First Sunday of Lent, Cycle B

MARK 1:12-15

WHEN I WAS GROWING UP IN MONTANA, MY COUSINS WENT TO A SMALL WOODEN CHURCH IN THE TINY TOWN OF EAST HELENA DEDICATED TO SAINTS CYRIL AND METHODIUS. I ONLY KNEW VAGUELY THAT THEY WERE BROTHERS WHO WERE MISSIONARIES. I WAS REMINDED OF THEM ON VALENTINE'S DAY THIS MONTH, WHEN, CONTRARY TO WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE THOUGHT, WE CELEBRATED THEIR FEAST DAY RATHER THAN THE FEAST OF SAINT VALENTINE. I DON'T HAVE A GOOD EXPLANATION FOR THIS, BUT I'M SURE YOU CAN ASK FATHER AFTER MASS.

BOTH BROTHERS ARE WORTH STUDYING, BUT I'M GOING TO CONCENTRATE ON SAINT CYRIL. HE WAS THE OLDER BROTHER, AND STARTED HIS CAREER AS A LAYMAN, WORKING FOR THE BYZANTINE EMPEROR. HIS GIVEN NAME WAS CONSTANTINE. THE EMPIRE WAS THREATENED BY ISLAM AND THERE WERE CONFLICTS WITH JEWISH COMMUNITIES; CYRIL, IN ORDER TO ADDRESS SOME OF THESE PROBLEMS, STUDIED THEOLOGY, AND LEARNED ARABIC AND HEBREW. HE WROTE SEVERAL TRACTS DEMONSTRATING WHY CHRISTIANITY WAS SUPERIOR TO ISLAM AND JUDAISM. EVENTUALLY THE EMPEROR PREVAILED UPON HIM AND HIS BROTHER, WHO WAS A PRIEST, TO CONVERT THE SLAVIC PEOPLE, WHO WERE PAGANS, BUT ALSO, WHO WERE BEING ACTIVELY PROSELYTIZED BY MISSIONARIES FROM GERMANY, WHO REPRESENTED THE POPE. THE EASTERN AND WESTERN CHURCH HAD NOT SPLIT AT THAT TIME, BUT THERE WAS INTENSE RIVALRY. CYRIL WITH HIS BROTHER MANAGED TO CREATE THE SLAVONIC LITURGY AND DESIGNED AN ALPHABET FOR THE SLAVIC LANGUAGES. CYRIL WON THE APPROVAL OF THE POPE FOR HIS EFFORTS, LEGITIMIZING THE SLAVONIC LITURGY IN THE EYES OF ROME. HE DIED AT ABOUT THE AGE 50, AND ONLY A FEW DAYS BEFORE HE DIED, HE BECAME A MONK, TAKING THE NAME CYRIL.

CYRIL WAS A VERY SUCCESSFUL BUREAUCRAT, AND MIGHT HAVE SPENT HIS LIFE ADVANCING IN THE COURT OF THE EMPEROR. BUT HE LEFT THIS LIFE FOR A LIFE OF STRUGGLE AND SOME DEGREE OF PERSECUTION AND BEING MISUNDERSTOOD. HE DIED BEFORE SEEING HIS EFFORTS REACH COMPLETION; HIS BROTHER METHODIUS LIVED LONG ENOUGH TO SEE THEIR EFFORTS SUCCEED.

CYRIL ILLUSTRATES SOMETHING ABOUT WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A CHRISTIAN. I WAS REMINDED OF THAT BY THE GOSPEL TODAY. YOU WILL NOTICE THAT JESUS WAS “DRIVEN” BY THE HOLY SPIRIT. CYRIL WAS DRIVEN, AS WELL, AS WERE ALL OF THE SAINTS. A CHRISTIAN IS SOMEONE WHO SUBMITS TO BEING DRIVEN BY THE HOLY SPIRIT. AND OFTEN THAT MEANS GOING WHERE YOU DON'T WANT TO GO, DOING THINGS YOU DON'T WANT TO DO.

A CHRISTIAN, BY VIRTUE OF HER BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION, BECOMES THE HANDS AND FEET AND VOICE OF CHRIST, AND BECOMES, IN THE WORDS WE USED TO USE WHEN I WAS YOUNG, A TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

THE SACRAMENTS GIVE US THE GRACE TO DO WHAT CYRIL DID, WHAT ANY OF THE SAINTS DID – THE GRACE TO DO WHAT WE DON'T WANT TO DO. BUT LIKE ALL GRACES, THEY DON'T WORK IN A VACUUM. FOR GRACE TO WORK, THE ONE RECEIVING THE GRACE HAS TO COOPERATE. GRACES CAN BE GIVEN, BUT IGNORED.

