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First Sunday of
Lent
February 10, 2008
At 2:15 on the morning of November 2, 1984, Velma Barfield was executed at Central State Prison in Raleigh, North Carolina. Convicted of killing four people, she was the first woman in 22 years to be executed in the United States. But the Velma Barfield who was executed that morning was totally different from the Velma Barfield who entered prison in 1978. During her six-year imprisonment, she underwent a remarkable conversion.
Velma told the story behind her conversion in her book "Woman on Death Row." The story began one night when she was in her cell, crying. As she sobbed, she wondered if Jesus could forgive her and love her again after what she had done.
Then something happened that she found almost impossible to describe. The best she could do was to say that Jesus seemed to appear to her and say: "Yes, I died on the cross for your sins, too. Won't you let me come and give you a brand new life?" "Right then and there," she said, "I confessed my sins to him and I asked him to forgive me. He came into my life that night."
Evidence of the transformation that then took place in her life is found in her Bible. Almost every page has something written on it. She once told a friend: "This Bible is where I get my strength. I couldn't get up in the morning, much less go through the day, without his Word." Velma's decisions to deal with her sins and to return to God give us some idea of the degree of spirituality she attained in prison.
The story of Velma Barfield dramatizes the two extremes of our human condition that are described in the Scripture readings for this First Sunday of Lent. The first extreme is the disobedience of Adam, which condemned the human race and doomed it to spiritual death. The second extreme is the obedience of Jesus, which redeemed the human race and restored it to spiritual life.
St. Paul describes these two extremes this way in the second reading: "Just as through the disobedience of one person the many were made sinners, so through the obedience of one the many will be made righteous."
Velma Barfield's life illustrates both of these extremes. It shows the depth to which we can fall if we give in to temptation, as Adam did. At the same time, it shows the heights to which we can rise if we reject temptation, as Jesus did. And this brings us to the season of Lent. The word Lent comes from the Anglo-Saxon word lencten, which means "springtime." It got this name because Lent occurs in the springtime of the year.
The idea of Lent as a time of penance dates back to early times, when Christians did sizable penances for their sins during this season. The idea of Lent as a season of 40 days derives from the fact that Jesus spent 40 days in the desert. The custom of fasting during Lent derives from the fact that Jesus fasted during his 40-day stay in the desert. The Church eventually prescribed fasting for two groups of people in particular.
First, it prescribed fasting for all adult catechumens. The word catechumen refers to those who were being instructed in the faith and preparing to be baptized at the Easter Vigil. Fasting was seen as a way of purifying and assisting them in this important process.
Second, the Church prescribed fasting for all adult Christians who were preparing to renew their own baptismal vows at the Easter Vigil. Fasting was seen as a way of purifying and assisting them in their renewal preparation. Thus Lent was viewed as a time of penance in preparing for baptism or for renewing one’s baptismal vows.
This brings us to the season of Lent in modern times. The idea of Lent has not changed since early times. Only the kinds of penances we perform have changed. The spirit of Lent remains the same. It’s a time of repentance and conversion.
It's a time when we evaluate our lives, as Velma Barfield evaluated her life in prison. It's a time when we deal with our sinfulness honestly, courageously, and straightforwardly, as Velma Barfield did. It’s a time when we turn to Christ on the cross, acknowledge our sins, and confess them, as she did. It’s a time when we turn more and more from evil and being disobedient children of Adam and turn more and more toward good and being obedient followers of Christ.
Lent is a time when we prepare to renew our baptismal vows and recommit ourselves to Christ in a deeper, more profound way. Let me close by praying once again the Opening Prayer for this First Sunday of Lent: "Lord our God, you formed man from the clay of the earth and breathed into him the spirit of life, but he turned from your face and sinned. In this time of repentance we call out for your mercy. Bring us back to you and to the life your Son won for us by his death on the cross."