The Lord calls to us in Lent, through the words of Isaiah: Wash yourselves clean. Cease doing evil. Learn to do Good.
Mary Immaculate is with us, at our side, in Lent, to show us what this all means: to be truly holy, to be FREE, to be able to LOVE AS JESUS LOVES. Yet remember, Mary´s journey on this planet was a wife, a mother, a good neighbor in a small village.
The Lord criticizes the Pharisees for their false, fabricated holiness… We can easily fall into two pharisaic ideas. One is that holiness, goodness, are really out of our reach, like some other universe than the one we live in… Or that it is so somber, weighty, depressing…
Whereas our Mother Mary wants us to know that nothing is more beautiful and brings happiness than following Jesus, by loving God with all our being and our neighbor as ourselves in simple, everyday ways. Certainly it requires grace and effort to do so, yet we can walk this way by trusting in God and giving ourselves in self sacrificing love in our families and with all around us.
Lent IS TO BE A PEACEFULL TIME, FINDING A SIMPLE INNER JOY as we strive BIT BY BIT to shed what is in us that keeps us from being TRULY FREE IN CHRIST… useless baggage like selfishness, judgementalism, resentments, fears, disordered desire.
Holy Mother lead us gently yet surely on the road to life, ETERNAL LIFE.
