The following homily was preached at the Church of the Holy Innocents in Manhattan on Ash Wednesday, March 5, 2025.
Lent is upon us. And the first step in having a successful, productive Lent is getting in touch with reality. If you had a basic philosophy course, you should remember Plato’s Analogy of the Cave. Let me refresh your memory.
Socrates describes a group of people who have lived chained to the wall of a cave their whole lives long, facing a blank wall. The prisoners watch shadows projected on the wall from objects passing in front of a fire behind them; they give the shadows names—because the shadows have become reality for the prisoners. Indeed, the inmates have no desire to leave their prison, so comfortable are they with their faux existence, which, of course, they do not realize is fake. Eventually, however, they break loose of their shackles, come into the sun, and discover that what they thought was reality really wasn’t. Interestingly, not only were they not eager to escape, but their discovery of reality was not a pleasant experience for them since it required them to acknowledge that they had been deceived in their previous life.
Can you not see in those cave-dwellers so many of our contemporaries who not only live a grossly deficient form of life but who have no interest in being liberated from it and even resent the suggestion that their perception of reality is, when all is said and done, a very shadowy “unreality”? Their attachment to drugs, sex, alcohol, money and power for years on end has blinded them to the truth—the truth that they are mastered by all those attachments.
However, before we cast stones at the culture—or anti-culture—as a whole, we need to recall that all sin is blinding. To the extent that we are sinners—and we all are—we are often blinded to the truth of our own captivity. Lent is God’s gift to us, whereby divine grace convinces us that the so-called “new normal” is, in fact, abnormal. And then, we hear the challenging but loving voice of the Savior say to us the same words he shouted to the corpse of his friend, “Lazarus, come out!” “Come out of your unreal, superficial, deadly, and ultimately unsatisfying cave.”
As you surely know, the original purpose of Lent was to provide proximate preparation of candidates for Holy Baptism. Over time, its purpose expanded to provide all the members of the Church the opportunity to return to baptismal innocence. Which is to say, to get back on that straight and narrow road, which leads to sainthood. T. S. Eliot, in his “Four Quartets,” gives us a plan of action. The ordinary person will not experience the full grace within which the saint lives, however painfully, but will have “only hints and guesses,/ Hints followed by guesses”; anything more will come only through “prayer, observance, discipline, thought and action.”
I suspect that most of us here today would consider ourselves to fall within the ranks of “the ordinary person.” Not content with “only hints and guesses,” we should move on to Eliot’s “Plan B”: “anything more [than “hints and guesses”] will come only through ‘prayer, observance, discipline, thought and action.’”
So, how best to make a definitive exit from Plato’s Cave, especially in just forty days? Precisely by adopting Eliot’s Plan B. All too often, well-meaning and overly enthusiastic folk resolve to change their whole lives in forty days, tackling every character flaw—giving up everything that stands in the way of total sanctity. And the result is that, usually, within a week, they just give up, period. How can one avoid that unfortunate development? I would suggest that it is by “doing Lent” in a reasonable way. Identify one virtue you would like to develop and one vice you would like to conquer.
That starts with prayer for divine assistance. We are not the Pelagian heretics of the Early Church, who thought they could attain holiness of life on their own steam. No, we need grace, which is God’s life and power within us, available to us “on demand,” as it were. The Council of Trent reminded all that every good work of ours is initiated by divine grace, accompanied by grace, and brought to a happy conclusion by that grace. The final line of Diary of a Country Priest by Georges Bernanos puts it succinctly and powerfully: “All is grace.”
Your prayer should necessarily include a petition that the Holy Spirit enlighten your mind and inflame your heart to see yourself as God sees you—and that should then lead you to adopt the most salutary Lenten program. So, a first question ought to be, “What is my one ‘besetting fault’?” That is, what sin keeps popping up in confession after confession? Is it rash judgment, seemingly uncontrollable anger, spiritual lethargy, addiction to pornography? Whatever the sin, zero in on that as your primary focus in “giving up” something. Then, identify a virtue you need to develop. Patience, chastity, generosity, truthfulness, courage? Seek to find at least one opportunity each day to exercise that virtue.
