Make your Lenten Fasting more meaningful - First Sunday of Lent, Cycle A

 As we begin Lent, we hear in Genesis that God had given the first man life, in giving him the breath of life, so man could become a living being.   We are different from all creatures of the earth, because we have the breath of God in us.    God then places man in the Garden of Eden with trees that were delightful to look at and good for food.  They have all that they need to live.  What more could they want? 

Then the serpent enters the scene, placing doubt of God’s loving care for Eve tempting her to eat what God had forbidden by asking her, “Did God really tell you not to eat of the trees in the middle of the Garden?”.  She acknowledges that God told her not to eat or even touch the tree, she would die.  The tempter then tells her the great lie, “you will certainly not die if you

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eat from the tree. You will have your eyes opened and be like gods to know what is good and what is evil.”    She acknowledges all God has given her, the beauty and food from all the other trees in the garden, but now she desires to gain wisdom from the trees in the middle of the garden.  These are the tree of life represents eternal life, which only God can give and the tree of knowledge of good & evil represents God’s way for us to live to be communion with Him, if we choose. The alternative is to choose another way that separates her from God.  Eve desires the power to determine what is good and evil for herself, rather than God. This is what the tempter desires, as he has made this choice to be apart from God. 

There is nothing wrong for Eve to have desires, as these fulfill her wants and needs.  She needs food to sustain life and beauty for joy. These are rightly ordered desires.   But she also has a disordered desire, to decide for herself what is good and evil.  God has given her all that she needs, including the ways to live her life.  This desire leads Adam and Eve to disobey God and sin, which results in their separation from God for a time. 

In today’s Gospel we hear of Jesus being led by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil.   In his humanity Jesus battles temptations just like Adam and Eve.  But he enters the battle in a different way.  While Adam and Eve had everything they needed, Jesus goes out into the desert, a place of nothingness, quite the opposite of the Garden of Eden.  After Jesus’s forty day fast, he is hungry and encounters the devil, tempting him to satisfy his human needs though his divine power by saying, “If you are the Son of God”.   Jesus is first tempted to satisfy his hunger, by turning the stones into bread.  Then Jesus is tempted to force God’s to rescue him, by throwing himself down from the top of the Temple. Finally, the devil takes Jesus up the mountain offering worldly, if prostrates to worship him.   

The devil attempts to get Jesus to use his divine power, but he would not be following his Father’s will.  Responding in power would be what the devil and the world expected of the Messiah. But Jesus responds in his humanity to conquer sin, and defeats the devil, at least for a time.  Christ chose to overcome the devil’s temptation in unity with us, in human weakness and humility like each one of us, but without sinning. Jesus will again encounter the devil in his Passion, where he will win the battle over death.    

I’d like to focus on the Lenten discipline of fasting.  Why do we fast for Lent, and what does it mean to us.? First, through our Lenten fast we are united with Jesus in the battle against the devil’s temptation we heard In today’s Gospel.  Jesus resisted the devil in his humanity which encourages us to do the same. Most of us know that there are two days that we are obligated to fast during Lent, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.   That doesn’t sound too difficult.   On Fridays we are asked to refrain from eating meat. This is a type of fast as well, which is another six days. But we can choose to fast more, to unite us more closely with Jesus. 

When we fast, it may be more meaningful if we united our fasting to something we are trying to repent of.  On Ash Wednesday one of the options the minister can say when placing ashes on the forehead, “Repent and believe in the Gospel”.   The definition of repent is to turn from sin and to dedicate oneself to amendment of one’s life. Lent is a time for repentance.  So, when we fast, unite in mind and heart what you are repenting for.    

An example of something that I am repenting of during Lent is a desire for seeking wisdom that we heard about in the first reading. How many people have one of these (hold up my phone).  If you cannot see, it is a smart phone.  I enjoy learning and seeking information.  But over the past few years I’ve fell into a habit of looking up information because it’s so easy to do.  It may start innocently looking information about a movie actor wondering what other movies they’ve acted in.  Then 15 minutes later I am reading about the social activism their involved in that’s contrary to my faith and decide I no longer like the actor.    I’ve now missed 15 minutes of the movie and was not present with my wife.  Social media results in much of the same wasted time and induces jealousy and anger.  Now for many of us who have Smart Phones, think about the image on the back of it: a piece fruit with a bite out of it.  It’s reminiscent of what led Eve’s to fall for in the serpent’s temptation.   

So, for this Lent, I have removed many applications phone that lead to this temptation and turning it off much of the time.  When I am tempted to look up information or use social media on my phone, I am keeping handy a version of the pocket Gospels, about the size of a phone and keeping in mind Jesus what Jesus said the devil, “It is written: One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”    

As I was finishing my homily, I took a break for lunch and read the article, “Advocates sound alarm on dangers of technology for teens”, on front page of the February 20 issue of the Criterion.   It was the Indiana Catholic Conference report legislation to reduce use of technology and social media in schools.  In the article was a quote from a parent who recently lost a child due to social media, “We are in the midst of the greatest crisis of our time. We are losing the fight to protect our children. The internet and social media are the devil’s playground and it’s on this front we must fight. “  As a grandfather and father of children, I’m glad that I chose to fast from technology this Lent.  

So, as you practice fasting this Lent, try to unite fasting with overcoming a temptation in your life that separates you from God.  Keep in your mind and heart that Jesus is united with you through his power to overcome this temptation.    And remember if you fail don’t give up.  Jesus overcame the power of sin and is there for each of us to forgive our sins through the sacrament of reconciliation to give us the grace to begin a new and lead us to salvation.