+JMJ
“The world offers you comfort. But you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.”
Pope Benedict XVI
In his letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul wrote,"When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things." Lent offers an opportunity to emerge from childhood and embrace maturity. It is an invitation to detach from the empty pleasures of earth and attach to the hope of heaven. With each penitential season—and really, with each cross— the faithful Christian finds himself in the position of the rich young man in the Gospel who, having affirmed that he kept all the commandments, queries the Lord further as to how he can obtain eternal life:
"And Jesus looking upon him loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” (Mk. 10:11)
God challenges man to sanctity. St. John Paul II often reminded his flock of the demand of the Gospels:
"Do not be satisfied with mediocrity. The kingdom of heaven is for those who are determined to enter it . . . Do not be afraid to be holy! Have the courage and humility to present yourselves to the world determined to be holy, since full, true freedom is born from holiness. "
The world tempts man not only in the form of pleasures but excuses as well. Man often spends energy seeking reasons to excuse himself from fasting, prayer and the corporal works of mercy rather than preserving his strength to practice the aforementioned disciplines.
Perhaps the reason that man yields to self-pitying and rationalizing his behavior is because he refuses to acknowledge that His Creator knows him better than he knows himself and so understands what he is truly capable of. Even the saints, had their doubts and fears when faced with an onerous task. Though St. Teresa of Kolkata was fond of saying—"I know God won't give me more than I can handle. I just wish He didn't trust me so much."—she humbly accepted her crosses, shouldering through difficult moments, confident that she was "called to be faithful, not successful."
Let this Lent be a time of great trust that God's grace will be sufficient to carry the cross: those crosses that are freely and lovingly chosen and those that must be patiently accepted. Think not of its present burden but of its eternal merit.
"You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle! Are they not in your book?" (Psalm 56:8)
