Lent is coming to an end. This Sunday is Passion Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week,
the climax of the liturgical year. Both Catholic papers prepare us for
our own renewal and rebirth. One spiritual writer explains the need for
the forty days. We need the time to reflect on what God desires of us, obeying, being reconciled with others and showing mercy.
When we
visit the Blessed Sacrament, attend Mass, read the scriptures, we are
always open to receiving directions for our life. We have to prepare the
receptacle remembering the words of St. Thomas: "Whatever is received
is received according to the manner of the receiver." Which means that
we can do much to distort the message we receive with our personal
receiving set.
The
spiritual life includes all of life, everything we do all the time. The
writer mentions that to become proficient in mathematics you have to
start with something like the multiplication table; to learn English you
need to know vocabulary with these basics you begin the mastery of your
subject: the same is true in the spiritual life.
There
are those that say you don't need a religion to be good, to love your
neighbor, to be humble. Yes, but without a rock-like foundation, he
says, all will crumble. We have to know why we are to be good, be
humble. It is when we know the answers that when the rain comes we will
not be overcome.
With
the rock foundation, we are changing every day. Every day is met with
freshness, and hope. There are so many who meet the new day, he laments, without meaning. They are fools he says.
With a mature spiritual life, each day is full of great joy and expectation we can enjoy to the full; the
morrow is momentous and precious. God has put everything that we need
inside of us. We are programed to follow God's blue print for us. Those
who have done this know the joy that comes from this kind of life.