Homily for March 1, 2009

Father Tom’s Homily
1st Sunday of Lent
March 1, 2009

The gospel readings of the first Sunday of each Lent are about Jesus’ retreat into the desert, where he fasted and prayed and was tempted by Satan.
This year we read from Mark’s gospel. In the other two years of the liturgical cycle we read from Matthew and Luke.
Mark’s account is astonishingly brief.

Immediately before this reading, Mark tells about Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist. John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. By his baptism along with many others by John, Jesus identified himself with all sinful humanity.
But when John poured water over Jesus’ head, God the Father’s voice is heard saying, “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.”
This seems to single Jesus out from the rest of sinful humanity.

We must recognize the presence of someone else in Jesus’ story starting at his baptism. It was the Holy Spirit that descended upon him in the form of a dove. In all that Jesus did and experienced, he was accompanied by this powerful presence. The Holy Spirit was his companion, his teacher, his source of inspiration, consolation and guidance.
After the baptism, this Spirit companion compelled Jesus to go into the desert in preparation for his ministry as the Messiah. There for forty days, Jesus was confronted by Satan. This unholy spirit was the exact opposite of the Holy Spirit. Satan too would seem to be involved in the rest of Jesus’ story as was the Holy Spirit.

Satan challenged the rumor about the voice from heaven heard at Jesus’ baptism. Was he really God’s beloved Son? Was God really pleased with him?
Surely Jesus was having illusions. He was only imaging that he was the Messiah. Like a mantra, Satan kept reminding him that he (Jesus) was under Satan’s power, not the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus’ intimate fellowship with the Father and his Spirit Companion was the source of his inspiration and power in his ministry as a teacher-healer among the people.
Yet, Satan’s taunts continued to haunt Jesus even to the moment of his death.

Today’s gospel says that in the desert Jesus was with wild beasts and angels. An interesting combination of companions. It suggests that we all have to live in the midst of good and evil. Jesus managed to make his way in spite of the demons and angels that accompanied him.

Jesus’ essential prayer in the desert was surely the same that he prayed in the garden, that God’s will be done, not his own.
God’s will that allowed him to be seemingly crushed by the powers of darkness would certainly not be his own plan. It was not easy to accept God’s plan for the Messiah.
So Jesus had to wrestle with both God and Satan. God’s will and Satan’s constant taunts.

A young actor who had a role in the movie, Diner, was thought to have a promising career. That was in the 1982.
In the 27 years since, this actor’s life seemed to spiral out of control. He became the bad boy of Hollywood who cultivated his image as an outlaw. He definitely lived in the shadow side of life, struggling with drug and alcohol addiction, poverty, and near homelessness.
In 1994 amid a turbulent six-year marriage, his wife was raped while disoriented on heroin. In anger and despair, the actor headed out with a gun in search of the assailant, intending to kill him and then himself. He felt he had nothing left to live for.

It was while hunting his victim that the actor stopped into a Catholic Church near Times Square. He was drawn into the church by memories of his boyhood growing up as a Catholic. They were his happiest years.
The pastor happened to go into the church that afternoon and heard a man sobbing. He went to sit beside him in a pew.
When he heard the actor’s story, the pastor managed to talk him out of his plan. The priest took away his gun and heard his Confession. He encouraged the broken man to give up his self- destructive habits. Over time with the help of the priest, the actor began to regain his faith and his sanity.

Last month this actor was among four others nominated for the actor of the year award.
Though he did not receive the Oscar last Sunday night, Mickey Rourke has regained the respect of many of his colleagues who had thought he was washed up.
The film that caused his nomination was The Wrestler. Certainly he has wrestled for years with both God and his demons. God seems to be winning. Rourke’s remarkable recovery is reason enough for special recognition.
We all wrestle with our demons, and it may seem with God too. But God does not wrestle with us, he embraces us.

Mark’s gospel summarizes Jesus’ ministry with one phrase: “Jesus went about proclaiming the good news.”
When Jesus heals, he proclaims God’s compassion. When he forgives sin, he proclaims God’s mercy for all. When Jesus cast out demons, he proclaims God’s power is greater than Satan’s.

Our lenten journey will lead finally to the proclamation on Easter Morning that Jesus conquers all evil, even death. And that his victory is ours as well.
Like Jesus, God also gives us the Holy Spirit to protect us from the Unholy Spirit of Satan who tries to fool us into some alliance with evil.

The first words God speaks in Mark’s gospel were at Jesus’ baptism. The Father said, “This is my beloved Son, I am very pleased with him.”
God’s affirmation echoed in Jesus’ preaching. The essential good news Jesus proclaimed is that we are all God’s beloved sons and daughters.

It is this reassurance that brings healing and reconciliation to all those broken by kinship with the Evil One.
It is good news to those who wrestle with their demons, and think they must also wrestle with God. We are not opponents, but the beloved of God. He is pleased with us.