Good morning!
Geico has a commercial that’s been
running for awhile now, the one where there’s a hump-backed camel walking
through the office, going from cubicle to cubicle, saying to each person “guess
what day it is? Huh? Huh? Mike Mike Mike
Mike, what day is it Mike? ” And if
you’ve seen the commercial, you know that the answer is “hump day” – meaning of
course Wednesday, the middle day of the week.
Well today isn’t Wednesday but it is
a sort of “hump day” for our Holy season of lent – the middle day, three weeks
and one day from Ash Wednesday, and another three weeks and one day until Good
Friday. Just as Wednesday is a good time
to pause and reflect on what work remains to be done in the work-week, so is
today a good time to pause and reflect on how this season is going for us. Are we progressing spiritually from our
practice of sacrifice, of prayer, of penance, of almsgiving? And a time to consider how will we profitably
spend the next three weeks and a day of Lent?
Our readings give us a couple of
ideas to focus on for the rest of our Lenten season – and the theme seems to be listen to God, be
open to God speaking. Both our reading
from Jeremiah and Psalm 95 speak of listening, not turning away, not letting
our hearts be hardened. For God is
continually speaking to us, if we only quiet ourselves, and rather than to
always do the talking in our prayer lives, we let God speak to our hearts. What is it that God wishes us to hear during
these last weeks of Lent? What is the
condition of our hearts – hard and stony or soft and receptive?
And St. Luke’s Gospel tells of the
various reaction of the people to Jesus’ driving out the demon. Some were hard-hearted and perhaps afraid,
unable to see that what this Jesus was doing was brand new, closed-minded to
Him and His works, attributing His deeds to Beelzebul. And some were unimpressed, demanding even
more signs so that the Lord could “prove” Himself. And some, no doubt, accepted what He was
doing and saying with open ears and open hearts, letting His words and deeds
change their lives.
My brothers and sisters, you and I
are called at all times, but especially during these last weeks of this holy
season, to be open to where the Lord is acting in our Lives, open to the ways
in which He is calling us to repent and change our lives, open to what He is
saying to you and me this very day. By
His word and by His body and blood, may we be transformed and made fully open
to where He is leading us.
Happy hump day!
No comments:
Post a Comment