I’m not giving up broccoli for Lent!

I can recall a past priest at Holy Family telling a story during one of his Lenten homilies in which he recalled asking his nephew what he was giving up for Lent. The boy replied, “I’m giving up broccoli.” The Priest reminded his young nephew that the boy didn’t like broccoli.

To be sure, fasting can remind us of Jesus Christ's journey into the desert. But it seems to me it is also important that Lent can be a time when we prepare ourselves to become more Christ like. Pope Francis recently stated: “Lent is a favorable season for opening the doors to all those in need and recognizing in them the face of Christ." Our challenge today is to renew our understanding of this important season of the Church year and to see how we can integrate our personal practices into this renewed perspective.

This Lent I’ve decided to make love an action verb. I think we all can recite Matthew 22:36-40 ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ But my journey this Lent to try to integrate this simple concept (Commandment) into my daily life. Like any profound change in human behavior, it’s easier said than done. (For me it’s exacerbated, by the “gift of free will” and a rather short memory.)

A favorite wedding passage is 1 Corinthians 13:4-5: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs."  There are many examples throughout the bible of Jesus’s acts of love. He showed mercy to someone with no regard to background or circumstances. "And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward."  Life is often a chain of events. Some events are profound others are incidental. We often rise to the occasion of a loving act when faced with profound events in our lives.  But developing a personality in which we offer love to others routinely is sometimes a challenge. A warm smile, a hug, words of encouragement, a simple “thank you” can help us to be the “face of Christ” to others.  Acts of love are easy to perform but are not always part of our personality. Not because we try to be unloving, but more often, we “forget.”

At the age of 20, Benjamin Franklin created a system to develop his character. He identified thirteen virtues that were important to him and practiced his daily use of each, until he had “habitualized” all thirteen virtues he deemed important. One of his thirteen virtues was “imitate Jesus.” Franklin used a fairly complicated charting system, but this Lent I’m trying to habitualize the simple acts of love during my daily life.

At the end of Lent I’m hopeful to have developed a more loving personality. As a result, when we arrive at Easter Sunday and we celebrate the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, I am hoping to have a few less sins to be forgiven.

“…And hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit…” ROM 5:1-2, 5-8

May the love of Christ be with us all, Bob Lyons