EVERYTHING - ALMOST!

+
Happy Lent! Remember that you can make the Lenten journey with me and a lot of other virtual pilgrims by reading the selection for each day in my book "Pilgrim Road: A Benedictine Journey through Lent." (I just noticed that when I searched Google Images for "Pilgrim Road Holtz" that someone has posted photos of a lot of the places I write about in the book. Hmmm.)

Here are three loosely connected Lenten thoughts about Lent.

I

First a passage from C.S.Lewis' "Screwtape Letters." You may remember the plot: a senior devil is mentoring a new devil, showing him how to get people to fall away from God. Here's what the elder has to say about the good Christian who is the new devil's first assignment:

"What he says, even on his knees, about his own sinfulness is all parrot-talk. At bottom, he still believes he has run up a very favorable credit-balance in [God's] ledger." (Letter II)

I don't know about you, but I have to admit that the devil is right about me: I think my credit-balance sheet with God is in good shape. That's a red flag! The Tempter loves it when we think that way! Does God keep a credit-balance sheet on you? Do you think he keeps score? If so, then you'll get the fasting thing all wrong, and think that it's a great way to make your credit-balance look even better. 

II

Here's a passage from the assigned gospel selection for today (Saturday):

After this Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him. (Lk 5:27-28)

A few verses before this he had called James and John, and "When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him." (5:11)

Matthew and Mark, when they tell the story of the apostles following Jesus, say that they "left their fishing nets and followed him." Not Luke; he says "they left everything behind." Remember Matthew's remark to the Lord, "We have left everything we had and followed you. (18:28).

So, if I'm tempted to think that my credit-balance sheet with God is pretty favorable, Luke is going to give me a painful poke in the ribs with his account that Matthew and Jon and James "left everything behind" to follow Jesus. My prayer runs something like this: "Lord, I have left a lot of things behind to follow you. I've only held on to a couple of favorite things: one grudge I'm holding against you-know-who, those two pet vices, and one or two other things. Nothing sinful, really, just well, you know... So, please remember that I have left almost everything to follow you."

III

In regard to leaving "almost everything," here's a story from the earliest days of the monasticism , when the wisdom of the first monastic men and women was handed down by means of sayings and stories.

Once there was a very holy hermit who lived in a cave high on a cliff overlooking the sea. He owned nothing; his cave was bare except for a straw mat, a bowl, a cup and spoon, and a little clay jug which he used to catch the drops of cool water that dripped from the roof of the cave -- he loved that little jug. He spent endless hours in prayer and fasted constantly. But he realized that despite all of his prayer and fasting, something was missing: Something, he sensed, was keeping him from truly meeting God.

Then, one day as he sat at the mouth of his cave and pondered the sparkling surf hundreds of feet

below, he suddenly received a flash of insight. He sprang to his feet, stepped quickly to the back of his cave and grabbed the jug. He hurried to the front of the cave and threw the jug over the cliff. At that moment he received his wish and was given the gift of union with God. The holy man had given up almost everything, but one thing was holding him back.

You got any little clay jugs in your life?

May your Lenten journey bring you closer to our Redeemer who let go of everything on Mount Calvary.