Welcome to Resurrection Parish as we begin the Season of Lent with a new message series which we are calling “No Offense.” We live in a culture in which it seems as if everyone is getting more easily offended. Now, there is a difference between offenses and offensive behavior, and abuse and abusive behavior. Victims of abuse have to deal with serious issues that sometimes require professional help, and I do not mean to be dismissive of the challenges that they face. In fact, if you or someone you know is a victim of abuse, I would like to tell you that the Diocese offers a “Parish Counseling Program” through Catholic Charities. If this is something that you think might be beneficial, please call me at the parish office during the week and I will be happy to get you the information that you need to make use of this program to get the professional assistance you might need. This series, however, is going to look at something less serious than abuse and abusive behavior, but still something that is prevalent in our culture. So, what do we mean by an “offense?” An offense can be something that breaches a law or rule or something that simply strikes us as distasteful or unpleasant, rude or unkind, or simply annoying. Today I want to introduce to you three key facts about offense that will form the foundation of this series. First fact: Offenses are inevitable. Life affords us opportunities to be offended in every way, every day. People will say all kinds of things that are thoughtless and careless and can offend us. Now there are two kinds of offenses: perceived and real. Perceived offenses are offenses that we experience that offend us based on our sensibilities, our past, or our opinions about the world and about ourselves. Offense is taken but no offense was intended. And, frankly, no real harm or injury has been done. Our pride may be wounded. I remember an incident when I was a newly ordained priest, which if my sensibilities were different I could easily have been offended; but I actually found it funny. Parents of another priest in our Diocese were part of the parish I was assigned to, and after one Mass they came up to me and said, “Fr. JC, you are like our son. You like to sing even though you can’t.” Looking at their faces I knew that they meant no offense, that they were actually complimenting me on my enthusiasm in celebrating the Mass. Oftentimes, what offends touches on our insecurities. When we are secure and confident, we are far less likely to register offense. Some people are easily offended, and different people can have different triggers. On the other hand, sometimes people are offended because they are challenged with the truth. A message hits way too close to home and it offends. We see this with the great moral leaders. They offended people because they were challenging cultures or community standards, or commonly held beliefs. We see it with Jesus. He offended lots of people, a lot of the time. One time he taught something that contradicted the teaching of the religious leaders. The apostles came up and told him that he had offended the Pharisees. Jesus essentially responded “I intended to offend them.” We will experience perceived offenses, but then there are offenses that are real offenses. People do things to hurt us. They lie to us. They gossip about us. They cheat us. Often it isn’t just our enemies, friends and family members can disappoint us in this way too. We cannot get by in life without experiencing offense nor can we get by without offending others. Second Fact: Offenses are a trap. It is a trap that will handicap us and keep us from living up to our potential. Did you ever notice that an easily offended person can often have a huge sense of entitlement? Everyone owes him or her something. They spend too much time playing the victim and waiting for others to fix the offense rather than actually living their lives. Third fact: We have a choice about how we handle offenses. The Gospel of Mark tells us about the choices we have available to handle offense in a healthy way. St. Mark writes, “The Spirit drove Jesus out in to the desert, and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan” (Mark 1:12). Jesus was tempted even though he was following the direction of the Holy Spirit. He wasn’t tempted because he was apart from God’s will but because he was following God’s will. Avoid temptation when you can, but even when you do avoid temptation, it finds you. Temptation is a part of life. A constant temptation is to internalize offense and allow it to dwell in our hearts. Through this series we will learn skills to handle that kind of temptation. However, even when we give into it we still have a choice. Jesus tells us that choice. He says: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:14-15). When we allow offense into our hearts we can choose to repent and believe in the good news. To repent simply means to change your mind. Repentance is a change in thinking that leads to a change of behavior. You repent when you turn away from something that is hurtful or harmful, or just plain wrong. To repent is to change intention and direction. Repentance brings the conviction that we need to change. Conviction not condemnation. Conviction is an internal desire to change while condemnation is an outward judgment that you’ve done wrong. The Holy Spirit brings conviction so that we want to repent and change. A lot of people get this wrong when it comes to God: God is all about conviction not condemnation. So as we stand at the starting line of this series there are two commitments I would like you to consider making. First: commit to joining us for the whole series. It will be of serious practical use. Second: commit to asking one person who knows you well, whom you trust, to rank you on a scale of 1-5: 1 being you are hardly ever offended and 5 being that you are very easily offended. As part of that reflection begin to think about what offends you, start a list. It might begin to provide you insight you didn’t have before, insight that could lead you to change your mind. We read in the gospel, “He was among the wild beasts and the angels ministered to him” (Mark 1:13). A striking juxtaposition but one not unlike the situations we find ourselves in all the time. We experience real and perceived offenses all the time. It is part of the landscape on which we live our lives, raise our families, do our jobs. They can’t be avoided, they can’t be ignored, and they’re going to just keep on coming. The ministry of God’s grace in our hearts can dramatically change how we experience these offenses. We can access this grace through the Lenten practices the church calls us to: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. The ministry of God’s grace in our hearts can dramatically change and lighten our hearts. Hearts that are light can’t carry offenses.