A pregnant woman was walking in the store and met an old friend. Her friend exclaimed, “You are absolutely beaming!” The new life God placed in her womb radiated throughout her body. It was brightly visible on her face and in her eyes. Transformation and change usually happen from the inside out. It is very rare that simply imposing structure from the outside does any good. Yes, it is true that routines and habits can change when things are done differently. But, for this change to last there has to be an interior renewal and metamorphosis as well. Simply regulating behavior and bringing someone into conformity with accepted protocols doesn’t mean their heart and soul come with them.

Peter was a homeless man who lived in a very remote and rudimentary tent community. He was happy to make his daily trip to McDonald’s and always welcomed a gift card or two so that he could buy some coffee and something to eat. A generous advocate worked to secure him an apartment in hopes of moving Peter out of his makeshift housing and into something safer. Peter finally got the grand tour of his new “digs,” received his own key, remarked how wonderful the place was, closed the door behind him when they left and never returned. He preferred his tent. No matter how much things changed on the outside, Peter was happy where he was. A poignant lesson was learned that day.

How is your Lent going? By now you ought to have a sense of whether you’re really “into it” this year and something transformational is happening. For many, it’s only the stuff on the outside that changes for a few weeks and then they return to business as usual. For others, there are some real inner changes happening that are deepening their relationships with God, others, self, and creation. If we are serious about moving to a new place and radiating with the presence of new life and joy, then we have to clear the way to listen for God’s call. Then, there is God’s request to change things up a bit and order our lives differently. After realizing we have been called and given a mission, we have to trust that this is where we need to be. And then, after all of this hard work we are asked to act. The fruit that is revealed will indicate whether our journey is authentic. The brilliance of conversion will begin to shine on our faces as we contemplate the One to whom we are asked to listen.

©LPi

St. Oscar Romero said, “Aspire not to have more, but to be more.” These powerful words provide the perfect framework for a conversion oriented Lenten experience. God is giving us this Lenten sign to stop being concerned about what you have and focus on who you are. This requires that we create a desert space and listen more attentively for God to reveal His presence. It is all so wonderfully simple on the one hand and so incredibly challenging on the other. The message is simple: love God, neighbor, and self. Those simple words make great sense, but we struggle translating them into reality. Our attachments, compulsions, obsessions, addictions, routines, and busyness all anchor us to the “idol of the self,” keeping us mired in our compulsive need for self-aggrandizement. It’s not about us!

God vowed, long ago, to nurture, sustain and protect the relationship He has with His people. He called us into being, nurtures us in being, and sustains us in being. Without the Loving Divine Presence, all life would cease. Once we slow down a bit and clear away some of the clutter, we can see how the journey of our life is unfolding. We can see what brings us in and out of tune with God’s love and how we can better imitate God’s loving fidelity in our relationship with Him. In short, we will see our myopic short sightedness and figure out how we can better share the Divine Fire within with others. Lent isn’t just about giving stuff up for forty days and indulging again at Easter. We need to push things much farther and wrestle with the question of how we can be more. “Being more” means becoming more fully alive and in touch with the holiness of life and the divinity that lives in and empowers all beings and things. It is realizing that the “quality” of our presence is crucial to being an effective witness and herald of God’s unconditional love.

The illusion we have bought into causes us to believe that the wrong things and systems matter. We tirelessly fight to keep things the way they are, to return to the former ways of doing things or restore some nostalgic fantasy memory of “life in the good old days.” Lent isn’t about maintaining what we have or returning to something that is gone. It’s about becoming something new. It’s about being more focused, centered, convicted, and grounded so that we can be a person who truly loves and treasures being made in the image of God. The secret to Gospel living is not found in accumulating anything for ourselves, even merit points for heaven. Gospel living means learning how to live with less so that others can live with more. The thought of permanently giving something up makes us feel uncomfortable. Truth often does.

