Preparing for Lent
Today, March 5, Lent begins, a time of prayer, silence, reflection, and listening to the Word
As we look forward to celebrating Ash Day later on, we take with us the two Gospels of this beginning of the week, commented by Fr. Luigi Vizzini
The first is that of Monday, March 2: “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10:17)…
An extraordinary verse, more than any other in the Gospel that makes visible the deep desire that is in the heart of every man and woman of all times.
It is the demand of how to be happy.
We all seek happiness, let us not abandon this cry to itself, let us entrust it to Jesus, on our own we face sadness (cf. Mk 10:22), let us not betray ourselves…
God does not disappoint, does not reserve pitfalls, but walks with us, in us, for us!
Let us not stifle this “desire for life.” What life is ours if there is no eternal Life that makes this moment of ours in time full of meaning?
Jesus reminds this boy of the basic condition for being happy, that of daring.
He, however, goes home sad because he cannot dare, but it remains a great lesson for us: no one can make you happy unless you are willing to disobey your fears. Have a good preparation for Lent!
The second Gospel is from yesterday, Tuesday, March 4: Mark 10:28-31
Beloved, we are now on the threshold of the holy season of Lent and there could not be a stronger Word.
Peter takes the floor and says aloud what each of us, especially at certain times, thinks but perhaps does not have the courage to say: what is the gain, what will we get in return, compared to the fact that we make so many sacrifices and so many renunciations for You?
We reduce our relationship with God to the logic of trade….
I give to You and what do You give to me?
God’s mercy, from which we have much to learn when others with their reasoning take us apart, catches even this défaillance of Peter and takes the dialogue to a higher level; on the other hand, God with us always starts from our sin, showing us His love…
Only if we really put God first will we have a hundredfold, that is, we will be capable of a new awareness of life and every moment of it.
“There came into the world the true light, the light that enlightens every man” (Jn. 1:9), this light, if truly welcomed, puts us in a position to ‘see’ our reality, terribly polluted by sin but infinitely sought and loved by God.
Existential awareness of this divine dynamic converts our hearts and makes our lives shine….
Persecutions, trials, will help us in pruning every possible distraction so that the best in us can blossom… Happy preparation for Lent!
Fr Luigi Vizzini, Missionary of Mercy (Rosolini – Sr)