Homily for Friday, Week 3 of Lent

Homily for Friday 

3d Week of Lent

March 20, 2020

Collect

I was scheduled to celebrate Mass at Salesian Missions in New Rochelle on Friday, but on Wednesday the office was closed, due to the corona virus crisis, until at least March 30.  Since I already had this homily 95% written, I’m posting it.

We prayed in the Collect that we would “be constantly drawn away from unruly desires.”  When the Bible uses the passive voice like that—“may we be drawn away,” with no actor specifically identified, it’s understood that God is the actor.  May you, O Lord, draw us away constantly from unruly desires.”

We could be more specific:  “from our unruly desires.”  In this Collect we’re not talking about the unruly desires of the jihadists in Nigeria or of the Kremlin or of Kim Jong-un.  As Pogo said a long time ago, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

Pogo, 1970, and various later usages

What do we mean by “unruly desires”?  Unruly could mean just rowdy or rambunctious, like school kids at 2 p.m. on Friday.

No, we mean something more disordered and disorienting.  We mean those passions and desires that would lead us astray, what we’ve traditionally called “concupiscence.”  Our tendency to pass judgment on others, to find fault with them, and to talk about them—sometimes rashly and falsely—is an unruly desire.  Our desire to possess more and more material objects and to consume more food and drink than we need is an unruly desire.  Our lust to posses and use another person for our own gratification is an unruly desire.  Our reluctance to fulfill our responsibilities at work and at home and to indulge in distraction or loafing is an unruly desire.  When we reject the teaching of the Scriptures or of the Church because we disagree and want to do what we want, that an unruly desire.

Instead, we pray that by God’s “grace poured into our hearts” by his good gift, we may obey “the heavenly teaching” he gives us.  We know well from our own experience how hard it is to fight against our own unruly desires.  We need the power that comes from God thru our Lord Jesus Christ, who has already crushed the supposed power of Satan.  Even when we fail, Christ’s power is still at hand with the gift of forgiveness and the encouragement to keep on trying to be faithful to his “heavenly teaching.”