Reflection on the journey of life invites us to appreciate our gifts as well as our areas of struggle, so that we can grow in openness to the Lord and to his way. During their time in the wilderness, the Chosen People were changed in their relationship with God, with Moses and with each other.
This year I’m setting an intention for my Lenten journey for two individuals in my life that I love. I’m learning how my small sacrifices, done with intention, can be a spiritual gift for others. I’m being drawn towards the virtues of courage and generosity and a more active faith.
As we start our Lenten journey, where we focus on prayer, fasting and giving to reorder our lives towards God, prayer is foundational. This action orients our idol making hearts in the proper position where I know myself and stand firm in my gifts and let God be God. Like Psalm 1, we delight and hope in the Lord and by grace, given purity of heart:
As we read the Passion according to John, Jesus and his disciples have just finished the Last Supper. Now they walk along the streets of Jerusalem, pass through a gate in the city walls, cross a small valley, and begin ascending the slope of the Mount of Olives, where they plan to spend the night.
Their plans will be changed. In about an hour, Jesus will be arrested. In about 18 hours, he will be dead.
Some of us who are reading this page will die before the end of Lent. Most of us won’t. But one thing is certain: the day is coming when I shall die. How many hours, days, years do I have left?
There are two ways to think about this. One is to picture myself walking down a hill, gradually headed for the bottom where death awaits me. Another is to picture myself like a child in my mother’s womb, moving gradually towards birth into a new and broader life.
Deteriorating or developing?
These are two very different ways of looking at my death. More to the point, these are two very different ways of looking at my life on this earth.
Do you throw yourself with reckless abandon into Gods loving arms each day? This is necessary to walk the narrow path of salvation. Do you walk the path of your own desires excluding those before you in need? Gods will is mercy, compassion, and forgiveness. This is the purity of heart the spiritual life draws us to live, through the narrow gate of life.
Judgment is part of living the narrow path of salvation. God’s justice rights what is wrong and calls us to live in right order, counter cultural to the world. We are to be immersed in the presence and action of The Holy.