We celebrated Ash Wednesday on February 18th. This began the season of Lent which is a time of renewal for the whole Church. Our Holy Father Pope Francis reminds us that lent is a "time of Grace" (2 Cor 6:2). God does not ask of us anything that He himself has not given us. "We love because He first has loved us" (1 Jn 4:19).
The coming of the Lord is the context in which we offer all our Lenten observances. Our fasting, prayers and almsgiving are all intended to make us more disposed to the presence of the Lord in our lives and in our world.
We are like athletes in training. Just as each football and basketball game are part of a team's progress to a championship season, each Lent is part of our spiritual progress. We allow Christ Jesus to condition our lives so that we can give glory to God the Father.
Lent involves both short term and long term training. The short term training includes specific disciplines such as giving up something for Lent, praying the Stations of the Cross, doing extra acts of kindness and charity for those in need, and for Catholics, celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The long term training is our ongoing relationship with Jesus in good times and in bad. That phrase reminds me of the marriage vows that many of you have been blessed to celebrate with the love of your lives.
The main difference is that in marriage you are united "until death do you part". In your life with Christ there is nothing that can separate you from the Love of God unless you choose to reject Him. "For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39).
Let us get serious about our "training" this Lent. Let us, as the Holy Father has reminded us, "make our hearts firm". Lent is a time to recapture a zeal for living with, in and through Jesus Christ. We do this for no other reason than the love of God, the salvation of our souls and the conversion of the World to Christ Jesus. For these Lenten sacrifices and observances must not end with ourselves. We have a sacred calling to reach out to others. We must never become indifferent to those who suffer, those who live in poverty and those who do not yet know Christ.
With joy in the victory that is ours in Christ,
Father Mike