GENTLEMEN, START YOUR ENGINES!

A SERMON FOR SEPTUAGESIMA

Let’s start with those last words of the Epistle: “But with many of them God was not well pleased.” Is God pleased with us? Today, we’ll make the necessary resolutions to change our life so that God will be pleased with us, now, and at the hour of our death.

St. Paul describes how we are all taking part in a race. We’re all in a race with the devil. Every one of us is in his own separate race with the devil, but not everyone is going to win it. The countdown to the start of the race begins today. That countdown begins at seventy—Septuagesima is the Latin word for seventieth (seventy days until Easter), and today, we start preparing for the race up the long and arduous road that leads to Calvary. Our vestments are already the color of penance, as today we turn our attention from the beginning of Our Lord’s life to its end, from the events surrounding his birth to the reason why he was born. That reason of course goes all the way back to Adam and Eve and their fall from grace. Appropriately, our Breviary readings at Matins this week tell the story of the creation and the fall of man. All our sins stem from that one original sin, and today’s the day we need to start thinking about all the penance we rightfully need to do, to make up for this history-long disloyalty to God, for which all of us are guilty.

And so we prepare for the Great Race. We are going to race to win. To win the Big Prize, or as they say in French, the Grand Prix. Whether we know it or not, whether we like it or not, all of us, every man and woman and child alive, are driving our race cars in the same Grand Prix of life. One day we will reach the finish line of death, and the chequered flag will be waved over us as we cross it. That flag is chequered for a reason. There is no gray on that flag, only black and white, heaven or hell. Which of those two prizes is ours depends on how we handle this race through life.

The race begins for real on Ash Wednesday, but today we start preparing for it. We need to take this seriously. What have we really done so far? It’s no good just puttering along down the racetrack, staring around at all the distractions of the world, pulling over now and again to take a look at the scenery. That’s not how to win a race. We need to focus on keeping up our speed, making sure we are a few laps ahead of our competitor the devil. It’s a long race, but if want to win it we have to limit our pitstops to the essentials—that’s what our Sundays are for, so make sure you go to church every Sunday: lubricate your engines with the prayers of the Mass, repairing the punctures of mortal sin in the confessional, and then grab some quick nutrition to feed our souls with the graces of Holy Communion.

For most of us, the race is not one quick sprint to the finish line. It’s more like a series of marathons, one year after the next, like the annual Indianapolis 500 that takes place every year not too far from here. We can’t be expected to be racing all year round, and so only one part of the year is devoted entirely to focusing on the hard part of the race itself. This season is known as Lent, and Septuagesima Sunday—today— marks the start of our preparations for that race. Once we reach Easter, we can relax a little, although even then we need to keep our engines tuned up with the occasional drag race up and down the street. When Christmas comes around again, we have one last chance for a little revelry, feasting before the fast. But as of today, Christmas is over. Let’s not be like the rest of the world, and try and keep it going until the last stroke of midnight on Mardi Gras, when Ash Wednesday begins, and the New Orleans Police Department come marching down Bourbon Street, sending the revelers home. We can’t expect to start Lent properly and win any races if we’re up late the night before on Mardi Gras, drinking and carousing, instead of vigilantly taking care of the last-minute preparations.

Those preparations begin today, in the spirit of penance that we must have if we truly want to win the race. What exactly do we need to do? First of all we need to tune up the engine that is our soul, in other words, evaluate humbly exactly where we are on the path of salvation. Is our soul well oiled and humming with virtue? If not, we belong cleaning it up. That means washing off the dirt of sin by going to confession. In England, the day before Ash Wednesday is not known as Mardi Gras, but Shrove Tuesday, where we shrive our souls by confessing our sins in final preparation for Lent. Once our soul is free from sin, we need to turn our attention to the now empty gas tank. We have to make sure the dregs of sin, our attachment to sin and pleasure, doesn’t get back in and clog things up. So we fill up the tank with grace by making good resolutions and starting to practice a few little penances. This way, we make sure we’re up to the test, and that when it comes time to put the pedal to the metal and start the serious penance of Lent, we’re not going to blow a gasket, or overheat, or run out of gas. There are so many things that can go wrong, and let’s face it, we’ve run this race many times before, and we know the pitfalls and obstacles on the track, and our own limitations to handle them. It’s better to go over last year’s race now, and remember what went wrong. This way, we know what’s around every curve, and we are not taken by surprise yet again.

Let’s start today, for example, by reminding ourselves of the story of Creation, why God created man, the beautiful universe he made for man, how our parents betrayed God’s generosity, and how man has been sinning, how we ourselves have been sinning, through weakness and malice ever since. Read your history books and refresh your memories—there is no limit to the examples of how man has mistreated God through the ages in return for all the good things he has given us.

But it’s not enough to just not sin! We can’t just sit idly by and do nothing. We have to know God, love him, and serve him, so let’s get started. Or do you want to hear the words of the householder in today’s Gospel: “Why stand ye here all the day idle?” We can’t win the Grand Prix if our racing car is coasting in neutral. The Gospel tells us it’s never too late to rev up our engines, and the prize of heaven is the same no matter when in your life you put your key in the ignition. If you have never given a single thought to what God wants of you in this life, start thinking now. We were created by God for the single purpose of knowing, loving, and serving him. Not idly, slothfully, half-heartedly. But by contemplating our failings, our recurring faults and sins with genuine loathing, and most importantly by resolving what we are going to do about them during Lent, with energy, enthusiasm and generosity.

Remember too that our enemies are not so idle as we are. Since the very creation of man, the devil has been hard at work, at every hour of the day and night, making a workshop out of every idle mind. In that workshop he has created a formidable racing machine to compete against us. Soon we will be pitted against him in a race to the finish. We will need to fight back. To fight the good fight, as St. Paul says, “not as one that beateth the air”, but so as to win the prize. If we’re going to win this race with the devil, we need to use these two weeks and three days before Ash Wednesday as our practice laps. Let’s start now, today. Let’s figure out what virtues, what good habits, we’re most in need of to replace all those nasty vices and bad habits that perhaps we enjoy so much—sloth, lust, gluttony, pride and so on. The race begins in earnest on Ash Wednesday. When the call comes to start our engines, let’s make sure our souls are prepared, like a well-oiled machine, to give the devil a run for his money.