A Lenten re-post

     This week I prepared a reflection for our Diocesan Web Site [www.dioceseofgreensburg.org] and I thought I would share it with you.

     "In the area of education, we hear of the 3 R's: reading, writing and arithmatic.
     In the season of Lent there are at least four R's that describe the journey to Easter and beond: Repentance ... Redemption ... Reconciliation ... Restoration.
     From the clarion call of Joel on Ash Wednesday we are called to repent of our sinfulness.   Today's [Sunday's] gospel echoes that call: "If you do not repent, you will all perish."  No matter who we are, the need to repent, for falling short of the the call to holiness that the Lord invites us to embrace is vital.  We know that, and this R is the easiest.  Repentance is the hallmark of the Lenten journey.
     Redemption we find is easier to understand than to accept.  Redemption means that the price has been paid ... that we have been judged with mercy and set free ... that what is offered is given in exchange for what is owed.   Some of you may remember "redemption centers", where the saving stamps that we accumulated were exchanged for an item that we desire.  Our redemption is found in Jesus Christ.  His suffering and death on the Cross paid the price for our sin.  Any debt that we owed to the evil one has been satisfied by this unselfish act of love.  We are set free.  While we understand this, we find it hard to accept that we are truly free.  How can anyone pay the price for our sin, a sin that leads to death.   Our struggle is to see that when our sins are forgiven, that they are no more ... and we are free to start anew.
     Reconciliation is the more difficult of the R's.  It means that I must make up with those who I have offended or with those who have offended me.   It is not enough to forgive ... I need to put my hurt behind me and move forward in a true spirit of love and renewal.   Only then am I truly free.   This is easier said than done.
     And only then the fourth R can begin to be accomplished.  Only then can I be restored to the dignity of a child of God.   Only then can the holiness that we are invited to share with God begin to be manifest in my life.   Only then will the grace of God transform me into an instrument of his peace and a source of his love.
     The importance of the four R's in our life's journey rests not in our sins and sinfulness and the need to repent, but in God's free, overflowing mercy.   God saved the children of Abraham from Egypt because they were the people whom he loved, and he cared for them.   He frees us from the slavery of sin and death because we are his children, and he loves us.   Sent by the Father to redeem us, Jesus IS the mercy of God.   That mercy, asked for in our repentance, experienced in his redeeming grace, humbly embraced in the act of reconciling, and rejoiced in as we are restored as his beloved, is at the heart of his love.   That love is his pledge to us.   That love is our life.
     Fear not ... journey through Lent, through the Triduum, through Easter, through life accepting his love and praising him for his mercy."