Fr. Martin Fuchs´s sermon on 3rd March 2019, Prague, Czechia
***
Peter Rosegger, a famous
Austrian writer, spoke about his childhood:
His father was very strict.
He knew well how to handle with punishment in upbringing. The children were
therefore often afraid of him.
One day Peter had committed
a prank for which he rightly had to expect a proper beating. In his fear he was
looking for a hiding place where he could hide himself from the wrath of his
father. There was the spacious clock box in the old grandfather‘s clock in the
living room! – He quickly fled inside, before his father could catch him. He
felt guilty but safe here! Now he could wait in silence what happened next. Through
the keyhole he saw his father was very angry.
Then he heard wenches being
sent away to search for the little culprit because he could not be found
anywhere. But they all came back unsuccessfully. There
was no trace of little Peter. They were wondering about his disappearance but
it remained mystery. Could poor Peter fall into one of the deep gorges? Didn´t
he harm himself in the agonizing fear of the punishment?
His father was left alone in
the living-room with worry and depression. Peter could watch him well from the
clock box through the keyhole! Then he saw something he never thought of
before! He saw how his father, who was otherwise so hard and strict, put his
hands over his face and wept for his little Peter.
The tears of his father
touched him so much that he could stay no longer in his hiding place. He could
feel his heart beating wildly.
He quickly opened the door.
The tears ran over his face and suddenly he was in his father’s arms. Fear and
punishment, everything was forgotten over the blissful knowledge: “I have a
father who loves me!“
Dear faithful!
Is it not the same with us?
For our sins we have to expect punishment. But then we see our Savior’s
sufferings. Looking at these sufferings, it makes us forget about God’s wrath
and punishment.
The poor souls in purgatory
suffer in pure love. We should try to bear all sufferings to do penance and to
save souls for God’s glory.
Let us use the time of Lent
to offer all sufferings for these goals! Let us think of the fact that we have
the Father in Heaven who loves us!
May the history of the Chosen
people help us to closer come to perfect love.
The time of Lent lasts 40
days. It is a time of graces.
But also the historical
events in the Old Testament with the number of 40 were connected with a lot of
graces. Let’s have a look at these historical events:
1) The first time we read
about this number it was in the story of the Deluge. Only Noe, his sons, and
their women were saved.
Many were the sins people
had accumulated. They were unteachable and hardened. Even Noe’s sermon could
not change them. So God purified the earth by a palpable punishment, by the Deluge.
In the same way God cleans
the earth today: by floods, famine, and war. If His love can no longer achieve
anything by words, it can sometimes change things only by a palpable punishment.
All disasters (tsunami, earthquakes, forest fires, plagues) are such signs of
love of Our Lord. “God does not want the death of the sinner, but his
conversion.“
Even in our lives tangible
punishments are not missing like illnesses, unemployment, mental sufferings and
other crosses. The motive is always God’s love.
2) Israel was lamenting for
the death of its father Jacob for 40 days. Let us use the coming Lent for
lamenting for the death of Our Savior: “Lord, may Your blood and Your pain not
be in vain!“ Let us pray the Way of the Cross, let us meditate the sorrowful
mysteries of the Rosary and the seven last words of Jesus on the Cross!
3) Moses fasted for 40 days
before he went up onto the mountain Sinai to get the Ten Commandments.
So we must break with all
earthly things to penetrate deeper into the law of Our Lord. The famous holy
penitents and souls of atonement received extraordinary enlightenments from God
by fasting and abstinence.
4) Elias was walking for 40
days until he reached Mount Horeb, by virtue of the food and drink which the
angel gave him.
The heavenly bread, the Holy
Communion, must strengthen us again and again during Lent and during our life
journey.
5) The journey of the
Israelite people lasted 40 years until they were finally liberated from the
bondage of Egypt. The journey led through the Red Sea – a picture of Christ’s
blood – further through the desert – a picture for the Christian life, which is
a life of repentance and of the cross – to the Promised Land – a picture of our
journey to Heaven.
6) The scouts engaged in
exploration were there for 40 days before the Chosen people could enter the
Holy Land.
And likewise, this Lent we
should study the Holy Scripture and other spiritual books to explore Heaven,
our final goal.
7) The Chosen people had to
endure the yoke of the Philistines until it was liberated by the fight between
David and Goliath. Again, it is a picture of our life, of our fight with the
devil. Just when we might not suspect it, the devil is near to us with his
temptations.
“The devil“, says saint
Peter, “goeth about as a roaring lion seeking whom he
may devour.“ (I Peter 5:8). But we can
defeat the devil by repentance.
8) Forty days is about the
tithe for all gifts and benefits, God gives us over the year.
The tithe is a kind of
donation to God, to thank God! Let us use the coming Lent in this sense!
Let us summarize these
thoughts briefly:
Let us accept the palpable sufferings, let us lament for
the Lord’s death and let us meditate upon His love; let us get rid of
everything that binds us to this earth!
Let us make a firm
resolution to go to the Holy Communion as often as we can. Let us be aware that
we can achieve liberation from the bondage of Satan particularly by penance!
Let us study Heaven with its joys; let us remember that we have to fight
against the devil for our whole life! And let us make our tithing by imposed
and voluntary penances!
Amen.
