LET GREAT LENT SHEATHE OUR SWORDS

by Father William DuBovik

We begin each Lenten season asking each other for forgiveness and declaring in our own humility that it is God who ultimately forgives and that what we grant is only a dim glimpse of His great mercy to each of us.

Beginning the Lenten season by asking and granting forgiveness, if we are sincere, follows Christ's teaching that if we seek our Heavenly Father's forgiveness we must forgive each other. Further, that what we do or do not do to and for each other we do or don't do toward Jesus Christ Himself!

These are not to be empty words, for our Lord warns us of those who honor Him with their lips while their hearts are far from Him.

Let us in this time of repentance ask ourselves why we may find it so difficult to get along with each other. Is it pride, ego, insecurity, misguided notions, childhood hurts, or a combination of these used by Satan himself?

Isn't it sad and disturbing that even in some parishes there is animosity, gossip, ill feelings, harsh criticism, cliques, negative thoughts, and indifference toward each other. Can Satan be far removed from such behavior?

Our Lord's House - the Church - the community in which God dwells, is the place that Satan seeks to enter, and we may very well assist him through our acts, thoughts, and words. Let us pray that God gives to each of us the wisdom and strength to declare, "Get behind me, Satan," clothed with Christ's armor, for we cannot challenge Satan on our own.

In our respective parishes we have all probably seen growth among many as they try to live a true Christian life, seeking heal past hurts, and erase old divisions, and come together as one in Christ, as His Mystical Body.

Yet we all in most parishes have probably witnessed, intentional and unintentional, other behavior. We may have experienced indirectly for "what hurts one hurts us all, and troubles me deeply" as well as even a few times directly felt, the darker impulses mentioned in this writing.

It does not have to be this way. Let us remember that we are part of the CHURCH working in this world; and that it is not an institution, not a club, not a business, not an organization, not a corporation, etc., and is not of this world. Then let us as the Body of Christ reject non-Christian approaches, methods, practices and philosophies. Our work is to worship God in Whom lives are changed, souls are saved. That is our mission. That is the fruit of our labors. That is what being "Church" is all about.

Embracing this message, each of us needs to sheathe our swords, be it our tongues, our eyes, our minds, our hearts. Each needs to become like a sheep following only the voice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, our One Master. Each of us needs to remember, too, that none of us is perfect and everyone can be loved, as God loves all of us, regardless of race, nationality, or other accidental parts of a person's nature.

Let that be our journey this Great Lent. Fasting from foods, attending services, even asking for forgiveness amounts to nothing, as does everything else, if we do not love. St. Paul assures us of this.

If we cannot love in a community in which God dwells, where can we love? And if we do not love there, we have no community.

(Fr. William DuBovik is rector of All Saints Church, Hartford, CT)