Lenten Meditation April 9

Today’s Readings

“… But it is in starting from the experience of this desert, from this void, that we can again discover the joy of believing, its vital importance for us, men and women. In the desert we rediscover the value of what is essential for living; thus in today’s world there are innumerable signs, often expressed implicitly or negatively, of the thirst for God, for the ultimate meaning of life. And in the desert people of faith are needed who, with their own lives, point out the way to the Promised Land and keep hope alive.”  Pope Benedict

 Sometimes it is hard not to get discouraged in this world. It seems that everywhere we look there is violence, from the womb to war, from a person to society as a whole. Our moral compass seems to be slipping away. Nothing seems sacred anymore. Good is seen as bad and bad as good.

I recently was thinking of how the church is shown as the enemy because they continue to state the truth of the evil of abortion. The world cannot admit that abortion itself is wrong because it is so immersed in the evil of abortion, so they lash out at anything that will remind them of what it is we are doing…killing our own children.

Those who have had abortions are made to feel guilty if it bothers them, as if killing your own child is not a reason to feel guilty. It must be your faith we are told, or surely something else that is causing the guilt.

Everyone seems to want to do whatever they please with no thought of the harm to others or the consequences of their actions no matter how wrong they may be. Those standing up for truth and right seem to face more and more persecution.

Sometimes it is hard to keep our eyes on Jesus and His victory in the midst of all that is happening. To move forward day by day knowing we can never change the world, but remembering He has already changed the world through His suffering, death, and resurrection.

I love the season of Lent. The calling back to Christ of the people of the church. A church not filled with guilt and shame, but rich with love, mercy and forgiveness in spite of our sins. Some faiths now seem to accept sin and think that is being merciful or compassionate, but true mercy speaks the truth to free you from your sin. We are all human, we all sin. It is only through His grace that we do any good. A grace that calls us to this truth, which there is only one of, but also calls us to redemption.

I am always amazed at how my greatest sin, my abortion, was the very vehicle Christ used to call me to Himself. That my son Joshua, whose life I took through abortion, was the very instrument He used to bring me to His mercy and a new life in Him. A mercy that taught me true love and gives me courage in the midst of any dessert I may pass through in life, because my trust is in Him in spite of how I may feel.

“And in the desert people of faith are needed who, with their own lives, point out the way to the Promised Land and keep hope alive.”

Christ is our hope,

In the parable of the Good Samaritan we read: “Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”

May we all, during this season of lent, point out the way to the Promised Land and keep hope alive so that countless souls will see that Christ is our hope, not only because of what we say but because they have learned for themselves He  is truly the Savior of the world.