I don’t want to count my Cadbury Eggs before the hunt, but there are just eight days left in the season of Lent. I’m pausing to reflect on what this Lenten season has meant to me before the Joy of the Easter Season kicks in.
In Acts 9, Paul’s (then Saul’s) conversion story, we see him broken down to a pitiful state. He heard the voice of Jesus, his sight was gone, and he couldn’t eat or drink for three days. This is very much how I feel about Lent. I haven’t been chaining up and murdering Christians (not literally, anyway), but my sins are just as hurtful to Christ. Lent gives us the opportunity to be broken down.
But being broken down doesn’t sound like all that much fun. Which is why the story doesn’t end with Saul being starved to death in Damascus as a punishment for being so mean to Christians. He, instead, is filled with the Holy Spirit, Baptized, and then goes on to becoming the great evangelizer. He spreads the Gospel, and writes (personally or through his direct followers) most of the New Testament. It’s not a punishment, it’s a challenge.
How can we be more like St. Paul?
How can we find our personal challenge through this season of preparation?
What is that challenge? What is that challenge?
Wednesday, March 28th, 2007 | Uncategorized | No comments