Trumpet (the bloodhound)

               Today as we begin the runup to Lent, the Church gives us a set of scriptures which outline the greatness and the seriousness of following Jesus Christ. In the first reading, God commands us, His people, to be holy like He is holy. What does this mean? How is it possible to be holy like God when we have such a hard time grasping with our minds just how God is? In the Hebrew Bible, the word for holy connotes being separate, apart from and above the commonplace and mundane concerns of this world. It means living and being within a different category of existence, oriented toward a perfect and timeless existence in the very presence of God. It is a challenge to be in the world and to live this way, a way separate from the world’s concern for the self, for one’s own health, career, and finances and for self-defense against anyone or anything which we perceive to be challenging to us.

               In the Gospel, Jesus takes this command even further. Not only are to be holy, Jesus asks us to be perfect, like God is. How can it be that we, so visibly flawed, are to be perfect? In this sense, perfect means complete, whole and wholesome. We are to be full and complete human beings functioning in the image and likeness of God. That is no easy task.

               Every year at my hotel in New York, we hosted the Westminster Kennel Club, which held their prestigious dog show just across the street in Madison Square Garden. The show still goes on. The 146^th annual show was held las summer, although now it has happened outdoors since the pandemic. Dogs compete with and are judged against all the other dogs in their breed and class. And then there is the grand prize for the best in show, for that dog which perfectly exemplifies “dog-ness.” And the 2022 winner, the perfect dog, the best in show was Trumpet, a bloodhound. In the event’s tension filled and highly competitive final round, he beat out a field of six runners-up, including a French bulldog, who came in second and drew loud applause from the crowd, but which in the eyes of the judges who counted, came up short from perfect.

               God wants us to be like Trumpet. God does not want us to dethrone Him or take His job, He wants us to perfectly exemplify human-ness, which does mean doing some of God’s work here on earth, off the leash, unlike Trumpet, who does his best work on a short leash. And being human has become something more challenging since Jesus Christ became a human being. There’s a higher bar for us really to be human now; being animals comes much more easily to us. But the Church gives us a time to train, to get ready to be our best truly human selves. That time is called Lent and it begins on Ash Wednesday.

               Lent began as a time for Christians to support and accompany in preparation those persons about to be baptized at the Easter Vigil, those persons who had experienced conversion, who were changing their lives permanently for the better. It was a time for those already Christians to examine their own lives and to do the things necessary to correct their own habitual faults so their lives would better conform to the model of Christ, each and every day after Easter, so they would be in reality who they said they were. The early Christians understood that their entire life was a continual process of growth and conversion, of changing and growing more like Christ. For them, Easter was a big celebration because it was about the resurrection of their own selves just as much as it was about the resurrection of Jesus. The early Christians were result oriented.

               There are things Catholics are required to do in Lent. And here’s what they are: Abstinence from meat on Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent (for all those 14 and older) is required. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of required fasting. Now, Mohammed would find this laughable but, for us fasting means those between the ages of 18 and 59 should eat only one full meal on those 2 days, eating small amounts at two other meals if necessary, and those two meals should together constitute less food than the full meal, and then take no solid food between meals. Serious health conditions excuse a person from this. That is the minimum and it is minimal. I said Mohammed would find this laughable because in his religion fasting means no food nor water between sunrise and sunset every day for a month.

               You certainly know from your studies and your athletics that doing the minimum does not produce good results. So you are encouraged to do more, to do other things. Pray more. For example, there is Mass every morning here at 7:20 am. Or pray the Rosary. Or Lectio. Exercise your ascetic muscles. Give up something you like. Some food, like no dessert, some activity, maybe no video games or Tik Tok. You know the opportunities you have better than anyone else. Use Lent to become a better Christian and/or a better human being. Use Lent to build up your faith. Perhaps you have heard that faith is a gift; it is more than ever so today, a gift to be cherished and cared for. It is a gift beyond scientific proof because it is rooted in love, and loves defies proof or logic or science. What self interest is there in loving your enemies? What wisdom in loving your neighbor, who may often be a stranger or an adversary, just as much as loving your own self? Offer no resistance to evil? Turn the other cheek? To the world, this is foolishness.

               St. Paul tells the Corinthians, and us, if any one among you considers himself wise in this age, let him become a fool, so as to become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God. What is real wisdom? To know the truth in the heart and have it knit to your soul so that it permeates all that you do and all that your mind perceives and conceives. Scripture tells us that wonder and awe, what used to be called the fear of the Lord, is the beginning of all Wisdom. And it is which the powers of this world miss out on.

               There is a great tradition in Christianity, especially in the Eastern Orthodox churches, which has been in decline in the west and the Roman Catholic Church. And this is the Holy fool. St. Francis of Assisi was one. He took poverty literally, living off of whatever his begging brought him, and he had no permanent home. In taking the Crusade seriously, he went to Egypt and walked into the camp of the Sultan to preach the Gospel to him. The Muslims recognized him as a holy man, a holy fool who practiced what he preached. St. Francis is the patron saint of clowns, of which, I learned the other day, there is great shortage now. You could call us monks Holy Fools. St. Benedict tells us that Lent is the happiest of times for monks. The more stuff you give up, the more room you have for God. Holy Fools demonstrate that knowing God is a matter of the heart and not the head, that in order to know God we have to love him, and accept his love us all this is beyond all the science of this world.

               Jesus Christ is the model of foolishness for all of us. He lived nowhere, gave up the comforts and security of wife, children and family. He lived on charity, risked his life by speaking hard truths to power, touched lepers, said outlandish things like you must eat my body and drink my blood. He is our model of holiness, of living totally in the kingdom of God while in the human body. He is our model of the complete human being, of perfection, who in the moment just before his death spoke from the cross the words “it is completed” summing up his life, character and work. He is our model of wisdom, which shines through his parables and his works of healing and forgiving, who reassures us that we have nothing to fear in life or death because God, by giving the gift of faith, has also made to us a gift of the kingdom. God is calling us to be Holy Fools in the pattern of Jesus Christ. It is certainly much easier in our time to be a Holy Fool, because the world does and will consider us fools just for believing in a loving God.

So let no one boast about human beings, or the world or life or death, or the present or the future: for everything belongs to you,
All belong to you, and you to Christ, and Christ to God.

               Lent is the time to train and prepare to be the best in show, complete and perfect in God’s eyes who will see in us His Word Jesus Christ.