It has been a long winter, and Lent being late this year made it seem even longer.
However, a few days ago Ash Wednesday marked the beginning of Lent and now spring is just around the corner.
I am not predicting how many cold snowy days are left. I am talking about the personal springtime of the Lenten season.
Today, Jesus calls us to himself inviting us to rest awhile in prayer, fasting and almsgiving in imitation of the life he shared with his Apostles.
Pope John Paul II, as he reflects on Lent 2004, refers to Matthew 18 talking about Jesus’ love for children because of “their simplicity, their joy of life, their spontaneity, and their faith-filled wonder.”
We can do this with almsgiving when our diocese, parish and family open themselves to the needs of those around us using the Lenten “Rice Bowls” or reaching out to support places like St. Francis House and the Good Shepherd Center that minister to the hungry and thirsty every day. Look around your own community to find places like that close to you and your parish.
I have great admiration for all those in our diocese and beyond who care each day for the underprivileged, the sick and the poor.
I feel blessed with the presence of Father Elias Rinaldo, a missionary from Sudan who arrived recently to work with Sudanese Catholics who fled persecution in their own country and have suffered because of war and violence.
Many of their relatives lost their lives because of their faith, and they are martyrs in this new millennium. I wonder at the challenges facing us in gathering the resources needed to assist Father Rinaldo. I pray for the indifference of so many to these immigrants in our midst.
This Lent I know that I must examine my own compassion toward those who have been hurt by others, from the immigrants from foreign lands to those who suffer here in the United States.
Just a few days ago I participated in a healing Mass for those who have been sexually abused by church workers and others, and those needing healing because of the scandal within the body of the Church.
In prayer, penance and sacrament I felt God leading me deeper into his heart as he waited patiently and lovingly to embrace all those who were hurting. Perhaps you witnessed the same sense of blessing in the healing Mass celebrated in your parish community.
In the Gospel for the Second Sunday of Lent, Luke teaches us an important lesson. It is in prayer that Jesus comes to know the Father, and this Lent we are invited to examine our own understanding of Jesus, who he is, and what he did for us. It is only in prayer that we can begin to comprehend this powerful love. Becoming awake to who Jesus is leads us to conversion and a change in our commitment to God.
Material things, which were important, will begin to lose their meaning, and sensitivity to the Father’s desires for us will grow. We will experience the Father’s love in new ways, which will give us a freedom we now lack. This grace will give us the courage to move beyond petty hurts and resentments to forgiveness. Fasting will purify us and what we ask of the Father will be more in accordance to his will for us. We will begin to understand that each one of us is called to be a saint.
With eyes of faith we will see the needs of others more clearly and sense how it is that we might respond. We will learn new ways to treat others with dignity, and we will experience greater peace in our own lives.
This Lenten season is an opportunity for a new “springtime” as we walk the path of holiness. It is the path for all of us.