WE HUMAN BEINGS ARE ALWAYS CAUGHT BETWEEN THE VOICE OF THE SERPENT AND THE VOICE OF GOD. GIVEN ANY DECISION, THERE IS THE ONE THAT ANSWERS THE DESIRES OF MY ANIMAL NATURE, AND THE ONE THAT HELPS BRING GOD'S KINGDOM CLOSER. MOST OF THE TIME, OUR DECISIONS DON'T SEEM TO BE VERY MOMENTOUS, AND IN THE COURSE OF A DAY, WE MAY MAKE SOME DECISIONS OUT OF SELFISHNESS AND SOME BECAUSE WE ARE SENSITIVE TO THE HOLY SPIRIT. BUT WE MAKE THESE DECISIONS ON THE EDGE OF OUR CONSCIOUSNESS; NO WONDER WE DON'T SEE MUCH CHANGE AS TIME GOES ON.

AND THAT IS WHERE LENT COMES IN. DURING LENT, OUR GOAL SHOULD BE TO BECOME MORE SENSITIVE TO THE MOVEMENTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. IN ORDER TO TO DO THIS, WE HAVE TO BECOME MORE CONSCIOUS OF THOSE DECISIONS WHICH STEM FROM OUR ANIMAL NATURE, THOSE DECISIONS THAT STEM FROM OUR SELFISHNESS. AND THAT IS WHY WE FAST AND ABSTAIN. IN THE OLDEN DAYS, WE WERE AWARE OF THIS EVERY DAY OF LENT; WE FASTED SIX OUT OF SEVEN DAYS. IT CERTAINLY DIDN'T KILL US, AND SOME OF US LOST A LITTLE WEIGHT, WHICH IS ALWAYS GOOD; BUT IN THE PROCESS OF CONSCIOUSLY NOT EATING AN AVAILABLE PIECE OF CHOCOLATE, OR NOT INDULGING ON THAT NICE MARTINI AT THE END OF THE WORK DAY, WE REMEMBERED THAT WE WERE ABLE TO RESIST TEMPTATION AND GROW IN GRACE. IT'S A GOOD THING, OF COURSE, TO DO SOMETHING POSITIVE DURING LENT, AND SOMETIMES IT HAS A SIMILAR EFFECT; BUT I THINK IT'S EASIER TO ADD SOMETHING TO OUR DAY THEN IT IS TO TAKE SOMETHING THAT IS ALMOST A PART OF US AND PUT IT ASIDE, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT IS SOMETHING THAT REALLY HURTS TO GIVE UP. THAT IS WHAT FASTING MEANS – NOT TURNING INTO SKIN AND BONES, BUT GIVING UP, JUST FOR A TIME, SOMETHING THAT HAS TO DO WITH OUR SELFISH SIDE, OUR ANIMAL NATURE.

REMEMBER, OUR GOAL IS TO BECOME SENSITIVE TO THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND WE CAN BEGIN TO DO THIS BY CONSCIOUSLY MAKING A DENT IN OUR SELFISHNESS, OUR SELF-CENTEREDNESS. AND IN THOSE MOMENTS WHEN WE FEEL THE ACHE IN OUR LIVES BECAUSE WE ARE FASTING, WE CAN HEAR THE VOICE OF THE SPIRIT, AND BECOME MORE FAMILIAR WITH HIM.

IT SEEMS LIKE A LITTLE THING, TO GIVE SOMETHING UP FOR LENT. BUT REMEMBER THAT OUR GOAL IS TO OPEN OUR LIVES UP TO THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND ALLOW HIM TO “DRIVE” US, AS HE DROVE JESUS, AS HE DRIVES THE SAINTS. AND ONCE WE ALLOW THIS, WE WILL BEGIN TO SEE THOSE MOMENTS IN OUR LIVES WHEN THERE IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR JESUS TO ACT THROUGH US, AND WHEN HE DOES, IT WILL BECOME POSSIBLE FOR US TO DO MORE, AND AS WE YIELD TO THE SPIRIT, WE MIGHT FIND OURSELVES DOING GREAT THINGS FOR GOD, FULFILLING OUR CALLING AS CHRISTIANS.

SO LET US RESOLVE TO MAKE THIS LENT DIFFERENT, AND PRAY FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT; BUT ALSO FAST FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND REACH OUT TO THOSE WHO NEED US FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT. AND MAY THE HOLY SPIRIT DRIVE US WHERE WE DON'T WANT TO GO, AND MOVE US TO DO WHAT WE DON'T WANT TO DO.