Lent isn’t just about giving up candy or soda; it’s about
giving up sin. It’s about giving up anything that keeps you
away from God and spirituality. And as we see in the first reading,
there is a huge benefit to giving up sin. Anyone who turns away from
sin will be rewarded. Anyone, even someone very sinful, can turn away
from that sin, and God will rejoice at the conversion. God does not
rejoice in punishing sinners, but rather in having sinners turn away
from sin to be reclaimed. Of course, you have to stay away. A virtuous
person who turns toward sin will suffer the same fate as the unrepentant
sinner. It’s an on-going process. You can’t just turn
away from sin like giving something up for Lent. You can’t ‘give
up’ sin for 40 days, and then start up again. But even the worst
sinners who truly turn their lives around and stay that way can be
saved.
The problem can be, as we see in the Gospel, that we’re not
just talking about ‘big’ sins. Even things that seem
‘little’ can take us away from God and his mercy. Sure,
we can say, “Oh, I’ve never killed anyone or done anything
horrible like that. I’m fine.” But have we ever ‘wished
someone dead’? Jesus says that anger toward our brother takes
us away from God as well. By spitting on our brother or calling
names, we are separating from our family and from God. In condemning
our brothers, we are in effect condemning ourselves.
Lent is about giving up more than candy. It’s about giving
up our negative attitudes and whatever keeps us from God. It’s
about reconciliation. By reconciling with our brothers, we take
the first step to reconciling with God and the Church.