©LPi

The Church, as a voice of the Gospel, proclaims the sacredness of all human life. Everyone created by God is fashioned in God’s image and has Divine DNA at the center of their soul. God never leaves what God creates but always remains intimately bound to what he has given form. Everyone has a place and because they have received the gift of Divine Blessing, nobody deserves to feel inferior, unworthy, unwanted, unclean or marginalized. Even the most broken of souls has a place. We, the Body of Christ, have the privilege and responsibility to give voice to the voiceless. The cries of the little one in his or her mother’s womb are just as sacred as the cries of one who is homeless and hungry. The migrant deserves our attention as much as the forgotten elderly and even the prisoner, with a heart hardened by anger and resentment, deserves respect and dignity.

The Gospel of Life is often hard to swallow, and we would rather keep those we consider unclean, different or unfixable in a place by themselves. It is hard to see them with us, but they deserve to be. There is far too much violence in this world and the result of that violence is the assault on human life. Many are forced to leave the place they call home in search of safer ground, finding few if any along the way who will help them. How different today’s Gospel story would be if Jesus gave in to what was politically correct at that time. The leper would have been turned away and a soul, already beaten down by disease and fear, would have experienced an even deeper wound. Jesus wouldn’t have captured much attention from anyone, nor would he have mirrored the Father’s compassion and love.

Where do we stand with all of this? Do we at least understand that God’s vision is often in conflict with the vision put forth in our world and even the one we advance ourselves? There is no doubt that it is incredibly challenging to find a place for everyone at the table. This challenge is compounded when the systems of operation and structure that are so ingrained in us affirm power and privilege rather than inclusivity and justice. Everything really goes askew when the powerful begin to control who is entitled to wholeness and inclusion, and greed becomes a driving force. Prejudice and entitlement raise their ugly heads and we find ourselves with quite a mess. It’s time to admit that things have been a mess for a very long time. The mess needs to be healed, not by erasing it but by allowing God to touch it and make it whole. We need to bring God back to the center of life where God belongs. There are no easy solutions to the world’s dilemmas. But, knowing that wholeness, healing, and dignity are worthy pursuits, we can more confidently labor to achieve God’s vision.

©LPi

If I only knew then what I know now, how different life would be. This sentiment, expressed in myriad ways, is found on every human being’s lips at one point or another. Life may have brought us to a vulnerable place where we see some of the poor choices we made and the effects they are having. Perhaps we fell into some destructive and dysfunctional relationships or behaviors and are finding how they held us captive. Our zeal and passion for life may have drifted away and we are waking up to the reasons apathy has taken hold. Life can be hard. In fact, some would describe their lives as a drudgery. They walk through each day with an anxious unsettledness, wondering when their restlessness will cease. There is a temptation to believe that what I see is all I will get. Mortality and hopelessness await the dawn. If I could only have known what would come in the future, I could have made better choices and avoided all of this misery!

Really? While we can certainly give into weakness, sin, impulsiveness, and idiosyncrasies that cause us to stumble over ourselves, life is really a journey. If we don’t make the mistake of wallowing in the mire of self-pity and realize the new life God is calling us to, then there are thrills, adventures, surprises, and soul-searching graces we can surely miss. We are not tethered to our past nor are we bound to the ills life can bring upon us. We are never hopeless or helpless. The problem is that our myopic vision only allows us to see the misery and misfortune that is before us, not the potential that can come from choosing healthier and more life-giving options. Jesus came that we might have fullness of life. We need to learn how to reach for Jesus’ hand and let him help us to our feet.

We need to allow God into our pain and heal our past. We have to wrestle with our histories, agonize and search and cry out for the Divine healing we need to restore our faith, hope, and love. Job could not see how his story would end or trust the guidance of the God who called him. We live in that same blindness and suffer from the same lack of confidence. Once we allow ourselves to be touched by God’s healing power, we begin to see that all of the pieces of our lives are necessary parts of a greater whole. Along the way of our lives, God uses our omissions and failures to create new things and possibilities. When doors close, others open and we can be amazed by the joyful and unexpected surprises we receive. Once we know the power of God’s creative, healing, life-giving, forgiving, and dynamic presence, it is no wonder we want to put ourselves at the service of others and show them what life can be.

©LPi