Now, in addition to divine grace, we also need help from our fellow believers, who are also fellow sinners. Select one such person to be your spiritual director or coach, someone who can inspire you to continue on in your holy determination—someone who will hold you accountable when you slack off. It works in athletic training, doesn’t it? “Five more reps!” “One more lap!” After all, St. Paul was not adverse to having recourse to sports imagery to describe the spiritual life (to deepen your awareness and commitment, read Phil 2:16; Gal 2:2; Gal 5:7; 1 Tim 4:7; 2 Tim 2:5; 1 Cor 9:24-26); nor did Paul have any hesitation in talking about spiritual warfare (meditate long and hard on Eph 6:10-20)!
That said, be prepared to be even more fiercely tempted than usual in your struggle to avoid vice and to advance in virtue. The Evil One will not be happy with your resolve and will do to you what he did to the Master Himself. Be consoled and buoyed in your resolve, however, by the brilliant and insightful observation of St. Augustine, from a homily he preached on the First Sunday in Lent in the fifth century:
If in Christ we have been tempted, in him we overcome the Devil. Do you think only of Christ’s temptations and fail to think of His victory? See yourself as tempted in Him, and see yourself as victorious in Him. He could have kept the Devil from Himself; but if He were not tempted, He could not teach you how to triumph over temptation.
Discipline, then, is an absolute necessity. Sticking to the program and not losing heart when slipping. Keeping that sharp focus is aided by the traditional penitential practices of the Church: heightened awareness of the presence of God through deeper and more fervent prayer; fasting from food and drink, to be sure, but also fasting from negative thoughts and an unbridled tongue; almsgiving, which is truly sacrificial, coming from a contrite heart which knows how much money is wasted on luxuries while others lack necessities. Discipline also involves total honesty with oneself and holding oneself up to the highest standard.
“Prayer, observance, discipline, thought and action” were the elements highlighted by T.S. Eliot; treat them as benchmarks. Will maintenance of the program be difficult? If you’re serious about it, most certainly. However, does anything that truly matters ever come easily? Further, for a Christian, there is joy in the struggle—if it is united to the Cross of our Redeemer. Eliot is correct in asserting that “the ordinary person will not experience the full grace within which the saint lives,” but we “ordinary persons” can gain glimpses of that grace, which carry us on to its fullness in God’s good time and in His good pleasure.
Early on, I underscored the need for balance. That comes to the fore when we consider the two-fold need for reliance on God and putting forth good personal effort. An adage of Ignatian spirituality teaches us: “Pray so hard as to suggest that all depends on God; work so hard as to suggest that all depends on you.”
Finally, can we benefit from the wisdom of Saint John Henry Cardinal Newman in our Lenten journey? You knew he had to form part of this reflection, didn’t you? Yes, I would recommend frequent meditation on what is probably his most famous poem and prayer, “Lead, Kindly Light.”
Lead, Kindly Light, amidst th’encircling gloom,
Lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home,
Lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene; one step enough for me.I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou
Shouldst lead me on;
I loved to choose and see my path; but now
Lead Thou me on!
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will. Remember not past years!So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still
Will lead me on.
O’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone,
And with the morn those angel faces smile,
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile!Meantime, along the narrow rugged path,
Thyself hast trod,
Lead, Saviour, lead me home in childlike faith,
Home to my God.
To rest forever after earthly strife
In the calm light of everlasting life.
For a salutary Lent: One step enough for me. Remember not past years! Lead me home in childlike faith.
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Father, I am not a theologian but merely a seeker of the objective truth. Would you agree or disagree that the good life is the virtuous life, the perfecting of the soul by the uprooting of the vices and the implanting of the virtues is the chief concern of the Holy Spirit, our Counselor and our Comforter. This is certainly the self discipline we seek every Lent (rather than every day) with the guidance of the Holy Spirit suggesting what we ought to do and what we ought not to do graciously and persistently to all men for all times. The virtues are universal truths, the rejection of the virtues are sinful vices.
All virtuous men called to the active life style stand before the same God on their judgement day whom is All Good, whose property is aways to have mercy. Is that final judgement of virtuous men (responding to the Holy Spirit) based upon the expressed gratitude to God of the mystery of God’s perfect grace, perfect mercy and perfect justice?
