2 March 2021
Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent
“To the upright I will show the saving power of God.”
“All their works are performed to be seen.” There is a constant temptation that our Lord warns us against in today’s Gospel, and it is the temptation of wanting our works, our prayers, and our fasts to be seen and noticed. Pope St. Leo the Great says “the evil of pride is near to good deeds, and where there is virtue, arrogance always tries to insinuate itself.” If the evil one cannot get us to stop doing good, then he tries to get us to do good for the wrong reasons. The season of Lent can hold this temptation for us in the midst of our sacrifices in two ways. The first is the obvious one where we try and be seen in our religious practices, or subtly bragging about how hard our spiritual regime is. The second way the evil one can show up is more hidden and internal. It is when we pass judgement on others for how they practice their Lent in comparison to us, or how we interiorly exalt ourselves for the good works that we do. In both ways, the sin of pride is lurking at the door of our good works seeking to overcome us by getting us to take the focus off God and to place it upon ourselves.
Jesus reminds us of the antidote at the end of the Gospel to this double danger in this Lenten season: humility. “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” Our sacrifices – exteriorly and interiorly – ought not to exalt us, but ought to humble us in order that we might be transformed in our hearts to be more like the Son. Spiritual progress passes by way of humility. It is the ground of our spiritual growth and the guard to our spiritual practices and other virtues as we stave off pride and keep out hearts and eyes focused not on self but on God. Let us pray today to see the ways the Lord is inviting us to grow in humility on our Lenten journey.