Lent
Yesterday, Ash Wednesday, marked the beginning of the Lenten Season. This is the first time I’ve ever observed Lent. In fact, I didn’t really understand what it was before.
Lent is a 40 day period of prayer, purification, and penitence (repentance) leading up to Good Friday. During this time, we are reminded of Jesus during his 40 days of fasting in the wilderness before he began his public ministry.
I went to the Ash Wednesday service at the Catholic church I’ve been attending yesterday and received the sacramental ashes on my forehead. The priest said to each person as he applied them, “From dust you came, to dust you will return.”
The Bible has so many simple, beautiful sayings and reminders. Our time here is so fleeting.
Sometimes this life journey can feel terribly lonely. No one has been in your exact shoes and no one else can walk your path for you. But Jesus has been here.
He didn’t carve his name into a park bench at the park “Jesus wuz here,” but he carved a place in history that humanity we have been affected by His work ever since.
The Divine actually came to Earth and experienced all of the things we experience. He walked the Earth in complete love, then gave Himself for us in the ultimate act of compassion on the cross. I can’t wrap my rational mind around it. But I feel the truth of it in my heart.
For this, my first Lent, I’m going to devote myself to not being consumed by a sense of loss due to a personal sacrifice I have made but on focusing on the tremendous act of love Jesus has done for me.
There is no one else that loves you as Jesus does and no one on this Earth will ever fill the void inside of you. That longing that is there is actually a longing for the Divine.
There is a part of us that knows we are for Him and He is for us. To project that longing onto any human or human thing is folly and leads to suffering. Human love will never fill and will always leave you empty.
Perhaps the love of a parent for a child comes the closest, but even that is a poor comparison given the frailty and imperfect nature of human relationships.
Lord Jesus, during this time of penitence and devotion, please help me to seek you and love you with all of my heart, soul, and mind. Please give me discernment on anything in me that is keeping me from giving myself to you fully and please give me the strength to truly be converted to you. Amen.
