It is Lent...

Fr Ron Rolheiser, OMI in one of his articles wrote:

"It would be nice if we always felt warm, reverent, altruistic, full of faith, chaste, hopeful, connected with others and nature, happy about who we are and what life has dealt us. But that isn't the case. We all have moments and even seasons of doubt, anger, alienation, pettiness, boredom, obsession, and tiredness. Our thoughts are not always holy and our hearts are not always warm or pure. It's at times like this we need prayer and what we need to take to prayer is, precisely, those bitter thoughts and unholy feelings."

I reverently subscribe to such thoughts and so, when I received some news that I didn't like and didn't want to accept I woke up early the next morning [one of those rare days!] and decided to take the 'issue' with God. God somehow never, ever fails to respond, even though I sometimes think I'd rather listen to the mystery of God's silence! However...

I sat alone in a darkened chapel and said to myself... "let me look at today's Gospel [on sons of Zebedee and drinking the from the Cup of Christ] and the 'reflection', perhaps there lies the 'answer'.  The reflection I 'regretably' chose was one taken from the writings of Mother Elvira Petrozzi and this is what I read and 'heard'... 

Sometimes the Lord wants us to participate in and mature in human suffering. "Pain is part of human life. Do not avoid it, minimise its significance, or talk about it in such a trivial way!" As weak and fragile people we lose those moments to immaturity! We tend to defend ourselves vigorously and 'miss the boat' ~ ie the "boat of maturity and self control, of the capacity to be quiet and to suffer with dignity in silence".

In the mysterious school of the Cross, God did not explain it but welcomed it in Jesus. "Jesus invites us to look at Him, to ask Him for faith and love, that our heart will not lose hope, and after the darkness of Good Friday we will know how to capture in our own lives the radiant light of Easter morning! ... In Him pain and death are defeated!"

So, it's the Cross to maturity that I need to ride on during this Lent... Jesus help me learn from this Cross and allow it to bring me to the light of the Resurrection. Amen!