Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent
This Week’s Intention: For justice in our world, especially for all who are forgotten or excluded, abandoned or abused, persecuted or exploited, that people of good will might rise to their defense and come to their aid.
Today’s Gospel | John 8:51-59
Jesus said to the Jews: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.” So the Jews said to him, “Now we are sure that you are possessed. Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? Or the prophets, who died? Who do you make yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is worth nothing; but it is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ You do not know him, but I know him. And if I should say that I do not know him, I would be like you a liar. But I do know him and I keep his word. Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.” So they picked up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid and went out of the temple area.
Lenten Reflections
Dear God, I am so afraid to open my clenched fists!
Who will I be when I have nothing left to hold on to?
Who will I be when I stand before you with empty hands?
Please help me to gradually open my hands
and to discover that I am not what I own, but what you want to give me. – Henri Nouwen
One of the central themes of Lent is that of conversion. From the Greek word “metanoia”, which means “to turn again”, comes our understanding of conversion as the act of returning ourselves to God’s ways. Another important Lenten word, repentance, is also rooted in this same etymology. Both words imply the need for change – change of heart and change of life. As Henri Nouwen’s prayer suggests, such change is rarely easy. It often involves a battle between faith and fear.
Sadly, our modern world can be a less-than-trustworthy place. Crime and corruption keep us constantly on guard against attacks on our safety and security. Now, in certain cases, that may be a wise course to take. However, what if this becomes our absolute outlook, where we place ourselves in a defensive struggle with everyone and everything? What happens to us if, as with Jesus’ opponents in John’s Gospel, life turns from being a hopeful conversation into a bitter argument? Overwhelmed by our fears, the danger is that we will harden our hearts. Faith in the undefeatable goodness of God gives way to a self-idolizing conviction that we hold the only reliable power and valuable knowledge for our own survival. And, in doing this, it is survival to which we have reduced our earthly purpose. Our minds and hearts are no longer open to the community, the creativity, the freedom, the redemption that are spirit-filled living.
The season of Lent holds many opportunities for us to reflect on this problem, to set aside the time and energy we need in order to examine the state of our hearts. We can ask ourselves if we live our lives with clenched fists, unwilling to accept anything that we cannot possess or control. We then can ask if we are prepared to admit to our need for openness, to trust that which is beyond our command and comes to us from God as newness and surprise. It would seem that, if sinfulness can take the form of escape, a running away, then repentance is as much a matter of changing to as it is a matter of changing from. And forgiveness opens what we have closed and lifts those who have fallen. “I do not at all understand the mystery of grace,” writes author Anne Lamott, “only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.”
Prayer
Eternal Father, your love has been present since the beginning of all things and continues to touch us today. It sees sin and loves the sinner. It sees our failings and forgives. Thank you for your faithfulness to us. In this time of Lent, may we turn away from our sinfulness and return ourselves to you. Help us to be signs of your saving presence to others, to proclaim the good news of life in you. We ask this of you who lives and reigns with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.
St. John Baptist de La Salle, pray for us.
Live Jesus in our hearts forever.