Homily on the First Sunday of Lent 2022 - Fr. Peter Michael CSsR (The power of Love)

at that time jesus full of the holy spirit returned from the jordan and was led by the spirit in the wilderness for 40 days being tempted by the devil and he ate nothing during those days and when they were over he was hungry the devil said to him if you are the son of god command the stone to become red and jesus answered him it is written man shall not live by bread alone and the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time and said to him to you i will give all this authority and this glory for it has been delivered to me and i give it to whom i will if you then will worship me it will all be yours and jesus answered him it is written you shall worship the lord your god and him only shall you serve and he took him to jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him if you are the son of god throw yourself down from here for it is written he will command his angels concerning you to guard you and on their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone and jesus answered him it is said you shall not put the lord your god to the test and when the devil had ended every temptation he departed from him until an opportune time the gospel of the lord my brothers and sisters in jesus christ during the world war ii a lot of atrocities were committed against humanity and in a particular way against one particular group of minority the jews there were number of concentration camps erected and jews were put into the concentration camps and all kinds of wrong things were done to them one of the notorious concentration camps was auschwitz in poland and the the general of this concentration camp hugo care was a terror one day he got some priests some jesuit priests arrested and they were put into this concentration camp the superior of this community was not there and when he returned and he realized that his brothers were arrested and now in the concentration camp this brave man somehow got inside the concentration camp it is very difficult it would have been very difficult to get in but he somehow got in risking his life going in search of his brothers but for his bad luck he was caught and when he was brought in front of this general he thought it is game over but for some reason that day the general let him go well the war ended and hugo care was arrested and tried for for all atrocities that he had committed and as fate would have it this man who committed atrocities against the jews was brought back to the very same place where he did all these crimes he was brought back to auschwitz and now he was a prisoner there and his prisoner and his in charges were the poles he was afraid that they would treat him the same way he treated their own countrymen but to his surprise the polls did not do that they were good to him and this touched his heart he was a changed man and he asked them may i get a priest i we need to talk to him hugo care was a christian but because of hitler's influence he was rather he was a catholic and he had left the faith but that day when the priest came to talk to him the very same priest whom he had set free was brought in and hugo confessed his sins to this priest he was a changed man and he said to him father i am going to be hung at the gallows this is the way i'm going to be executed and i deserve it but i want to receive jesus will you please bring the eucharist for me and on the day he was hung he received the communion and then he died brothers and sisters in jesus christ this true incident drives home an important point that the world has been after power to dominate it has lusted after power this is our ingrained nature that we want control of other people we want control of our lives we will control to dominate to break people but if we look at what the soldiers did to hugo care that turned this man from an animal from a criminal into somebody who was looking forward to meeting his lord it was because of their love and forgiveness so while we have power on one hand which we lust after which can only destroy we have an antidote to that we have love that can help us that is why charlie chaplin says you need you need power only if you want to do wrong if you want to destroy but otherwise love is sufficient love is enough during the first in the first reading that we heard today from the book of deuteronomy chapter 26 deuteronomy chapter 1 begins with moses explaining the law to the people telling the people their identity telling them how they should live in the chapter 26 he reminds them this is what you have gone through you are going through and one day you will enter into the promised land when you enter the promised land do not forget the lord your god who has set you free you were slaves in egypt but god has called you out and made you a great nation do not forget your lord and god in the following chapters god tells moses these people will forget me these people will forget me and they will be back under the yoke of slavery my brothers and sisters in jesus christ this is our nature the israelites were given everything by god all they needed to do was to love god with all their heart with all their mind with everything that they had and to love their identity and their mission but instead of that we see time and time again the israelites went after power they wanted to be independent they wanted to do what they wanted to do this is not the first time our quest for power our lust for power begins with the fall of humanity where adam and eve although they were in the garden of eden everything was given to them they let god down because they wanted to become like god they wanted to they wanted power they did not want the love of god dear friends in the gospel we heard about jesus jesus is baptized and jesus is led by the spirit in the wilderness he is tempted by the evil one jesus fast for 40 days and 40 nights he's hungry so the temptations of jesus are actually a