Podcast: 

homily20100217.mp3

Victor Frankel was the protégé of Sigmund Freud 
when he was captured by the Nazis in World War II 
and shipped off to the prison forced labor camp.  
In this camp, people were forced to work in grueling conditions 
with little to no food or water 
and it became quickly a case of survival.  
Victor Frankel was fascinated to see 
that the first to die were actually the strongest 
and not the frail or the elderly.  
He could not understand it at first 
but his psychoanalysis kicked in 
as he watched the group dynamics.  
So he learned that his own way to survive 
was to psychoanalyze what was going on in the camp.  
He put all his energy into looking at 
what was making a difference in people’s lives 
in this dreadful condition of mere survival, 
lacking in even the basic common decency of humanity.

Frankel’s conclusion was that “purpose” was the answer.  
He believed that those who felt 
there was a meaning or a purpose to their life 
survived regardless of what the soldiers did to them.  
And those who believed in a purpose survived 
and sometimes even thrived inside this horrific camp.

When Victor Frankel left the prison and had survived himself, 
he went back to his psychotherapy analysis 
and he started to bring everything he learned 
from prison into his life of therapy.  
He came up with a particular type of therapy t
hat would help people to understand what he went through 
so that they themselves could find a purpose.  
It is called logotherapy.  
Logotherapy, unbeknown to Victor Frankel, 
is a very Catholic at its center actually.  
What you have to do is imagine yourself on your deathbed. 
Then look back at everything you are currently doing, 
and all the projects you are doing 
and rate them in importance according to that deathbed experience.  
It is a way of centering your purpose, 
a way of regaining the meaning of your life.

This is fundamentally what Lent is all about.  
It is about us reclaiming ourselves 
and to focus on the true meaning of life 
by focusing on our ultimate end t
hat we will all someday die. 
We also believe in the eternal life and resurrection 
which we celebrate at Easter.
For these next 40 days we focus on our need to renew the journey; 
we refocus on today, the beginning of our Lenten journey on ashes
—that from ashes we came and to ashes we will go.  
A focus of all of us to remind ourselves 
that one day all of us—we will die. 
To ask ourselves to rate all the stuff in our life 
according to that moment. 

It may seem gloomy and doomy to think about death for a moment 
but think of it as an opportunity to clean the window of our life, 
to wipe it clean and to get all the crude off that window 
so that we can see clearly again.  
So we can focus on the real meaning of life 
and our readings today speak to that.  
Even the Lord is saying, look, I don’t want sacrifice; 
I want your heart.  
“Return to me with your whole heart. 
Render your hearts to me.”  
Come back to me says the Prophet Joel, from the Lord.  
Come back to me; rend your hearts; 
make yourself clean to me again. 

And so today that is exactly what we do in our actions.  
We will turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel.  
A reminder to us to wipe the window of our life clean 
so that we can see with clarity.

If you do that for a moment now
—how significant would all the arguments 
we have had this week be? 
Think of all the arguments or heated discussions in our homes 
whether it be with our children or our spouse 
and put it in context to the end of our life. 
You may say, “Ok maybe this is not such a big deal after all.”  
Or the stuff that we worry about at work or at school.  
We get upset about the stuff that is going on.  
Put it all in the context at the end of our life 
and clean the window of our hearts and our lives.

The Catholic Church has always looked on the 40 days of Lent 
as an opportunity to clean up the window of our hearts 
and we do it with what we call the three legs of Lent:  
fasting, alms giving and prayer.  
We do these three things, not publicly but privately.
We do it as a reminder to ourselves of our inner journey, 
as the window cleaning of our life.
We set aside some extra time in prayer every day, 
that we give up something so that we can then turn around 
and give alms to somebody else.  
It is not without a purpose.  
It is to clean our heart and to focus our attention on Christ.

So, today as we begin the journey joyfully
because this is not meant to be a doomy and gloomy season 
but we joyfully enter into our Lenten season 
and joyfully recognize that we have regained our focus, 
regained with clarity the meaning of our life.
We will focus again on Christ and for the next 40 days 
we will keep that focus and we will do so with joy in our hearts.  
Today, we will remind ourselves with ashes 
that one day we will go to the Lord.  
At least for these next 40 days, 
we will remain focused, 
focused with great clarity on Christ 
and his message of living joyfully the gospel here and now.