First Sunday in Lent 2025. Penance is good for us. We do not like our encounters with acts of penance, but they are essential for growth on our individual and communal journeys. Our individual and communal journeys are always unique. That demands of us new lenses through which the newness is revealed to us. Usually very, very slowly., I may add. The penance I am challenging myself with, is to seek out some new material rather than rely on the old. For the last number of Lenten journeys I was depended on old material written many years ago. It was easy, and convenient. That is what the spiritual journey is about. It challenges our comforts zones, and moves us out of them. Sometimes to quote St.Teresa of Avila, " we must be blasted out of the known, and familiar." Tough words from a saint ????
So this year I am going to make the effort to move beyond the patterns of the past, and strike out towards new horizons, and new understandings. As I have written our Lenten journey is our six week retreat, journey into our present understanding of our personal participation in The Paschal Mystery. It challenges to see in the here and now, the journey of Jesus so many centuries ago. As John O'Shea has written, "Jesus's story is our story today". Ready to let behind the familiar and journey into the land that lies behind and beyond the horizons. There are ONLY horizons to be met on the spiritual journey, not boundaries. We are always challenged to look for, the beyond and for the beyond the beyond. We are always having our eyes directed to what is before us, and the excitement of it"s newness. There is also fear to be encountered, as the false self who sees no value in this journey ,and will make every effort to sabotage the work at hand. As The Gracious Spirit never tires of pouring Love into us, so the Tempter, The Deceiver, The Divider never tires in his efforts to side track us, and sabotage the efforts.
2025 is offering us all real challenges to seek out the Paschal Mystery being forced of some of the most vulnerable of our sisters and brothers, who already have great sufferings to face and endure. It is reprehensible to accept in any way they the piling on of bigotry, brutal anti gay, lesbian, and transgender rhetoric etc, etc,. America used to be proud to be called a Christian Country, today's explicit and covert actions sure do not measure up to what Gospel Spirituality reveals to us, and challenges us to live.
We are told in The Gospel that " the Holy Spirit drove the Historical Jesus, The Rabbi to be, out into the desert. He had just heard the words, " This is My Beloved Son. That word, beloved, has a deep deep spiritual meaning. We must be always ready to remind ourselves, and others of what it means to be beloved. The Beloved Son was not spared, dehumanization and alienation, As it was for the Historical Jesus, so it is for us who are the contemporary Presence of all that is revealed about Him in the gospel narratives. Being the beloved brings with it no promise of a " flower garden". On the contrary.
As was written previously we need Psalm 103 ever before us, because of the challenge of our journey into our individual and communal deserts we will a constant well of mercy and hope from which to draw from. We are never called to an encounter with the cross and crucifixion, the we are NOT ALREADY strengthened to meet. My mothers's words have rang many times to alert me to the her wisdom, " The mills of God grind very slow, but they grind very true." Those words coupled with St. Paul's words, " We are never tested beyond our strength" have really helped the struggle in desperate times. The Rabbi Jesus went once to Calvary, but we are being exposed to all that Calvary was for Jesus, and that journey is repeated again and again. The mystery of suffering is journeyed into many, many times but why ? That is your personal question, not mine. It would be very presumptuous of me even to hazard a guess. As has been written " Ask the question, and live into the answer".
Trite answers do not fly any more. Unique answers are the answers for unique questions. Just remembered a quote of Fr. Karl Steumiller " It is only through our sufferings, CAN we have an audience with a God of faithfulness and compassion". Something to chew on ??. These are the meandering thoughts of an 85 year old who has encountered The Suffering Christ revealed behind many disguises. Love, prayers, and blessings, for a very unique encounter with The Greatest of Mysteries. Great gramps.