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 I am a priest, but I am also an uncle. What a blessing! I am an uncle to 16 nieces and nephews. A true joy in my life is spending time with my family, especially being Uncle Steve. One of my nephews, Troy Khari or TK, as he is known in our family, loves the movie, The Lion King. He watches it over and over and can quote almost every line.
Recently, I was watching the Lion King with TK and I noticed a very powerful scene. Simba, the younger lion, hears the voice of his father tell him, "Remember who you are." It is with those words that young Simba is empowered to return home and truly take his place as the Lion King! As I watched the rest of the movie, I remembered those words and they served as great reflection and prayer me. Remember who you are…
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, in number 1849, defines sin as,
An offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is a failure in genuine love
for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man and injures human
solidarity. It has been defined as an "utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law."
Sin can also be defined as forgetting who we are.
We are children of our Heavenly Father, created in His very own image and likeness. We are redeemed by the most precious blood of Jesus Christ, who suffered, died and rose to save us from our sins. We are gifted by the Holy Spirit and members Body of Christ, the Holy Catholic Church.
Saint John's beautiful letter reminds us,
See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as He is pure. Everyone who commits sin commits lawlessness, for sin is lawlessness.
1 John 3, 1-4
The Season Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. A day when so many people line up for ashes to be placed on their foreheads and are given a charge - "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel." This begins a season of renewal, repentance and grace. We need Lent! We need to be challenged to turn away from sin. We need to be purified. We need to be renewed in our baptismal promises. We need to walk with and pray for those who are on their journey to the Easter Sacraments. We need Lent to be reminded of who we are!
So many people reduce the Season of Lent to be simply a painful time to give up something, chocolate, soda, cigarettes etc. But Lent is so much more than that. Lent is a time not just to give up something, but to take on something. This is why we need to pray, fast and do charity in Lent. For these ever ancient, ever new practices help us to truly live out our Christian identity. Indeed, we can rise from the ashes to Easter joy and grace. Remember who you are!
Father Stephen Thorne is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Ordained in May 1998, he served as Parochial Vicar of Saint Katharine Drexel Church, Chester, PA and taught Theology at Saint John Neumann High School, Philadelphia. Currently, he is the Director, Office for Black Catholics, Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
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