In today’s readings we will be examining what it means to be generous towards God, and how he always rewards those who, living by faith, strive to give him all they can. It is an apropos reflection, given we are about to embark on another season of Lent, which behold, is suddenly once again upon us.

As tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, and therefore the first day and beginning of Lent, we consider that the next forty days have traditionally been lived with a penitential spirit – a sign of our sincere repentance in before God in which through our sacrifices of praise we glorify him. As we read in the psalm for this day; “He that offers praise as a sacrifice glorifies me.” How often do we forget to praise God for who he is and what he has generously given? Yet as Jesus said, “If these remain silent, even the stones will cry out” in response to those who found it scandalous that he was being praised and worshipped as the Messiah and the Son of David. The “stones would cry out” because he is the Creator of this Universe, the one to whom all things owe their existence.
Keeping in mind the grandeur of God and who it is we strive to get closer to, Jesus has promised through his little exchange with Saint Peter in today’s gospel that, “there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters
and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come. But many that are first will be last, and the last will be first.” Once again, that Jesus is God, and bearer of all power, which we call omnipotence, comes out in this reading. Who could ever utter those words and get away with it, unless it was God himself standing before that crowd who heard these blessed words.
So, Peter left everything. The rich young man did not. The other apostles left everything and many of the scribes and pharisees did not. Saint Francis left everything, his father did not. We are continually invited by our Lord, while we still have time, to make a decision. Life is full of decisions, but none are more important than the one which sees a person opting to get closer to God in a sincere, valiant and faith-filled way. For this is what it means to live for his sake and to place a relationship with him at the top of our priorities – and by top, we mean—number one. Jesus, in his divine nature once also assured us that, “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; and anyone who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me” Matthew 10:37.
This is serious business, this following of Jesus. It is certainly not for the faint of heart, and it takes a lot of faith – faith that needs to mature and grow and also take shape within a community of believers who have accepted Christ in his entirety. A lot of us love bits and pieces of Jesus, but not everything he embodied as our Master and Teacher, and so they love their idea of Jesus, but not who he truly is. Hence, Lent is about embracing Christ entirely, listening to him with a spirit of greater humility and obedience, and allowing him to truly inform our decision making. The closer we get to this, the more we can say we truly belong to him. Everything else is an illusion, a mirage, which we psychologically make convenient for ourselves.
This Lent therefore, be bold, be courageous, be audacious even and make those changes which will bring you closer to the saint God knows you can be. Everything in life hinges on this one, beautiful and awesome relationship with Jesus.
As we prepare for the beginning of Lent tomorrow, we allow the Blessed Mother to continue to accompany us and bless us and keep her mantle wrapped around us so that the evil one will not obstruct our desire for holiness—our desire to get much closer to our loving Father. May he be blessed forever. Amen.
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