Sister Elise Saggau
Lent reminds us that Jesus came primarily to save us from sin. And what is sin? Sin is the ultimate destructive and divisive factor in human lives. It is the routine choice of self over the other, greed over generosity, hardness of heart over compassion, and the comfortable thing over the challenging thing. Sin causes us to be short-sighted, to see and choose only the present comfort, the present thrill, the present pleasure. Sin inclines us to shun whatever makes significant demands on us. Sin is self-indulgence at whatever the cost to others. Sin is rooted in fear, for we are afraid of losing what we have, and the “other” is an easy target for our suspicions. Sin, then, is anything that places one human being over and against another, one community of people over and against another. To choose what is divisive in the human community is to form a destructive situation in which sin can flourish.
The gospels insist that we turn towards the “other” in a spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood. Love not only the neighbor you feel comfortable with, but love your “enemy” as well! We do not explore this “commandment” enough in our Christian lives, but it undergirds the very meaning of “penance.” To be “penitents” means that we distance ourselves from all that divides the human community. It means that we habitually turn towards the other in the spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood.
Those who embrace any religion worth its salt look for something to help them understand who they are and how to live so as to be fulfilled as human beings. Religion, however, is not a human potential movement. Its purpose is not primarily therapeutic (though sincere religious sensibilities might very well have therapeutic effects on the broken human spirit). Anything that helps us leave ourselves and our self-focus and live more freely in hope and trust will help us be better human beings. Those who embrace the Christian religion are people of the Gospel. Here we find the life-giving Word to which we listen. Here we find the call to accept our own life as gift and live it with absolute gratitude. And gifts must be shared, not grasped selfishly. Our life in this world at this very moment in time is a gift. In gratitude we commit ourselves to do the work of the Giver. And God’s work is to forgive, to accept, to cherish, to comfort, to disturb and challenge, to celebrate, and to love the other.
But we are not expected to do this alone. We need a community of faith that shares with us a commitment to the Gospel’s challenges. Too many of us think of our religion as something we “do” for an hour on the weekend or that we practice when we get married or buried. It is true that on the Sabbath we come together to worship and thank God and to make our needs known. Actually, however, God doesn’t need to hear us ask for what we need. We need to hear ourselves asking! We stand together, shoulder to shoulder, as a community of needy people to praise and give thanks and ask for forgiveness of our sins and voice aloud what we know we need. We listen together to the powerful Word of God. We share food and drink at a common table, knowing who we are—God’s family, God’s children. And this food we share becomes US. And who are we? The Body of Christ! But, get this—the reason we do this on Sunday is so we can live what we profess for the rest of the week. In this way we “edify,” we “build up” one another by the example of our lives. During Lent, we check on how we are doing and we make whatever adjustments are necessary in order to be open for the life God intends for us—a life of turning towards God and neighbor.