Father, I am not a theologian but merely a seeker of the objective truth. Would you agree or disagree that the good life is the virtuous life, the perfecting of the soul by the uprooting of the vices and the implanting of the virtues is the chief concern of the Holy Spirit, our Counselor and our Comforter. This is certainly the self discipline we seek every Lent (rather than every day) with the guidance of the Holy Spirit suggesting what we ought to do and what we ought not to do graciously and persistently to all men for all times. The virtues are universal truths, the rejection of the virtues are sinful vices.
All virtuous men called to the active life style stand before the same God on their judgement day whom is All Good, whose property is aways to have mercy. Is that final judgement of virtuous men (responding to the Holy Spirit) based upon the expressed gratitude to God of the mystery of God’s perfect grace, perfect mercy and perfect justice?
I pray God braid my will with His. My fiat doesn’t work, Jesus, but You are the endless perfection Fiat. Jesus, I give you my fiat, please give me Yours. Let Your Divine Will do in me what my human will cannot. For does not my frail human will have no place to gather its power and strength but from You? Jesus, I trust in You. Amen.
Thank you Fr. Peter for an awesome homily that like many in the Mother Church should have us coming out of the caves of lusts, self satisfaction and the cynicism of self limiting beliefs.
We are familiar with the threefold objects of lent that are prayer, abstinence and almsgiving for reparations of sins of will and inactions, that one can say arise from not trusting the Holy Spirit and the fullness of her gifts in Eucharistic Life.
The chains or the chords binding St. John of The Cross’ bird are perhaps too strong – invincibly strong that we are eager to have lent as an event – a socio political event rather than a spiritual process of purification that comes from detachment- renuninciation of a dark and sickly racous world, one that has ensnared the Church as well, hence we stand at that moment of a smaller and much smaller Church Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger foresaw in 1960s. The only counterpoint to Ratzinger Prophesies – of Pagans who think they are Christians, also, is wether we are having enough saints and contemplatives in the making. I see few takers of the gifts of Christ of self abnegation and prayerlife, but a lot of stage players.
You are perhaps familiar with The Brewing of Soma, a beautiful poem of how social collapse entangled Churchlife anxious for change without honour of prayer and real Christian Spiritiality. It is long but worth some noting for its pungent parallels with the degeneration of our age-
“The fagots blazed, the caldron’s smoke
Up through the green wood curled;
“Bring honey from the hollow oak,
Bring milky sap,” the brewers spoke,
In the childhood of the world.
And brewed they well or brewed they ill,
The priests thrust in their rods,
First tasted, and then drank their fill,
And shouted, with one voice and will,
“Behold the drink of gods!”
They drank, and to! in heart and brain
A new, glad life began;
The gray of hair grew young again,
The sick man laughed away his pain,
The cripple leaped and ran.
“Drink, mortals, what the gods have sent,
Forget your long annoy.”
So sang the Priests. From tent to tent
The Soma’s sacred madness went,
A storm of drunken joy.
Then knew each rapt inebriate
A winged and glorious birth,
Soared upward, with strange joy elate,
Beat, with dazed head, Varuna’s gate,
And, sobered, sank to earth.
The land with Soma’s praises rang;
On Gihon’s banks of shade
Its hymns the dusky maidens sang;
In joy of life or mortal pang
All men to Soma prayed.
The morning twilight of the race
Sends down these matin psalms;
And still with wondering eyes we trace
The simple prayers to Soma’s grace,
That Vedic verse embalms.
As in that child-world’s early year,
Each after age has striven
By music, incense, vigils drear,
And trance, to bring the skies more near,
Or lift men up to heaven!
Some fever of the blood and brain,
Some self-exalting spell,
The scourger’s keen delight of pain,
The Dervish dance, the Orphic strain,
The wild-haired Bacchant’s yell,–
The desert’s hair-grown hermit sunk
The saner brute below;
The naked Santon, hashish-drunk,
The cloister madness of the monk,
The fakir’s torture-show!
And yet the past comes round again,
And new doth old fulfil;
In sensual transports wild as vain
We brew in many a Christian fane
The heathen Soma still!”
The New doth the old fulfill-
Eerily familiar to me in anxiously seeking change without without cogent spiritual coordinates