LENT Day 5: (Second day of Alexis meditations) Today in the very early morning my computers clock sprang forward. Without losing a beat it went from 1:59 to 3:00. Not that I saw that happen, of course: what kind of person is awake at that hour? (Do not answer this question. It is both facetious and rhetorical.) At mass this weekend, Michael Rock said, If your life is no holier come Easter, you have wasted Lent. He is right that the transformation this season offers cannot merely be one of temporarily forgoing some luxury, or even taking on new physical or spiritual regimens. We seek a change of heart. We seek to stop being distracted from what is truly important. And, crucially, that takes time. We cannot simply make the great leap forward like our digital clocks did today. So like Christ in the desert, we take forty days to prepare our hearts to better reflect Gods glory. It is a long road of sacrifice and slow self-emptying, and of course one that extends beyond any single season. But at the end, as Madeleine LEngle said, we will be able to show forth a light so lovely that people will long with all their hearts to know its source. A cleft has opened in the pitiless walls of the world. Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more!
Posted on: Mon, 10 Mar 2014 03:04:03 +0000