A Call to Conversion of Life

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator

Lent came a little earlier this year than it did last year. Consequently, it has not been quite a year since we last heard the Gospel that is traditional for Monday of the First Week of Lent. When the Lenten Lectionary was first organized, Lent actually began on a Monday. Matthew's story of the separation of the sheep and the goats was read at Mass. Immediately after its reading, the sinners were publically expelled from the congregation and shown the door. They remained excluded from the congregation until the Mass of the Lord's Supper when they were readmitted after forty days of public penance.

Of course we don't do that anymore. Public penance has gone by the wayside ever since the advent of frequent confession and absolution by the priest, something that did not develop in the Church's history until after the first millennium. However, we still read that Gospel story on Monday of the First Week of Lent.

St. Matthew's story illustrates a point that we have already heard proclaimed in the readings from the prophets during the first days of Lent; namely, prayer and fasting and alms giving, though admirable in and of themselves, will not be the basis of judgment at the end of time. Lent calls for conversion of life which means turning away from sin and turning toward God and our neighbor. Religious practices are for naught if we fail to live according to the commandments to love God and love our neighbor. There is a place for piety in our lives. However, true discipleship calls for much more than piety.