News - March 2014 RSS Feed

From the Gospel, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. This Lent, Jesus invites each of us when he says, “Follow Me.” In the Lenten season, we seek to enter the same space as Jesus. We too are led by the Holy Spirit into the desert of to experience fasting and self-denial and to be tempted and to be tested by the devil. Yes we seek conversion in the Lenten season. We seek to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. As for Jesus, so too for us, that conversion in our lives will not take place without dealing with the temptations of Satan. Lent is a wonderful time to be honest with ourselves and to recognize that which is not yet transformed in us. Lent is a “desert season.” The Gospel invites us to go to the desert and to see things as they really are. The desert is the place of struggle in life. We need to deal with temptations. The desert is also the place we encounter God. The places of struggle in life can lead us to trust in God’s unending live for us. The gift and the challenge of Lenten spiritual disciplines is to reflect on our freedom to be for others. The discipline of our Lenten prayer is the capacity to place God first in our lives. A fundamental temptation for us is forgetting the Lord and the ways he has blessed us. Prayer is so important in our life – the prayer that allows to be grateful for the blessings, the prayer that enables to rejoice that we are God’s beloved. The cross is part of who Jesus is, and it is an enduring sign of his unconditional love for us. We accept the cross in life by embracing spiritual disciplines. We are invited to place our lives more completely in the hands and the heart of a God who loves us infinitely. May we walk with God in this time of Lent.