Routine – it is comfortable – one knows what to expect. The same activities, the same meetings, the same schedule. – and Lent is no exception – it comes every year – Go to Mass on Ash Wednesday – no meat on Fridays – there is a penance service – give some money to a charity – fast on a couple of days – say some extra prayers - all good activities, a nice Lenten routine, a comfortable spiritual life – but does anything change?
Lent should bring - reconciliation, drawing closer to God – it is about conversion. – but where is the conversion? – nothing seems to change; after all, it is just routine.
Routine – Moses had fallen into a routine. Tending the flock of his father-in-law. Once upon a time, he was raised in Pharaoh’s court in Egypt, a life with excitement – out to solve problems for his people - but that life was long ago – now he was in exile. But he was comfortable – he had his family, was married, had kids, stable work with his father-in-law – just stick with the routine - manage the flocks, take care of business, do not shake the boat.
But something caught Moses’ eye – a burning bush - simple, he has seen bushes burn before – Yet strange, it did not seem to be consumed – it just kept burning – what fire does not consume what is burnt? Logic said he should get home. Logic said he should stick with the routine –yet he could not – he wondered.
Wonder – Why? How? What? Who? – Moses goes to the bush and is greeted by a surprise. In trying to figure out what this bush is and how it does not burn, he finds that it is not just a burning bush, but there is a who – the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Wonder draws Moses to the fire and change – conversion – can happen - And God calls him out of the comfortable and to something greater - back to Egypt, a place he had left; he must return from exile. God has heard the cry of his people, and Moses was to go lead them out of Egypt to a land flowing with milk and honey. Not something
A small act of wonder is the beginning of a journey – a journey from slavery to freedom. A journey that may not be comfortable, the Israelites spent 40 years in the desert – fought battles, ran low on food and water – at times it seemed impossible, but it was God who was leading them - and God provided and brought them to the promised land – all starting with Moses’ small act of wonder
Wonder can break the routine. Routines of a school year, of work, of Lent, or of the spiritual life. Asking the question, why? How? What? Who? What are we really doing? Why are we doing it? How can something be? Who are we looking for?
For Moses, it was the burning bush that was not consumed – but here, there is something far greater - Here there is the Mass. The Mass can quickly become routine – the same church, the same pew. Often the same priest and similar music. Just go through the motions. – yet what is actually happening? This is nothing less than a representation of Calvary; we are present to what Christ has done to save us. Who is on the altar? It is Christ himself; the bread and wine become Christ, body, blood, soul, and divinity. How does this happen? Only by the power of the Holy Spirit, yet we can participate, we can unite our offerings with Christ -– can we see this with wonder? Or do we just comfortably follow the routine?
And what of confession? Lent is a typical time for parishes to have a penance service – we go and confess our sins and receive absolution – it can be routine – but what really happens? Do we have any wonder at about the forgiveness of sins? They are just washed away! What great a gift! That God wants to be reconciled and forgiven sins? Why would God want to forgive us our sins? Only out of love – yet how do we respond to this love? Wonder opens us to God’s grace - draws us to respond, to conversion, that he might pull us closer to him.
Why? What is the goal? The Israelites were escaping slavery and going to the promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey – but God calls us to something far greater than a land of milk and honey – God calls us to himself, to heaven. In the words of the Baltimore catechism, it is “to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in heaven.” – This is something to ponder with wonder, not just follow in a routine.
We are just over two weeks into Lent – do we just do the typical routine – or do we stand in awe of what God has done and wonder– ask why? What for? Do we let this wonder draw us to God, and let God call us to conversion – it might not as be comfortable simply following the routine – it may be rough, it may involve struggle – God calls us to something far more, he calls us to conversion, to be with him in the kingdom, he calls us to heaven – let us have a sense of wonder at what God has done, and let Him lead us to conversion.