Call For Help

21 Feb

“Nothing makes one feel so strong as a call for help.”  ~ St. Pope Paul VI

Lent is many things to many people. To some, it is a season of repentance.  To others, it is a season of giving up things. To still others, it is a season of doing good for people.  Lent is all of these and much more.

“Nothing makes one feel so strong as a call for help.”  How very true this is.  When we have the strength to admit that we are in need, miracles can happen.  It’s on us, though, to ask for the help that we need.

Too often, we spend our lives trying to prove to ourselves and to others that we are in charge and that we can do things without the aid of others.  In doing so, we often cut others out of our lives.  This includes God.

There seems to be something deep inside each of us that wants to go it alone.  Maybe it’s pride.  Maybe it’s shame.  Maybe it’s a competitive nature.  Whatever it might be in our flawed human condition, it prevents us from getting closer to others.

The fact of the matter is that we need others.  We were not created to be by ourselves.  We were not created to be alone.  We were created for one another and, ultimately, for union with God.  When we spend all of our time trying to distance ourselves from one another — and from God — we enter into a very lonely existence.

It shouldn’t be that way and it doesn’t need to be that way. We are the ones in charge of what happens next. We can either remain distant and isolated or we can allow others into our lives.

This, my friends, is one of the purposes of the season of Lent.  It gives us an opportunity to examine our lives more thoroughly, perhaps, than we usually do.  In examining our lives, we are to identify the things that keep us from being closer to God and that need to change.  After identifying those things, we need to make a plan to change.

The presupposition is, though, that we want to.  As I said, we are to identify the things that keep us from being closer to God.  The question remains, do we want to be close to God?  An honest answer will determine our next steps.

If closeness to God is a desire of yours, take the time to determine what distances you from Him and then make a plan to change the patterns of your life so that you can come to know God more intimately and more completely.  He would like nothing more than to hear you say that you need Him and that you want Him in your life.

FAITH ACTION:  If you do not yet have a plan to utilize the season of Lent to your spiritual advantage, try to come up with one today.  If you do have a plan, do all that you can to stick to it.  Don’t be afraid to ask God for His help.