On the day when the people of El Salvador commemorate the martyrdom of Monseñor Romero in 1980, some may ask, what did he die for. However, that is the wrong question to ask. The real question is as it is for martyrs is: what did they live for? Whether it was St. Lawrence in the third century or Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, it is how those people lived their lives that really counts.
Lent is really about living – making choices for or lives that are meaningful. Each of us makes at least one small decision each day that affects how we live, not just for that day but for the future. It could be responding to a request for sending support for a cause or charity, or it could be volunteering in a food pantry or hospital.
One could compare Lent to Advent, a time we await the coming of the Christ Child, for Lent is both a time of waiting and a time of hope. Our Lenten journey is a time to live in expectation, not of some heavenly ecstasy but of transforming our lives and the lives of others here on earth. In that way we can make our lives count.
Prayer for the Day
You call us to this Lenten journey, O God,
So we remember your call to love our neighbor,
You call us to this Lenten journey, O Lord,
So we live according to the way of Jesus of Nazareth;
You call us to this Lenten journey, O Holy One
So we may find hope through the care of others,
In the name of the One who cares for all,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
On spying a crab shedding its shell by the Hudson River, she observes: “I saw myself as this crawling thing … I imagined myself moulting, trying to come out from my old skin, hiding away until the new shell hardened”.
Xiaolu Guo, Chinese British writer, from Radical
Hope is a state of mind, not of the world. Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy, that things are going well, or the willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously heading for success, but rather an ability to work for something because it is good.
Vaclav Havel, Czech writer and statesman (1936-2011)
He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”
Jesus in Matthew 13: 33