reflection on his own powers he is god almighty he is the one who created everything out of nothing he created every single thing do you think it would have been difficult for this jesus who will be feeding thousands of people in the wilderness with just five loaves and two fish will it be difficult for this jesus who will bring people back to life will it be difficult for people who will heal so many people not impossible not at all the evil one is tempting jesus first to turn the stones into bread second to bow down at him and the third to perform a great miracle so that people will be wowed and people will fall at his feet this is the temptation of jesus i am powerful i have a lot of power do i use this power to dominate do i use this power to break or do i use this love this road of love which is going to be a difficult road to show to people that i love you although i am powerful i will not misuse my power to break you down i love you i've come in search of you you have gone in search of power to dominate to break people but i love you and i will win you back my brothers and sisters there's a beautiful parallel in the first chapter of the the book of deuteronomy we hear these are the words that moses spoke to all israel beyond the jordan in the wilderness and these people are promised so much and then we read in the gospel filled with the holy spirit jesus left the jordan and was left by the spirit through the wilderness what a beautiful comparison similar situations similar situation wilderness here wilderness there but jesus comes out triumphant he does not give in temptation of using his mighty power but he chooses to take this humble path of love my dear brothers and sisters love is a language that we all understand power destroys love builds love waits patiently during the season of lent god is reminding us that we to have our own wilderness we have been baptized we have received the holy spirit at a baptism confirmed and the holy spirit leads us through this wilderness of life and there are a number of temptations and we might think if i have power over everything that is in my life i will be happy and what do we do in this lust for power in this quest for power we break people we commit atrocities against people we break relationships we are unjust to others we had we just have to follow one law the law of love but we fail to do that and that is the reason when we go looking for something that will give us independence we think will give us freedom we actually land into slavery we actually land into slavery ask an alcoholic or a drug addict or a person who is into smoking i've interacted with a few of them and i'm sure you have come across many of them ask them why don't you leave this what is the problem with you can't you see the destruction you're causing to yourself can't you see the destruction that you're causing to your family and they will turn around and tell you and if they're they confide in you if they can trust you they will tell us i am trying my best but i don't know it has taken control of me you see my friends youngsters men women who thought drugs will give them power alcohol will give them something and other things like pornography or something might make them feel in charge ultimately has taken control of them they are not free in our lives too my brothers and sisters let us ask ourselves what is controlling me or what do i want to control in this wilderness of life that i go through god is asking me are you going to choose this power path of power or are you going to choose this path of love love can change can change all of us it did he died for us and that is why we are saved dear brothers and sisters during the season of lent as we reflect on our journey through this wilderness let us make this honest choice lord there have been times when i have destroyed people's names lord there have been times when i have used my power to lord it over on people who come to serve me my servants those people who serve me in my house my daughter-in-law or my mother-in-law or people who are working for me or if i'm a politician if i'm a person authority in authority lord i've misused my power and i do not want to do that today lord i want to follow this path of love dear brothers and sisters the lent season is a beautiful opportunity for changing so that we do not fall into the trap that israel fell into that we have jesus who leads us who inspires us the responsorial psalm said be with me lord in my distress god is there with us in our wilderness he walks with us he helps us we have to make this choice the mission that you will be attending will help you my brothers and sisters to reflect on your life a life that probably is a life that is more dependent on power fear to turn it into a life of love a life like that of jesus which is giving to others my brothers and sisters do not waste this opportunity this is a beautiful opportunity and this opportunity is given to you right in the comfort of your home you can choose the time that you want the mission sermons will be premiered early in the morning and you as a family can decide okay we are going to sit at this particular hour when everybody is together and listen to this mission god is going to speak to us he's going to challenge us there are things that we need to change in our lives so that we can become loving people so that we can become a family which is a family of love so that we can become people who can bring love of god to others let us pray my dear brothers and sisters for every single person who will be attending the mission in why invite your friends share the links with them and your friends be a messenger of god be a messenger of love pray for us as we pray for you and let us pray in a very special way during this eucharist for each other

Channel: Redemptorist Media Center, Bangalore

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Length: 14min 51sec (891 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 06 2022