“Return to me with your whole heart!” (Joel 2:12) “With your whole heart” means choosing to enter decisively into this season of Lent. I’ve heard Lent called “a retreat for the whole Church.” Some people might groan when they hear the word “retreat,” but for me, a retreat is like a spiritual birthday party in which:
1) we come to spend quality time with the Friend who loves us most,
2) we find that the Friend is hosting a surprise party for us, and
3) our Friend gives us a stack of wrapped gifts.
Turning to God or making time for God is the best way we can enter into Lent, and it’s also how we can become more receptive to God. God responds to our openness by giving us special gifts. We can unwrap the gifts, appreciate them, and put them to good use. Or we can be unappreciative guests: we can come late to our own party, leave the gifts unwrapped, or even unwrap the gifts but leave them unexamined in our closet.
Lent has arrived at just the right moment for me because, in a world that is more than ever haunted by division and suffering, I need the reminder that Saint Francis de Sales shares with us this week: God doesn’t abandon us. Instead, he sends his only Son to be with us, even in the most difficult of moments, bringing the gifts of grace, love, and peace.
I pray that you may wholeheartedly receive God's gifts to you this Lent.
God bless,
Sr. Marie Paul Curley, FSP
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