—I do will it. Be made clean.—

What a wonderful thing to hear as we begin this season of Septuagesima.

Septuagesima literally means seventy. It is now approximately seventy days before Easter. This is the time of preparation before the Holy and penitential season of Lent.

We begin to descend into that time of mourning and penance. The Gloria and the Alleluia are not said. We are wearing rose colored vestments. We are considering our call to be changed.

The Holy Church in her wisdom gives us the seasons of the year to fit our human need. Our need right now is to come down from the joy of Christmas and transition to Lent.

We need to prepare for change. Preparation is so important because we cannot expect to change overnight, and we cannot expect to do it alone.

Sudden conversion happens of course. But that type of conversion is a momentary event. We are called to cooperate in our conversion in a continuous and on-going way. We are called to commit to constant change.

You were all converted at your baptism. You received a great gift. You are no longer outside the camp, crying out —unclean, unclean—. You were made part of God’s Holy Church. You are inside.

Unfortunately, even though we are on the inside, we still live with our leprosy. We all carry the blotch of sin on us and in us. Furthermore, we cannot change our spots on our own. Reliance on God is absolutely required. Cooperation within the Church is essential.

Do you think you can change alone? Do you think that you have the willpower? Can you stop smoking, give up food or drug addictions? Can you get away from improper relationships? Can you change the behaviors, attitudes, prejudices, and addictions that make you a leper?

I tell you, you cannot cleanse yourself.

You cannot change without first placing your reliance and hope in Christ Jesus. You and I need to come to Him first. We need to kneel here and ask His forgiveness. We need to take the sacrament of penance seriously and move from penance to reformation. Penance and absolution are sacramentally imparted at every Holy Mass. Do you do your penance? Do you reform?

The Church does more than impart the sacraments. If you are coming here as-is, without serious consideration of what you are doing, then the gifts of grace prepared for you will have little if any affect. You need to come for the guidance of the Church and cooperate with it for your salvation.

How does the Church help? Start with some of its simple laws.

Do you fast two hours before you receive Holy Communion or was that candy bar, bowl of cereal, or roll just too tempting?

It is required to fast. It is a sacrifice to fast. It opens you up so that the physical sensation of receiving the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is a real physical sensation. It is not just intellectual and spiritual. Jesus is feeding you in a real way. In the in the King James Version of John 6:55 Jesus says:

“For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.”

Let Jesus fill you Sunday morning and not just figuratively.

Do you abstain from meat on every Friday or was that baloney sandwich too tempting? Will you abstain every Wednesday and Friday in Lent?

Some people scoff at the idea. How quaint, how old fashioned. They say, ‘I’m smarter than that! and they will not do it.’ If a person cannot even do the small things that are required out of love for Jesus how will they be humble enough to change the big things.

Be humble. Let Jesus be glorified. That baloney sandwich will become a very heavy cross this Lent. Every Wednesday and Friday you will long for it. Be humble. Let Jesus be glorified.

The Church is giving you a great opportunity in this season of Septuagesima.

Consider what needs to be changed and use the season of Lent fruitfully. Commit to change in the little things and the big things. Most of all, fall at Christ’s feet in humility. Cry out to Him, I am unclean! Unclean!

He will say to you: —I do will it. Be made clean.—

Then you will be ready to meet Jesus Christ in the light of His Easter glory and it will be gloriously special.