STEEMCHURCH / The Lent that Jesus wanted
A group of theology students at Princeton Seminary were told that they were going to give a practice sermon and each of them was given a theme for the sermon. Half of them were given the theme of the parable of the Good Samaritan: the man who stood by the road to help the needy by the side of the road. To the others, several random biblical themes. Then each of them was told that they had to go to the other building and give the sermon. While they were going from the first building to the second, they all crossed paths with a man who was cowering, complaining and clearly in need. The question is: did they stop to help him? And the most important: Did it matter that they were thinking about the parable of the Good Samaritan? Answer: No, not at all. What was decisive if someone would stop to help a stranger in need was how much rush they thought they had: did they think they were late, or were they absorbed thinking about what they were going to talk about?
This story, narrated by Daniel Goleman, on the importance of emotional intelligence led him to conclude: This is the problem of our lives, we do not take every opportunity to help, because our focus points in the wrong direction. It is the great dilemma of our spiritual life and of our Christian life: reducing our religion to external manifestations that do not impact our deep spirituality.
This is precisely the invitation for Lent that we started with Ash Wednesday. Father Rafael García Herreros said that this time is propitious for converting us to Jesus Christ: Get away from sin, stop drinking, abandon infidelity, reject envy, dominate greed, overcome resentment, get away from filth!
Ultimately, the true Lent that the Lord wants is an authentic conversion to Him, to think about Him, to act in Him and to love Him in the brothers. When we do the exercise of living what we are celebrating, we do not fall into the incoherence of those students of theology, but we see him in everyone. How much our relationships would change if we look to Jesus Christ in others!
You think of your mother: there is Jesus Christ; in his dad: there is Jesus Christ; in his brother: there is Jesus Christ; in the teacher: there is Jesus Christ; in his boss: there is Jesus Christ; who hates him: there is Jesus Christ; whom you hate: there is Jesus Christ; in the priest: there is Jesus Christ; in politics: there is Jesus Christ; in the police: there is Jesus Christ; in the outcast: there is Jesus Christ; in the guerrilla fighter: there is Jesus Christ, just as he was in the shrunken man those young men met.
That is why the Lent that the Lord wants is to have the ability to discover its action in our own history and have the courage to evaluate ourselves: if we have not discovered Jesus in the brother or in the creation, maybe it is the opportunity to turn it around to our life, to become Jesus and help our brothers.
Psalm 24: 7 Do not remember the sins of my youth or my rebellions. According to your mercy, remember me, for your kindness, O Lord.
Psalm 103: 8 Compassionate and gracious is the Lord, slow to anger and great in mercy. 9 He will not contend forever, nor will he keep anger forever. 10 He has not done to us according to our iniquities, nor has he paid us according to our sins. 11 For as the height of the heavens above the earth, so has his mercy magnified on those who fear him. 12 As far as the east side of the west is, it has kept our rebellions away from us.