Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent
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.
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.
(From With Open Hands, by Henri Nouwen, 1972)
The journey of faith can be about different things for different people. Inevitably, however, it always will be about at least thing for everyone, and that is conversion. From the Greek word metanoia, which means “to turn again”, conversion is the act of returning ourselves to God’s ways. Another important Lenten word, repentance, is rooted in this same etymology. Both words suggest change – change of heart and change of life. Such change is rarely easy. As in Henri Nouwen’s prayer, it often involves a struggle between clenched fists and open hands.
What causes us to want to cling so tightly to our possessions? For the most part, it comes down to security. We want to feel secure. This requires defining it for ourselves, and how we define security reflects what it is that we consider the source of our worth and well-being. Sometimes it is easier to place our confidence in what we can control rather than in what we must trust, and so we hold onto the things that we have. In the meantime, what God offers slips past us, barely noticed, if at all. We have left ourselves able to see only what we are prepared to believe.
The season of Lent calls us to reflect on the state of our faith. Are we closed-minded, unwilling to value anything that we cannot possess? Or are we prepared to admit to our need for God and for others, and learn to accept when life comes to us as gift and surprise? Turning away from sinfulness often is a matter of remembering how to be at peace, unclenching our fists and opening our hands to receive the healing and nourishing grace of God.
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.