Lent Is Over

Bringing our spiritual best for the Easter Triduum and beyond

03/29/2018

John 13:1-15 Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end. The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over. So, during supper, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and dry them with the towel around his waist.

Let me answer the burning question on everyone’s mind tonight: is Lent over now? And more importantly, can I go back to eating chocolate or watching my favorite television show or back to surfing social media or enjoying a steak on Friday evening? Well, you will be very relieved to know that Lent officially ends on Holy Thursday. Our forty days of fast, abstinence and sacrifice is over and done! Woohoo!

But before you get too excited, consider this: There are two ways something can be over and completed. The first way is when something ends and you go back to how things were before you started. When a vacation is over, you return home and resume life where you left off. You return to laundry and dishes and mowing the yard. The second way is when something finishes but it opens up a whole new world from which you never return. For example, for sixty-four college basketball teams the regular season ended, but the playoffs commenced. The end of the regular season did not signal less basketball but more intense basketball. Similarly, even though Lent ends on Holy Thursday, what ensues in the following days is not less Lent, but more intense Lent. Folks, we are entering into the spiritual equivalent of the playoffs and it is no time to take it easy or relax our Lenten practices and penances. The end of Lent signals the time to bring our spiritual best.

At the Last Supper, on that original Holy Thursday, Jesus brought his spiritual best, and spiritually-speaking the best is always humility. Our Lord instituted the two great sacraments of the Eucharist and the Priesthood. And how did he punctuate the power and the purpose of these two great sacraments? We read in the gospel of John: “So, during supper, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and took off his outer garments…Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet…” In other words, the power of the priesthood and the efficacy of the Eucharist only reach their zenith when you are humble. Only the humble get the most grace out of the priesthood and the Eucharist.

By the way, that’s what his gesture of removing his “outer garments” meant. Jesus was divesting himself of prestige, of earthly trappings, even of his divine dignity. We are never more humble (or vulnerable) than when we are naked and take off the clothes that make us look better than we are. Small children who run around the house without any clothes on are the epitome of humility: their egos have nothing to hide. Romano Guardini, who inspired both Pope Benedict and Pope Francis, said: “What is the decisive characteristic of the Christian message of salvation? It is expressed in a word which in the course of the modern age has lost its meaning: humility” (The End of the Modern World, 141). In other words, at the spiritual core of Christianity hides the virtue of humility. The spiritual playoffs had arrived for Jesus and he brought his spiritual best, namely, humility.  That’s why the devil didn’t stand a chance.

My friends, Lent is over, but not in the sense that we can go back to business as usual, like things were before Lent. We cannot return to our excesses and our sins and certainly not to our pride. We must bring our spiritual best because the playoffs have begun, and they will never end. And there is no talent that will serve us better in this spiritual contest than humility. The humble always vanquish the Evil One. For a Christian who has embraced humility, a whole new world has dawned, and there is no going back to our life before Lent. Only in that sense can we say that Lent is over. Yay.

Praised be Jesus Christ!