During Lent, people often give up something or do something extra. It is good to sacrifice and to expand the human heart in love. Yet, the Lord desires so much more. What if this Lent God also wants to heal and heal deeply and prepare the way for new life, for a resurrection of Easter joy?
John the Baptist stated in John 3:29-30, "Therefore this joy of mine is now full. He must increase, but I must decrease." How appropriate it was for John the Baptist to make this statement in the same passage when Jesus was baptizing. Among other things, at baptism a person becomes a child of God, becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit, and also has their sins washed away. However, as we grow older, we sin again and we also receive wounds that may lead to pride and difficulty being "little", being a child. This is not something to be ashamed of, to fear, or to judge others when they may do the same. However, God wants to make us new again, to make us more child-like (not childish), and to be not afraid to be weak, imperfect, little, and in need of Him...to depend on Him. He wants to heal the heart so as to better see God. "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8).
In the silence of prayer and meditation on His word, God desires each person to have a daily encounter with Him as His first disciples had, to have a deeper conversion of heart like the Good Samaritan woman who found in Christ the only One Who could quench her thirst and a love that never dries up, and to see Christ's gaze like the one He gave to Peter after he had denied the Lord three times. It was a gaze of love and mercy that did not condemn Peter for His sins but rather led him to tears of repentance. Every person on earth right now is a sinner in need of the Savior. As Catholics say during Mass a few minutes before receiving Jesus in the Eucharist, "Lord, I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed." People do not receive Him because they are perfect but because they are imperfect, weak, and in need of Him. How great is God's mercy that He thirsts to come to His people in prayer and in the sacraments, desiring to have an intimate relationship and to heal the hearts and souls of each person He came to redeem.
God wants to go deeper into the heart through the quiet intimate union of prayer. This Lent, be not afraid to decrease the noise, media distractions, and activity in one's life to spend more time in quiet with Him and come to better know Him and how He sees each person. Be not afraid to "let it go" - to let go of the wounds that one may be holding onto and let Jesus take them to His cross. Jesus wants to bring peace of heart and to make more room for Him, for His love.
"Unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greater in the Kingdom of Heaven" (Matthew 18: 3-4). It is a life long process of conversion; of not becoming greater but becoming smaller, of decreasing. There is nothing to prove to God, oneself, or others. There is no reason to care what others may think. There is no reason to be ashamed of one's imperfections. There is no reason to doubt God's mercy after a fall. There is no reason to hold onto unforgiveness. There is no reason to worry or to fear. God is Love and He loves each person He has created and redeemed. "For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry 'Abba, Father'." (Romans 8:14-15). Trust in the Savior, be a child, and rest in the Father's heart.
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