40 - 40

The title of my homily is, “40 - 40”.

Imagine if the following happened in the year 2020?

It started in France - which in a lot of ways - had lost the Catholic faith -  along with a lot of other places. It once was a very Catholic country - giving us great saints like St. Therese of Lisieux - the Little Flower - and St. Vincent de Paul - and various other wonderful saints - as well as spiritual movements.

It was in Paris - in the 13^th century - where St. Thomas Aquinas - a brilliant Italian teacher flourished - and gave the world and Catholicism - a great philosophical and theological system and synthesis and summa - called in the long run - Scholasticism. He took parts of what he learned from Aristotle - when Aristotle’s thoughts -  came to Europe through poor translations from the Arabic - which were made from the original Greek.

It was in  Paris - while studying - 1528 to 1535 -  that Ignatius of Loyola grouped with a handful of other young men - mostly from Spain - and they planned  to change the world for and with Christ. The result  - the Society of Jesus - the Jesuits - helped do just that. It took Ignatius a while to rope in St. Francis Xavier. Ignatius kept saying to him, “What does it profit someone if they  gain the whole world but lose their  soul.”

Ignatius gave the world the Spiritual Exercises which can be a short retreat or a long retreat of 28 to 30 days. A person steps back and looks at what’s giving him or her life - more - and what’s draining one’s life - less. It started with Ignatius’  unplanned retreat while recovering from being hit in the leg in battle by a cannon ball. He wanted romantic books - but all they had where he was recovering - were the lives of the saints and a life of Christ by Ludolph of Saxony.

Ignatius - a soldier, the youngest of 13 kids, an expert dancer,  a fancy dresser, very sensitive, addicted to gambling - a leader, He was good with the sword and with the knife - once killng a Muslim in a duel - in an argument and a fight over whether Christ was divine.

Ignatius  almost died from his leg surgeries.  He lived. He traveled with a limp - one leg shorter than the other - for the rest of his life - through, Italy, Spain,  the Holy Land, and France where the Jesuits started.

So maybe it was very significant that the 40 - 40 movement started in France.

The plan was quite simple - easy to imagine - but it would prove to be difficult - to put into practice. It takes work to grow and to know life and God in our lives and Jesus Christ in our lives.  But if put into practice, it can bring great results.

Religious orders - nuns, priests and brothers - with vows of poverty, chastity and obedience - had gone down big time in numbers - in the 20^th century.

People - for the most part - were having 2 or 3 kids - so family size was down - so too the number of religious, priests, deacons, what and who  have you - and parents want to see their kids’ kids more than would want to see their kids as nuns and priests and brothers.

These are general statements - but the numbers seem to back them up.

So the time was right for the 40 - 40 movement to start.  It was 2020 on the calendar.

It went like this.  Every Catholic - if and when they reach the age of 40 - got 40 days off. And they had to leave home - family - spouse - job - and go off alone to  somewhere else and do this Catholic Spiritual Program called 40 - 40.

In the 40 - 40 movement it could be the wife first or the husband first.

They were to do this in memory of Jesus - who did  his 40 days at a much earlier age than 40 - perhaps when he was around 30 years of age. He left the carpenter shop in Nazareth - went down to the Jordan River - was baptized by John the Baptist - as a moment of renewal and a fresh start.  Then Jesus went into the desert to pray for 40 days.

In time the 40 - 40   movement became accepted and understood. The more people did this - the more people did this. The more people did this,  the more deeper in spirituality and Christian living the Catholic Church became. In fact, lots of Protestant Christians did this as well.

Hey! 40 days off is 40 days off - especially as Dante discovered in his mid-life insight - as we read at the beginning of his Divine Comedy which he started writing at the age of 35, “In the middle of the journey of our life, I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost.”

People would start saving money  for this in their 30’s - so they could have this 40 day period away when they hit 40.

People would go away to some silent place of their choice - somewhere on the planet.  It could be the ocean. It could be the desert. It could be the mountains.

The bottom line was to do what Jesus did: to go to some deserted place for 40 days - experience the Spirit -  the rush of God - the experience of God our Father - and to do this with and in and through Jesus Christ.

Literature - small books - memoirs - gave hints on what to do and possible ways on how to live this 40 day retreat.

It was like what various people did in the early part of the 21^st century. They would start in France  and walk the Camino - the way - the pilgrimage -  the 500 mile walk to Santiago de Compastela in Spain.

That’s like walking the Appalachian trail for some people. If they do it, they finish an experience of a lifetime - walking deep through the woods outside and inside one’s being..

It was like what Muslims do - when they make the Hajj - the pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. It’s a once in a lifetime pilgrimage to the sacred rock. That sacred pilgrimage can be done with others - but it’s a very personal and individual experience at the same time.

Well the 40 - 40 was to end up - after many years what every Catholic - was to do in his or her lifetime around their 40^th year of life.

Some made the 40 - 40 in Lent. They would begin by reading the story of Jesus being driven  by the Spirit out in the desert and remain there is the desert for 40 days.

Some people lasted only a few days. They would give up - but the more folks who did it, the more folks tried and finished it. Some people stayed - because they would be embarrassed if they came home early.

Most picked a room or a place - like a small rent apartment in a basement or at the beach in February or in Lent. They brought their Bible. They brought their rosary. They brought their note pad.  They brought spiritual reading books like The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton or The Imitation of Christ or The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck. Some would bring the Divine Comedy by Dante - with a guide book - and discover that their life was a comedy - a divine comedy at that - as they went through the inferno - hell, purgatorio -  purgatory - and Paradiso - the heavenly parts of their lives.

They were warned that there would be temptations. They would  happen more than they could imagine  in a time of deep prayer.  They were told that Jesus had had very heavy temptations during his 40 days in the desert - like Israel did in their 40 year trip through  the desert between Egypt and the Promised Land of Israel.

Books about the 40 - 40 - said you could spend one week on the 7 Deadly Sins in our lives - but be careful.

Books about the 40 - 40  - said you could do the top 7 Parables out of the 20 or so parables of Jesus - like the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son, the Great Judgment where we find out whether we were a sheep or a goat - at the end of time, and on and on and on.

Books about the 40 - 40 said you could spend the 40 days learning the Sermon on the Mount by Jesus  - in prayer and reflection. It’s just 3 chapters in the gospel of Matthew - Chapters 5, 6 and 7. Scholars think that’s exactly what the Sermon on the Mount was in the early church - a good listing - of key teachings of Jesus.

Books about the 40 - 40 said you could spend the 40 days with the Gospel of John - or what have you.

If possible no phones - but bring one just in case.

People came home a new person.

Most were quiet about what happened.  Deep rivers are very deep.

People came home with insights into their life so far and what they want to do with the rest of their life - because they had just spent 40 days in the desert with Jesus.

People came home - slowly sharing their experiences with their spouse - especially if their spouse had already gone through this 40 - 40 experience.

Marriages improved. Families improved. Parishes improved. Our church improved.

People talked to family members whom they hadn’t talked to in years.

Single people - in their 40’s - decided on the priesthood or to become nuns.

Rumors about a married clergy increased - without the signs and the placards and the protests.

People asked for more theology and church history and bible studies in their parishes.

Because the 40 - 40 program - plan - way of spirituality was so flexible, it took root in our cultures.

Companies saw it as a sabbatical, which it was, as well as seeing workers giving their companies a better worker than before.

The title of my homily was 40 - 40.

Then I woke up.

Then I said to myself, “I can dream, can’t I?”