Our Lord offers some stark words today about what’s really important.  He reminds us that the wisdom of the world is not always God’s wisdom.  There are things which we seem to want and need, that are fleeting and, in the final analysis, just not that important.  If we put our trust in the things of the earth, we’ll be disappointed, because everything here is temporary.  But if we place our trust and our hope in God, he will never disappoint.  The prophet Jeremiah puts it very strongly: “Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the LORD.”  But, “Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose hope is the LORD.  He is like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream: it fears not the heat when it comes; its leaves stay green; in the year of drought it shows no distress, but still bears fruit.”  Trust in the Lord is like a vaccination against sorrow; an inoculation against the troubles of the world.  Even if we suffer, even if we go without things we need, even if things in life seem to be falling apart, our trust in the Lord can keep us hopeful, keep us walking down the path of life, even when it seems hard and painful.  

There’s a constant tension we face in our lives, a constant temptation to settle for what’s right in front of us, to find our comfort in whatever I can grab most easily, to let our hearts get stuck there, with what we can see and touch right now.  So we’re called to ask ourselves this simple question: where do I find my deepest peace and joy?  Is it in my job?  Or my money? Or the Titans?  Or even my friendships?  These aren’t bad things, and God wants us to enjoy them and derive strength from them.  But in the end, Christ wants us to find our deepest joy and peace and motivation in him, because he’s the one that will never let us down.  If I find my deepest peace in being a beloved child of God, then, even if things aren’t going well, I’ll almost always be peaceful at the end of the day.  But if I try to find my peace in some earthly reality, my peace will always depend on it. So if the Titans happen to lose, or if my friends let me down, or if things aren’t going well at work, I can become deeply unsettled, my mind racing, my spirit robbed of its peace. But God is always there for us; God always loves and supports us; at the end of the day, no matter what else or who else may have let us down, God is our most reliable friend and the source of our deepest and most lasting peace.  And so God wants to detach us gradually, bit by bit, from our dependence on the things of this world.  That’s what it means to become a saint.  To work hard in this world, yes.  To love the world and the people in it, yes, absolutely.  But to find joy and peace most deeply and completely in God.  Whatever else good and true we have in our lives, our trust in him has to come first.  

OK, sounds good.  But how?  "I mean, it’s easy for you to say Father, you do this for a living.  I got stuff to do, I don’t have time to figure out how to get holy."  It’s true; there’s no switch to flip to automatically have perfect trust in God.  It’s a lifelong process and it takes a lot of help.  And sometimes we don’t even know how to start.  How can I even begin to start having that kind of trust in God?  Fortunately Our Lord and Holy Mother Church give us a lot of help, week by week, year by year.  And one of the best times to work on this, to focus on this, is in the holy season of Lent.  Believe it or not, we are just two-and-a-half weeks away from Ash Wednesday.  It’s a good time to start thinking about Lent, and what our Lent is going to be like this year.  And I don’t really mean just, “What are you going to give up?”  I’m going to talk about these things in a little more depth in the coming weeks, but living Lent well, is really about three things: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.  These are the three ancient practices, three spiritual activities that Our Lord recommended, and that the Church has always emphasized for Lent.  Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.  

We’ll talk specifics later, but today I just want to recommend that we start thinking about these three things, so that we’re ready to hit the ground running, because Lent is such a great opportunity for moral and spiritual growth, and it’s an opportunity we don’t want to let pass us by.  Trust in God is the foundation of holiness, and it’s the foundation of true peace and joy. These three things can help us. So some questions to ponder as Lent approaches: How can I pray a little bit more this Lent?  How can I deny myself a little bit more?  How can I be generous, generous especially with my time, a little bit more?  Prayer, fasting, almsgiving.  By God’s grace, let’s try to be ready when Lent arrives in a few short weeks, ready to live a good fruitful Lent, ready to rejoice and be glad, that our reward will be great in heaven.