Repent and Believe in the Gospel

The season of Lent is an awesome time to explore our lives in relationship with the paschal mystery. The ashes are an external sign of an interior reality - hopefully. Our churches will be swamped today, and I hope that this means these same folks will begin a Lenten journey of prayer, conversion, and discipleship. Through prayer, fasting, and alms giving, we are invited to grow closer in our relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

The challenge to rend our hearts and not our garments, a we read from the scriptures today, means to examine the underlying causes of our sin. I see this with the kids a lot. The child who kicks the back of the other child's chair, talks back to teachers, or becomes the class clown, will often be responding to hurts or pain that they seemingly cannot control. Why do we use profanity, become offensive, or look at pornography. These are the results of something much deeper in our lives.

The Woman at the Well, or the Man born Blind, are all stories which tells us about how our choices, actions, and responses to one another can afflict others. But developing habits of grace and love can bring peace and healing to others as well. While we cannot always control our surroundings, we can make decisions which reflect the image and likeness in which we were created. God has made us for life and not for death and we are to dwell in that mystery.

So may our Lenten journey be filled with every good thing. Hopefully we will move into Holy Week drawing closer to the ideals of conversion and discipleship. May the good work God has begun in us be brought to completion.