Friday 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 | Matthew 9:14-15
The disciples of John approached Jesus and said, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”
A Brief Lenten Reflection
There is a proverb, usually attributed to the philosopher Confucius, that reads, “When a wise man points at the stars, only a fool stares at his finger.” In other words, do not confuse means for ends, especially when done in order to cling to what we can control rather than face with faith what asks us to grow. In the Gospels, Christ often reminds his followers that the purpose of adhering to their religion’s teachings was not to justify themselves in human comfortableness, but to propel themselves into the challenging and unexpected ways of God. Worship is an ordinary act meant to help us place ourselves more intentionally in an extraordinary truth. As Rabbi Abraham Heschel wrote in God in Search of Man, “The true meaning of existence is disclosed in moments of living in the presence of God.” During the time of Lent, we are called to reconnect with that presence. Lenten rituals are doorways that can help us to do this, to more deeply contemplate our relationship with God, and to better see to where the encounters and movements of our daily lives are pointing us to go.
Prayer
Eternal Father, your Son spoke to a sinful world and brought the gift of reconciliation through his suffering and death on the cross. In this time of Lent, teach us to follow in his path. Help us to put aside our selfishness and pride, our judgments and divisions, our fears and indifference. May our faith, hope, and love turn hatred to compassion, conflict to peace, and death to life, so that together we may share in the salvation that your son has brought to all of us. We ask this of you who lives and reigns with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.