“I have put before you the blessing and curse, life and death. So, choose life.”
In the reminder of our mortality on Ash Wednesday, we are oddly asked to “embrace life”, to rid ourselves of that which hinders our relationship with job. This puts sacrifice into perspective – that is, to “make holy” those things which consume our attention. Lent, as we would have heard, is not a religious get-fit opportunity but, rather, a chance to take stock of our habits, relationships and ways of being.
And we can be fully consumed by our bitterness and addictions. Today, we spoke about hatred and what that really means. The time and effort extended to those we hate – both individually and as a society – is disproportionate, one could argue, to the time one could spend on the relationships we cherish and perhaps neglect from time to time. When people dislike us, let them. When a group fails to include us, find another one. When people say hateful things behind our back, let it be behind our backs. When “wicked men revile and hate us”, let us turn our gaze towards the one that loves us.
St Francis was abused and despised to the point where he was pelted with stones, dragged in the mud by his capuche, had the very clothes torn from his body. And yet, his response was one of wry humour – and this takes enormous self-control and an awareness of one’s true worth. I have learnt that to spend a moment worrying about the curses uttered by others about me is a moment missed to rediscover the beauty of life which surrounds us at every turn. So easy it is to see the curse and become blind to the blessings that are a sign of God’s very real grace.
The ten most irritating social habits were delineated recently by Oxford University: it stated …
1) Those who recline on planes.
2) Those who are intoxicated in public.
3) Those who can’t control their children in public.
4) Those who are too “grabby” and inappropriately tactile.
5) Those who talk too much about nothing.
6) Those who share “too much information” about private matters.
7) Those who are too loud in laughter, manner and movement.
8) Those who have an inflated sense of their own uniqueness (delusional narcissists).
9) Those who have a poor sense of personal hygiene.
10) Those who stand too close and invade personal space.
Yet, the irony is, we have all done this at some time. Questions have to be asked about the type of intolerance that makes someone compile such a list! It’s almost as though Victor Mildew is lecturing at Oxford.
And while these things are irritating, they are not life-ending. Let us, then, spend Lent in a spirit of blessing, remembering that life is short and but a taste of the paradise that awaits us.
FOR THE FORTY DAYS OF LENT, WE HAVE A LITTLE FRANCISCAN CHALLENGE!
Click on the National Calendar to appreciate better our religious diversity in Australia.
Reading from St Francis’ Sources
Fear and honour, praise and bless, give thanks and adore the Lord God Almighty in Trinity and in Unity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Creator of All.
Do penance, performing worthy fruits of penance because we shall soon die.
Give and it will be give to you. Forgive and you shall be forgiven. If you do not forgive people their sins, the Lord will not forgive you yours.
Confess all your sins.
Blessed are those who die in penance, for they shall be in the kingdom of heaven. Woe to those who do not die in penance, for they shall be the children of the devil whose works they do and they shall go into the everlasting fire. Beware of and abstain from every evil and preserve in good to the end.
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A Subconscious Knows No Negatives 