Reflections on the Third Sunday of Lent

Complaining:

What good does it do?

The day's readings can be found here.

When I am out and about the marketplace (like at Lacey’s here in Centerville), someone will inevitably ask me how I am doing.  Often times I respond, “Well, I can’t complain . . . .”  A good Texan response to this is, “Well, even if you did, it wouldn’t do any good anyway. . . .”  While this pleasant verbal exchange is commonplace in these parts of the world, there is indeed a lot of truth in these words.  Does complaining really help matters?  Even if there are legitimate reasons sometime to “vent,” is there a more Christian way to do so?

St. Paul the Apostle writes in the second reading today, Do not grumble as some of [the Israelites] did, and suffered death by the destroyer (1 Corinthians 10:10).  St. Paul is referencing the trials that Israel experienced between the Red Sea and the Promised Land.  Many Israelites grew impatient with the journey and ended up worshipping the Golden Calf (Exodus 32:6).  Others, when frustrated, got involved with sexual immorality that led to the idolatry of the Moabites (Numbers 25:1-9).  St. Paul is mainly warning the Corinthians not to put the Lord to the test, which is what Israel did in Exodus 17:1-7.  They were punished by serpent bites – not for being thirsty in the desert – but for their irreverent “grumbling” against the Lord’s providence.

How often do we find ourselves “grumbling” about the inconveniences of daily life?  While there is certainly reason to be angry in the face of grave injustice, is our complaining really about grave injustice or about not getting what we want, how we want, and when we want?  Sometimes, when we complain, we are actually rejecting the Cross in our lives and thus rejecting God’s loving plan for each and every one of us.  Jesus in His teaching and in His example makes it very clear that it is only through the Cross that we receive new life.  There is no Easter Sunday without a Good Friday.

This Lent, the Lord could be asking us to examine more deeply how much complaining we are doing, how critical we are being, and/or how negative our attitude is becoming.  We may find that the Lord wants to transform these tendencies into little crosses we can offer up for different intentions.  After all, without accepting these little crosses with a spiritual outlook, we cannot follow Jesus.  “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).