March 15,2009: 3rd Sunday of Lent (B)

Clutter. It's not something we like to see in our living room or in our garage. Of course, the more things we have, more likely we'll have clutter. When I went to a friend's house, I saw an amusing book on the coffee table. The title was, "Lose 200 LBs. This Weekend: It's Time to Declutter Your Life!" On the first few pages, the author listed signs of a person who loves clutter. One read, "My grandmother saved all the foam meat trays." A newly wed couple commented, "We are just married and recently we moved 6,000 pounds of stuff to our new home, and we have no furniture yet. It was 3 times what the mover had estimated."

The author of the book asked a banker at a dinner party, "What's wrong with our economy?" He replied, "It's because we have everything!" The banker then asked those listening on to the conversation the following: "How many of you have a TV, microwave, radios, pairs of shoes, recliners, watches..." He went down a litany of things that we could possibly own, and everyone had not only one but several of each. You would think that the more things that we own that give us comfort should raise our personal satisfaction and happiness. But the author points out that it's the opposite. There are three different areas where we struggle. First, there is clutter around us. It's caused by all the things we own. Second, there is clutter on us. We eat more than what's necessary and so it's stored on our midrif. Third, there is clutter in us. We have so much mental and emotional concerns and worries. The author's point was that we had too much on our minds, on our waist, too much in our garages, basements, drawers, closets, and storage spaces.

So how does this connect with our gospel this week? We know that St. Paul tells us, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own..." (1 Corinthian 6:19-20) So what happens when this temple of the Holy Spirit becomes cluttered with things around us, on us, and in us? It's due for a house cleaning. In our gospel, Jesus enters the temple and finds all sort of clutter--those selling animals for sacrifice, money changers, and all sorts of merchants. With a whip, Jesus drives them all out saying, "Take these out of here, and stop making my Father's house a marketplace." Holy Spirit often gives us inspiration time and time again to declutter our inside and outside, to let things go and to sweep them in order. And how difficult it is to let things go!

Three weeks ago, I had to pack my stuff to move from St. Aloysius to Mater Dolorosa. I counted--16 plastic tubs of stuff, pictures, and clothes. It took three cars to move. The easy part was transporting it. The hard part was deciding which one to keep and which one to give away as I packed. Many of you probably had this experience. It was 16 plastic tubs too many! And like most of us, I have multiple number of same things--2 laptops, 2 printers, 2 iPods, 2 radios, and on and on... I also gained about 10 lbs. after ordination. This past week I was reading a memoir by a priest named Fr. Jean Bernard, and reading this really stung my conscience regarding all the stuff I own and the clutter I have inside and outside.

Fr. Jean Bernard was a priest of the country Luxembourg. During Nazi oppcupation, like many of the Catholic priests and protestant clergy who denounced Nazis, he was sent off to German concentration camp Dachau. There he was placed in "Priest Block," a barracks that housed more than 3,000 clergymen mostly Catholic priests. By a sheer miracle, he was released in 1942, nearly dying from starvation and cruelty he received. On release, this tall man weighed at merely 100 lbs. He recalled in the memoir the following experience from Dachau: a German priest from a different barrack secretly sent a half-inch long consecrated host from a mass. This Eucharist was divided among several priests. It was kept by each priest, knowing that in a short while they'll be sent off to gas chambers. Fr. Bernard recalled, "How much consolation that brought to the hearts of the tormented priests, how much courage and readiness to sacrifice, cannot be expressed in words."

When we are stripped of all our clutter, of everything we own, even our human dignity, there is one thing we are still to keep: "I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.You shall not have other gods besides me.You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; you shall not bow down before them or worship them." We are approaching the half-way mark of Lent. How are we doing in decluttering our lives to give Heavenly Father a place to sit and reign in our heart?