Come Away By Yourselves

Lent is over and with it comes the expectation of Easter Joy.  Holy Saturday invites us to anticipate the joy and wonder of the Resurrection of Jesus.  The Resurrection is a powerful reality that continues to give life and joy to the world and especially the Church.  

As we enter Holy Week, we can ponder Jesus's fundamental motivation.  Whether growing up in Nazareth or preaching throughout Galilee and Judea, whether acclaimed by the crowds or nailed to the Cross, Jesus is always doing one thing: fulfilling his Father's will.  This is at the crux of our own identity as sons and daughters of God in Christ 

Jesus's death on the cross is the supreme revelation of God's love.  St. Paul tells us that nothing will separate us from the love of God in Christ.  Christ's death shows us how much he loves us and what the Father's love for Him, and for us, is like.  This is a  reliable love, upon which we can firmly plant all of our problems and our whole life.  The cross fills us with confidence in God and our own crosses are a sign of God's confidence in us. 

In saving us from sin Jesus does more than relieve us of an unpayable debt.  He actually pays the debt himself.   He buys us back, redeems us, with the price of his precious blood.  The wounds of Christ are thus mysterious sources of confidence and consolation for us, worthy of our continual contemplation. 

To pray is "to lift up our minds and hearts to God."  Often, however, we lose a proper sense of the grandeur and awesome nature of God.  Routine makes us used to prayer and God becomes something taken for granted, ordinary, and even boring.  Reflecting on God's power and transcendence can spark us to a renewed love for him and new horizons in our prayer life.  

Jesus gives two clear conditions for following him: deny yourself and take up your cross each day.  Lent is a clear invitation and opportunity to do this. 

Lent is a wonderful opportunity to find our peace, joy, and comfort in God.  We do this by denying ourselves our usual sources of support, distraction, and pleasure.   To be filled by God is to run the risk of emptying ourselves out of other things.  This takes trust, courage and patience.   God always responds to this kind of personal faith, even when it is imperfect and needs to grow.   

Jesus's time in the desert fasting and praying are a model for how to live Lent well.  If we understand the opportunity that Lent presents us, we will be more engaged and committed in our Lenten practices.  This will yield great fruits in our interior life. 

Jesus has high hopes for his Church in the world.  We are to be salt and light, giving flavor, endurance, guidance and inspiration to the rest of the world.  This takes a daily fight against our easy-going lukewarmness and a magnanimity of heart that moves us to serve and give good example to others.  

Today we reflect on a unique feast day in the Church, the Conversion of St. Paul.  Paul's conversion shows God's initiative in our lives and the great changes grace can work in a soul.  St. Paul responds to God's entrance into his life in a powerful and exemplary way.  His willingness to suffer for Christ reveals the depth of his love for God.