On March 23, we will celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus along with the whole church catholic.  For many of us, it will be the conclusion of a Holy Lent where we have kept our disciplines and now are ready to feast!  But for others, we will have gone through Lent with no discernable movement in our spiritual lives, and it will be troubling to us. 

A season of self-examination will yield how wide we are of Jesus commands.  This is a valuable outcome because Christians are not allowed the luxury of being self-absorbed and narcissistic.  However, we must remember that to discover the ways we have been neglectful, or downright hateful to others is the bare minimum.  If we are to actually grow in the Lord, we still have time to harness our Lenten disciplines so they illuminate why we are neglectful or downright hateful.  We must get to the bottom of why we are wide of the mark and then continually give those pieces to Him.  If we cannot get to this level of the spiritual life, we cannot grow and we forfeit much that is given to us by God.  We will be like the far-sighted person who can see a glorious banquet happening but whose nearsightedness does not allow him or her to navigate the potholes and switchbacks of the roadway.

In reality, the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord Jesus is of the ultimate value to the world, whether or not we recognize it and whether or not we walk closer with the Lord or not.  God triumphs over all.  I urge us all not to settle for making an idol out of Lent – to just go through the motions without truly discovering and then giving those hard piece of our heart away to our Lord.  When Christians do this, we allow more of that Paschal light to shine on our souls.

Fr. Greg +