The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone
Friday of the Second Week of Lent
We are 16 days into the Lenten season, with 28 days to go until Holy Thursday. (That’s right, Lent is actually 46 days long! As Lent used to begin on Sunday, not Ash Wednesday, that gives 40 days until Holy Thursday; or from Ash Wednesday, 40 days of fasting and six Sundays of feasting, until Holy Thursday.)
Over two weeks in, perhaps the initial fervor has worn off a bit. Maybe our resolutions and penances have wavered, if not dissipated. It turns out that the struggles of ordinary life and the habitual weakness of our flesh are not so easily vanquished.
As many point out, as we enter into this middle period of the Lenten season, it is good to be humbled by our lack of perfection in carrying out Lenten discipline. The point was never about perfection, as if Lent could be a matter of completing tasks or building a more disciplined life. Lent is a time of purification by way of metanoia, that transformation of heart that is the basis of conversion. And the first change that needs to happen in our hearts is the confidence we might have in ourselves.
Hopefully, you’ve run into some frustrations and failures so far. Blessed are you: now you can come to Jesus with empty hands, with poverty, with need.
But Lent is more than just realizing our inability to accomplish our projects and disciplines: this is only a first step, a wake-up call. Alert to our poverty, we are now in a better place to appreciate this deeper meaning of the season: the invitation to follow Christ to the cross.
Lest we backtrack and think this invitation is mainly about ascetic discipline, the Lectionary give us readings like today’s, sneak previews of the goal. To follow Christ to the cross is to share in his battle, the offering of the Suffering Servant that overcomes evil by his sacrifice of trust.
In this sense then, Lent is a time to awaken in metanoia to what following Christ means. Two examples are given to us today: from the Book of Genesis, the example of Joseph; and from the Gospel parable, the example of the landowner’s son, the stone rejected by the builders.
These are rich parts of Scripture, with much to offer. But at this point, in the middle part of the season of Lent, they are given with a specific end: remember again where you are headed, and what this season is a preparation for. Not primarily for greater discipline, though this may be a grace we receive. The main thing is to realize what it meant for Christ to accept and fulfill his mission, so that I may be better prepared to join him in this battle by which all things will be made new.
This battle will be won in a drama that looks like defeat, according to the world’s perspective. We too in our pride may be tempted to see the ways the Lord leads as instances of defeat, threatening discouragement and even despair. That is the temptation to watch out for, a short-cut that would avoid the real value of Christ’s sacrifice, the same we are called to share in: the total offering of ourselves in trust to the Father, even in the face of what looks like defeat.
Paragraph 677 in the Catechism is important to remember here, especially as we recall the nature of our exodus with Christ to Jerusalem:
The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection. The kingdom will be fulfilled, then, not by a historic triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy, but only by God's victory over the final unleashing of evil, which will cause his Bride to come down from heaven. God's triumph over the revolt of evil will take the form of the Last Judgement after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world.
History itself, including our own lives, and every other chapter in this great drama, follows this form of the cross. It may be the hardest lesson to learn, so convinced we are that all things are meant to work out in amity and concord, conflict gradually dissipating until progress has eliminated all difficulty. It will not be that way as history moves toward its consummation, nor will it be that way in our lives.
Excellent reflection. 'is good to be humbled by our lack of perfection in carrying out Lenten discipline'....my favorite part followed by this 'now you can come to Jesus with empty hands, with poverty, with need'.