Central Idea: Lent is a time for God to coax our spirits out of the cage, to get busy living.
Get busy living, or get busy dying.
I saw a documentary once about a lion tamer. I know, I am strange. He was talking about his life and about his work and the dangers associated with his profession. He said that the most dangerous moment of his work was when he tried to coax the big cats out of their cages. You would suppose that a lion or a tiger would naturally prefer to roam free, to get out a cramped cell and into the open. The opposite, however, is the case. You see, the lions have everything they need in the cage. Food is brought to them. They have a nice, warm, soft place to sleep. There are no outside predators to deal with. The outside is where the dangers are, it is their confinement. The open is where they feel hemmed in. Bottom line about the lions: They prefer the cage.
Another movie that I tend to watch whenever it is on, is The Shawshank Redemption. It tells the story of a man incarcerated for a crime he did not commit and his quest for justice and freedom. But one of the more fascinating characters of many in the film, is a minor character, a little man played by the legendary actor James Whitmore named Brooks. He has been at Shawshank Prison for quite awhile and runs the prison library. As luck would have it, he is paroled and sent out into a world that has changed all too much for him. Like the lion whose wild spirit has been tamed and broken, he discovers, tragically, that he was more comfortable in prison. He preferred the cage.
Get busy living or get busy dying.
In the course of my career as a priest, I have met a multitude of people like Brooks, once mighty lions who preferred, thank you very much, the cages of their lives. I knew a man, an alcoholic, who had to make a decision between his family, his wife and children, and beer. He chose beer. He preferred the cage. I knew a woman once, a beautiful woman, who had a glorious singing voice and a sparking personality. Alas, she was also involved an abusive relationship. She told her friends that he gave her everything she needed. And that was true, if by “everything” you mean all the cocaine you can handle and a fist. She preferred the cage. I had two students at Borgia who would come into my class, put their heads down and fall asleep. That is not one of the preferred responses in my classes. I asked them why they were so tired all the time and they told me, in all seriousness, that they were up till four o’clock in the morning playing video games. When I told them that unless they were lined up to get jobs at Nintendo that this may not be the optimum use of their time, they shrugged. (by the way, that is another illegitimate response in my classroom) They preferred the cage.
Get busy living or get busy dying.
Today we begin the season of Lent. A time of self-denial, the discipline of giving up something. A time of almsgiving and sharing with those less fortunate, to become more generous. A time of prayer and contemplation, to deepen our relationship with our loving God. But what is actually happening during Lent is that God coaxes and calls us out of the cages of our lives. He does not do this to tame and domesticate us, but to truly set our spirits free. God knows that our cages are places of imprisonment, oppression, slavery and death. We are like the people of Israel in bondage in Egypt, caught in the cage of our sin. And sadly, when we wallow in there long enough, we begin to love and value the bars of our cells. We begin to prefer the cage.
One of my favorite lines from the Jewish Seder supper is this: every day I am either leaving Egypt or I am not. We are either escaping the cages of our lives or we are not. It is the same thing the main character in The Shawshank Redemption says: Get busy living or get busy dying. That is the bottom line of Lent.
If I may, I would like to conclude by suggesting a cage in which we may be caught and a community penance I would like to offer for all of us here at HR.
First, the cage. I think a cage I often prefer is the cage of pettiness. Believe me, it is an extremely cramped cell. How often do I get all bent out of shape about small and trivial things? How many times have I obsessed over absolutely nothing, things that are totally useless? How many times have I hung on to small violations and intrusions by others and blown them completely out of proportion? The danger, of course, is that our small mindedness often comes back around to tear us apart. Small people find themselves in tight spots regularly. Instead, escape the cage of your pettiness by overlooking small breaches. This Lent, learn to be magnanimous, noble and generous.
Finally, I would like to suggest a parish penance, something all of us can work on. As usual, this is something that I primarily need the most. I would like for us all to give up telling each other how busy we all are. At times, I declare it is a contest to see whose life is the busiest. The problem is, of course, that I often use my supposed busy-ness to absolve myself of responsibility. “I am sorry, I didn’t do that, because, you know right now, I am sooooo busy.” I challenge the entire HR community to give it a rest. Why? First of all, believe it or not, no one cares. Second, if you need time for yourself take it, you do not need anyone’s permission or authorization. Third, stop using it as an excuse to be irresponsible and lazy. Offer it up!!
I hope that in these next few weeks of Lent your lives in Christ may deepen and grow. Take this marvelous opportunity to flee the cages of sin and to let your wild and loving spirit find openness and life. Let the lions loose. Get busy living or get busy dying.