We start as sinners, and Jesus makes us saints. We start inordinately attached to ourselves and to this world, and Jesus frees us from those attachments so that we can experience life to the full – that’s the meaning of the image in the first reading: “He will renew your strength, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails.” This image of vitality and growth is the Old Testament’s most common description of blessedness, what we would call “holiness.” And it appears frequently in the New Testament as well. It’s good to get back to these biblical expressions of what God wants to do for us, where He wants to lead us. Too often “blessedness” and “holiness” can become abstract terms, losing their power and gusto, and so losing their ability to motivate and orient us.
Jesus is leading us to the abundant life, the life overflowing with spiritual fruits like wisdom, interior peace, courage, and joy. This is why He came to earth, and this is why He has found a way to come into each one of our lives. But we have a part to play too. Jesus calls; He enters our world; He invites, just as he did with Levi, who became St. Matthew. But we need to respond. Like Levi, we need to “leave everything behind” and follow where Jesus leads. That means honesty and generosity in both speech and action, as Isaiah describes in the first reading. It means deciding to place the gift of our human freedom at the service of Christ’s truth, the truth that every one of our neighbor’s is created in the image of God and worthy of our love and service. It means starving our self-centered tendencies and feeding whatever makes us more like Christ.
Refreshing this conviction is an essential aspect of Lent. Today, let’s ask St. Matthew to help us make that happen.
Fr. John Bartunek, L.C., leads free online video retreats. You can access these retreats and other rich resources at rcspirituality.org.
Amen Amen ♡