[ Today's Readings ]
Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor
and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.
It is time to get ready to follow Jesus in a new and deeper way this Lent. We are called to set aside more of the things that are merely distractions in order to seek Jesus with undivided hearts. Hearing this, our hearts fall, because we are attached to so very much.
"Children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God!
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle
than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God."
They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves,
"Then who can be saved?"
Can we be saved? Can we really get past all of our preoccupations enough to actually desire the Kingdom of God more than anything else?
Jesus looked at them and said,
"For men it is impossible, but not for God.
All things are possible for God."
Jesus looks at us and tells us straight out that this Lent is not meant to be a project about what we can do for God. It is meant to be about what we are willing to let God do in our hearts.
To the penitent God provides a way back,
he encourages those who are losing hope
and has chosen for them the lot of truth.
The way set before us is the way of prayer. In it we are called to stand firm. If we do so we know the mercy and the forgiveness of God.
How great the mercy of the LORD,
his forgiveness of those who return to him!
When we really approach Lent this way it won't crush us our take away our joy. Rather we experience a new and pure joy which the world cannot take from us.
Let the just exult and rejoice in the Lord.
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