[ Today's Readings ]
Are we getting bogged down in the discipline of Lent? Is the lack of the usual acclamation before the gospel also reflected in our hearts (you know, the a-word, or in Hebrew, the h-word)?
Lo, I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
The things of the past shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
There is hope ahead! We journey through the desert but not because we like deserts. We make this pilgrimage because the promised land is so promising. We follow Jesus who is willing to endure anything for the joy set before him.
let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God (see Hebrews 12:1-2).
What is the joy set before Jesus but we ourselves redeemed?
For I create Jerusalem to be a joy
and its people to be a delight;
I will rejoice in Jerusalem
and exult in my people.
Knowing this should give us great confidence that the pilgrimage is worth it. We will find joy in Jesus that is beyond compare to anything else we have ever known.
But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him" (see First Corinthians 2:9).
This is more than a matter of waiting with gritted teeth. Jesus offers us new life in the Spirit even now, even here, even amidst our trials. Perhaps in Lent we are all but dead like the royal official's son. Jesus wants to fill us with his Spirit and renew the life within us.
Jesus said to him, "You may go; your son will live."
We have a much more successful pilgrimage if we are full of the fire and life that God wants us to have. We move more quickly toward the goal. More and more the New Jerusalem comes into view and fills our minds and hearts.
You changed my mourning into dancing;
O LORD, my God, forever will I give you thanks.
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