Dear Friends,
In last
week’s blog, I talked about the sign of the cross as an apt symbol for us in
the Lenten season. This week, I want to do a second brief blog about Lent as a
whole – Lent as the way we prepare for the Great Feast of Easter, for Lent is
not meant to be a season of penitence in which we are the center. Christ is the center. The whole Church is
invested in preparing for Easter and we, as individuals, are called to do the
same.
In one
of her writings, Teresa of Avila prayed about making Lent meaningful for her.
“What
do you want of me?” She prayed.
“Yours, you made me,
Yours, you saved
me,
Yours, you
endured me,
Yours, you
called me,
Yours, you
awaited me,
What do you want
of me?
Yours I am, for
you I was born:
What do you want
of me?”
In
our Lenten experiences, God wants us to pay close attention to others. Pope
Francis in one of his Lenten reflections tells us “We need effective gestures
that will alleviate the pain of so many of our brothers and sisters who walk
alongside us.” We see them only on the nightly news, in the homeless shelters,
in the children who have almost nothing to live on. But what are effective
gestures for us to participate in alleviating the pain of others? That’s
for you to determine with your own insights and skills, your own response to
God’s call: “What do you want of me?
Here’s
an at home thing to do - let’s be bold
with our closets, drawers and shelves and throw out/give away each day one
(just one) item to help diminish our attachments to things. Things: do they
possess us or do we possess them?” What do you want of me, God?”
~Sister Joan Sobala
