from the five fruits. When we approach the Altar to receive the most precious Body and Blood of our Lord and Saviour, focus upon the Crucifix and meditate on His Passion. Pray that the inspiration of the Holy Ghost will guide us and direct us in the realization of how our sins have separated us from the Love of God and to help us in restoring this relationship. Christ will take it from there. We have achieved Contrition. If you have further questions, talk to your Priests here at St. George’s. As well, the Sacrament of Penance is available at any point in time if that is a desire that God has put on your heart.
So what do we achieve from our involvement in the “Penitential Season of Lent”? Simply put, we have prepared ourselves for a closer relationship with our Lord and Saviour. More especially we have prepared ourselves to walk with Christ during Holy Week to experience His love for us in His preparation to suffer death upon the Cross for our redemption; and as we pray at the beginning of the Sacrifice of the Mass, “who made there, (by His own oblation of Himself once offered), a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world, and did institute, and in His Holy Gospel command us to continue, a perpetual memory of that His precious death and sacrifice, until His coming again.”6 And last of all in the words of St. Paul, “Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the Temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the Temple of God is Holy, which Temple ye are”.7 If we find that we have broken our Lenten Fast, and say to ourselves, “Oh well, maybe next year”, or that we didn’t begin our Lenten Fast, don’t give up, or put off to next year what we can take advantage of right now at this very moment. Let us resume our Lenten Fast or begin our Lenten Fast TODAY. God accepts us just as we are with a penitent and contrite heart. We will find that through our Lenten discipline our house or our Temple is not divided. For we have the Spirit of God dwelling within us to walk as the “Children of Light”. Thanks be to Godཀཀ
AMEN.
+
“AND NOW UNTO GOD THE FATHER,
GOD THE SON, AND GOD THE HOLY GHOST;
BE ASCRIBED ALL MIGHT,
MAJESTY, POWER, AND DOMINION,
MOST JUSTLY DUE THIS DAY,
BOTH NOW, AND FOREVER,
WORLD WITHOUT END.
AMEN.”
1 The Gospel according to St. Luke 11:23.
2 The Revelation of St. John the Divine 3:15-16.
3 The BCP, ’28 ed., pp. 76.
4 The BCP, ’28 ed., pp. 124.
5 The Gospel according to St. Luke 15:18.
6 The BCP, ’28 ed., pp. 80.
7 The First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians 3:16-17.