Lent is WAR. Begin your Training Sequence.

Lent is a time where we acknowledge that WAR is taking place.  This war isn’t overseas, but very close to home: in our hearts.  Whether you associate your life with the saints, or Miley & Bieber, the reality is the same:  Everyone struggles with a very real inclination towards sin.  But everyone also has the capacity for greatness.  In this war there are victors and there are casualties, both in this life and in the life to come.  The good news of course, is that no matter which end of the spectrum we might find ourselves, we have a God who fights for us, who has won, and calls us to His side. “He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1Cor 15:57

“The Gospels speak of a time of solitude for Jesus in the desert immediately after his baptism by John. Driven by the Spirit into the desert, Jesus remains there for forty days without eating; he lives among wild beasts, and angels minister to him. At the end of this time Satan tempts him three times, seeking to compromise his filial attitude toward God. Jesus rebuffs these attacks, which recapitulate the temptations of Adam in Paradise and of Israel in the desert, and the devil leaves him “until an opportune time”.

– Catechism of the Catholic Church #538

Basically, Jesus kicks the devil’s… face. Notice that Lent, which is also signified by 40 days (if you don’t count the Sundays) is a time for the faithful to experience a little bit of that fasting and prayer modeled after Jesus.  “But why did Jesus have to do that if he never sinned?” Because he didn’t do it for the atonement of his sins (there were none), rather he did it for our sake.

If you read the book of Exodus in the Old Testament, God is trying to lead and free His people from slavery to a promised land of paradise, but they’re not being led too well.  They fall into all sorts of sin and foolish behavior, and make a muck of themselves. But hundreds of years later, when Jesus comes on the scene to redeem mankind, He symbolically accomplishes in the desert for 40 days, what the people of Israel couldn’t do in those 40 years.  He remains faithful to God, His Father, resists temptation, kicks the devil in the face, and gives the example we all strive to follow in this “desert” of our lives.  Jesus reversed the cycle of human sin, and He calls us to also reverse the cycle of sin in our own lives, through repentance, prayer, fasting, and almsgiving (add these into your Lenten diet).

“Baptism confers on its recipient the grace of purification from all sins. But the baptized must continue to struggle against concupiscence of the flesh and disordered desires. With God’s grace he will prevail.”

– Catechism of the Catholic Church #2520.

Bam! You are a new creation when receiving Baptism, but if you read the fine print on that lovely Sacramental bath, you realize quickly that while it washed away your sin, it didn’t wash away that struggle with temptation.  Every single day, in a hundred different ways, we are confronted with temptation!  And don’t lie, we all have crazy thoughts that pass through our heads, with all sorts of weird, inappropriate, and nasty suggestions.  If these thoughts were heeded, they’d land us in jail or worse: make us headline on the nightly news, and then go to jail.  The mere presence of thoughts or desires doesn’t make us guilty of sin… but what we choose to do with those thoughts and desires, might.

There’s this joke that a kid walks into a confessional and asks the Priest, “Uhh Father, I don’t exactly know what to do here, can you help me?”  And the Priest responds, “Son, this is an opportunity to confess your sins to God and be forgiven.  I’ll help you examine your conscience.  For instance, have you ever entertained impure thoughts?”  The kid says, “Oh no Father, they entertain me.”  Funny, but definitely a fail.

There’s this well-known quote that reads:

My Thoughts lead to my Actions

My Actions lead to my Habits

My Habits lead to my Character

My Character leads to my Destiny

Connect the dots and you’ll realize that your freedom to filter good thoughts from bad becomes a really important thing, when considering the bigger picture.  Here’s some advice: when these crazy / lustful / angry / jealous / ugly / choose-your-poison / thoughts pass through your head, don’t throw in the towel and think you’ve already lost.  Instead, invite Jesus into the temptation.  “What??  That’s a terrible thing to do!” No it’s not. What do you think you’re praying when you say “Lead us not into temptation” Matt. 6:13?  Ephesians 4:22 says, “Let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes”. Sharing with God what you’re going through, is exactly what Jesus did when praying to His Father. He’s not ashamed of your struggle, in fact, He wants to help you be victorious. Offer to Him whatever temptation you’re facing and ask for His grace and wisdom.

Now the truth is that in every battle, even the best of soldiers get wounded.  All of us have had, or will have times where we fall into temptation and sin even in spite of our best intentions. In Romans 7:15, even St. Paul says, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate I do.”  In other words, “I hate sin and I don’t want it in my life, but I continue to struggle with it!” We do what we can to avoid sin and make the right decisions, but when we fall short of God’s glory, and we will… the important thing is not to remain down.  Recently Pope Francis shared, “It’s not that God grows tired of forgiving us, it’s that we grow tired of asking God for forgiveness.”

God is always ready to meet our misery with his mercy.  And as many times as you fall, so many times do you need to get back up and fight!  One of the most tangible ways we can experience that is in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, or Confession, where God offers us His mercy through His representative, the Priest.  The book of James 5:16 tells us, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another”, and in the Gospel of John 20:23, Jesus tells his disciples, the first priests: “Those sins you forgive are forgiven.” Bam. So go. And go again if you need to. And again. And don’t ever give up. Cos Jesus doesn’t give up on you.

Lent is also a time for us to pray more; to read and listen to the word of God.  As you’re making your Lenten resolutions, make prayer and reading God’s word a part of it.  That’s where we receive the strength in the first place to battle and resist sin.  I’m convinced that if everyone made a little more time to pray each day and hear God’s word, the news would have no stories to broadcast, jails would be vacant, families would be still be together, and Miley Cyrus would become a nun… okay that’s a stretch, but it’s possible.

Every great film has a training sequence, and it usually leads to an epic battle.  The picture of the man I posted earlier, screaming about Lent, is a character from the movie “300”*. I found this film very inspiring in that it portrays the story of 300 Spartan soldiers who fought off an army of thousands, until they each made the ultimate sacrifice with their lives for the sake of their nation and families.  Years of training and discipline led them to accomplish their final acts of heroism.  To think that it all started with a decision they made to pick up a weight, to pick up a spear, and to simply show up.  Lent is your spiritual training sequence; Lent is you showing up. (*I will mention that if you do decide to watch 300, watch the made for TV version because there is a sex scene that could be problematic for people striving for purity)

Study the life of any historical figure, and you’ll be able to connect the dots all the way from the beginning, to the end of their life.  Leaders and losers, heroes and abusers; the legacy they left behind, all began with something as simple as the thoughts they fostered in their minds, and the decisions they made with their free will.  My friends, whether you would like to acknowledge it or not, war is upon you.  Lent is your time to train, to act, and to win… with Christ.