WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 2024
Ibonio D’Souza
Lent is a new beginning, a path leading to the certain goal of Easter, Christ’s victory over death. This season urgently calls us to conversion. Christians are asked to return to God “with all their hearts” (Joel 2:12), to refuse to settle for mediocrity and to grow in friendship with the Lord. Jesus is the faithful friend Who never abandons us. Even when we sin, He patiently awaits our return; by that patient expectation, He shows us His readiness to forgive.
At Mass, every Ash Wednesday, just as we begin our forty-day journey of Lent, we hear this passage, taken from the Old Testament prophet Joel: “Return to me with your whole heart”. These words urge us to turn to God with our whole hearts so that He can save us each individually - not from an external disaster, but from the sin that clouds our relationship with Him.
“Return to me with your whole heart” - a call to fasting and repentance. You might imagine these words coming from a harsh judge preparing to punish you for your misdeeds. But imagine them coming instead from a Father who loves his children and who mourns over how they have distanced themselves from him. Imagine them coming from a good God who created you and who has blessed you “with every spiritual blessing” (Ephesians 1:3). Your God loves you. He is goodness itself, and He wants nothing but good for you.
Who hasn’t stood in awe at the beauty of the natural world? Who hasn’t felt the same way the psalmist felt when when he looked up and proclaimed, “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19:2)? God, in his goodness made this beautiful world out of nothing. He fashioned this world into a home just for us - for the men an women he would create out of love. Let us ask the Holy Spirit in this Lent to show us how all the beauty, vastness, and majesty of the world points to a loving, generous God. Ask Him to open the eyes of our heart so that we cry out of joy, “All on earth fall in worship before you; they sing of you, sing your name!” (Psalm 66:4).
We can see the goodness of humanity every day in family life, in parishes, in hospitals and schools and community centers. We see it in people caring for the poor and needy. We see it in all the unnoticed acts of kindness that happen every day. We also see evil. Sometimes it can seem as if it is all around us. It can even seem as if evil is just as much powerful as good. But our faith tells us that there is only one “principle” in creation: God’s goodness. “God saw everything he had made, and found it very good” (Genesis 1:31).
In this Lent, God is asking you to deny yourself some of the pleasures of life so that you can focus on him more fully. God is asking you to give up something good so that you can receive something better. Jesus gave up the goodness of heaven in order to save us from sin. As you turn to the Lord, you can experience Jesus’ victory over sin as your own victory. You can find the extra grace to say no to a particular sin or to finally forgive someone who has hurt you. May the grace of this Lenten season bring us even closer to Him and help us display his goodness in our lives.
