“There are always scary things happening in the world. There are always wonderful things happening. And it’s up to you to decide how you’re going to approach the world, how you’re going to live in it, and what you’re going to do.”
~ Jo Ellen Chapman
It might amaze you — or it might alarm you — to think that one week from today is Holy Thursday and we begin the Sacred Triduum with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper that evening. There is a whole lot to get done in a short period of time.
Our Lent has been about preparing for just that moment. That is why we have sacrificed some of our favorite things and why we have added positive acts as penance for our sinfulness.
Our Lenten journey should be a deliberate one, not a coerced one. We should desire to make sacrifices in our lives because we should desire to have, even more, a closer relationship with God.
That relationship is just like any other relationship we have here on earth. If we want to be friends with someone, we do all that we can to know that person. We find out that person’s likes and dislikes, that person’s favorite things and places, that person’s character. We can only do that if we spend time with that person.
We can only come to know our God by spending time with Him as well. Since God is all around us and in all the people we encounter, in one sense, it makes our job easier. If we want to get to know God, all we have to do is serve others. If we want to spend time with God, we can visit the sick or shut-in. We, also, could create chunks of time to make ourselves silent and to sit with the Lord in prayer.
There is so much that we can do. It all begins with a plan and continues with putting that plan into action.
I know that you have worked hard this Lent. Don’t give up now. With only one week left, the work may be more toilsome; but, the benefit of your hard work will be wonderful.
FAITH ACTION: Make a “plan of attack” for the final week of Lent. What do you need to accomplish spiritually before Holy Thursday? What are you going to do first?