THe Second Sunday of Lent

When you are sitting down on a Saturday night and watching a reality show like the X Factor or Strictly Come dancing the one thing that they constantly talk about is the idea that they are all on a journey. You may hear something like: “The journey been long and tough for you” or “You have come a long way since the first show.” On the X factor they go one step further and talk about what I call the “weep spot” at the end of the show where they drag a story forward of a person’s struggle or personal tragedy.

Lent, for us, is also a journey. It is a journey of self discovery and sometimes this may feel never ending. The difference between our journey and the journey that the contestants of the reality TV show is that although we are also on a journey of self discovery it is also a spiritual journey. It is one that we grow deeper into the reality of God’s love for us through the holy disciplines of fasting, charity and prayer. Often this can be quite a difficult thing to do like Abram in the first reading we need to be prepared to leave the past behind us. To put our hope and trust in God knowing that his love is upon us, this often takes a lot of courage and we have to bear many hardships. I wonder what these hardships are. I think that more often and not allowing our ego and our selfishness to penetrate our lives. These manifest itself in our wrong relationships with ourselves others and God.

St Paul tells us in the second reading that Christ “calls us to be holy.” This is a call into wholeness with Christ and his Church and a call to constantly change and be lead into conversion.

One of the things that come out strongly in the Gospel is the moments of transformation so through our Lenten penance and observance we can become more like Christ. This happens through the gift of the Holy Spirit that has been given to us in Baptism we are on a process of transformation into the wholeness of Christ but we also have cooperate with that spirit.

One of the problems is that we often think that we are making no head way into the life of Wholeness and holiness. We always seem to be struggling with the same sort of issues. We need to hold on to the fact that Jesus loves us absolutely and also transformation happen quietly and often slowly so don’t worry if you are coming again and again with the same issues that ok as long as you are learning from them.

The other thing to remember is that we are constantly nourished by coming to Mass and when we are able in receiving Christ truly present in the Blessed Sacrament. We put our faith in the sacraments and Christ present in the Eucharist.