+JMJ
"'I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him,'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired servants.' And he arose and came to his father. But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him,'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants,'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring in his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.'" (Lk. 15:21-24)
In Willa Cather's novel, Death Comes for the Archbishop, the bishop and his assistant come upon a ramshackle pueblo, during one of their missionary journeys. The occupants of the hovel are a loathsome man and his timid, native wife, who silently communicates to the travelers that they are in danger, wordlessly imploring them to make haste in their departure. After the clerics successfully flee to the nearest village, the woman, aptly named Magdelena, manages to escape her abusive husband, subsequently pouring forth her wretched story to the two missionaries.
Enticed by the prospect of marrying a wealthy American, Magdelena entered into a bond with a man who she soon discovered to be a murderous and cruel knave. She suffered in darkness until she was given hope by the solicitous gaze of the bishop; the look of love that came from Christ. This hope prompted her to flee, despite the danger if she were caught. After her husband is apprehended and justly punished for his crimes, the bishop places Magdelena in the convent of the Sisters of Loretto, where she lives as a servant. As Cather writes,
"She was devoted to the nuns, and so happy in the service of the Church that when the Bishop visited the school he used to enter by the kitchen-garden in order to see her serene and handsome face. . . After the blight of her horrible youth was over, she seemed to bloom again in the household of God."
As Lent begins, the Church reminds her children that they are not made for this world but for the next. Detaching from the material (even legitimate) goods of this world facilitates a greater attachment and appreciation for the goods of the next world, our everlasting home. By foregoing this world's pleasures, one is given the opportunity to cultivate a spirit of gratitude for even the simple and mundane. He does not look upon his work as a drudgery that must be endured, but a task that he is privileged to undertake. Suffering and self-denial can either produce resentment and anger for the loss of goods one imagines he deserves or acceptance and gratitude for the necessities too often overlooked. Disillusioned and bruised by the lure of a comfortable life, Magdelena finds healing in the security of service to God. No longer desiring riches that cannot satisfy, she finds contentment in the abundance of graces showered upon her as she embraces her life of humble servitude. Like the Psalmist, she may cry out:
"Let me dwell in your tent forever! Oh, to be safe under the shelter of your wings!" (Ps. 61:4)
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