-The Homily for March 6th is in the Library ->
-The scriptures for Sunday March 13th are at USCCB.org ->
-I am preaching at the 4:00pm Mass on Saturday and the 8:00am Mass on Sunday
Ally Ally in Free!
The scriptures on this first week of Lent 2011 hold up two "characters" for us to examine. One is "autonomous" and the Other is "free". In the first case I am speaking, of course, of the woman in the garden who uses her freedom to detach herself from God = autonomy. In the second case I am speaking of Jesus who execises his freedom to reject the self and embrace the hand of God.
This comparison between license and true freedom is something that affects every Christian life everyday. The temptation is to mis-read one's identity, one's purpose, and one's circumstance AND then to exercize the great gift of freedom by choosing God or self.
The witness of Eve reminds all of us of the innate tendency of our broken human condition (to defend and build up the false self at every moment in every circumstance). The witness and ministry of Jesus shows us and helps us to enter into the "Pattern of salvation". What I mean by the pattern of salvation is that we have to see that there is a system at work and then we must work the system.
The false self always reads every situation from the perspective of how threatened it is. It always presents us with a very reasonable motivation for "taking care of ourselves (even religious, but always emotional reasons)." That's the system that is built into us from sin. It's called death. In fact, even though it is death we think it's really "living". Our sharing in the liberation that Jesus has instituted into our human condition by His resurrection and the Holy Spirit is to buck the system.
By His grace we can, ever so slightly, begin to cause and see some light between our circumstances and our false self demanding autonomy. By His grace, we can 'starve' the false self through the logic of the cross(I have to die) and we can cling to God, abandoning the falsehood. We have to start small (like curbing the hunger for bread) and thereby allowing the distance between our hardened selfish hearts and everyday choices to widen. More and more kingdom can get in.
Only a heart, a true self, that is pacticed in true freedom, self-denial, can ultimately embrace God and His Kingdom." Before we judge 'ol Eve, we need to ask "are we free enough to conquer our own bellies? If not, how will we ever resist the cunning devil himself? That will be the test.
