March 8, 2009

Jesus - Our Lenten Ache and Desire

During Lent, we usually resolve to give up foods we enjoy, or, let’s be honest, that will help us lose weight. Delightful foods are easy to give up because they are tangible things to which we can say “no.” We know we are practicing abstinence when we successfully refrain from partaking in what we have resolved to give up. But if we are giving up ice-cream, beer, peanut butter, or even Pop-Tarts for vain reasons - either to lose weight, to impress ourselves or the Lord, or to fulfill some Lenten obligation, we’re not diving deep enough into the Lenten fast. At our community Mass on Ash Wednesday, Fr. Christopher gave a beautiful homily, and in it he said, “When you’re hungry between meals…feel it.” This is one goal of the Lenten fast.

We need to “feel” the ache, the desire, the yearning, the longing, the hunger. During Lent, we should not be “feeling” the ache for whatever we give up, but “feeling” the ache for who alone satisfies all the desires of our hearts, souls, minds, and bodies… Jesus Christ! The hunger for whatever appetizing food we sacrifice is supposed to lead us to the eternal desire we should have for Jesus. So if we eat smaller meals and do not snack between them, when we “feel” hungry, we can thus transform that desire for food into a desire for Jesus. We can offer our longing as a gift to Jesus. When Jesus was in the desert for 40 days, he was “feeling” all these aches because he was longing for us and the great work he was about to begin for us and our salvation.

Jesus is coming to us in that ache and desire - which is for eternal life! “I came that they may have life, and life abundantly” (Jn. 10:10). He comes to us so that the fullness of His joy might be ours (Jn. 15:11). Jesus is the “bread of eternal life” for which we hunger that “comes down from Heaven andgives life to the world,” and in which we will “never hunger or thirst” (Jn. 6:27-40). The disciples recognized this truth and said, “Lord to whom shall we go, you have the words of eternal life” (Jn. 6:68, and the motto of our new archbishop). “We have the fullness of life in Him” (Col. 2:10). Jesus wants to feed us with Himself, so we make ourselves hungry to remind us that He is “the way, the truth, and the life.” We are “put to shame” (Jer. 17:3) when we forsake Jesus’ gift of Himself, the gift that Lent prepares us to receive with greater love, faith, and reverence. Jesus wants to be the nourishment of our souls like water upon thirsty ground that blesses its growth (Ps. 65:9-10).

One purpose of the Lenten fast is to remind us of all these things, and to instill in us a desire for Him who alone gives us love, joy, peace, freedom, truth, happiness, comfort, consolation, fulfillment, satisfaction… life. Jesus desires us more than we often realize, and certainly more than we desire Him. So let us draw near, let us taste and see, trust and surrender, receive and believe. Let us say each day this Lent that, “When I awake, I shall be satisfied in beholding you” (Ps. 17:15).

How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of men take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. For with you is the fountain of life, and in your light do we see light (Ps. 36:7-9).

May Jesus and Mary reign in our hearts. Ave Maria!

Br. Aloysius Marie Mazzone, CFR

St. Lawrence Friary

Bronx, New York