Homily: 2nd Sunday in Lent, YR C
“Pack Your Bags For Eternity"
By Fr. William Holtzinger
March 7, 2004

Today, in order to take a flight anywhere, we must be ready to endure the large lines that have been created by the security checkpoints in the airports. This is very understandable with the climate of terrorism in the world. We’re being told to show up two hours before our flights in order to ensure that we could get through check-in and security. The more baggage you bring with you, the more hassle you might have while traveling. Two friends of mine decided recently to go on a trip and packed only a back pack. Imagine: If you could only take a backpack with you on a trip, what would you bring? What things would need to be left behind?

Today in the Scriptures we hear about Abram and how he made a covenant with God. Abram was a nomad, and it was his lifestyle to be on the move. God was his travel agent, you might say. Abram lived with his relatives in tents that could be easily moved as they went. St. Paul reminds us that we are “citizens of heaven.”  He warns us not to set our hearts on things of this world. Paul was a great example. With the amount of traveling he did, he had to pack light. St Peter, on the other hand, serves as our counter example. After seeing the Transfiguration of the Lord, he wanted to memorialize the event and thus always hold it dear to his heart. He wanted to stay there and soak it in. Have you ever had a moment that you wish would never end? That was Peter. He wanted to cling on. Yet, this event follows on the heals of Jesus’ description of how he would have to suffer and die before he could accomplish his purpose. Jesus had just told Peter that he would be leaving. Even earlier, Jesus told his disciples to go out and preach the Good News but carry only a walking stick and sandals. So Christians are being told to pack and travel lightly since we are not destined for this world, but the next. Yet, when we go on trips, many of us pack so many things that our suitcases are bulging at the seams. This is a paradigm for life. Let me illustrate how we might pack a suitcase and I encourage you to join in on judging whether or not I should slim down the bag.

(Bring out a suitcase packed with various common items, some essential and other clearly not essential. In round one, have the community judge whether or not an item should be packed for a short trip. Then from the items that they chose to keep, discern if each of those items (which serve as an analogy to the spiritual life) should still be packed on our journey of the Christian life or would be distractions)

Now, this suitcase is intended to help us see that we too often have given over power and importance to things that don’t matter in the eternal scheme of things. In Lent, we are being asked to reexamine the suitcases of our lives, those things that we keep with us as we travel through our lives. Which of these will aid us on our eternal journey? What things have become baggage that we need to unload or unpack in our lives? We are all sojourners but don’t know it. We are more like Abram than we think. God made us to live with him. This world is just a dress rehearsal.

The life of a nomad requires traveling with a light suitcase. The Christian life challenges us as does Lent to move from the places where we are deathly comfortable. Last week I invited people to sit in a different place at Mass than they were used to. This was in order to encourage you to see the same faith from a different perspective.

So this Lent, reevaluate your life and the things you pack with you everywhere you go. Maybe you need to dump or unpack some of those things at our upcoming communal reconciliation services. They will be held on the 17th and 23rd of this month. Come celebrate the freedom that comes with being radically open to the adventure that God has for each of you.