First Sunday of Lent: The Garden of Eden

In the first reading, we hear what the human experience was like in the beginning. It began in a lush garden. In the midst of it were a man, a woman and all the creatures God had created. With God Himself, they lived in perfect harmony. This idea, the Garden, has always captured the imaginations of people. We create gardens—in our homes and in public settings—partially because they give us a sense of being back in the harmony God had intended.

In contrast to the Garden described in the first reading is the desert of today’s Gospel. St. Matthew tells us that just after his Baptism, having been anointed by the Spirit, Jesus was led there. More descriptively, St. Mark uses the Greek verb ekballein, which tells us Jesus was not so much led, but instead ‘driven out’: thrust into the desert. Some English translations refer to it as wilderness, rather than the desert.

Either way, in contrast to the Garden’s fragrant blossoms and dew moistened leaves, the desert wilderness was largely devoid of vegetation. Instead of the harmony among the creatures in the Garden, the desert rendered the creatures as either predator or prey. The contrast reveals the effect of sin, what it does to distort the true nature of all creation.

One of the ways to understand the progression within the spiritual life—and as a microcosm of that, the forty days of Lent—is restoration of the Garden, to reverse the effects of sin. As Jesus was driven into the desert wilderness to confront evil and the effects of sin, we seek to draw him into those spaces within us, in order that our hearts would increasingly bear the beauty and richness of the Garden.

Even more, Jesus established a Church, and gave her Sacraments, as a means to facilitate this restoration. But he also tasked his Church to be his presence in a world that bears these same effects of sin. And as a response to that task, the U.S. Church established Catholic Relief Services.

In the summer before our last year of seminary, my friend, Fr. Jerry Burns and I were asked to be part of a CRS program called Global Fellows. This sent us to Nicaragua, in order to see first-hand, the work of CRS, which up to that point, I knew very little about. That may be true for some of you too, so let me briefly explain. CRS is an outreach ministry of the U.S. Catholic Church to the world around us. So, while Catholic Community Services (a.k.a. Catholic Charities) provides assistance to local people and communities, CRS works outside of the U.S., in approximately 100 nations worldwide.

In Nicaragua, we traveled to a few of the larger cities, but spent most of our time in the outlying areas. What I was able to observe, and impressed me so, is how they don’t function merely as a charity organization. Instead they cooperate with local organizations and governments within the country where they are present. Their approach is to help in ways that develop communities from within, establishing sustainable practices, such as teaching small farmers how to form co-ops and how to get their products to market. I saw how they helped build sophisticated irrigation systems and agricultural infrastructure. I saw how they help in educating and empowering high school students, so that they in turn, can stress to their peers about the importance of responsible decision-making, education and respect for their bodies.

If you were to look at CRS’ website today, you would see how they are currently responding to the Coronavirus crisis in other countries. You would see how they are providing support for the 400,000-plus Syrian refugees, who as the Syrian war is in its 9th year, have fled their country in fear and scattered to various countries of the world.

Simply put, I’m sold on the mission and method of CRS and I’m grateful for what they do on behalf of the Catholics in this nation. I’m grateful that they do it all in the name of Jesus, restoring the Garden, little by little.

This Lent our parish will again participate in Operation Rice Bowl, a program of CRS. At the end of this Mass, I will bless our Rice Bowl campaign and invite you to pick one up as you leave. And here’s why this is relevant: as you know from the Gospel on Ash Wednesday, the three principle disciplines that come with Lent are prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

So as a way of doing this, I suggest to you that you put the Rice Bowl in a common area of your house (e.g. kitchen table), and by using the enclosed calendar, you and your family can pray together. Then by putting into the Rice Bowl the money that you might ordinarily use for whatever it is you are fasting from, you are both fasting and almsgiving. Do this throughout Lent and then on Holy Thursday we will collect them. 75% of the money we contribute will go to support the work of CRS overseas, and 25% will remain in our diocese, helping fight hunger and poverty.

(NOTE: the slot is big enough for paper money! Not to be filled with rice!)

It’s a way of bringing Jesus into our wilderness, the world’s wilderness, to fight the effects of evil and sin. It’s a small way we move closer to the beautiful Garden God created for us: The Garden that God still desires for us.