'Jesus Means Everything to Me'

By Bishop Paul S. Loverde
Special to the HERALD
(From the Issue of March 13, 2003)

The following homily was given by Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde on March 9 at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More for the First Sunday of Lent.

Do you remember reading or hearing this quotation: "…tell them about Jesus. He means everything to me?" Those words framed the message that one of the fallen astronauts Commander Rick Husband had left for his pastor. Those few words reveal that this man truly treasured his relationship with Jesus and, implicitly, Jesus’ relationship with him.

This reciprocal relationship obviously implies a mutual commitment. In today’s first reading from the Book of Genesis, God’s covenant with Noah is described in great detail. What does "covenant" mean? While it may not be a pact or relationship among equals — since God and each of us are certainly not equals — covenant is a relationship which requires a commitment on both sides.

God’s covenant with Noah prefigured the New and Eternal Covenant God makes with us, His People, through the Savior He sent us, His only-begotten Son, Who sealed this covenant by shedding His blood on the altar of the cross.

Every person baptized into Christ Jesus enters into a covenant relationship with the Lord. "I am your God and you are my people." Thus, God promises to be faithful to us and asks us to be faithful to Him. Our entire Christian living, from Baptism onwards is intended to be our ongoing response to God as people who belong to Him by faith and love.

If we are honest — and before God, how could we be otherwise — we must admit that often our lives are not this response of fidelity to the Lord. Every night and at every Mass, we honestly confess that "I have sinned through my own fault in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do." Knowing our human weakness and our proneness to sin, the Church in her wisdom gives us a season each year to come to grips with our failures to be faithful to God — our sins, and to be renewed through prayer, fasting and almsgiving in order to live more faithfully as members of God’s Covenant People, made so at Baptism. This season is called Lent – literally, "springtime"; these 40 days of Lent are truly our annual spring retreat wherein we re-examine our Baptismal commitment and seek to be renewed in mind, heart and will, so as to become more like Christ, our model as well as our Savior and Lord. In fact, Jesus addresses to us each Lent — and so, again this Lent — the challenge He proclaimed as He began His mission: "…Repent, and believe the gospel." Four days ago, on Ash Wednesday, a similar challenge rang in our ears and in our hearts as we were marked with ashes: "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel."

How do we test our being faithful? How do we grow in being faithful? By actually trying to be faithful to the Lord’s Word and Will in daily life. Athletes know that practice is essential to their overcoming obstacles and achieving victory. The same is true in our spiritual lives as we seek to deepen our relationship with Jesus. Repeated efforts to grow in love with Him, to turn away from sin and to embrace His Word and Will: these become our spiritual fitness tests. Like Jesus in today’s Gospel account, we too are led by the Spirit out into the place of struggle, symbolized by the desert. With Jesus as our model and the source of our strength, we can engage in these testings and grow stronger in our resolve to be faithful. Prayer, fasting and almsgiving: these three "works of Lent" enable us to persevere in our efforts to respond with fidelity to Jesus, the One who means everything to us.

Yes, we are a Covenant People. We belong to God from Baptism onwards and He never ceases to be the God of love and mercy for us. God intends for us to live in loving union with His only Son, Jesus our Lord and Savior. Each of us is called to delight in a deeply personal relationship with Jesus, and through Him, with all the members of His Body the Church. The goal of our annual Lenten retreat and of our entire Christian lives is essentially so basic and clear: to live, united to Jesus. Commander Husband knew this so well! We echo his words: "…tell them about Jesus. He means everything to me!"

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