First Sunday of Lent

St. Mary's Cathedral, Sydney
Gen 9:8-15; 1 Pet 3:18-22; Mk 1:12-15

+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
1 Mar 2009

Lent started on last Wednesday, Ash Wednesday.  In the words of today's gospel, we are again called to repent, and believe; decisions of the heart and the head.

The danger for us in the Cathedral this morning is not that any of us is likely to claim that the idea of Lent is nonsensical or a waste of time, but that we shall agree on its importance, make one or two vague promises to do something extra or fix up some big problem that needs to be fixed – and then find that Easter week is upon us and that we have done nothing extra or next to nothing.  Let us decide on a few activities, such as making sure we get to make a Lenten confession, and stick to those decisions.

All our Lenten activities should be directed to a purification of our heart, of opening ourselves more and more to God as well as others.  Regular extra prayer will always help, while some activities can be counterproductive.  We have all heard of the person who tried to give up smoking for Lent and made the life of the family members completely miserable.  This is not what Lent is about.

Because we are part of God's chosen people, we should not live like many of those around us, heedless of God and ignorant of eternity.  Even before Abraham, God made a pact or covenant with Noah and his sons after the flood and we are now a central part of that ancient continuing tradition.  More is required of us.  Traditionally the rainbow is a sign of our treaty with God and of God's promise never again to destroy all the earth.

During the forty days of Lent, as we Catholics prepare for Good Friday and Easter Sunday, we should carry out an annual audit of personal faith and morals following the traditional practices of extra prayer, extra penances such as fasting and alms giving, donations to charity.  All this should help us arrive at the heart of things.

For the last forty years in Australia the Catholic Church has urged its members to couple the last two practices together so that we give to others what we might save on e.g. alcohol or food.  It is a very commendable Irish Australian custom to give up alcohol for Lent, or cut down on it if that is too hard.  We might abstain a few days a week; or on Fridays; or decide not to have a drink before 6.pm, for example.

Caritas Australia, the Catholic agency for overseas relief and development, belongs to Caritas International, a loose federation which is one of world's biggest aid organizations.

Project Compassion, Caritas' Lenten program, always does a good job.  Last year it raised more than $9,000,000 Australia-wide, with $2,500,000 coming from Sydney parishes and schools.  Despite the economic downturn Caritas hopes to beat these targets this year.

Secular outsiders generally sympathize with Christian efforts to help the disadvantaged here in Australia, although they occasionally query the amount we give overseas.  Our reply always is that while charity should begin at home it should not stay there.

Non-believers also recognize that a special once-a-year effort to curb selfishness might be useful, but they are often puzzled by the call for extra prayer and especially by the practice of fasting, dieting for religious purposes.

Many of us try to diet for health reasons (with mixed success) and many should diet because obesity, even among children, is an increasing problem.  The way to lose weight is very simple, but it is as difficult as it is simple: eat less and exercise more.

Fasting usually does bring health benefits except if it is too extreme, provoking e.g, bad headaches, but Christians don't fast for their physical health.

This year Pope Benedict devoted his annual Lenten message to the value and meaning of fasting.  He pointed out that Jesus followed Jewish tradition by fasting in the desert for forty days before he began his public ministry, just as Moses had before he received the Ten Commandments, and Elijah fasted and prayed before meeting God on Mount Horeb.

The Pope asked whether in the light of our advanced knowledge today it still makes sense to deprive ourselves of food which is good and useful for our bodies.  He replied in the affirmative, appealing to the Scriptures and ancient Jewish and Christian traditions.

We have it much easier than the early Christians, who often fasted from food for a part or the whole day.  In Eastern Christianity they strictly forbade meat and animal products, e.g. milk, eggs, and even fish was only allowed on some days.  The only days on which we are bound to fast are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

Days of abstinence are days when meat is not to be eaten and I, like my generation, grew up with only fish on Fridays.  My father, who was not a Catholic, was the only one in the family at that time who liked fish!

Regulars at the Cathedral would remember me talking about my Irish great grandmother, a serious woman of faith by every account, who only ate bread and dripping and drank black tea on the Fridays of Lent.

The Pope observed that while we diet as a therapy for the body, fasting is a therapy for the soul, helping us to thin down our fat relentless egos so that we can better serve God and other people.  Fasting leaves space for God.

The small dull ache of fasting and dieting also serves as a helpful reminder of the millions in the world who are regularly hungry.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.