Lent: Loving and glorifying God

Written by MOST REVEREND LEONARD P. BLAIR, Bishop of Toledo

Friday, 06 March 2009 09:59

When it comes to the mystery of God and the teachings of the church, we often find what appear to be "opposites" held together in dynamic unity.

For example, we believe that Jesus Christ is both "true God" and "true man." We believe in both human free will and divine foreknowledge of all our actions. We believe in marriage as a divinely instituted sacrament, yet we are obliged by Christ’s own words and example to uphold celibacy "for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven."

Bishop Leonard P. Blair

Most heresies and schisms arise as a result of putting all the emphasis on one thing to the exclusion of its complement.

This applies to the spiritual life as well. The present season of Lent gives us a good example. In last month’s Chronicle I offered for your reflection Our Lord’s words in the Gospel of Matthew: "Your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father"(5:16). Now, for Lent, in the same Gospel we hear Jesus saying: "Take care not to perform religious deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father." (6:1).

At first glance, these two texts may seem to contradict one another. If we probe the Gospel more deeply, however, we will see that a correct understanding of these passages hinges on whose glory we are seeking. If our actions lead others to glorify and praise God, then we are on the right path. If they lead others to glorify and praise us, or if we promote ourselves, then we are on the wrong path.

It is important to keep this in mind in the way we observe Lent. Everything we do has to be measured by the purity of our intention to give glory to God. This is another way of saying that love is the ultimate measure. When we truly love someone, then all our thoughts and actions are directed in some way to the ìgloryî of the other, not ourselves. This is supremely true of our love for God.

So, if we resolve to fast during Lent, we may indeed improve our health and appearance by losing a few pounds. If that is our motivation, however, then, to use the phrase of Jesus, we "already have our reward." If we pray more intently, but our main purpose is to have our material needs answered by God, then our prayer remains good, but it is imperfect. And when we give alms during Lent, we cannot lose sight of God in those whom we are aiding, desiring for them not only material well-being, but above all the great good of knowing and loving God.

The great challenge in our society is not so much that we don’t believe in God. It’s that we have dethroned God and exiled Him to the margins of life, where loving and honoring Him are fine as long as we don’t get "carried away." Lent contradicts our earth-centered, me-centered priorities and idols, and calls us to repent by loving God above all things, "with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind." (Lk 10:27)

The irony is that the more we forget ourselves and glorify God out of love, the more we receive from Him for ourselves! Our sinful self thinks that if we acknowledge God as God and give Him everything, then somehow we will be diminished, demeaned and less than free. The reality is that in giving ourselves completely to God, we find ourselves exalted beyond our wildest imagining.

I would like to conclude with a passage from Pope Benedict’s 2009 Lenten Message. The main theme is fasting and abstinence, but what the Holy Father says about a truly God-centered spirituality can be applied to all our Lenten practices. "Jesus," he writes, "brings to light the profound motive for fasting, condemning the attitude of the Pharisees, who scrupulously observed the prescriptions of the law, but whose hearts were far from God. True fasting ... is rather to do the will of the Heavenly Father, who ‘sees in secret, and will reward you’ (Mt 6,18). [Jesus] Himself sets the example, answering Satan, at the end of the forty days spent in the desert that ‘man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’ (Mt 4,4). The true fast is thus directed to eating the ‘true food,’ which is to do the Father’s will (cf. Jn 4,34). If, therefore, Adam disobeyed the Lord’s command ‘of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat,’ the believer, through fasting, intends to submit himself humbly to God, trusting in His goodness and mercy."

May God grant us the grace to love and glorify Him in a fruitful Lent.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 06 May 2009 09:11

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