Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Intention: In this time of Lent, we may accept God’s invitation to change our hearts and ways and turn ourselves again to him.
Today’s Gospel | Luke 9:22-25
Jesus said to his disciples: “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.”
Then he said to all, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?”
A Lenten Reflection
Throughout his ministry, Jesus set before his disciples a paradoxical challenge: lose your life in order to save it. Somehow, the way to keep yourself was by giving yourself over to something larger. It was a call that he lived every day and ultimately would answer in the most radical act of love imaginable on a lonely cross on a hill called Calvary.
In Christian spirituality, the act of emptying ourselves of our imperfect will so that we might be filled by the perfection of God’s is called kenosis. Think of it as a letting go of self-delusion. We set aside an ego-driven and distorted understanding of ourselves and of our lives, and open ourselves to experiencing our true essence and purpose by serving the Kingdom of God.
The time of Lent is an invitation to kenosis. Saint Francis of Assisi once wrote, “Above all the grace and the gifts that Christ gives to his beloved is that of overcoming self.” We have the chance to recognize the distance that exists between God’s ways and ours, and then begin to close that distance by walking away from sinfulness and toward integrity. By living selflessly, we will discover that the true self is found in its oneness with all creation.
Prayer
Eternal Father, you sent your son to reconcile the world to you. In this time of Lent, we pray that we will learn how better to walk in your son’s footsteps. Help us to live lives of prayer, compassion, and justice. May the grace with which he blessed us through his suffering and death become our gift to others through humble service and love of all, especially those who are most in need. We ask this of you who lives and reigns with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.