Our youngest child, now an adult with a family of his own, will turn forty-two years old this week. I don’t know if it’s a bigger passage for him or us. I remember he was born on Easter Monday. We anticipated an Easter baby, but the timing of birth, as we know, is according to nature’s time. “Timing is everything,” as the expression goes.
I suspect there are things about birth and life that both our children have learned as parents that we could never have adequately explained when they were growing up.
There are, it seems, particular times for learning the most valuable insights, the deepest meanings. Perhaps as parents and guardians, there are many such times.
There may be challenges and heartbreaking moments, but we learn the consolation of our faith by living all the moments that confront us – the trials and the joys. The gift of faith gives us a way of seeing the meaning in all the events of our lives – and how they are infused with God’s mysterious grace.
I sometimes view Lent as something we observe from the outside. Perhaps Lent is also a passage unfolding within us, a time to learn how the love of God is transforming us. Lent is taking up our cross and following the Lord. He calls us to a more loving way of living.
Families are vibrant communities. We constantly respond, adjust, rebalance, and renew so we can lovingly serve each other. It can be burdensome and, at other times, brimming with delight. It is humbling when we fall short and exhilarating when we succeed.
“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves.” (Matthew 11:29)
We are approaching the solemn time of Holy Week. Lent has drawn us into the words and actions of Jesus awakening our minds and hearts to turn to Him and learn from Him.
The gospel narratives of Holy Week provide us with vivid images and scenes of a full range of human experience. Friendship and betrayal, celebration and mourning, light and darkness, life and death, are all present in the sacred texts. The stories are grounded in the fullness and frailty of being human and the boundless love of God.
In our families, let us pray that Holy Week draws us ever more closely to the transforming love of God.