Reflection for the First Sunday of Lent
1st Sunday of Lent B, February 18, 2024
“Come Lord, show us the way”
This is the theme for Lent 2024 proposed by Jocelyn Girard.
Day after day, for forty days, we will be able to reflect, pray and act according to what the Spirit breathes into our hearts. I think it is worth slowing down for more than these 40 days in order to recalibrate ourselves, to ensure we leave more room for He who is our Saviour.
Back in my younger days, Lent was presented to us as a time when everything had to do with penance, sacrifice, deprivation. That’s how it was in the 50s. Is it not more exciting to make this a time of thanksgiving, of reflection, of solidarity with those who are suffering, of kindness and tenderness for the sick and everyone who experiences poverty?
Show us the way: make us joyfully believe in Your Covenant with us. Every since our Baptism, Lord, You have told us of Your love of us. You want to be our Father, our brother and a friend we can always count on.
Show us the way: give us the grace to view others with respect, to tell them of Your love, to show them Your path where all is light.
Show us the way: yes, let us better see the path where we can spread joy to others, the path of prayer, the path that allows us to grant serenity to people who live through war, to those who are hungry 24/7, to those who live in fear of domestic violence, to children who long for the love of their parents.
This Lent, let us listen to the Lord who calls on us to once again say: “Here I am.” Yes, Lord, here I am, ready to see my path once again. I am here to have the courage to walk in Your footsteps. I am here to help others to follow You. It is time to examine where I am, what my pitfalls are, how am I walking, where I am going. Retrospection? No. Rather, let us give thanks and open our hearts to welcome You, the first, the Living One.
A well-known song says it all:
“Everything starts with Jesus Christ. Let us take the path that leads to Him.” This path is already open to us. It is about wanting to find God there, a God with an open heart, ready to renew our convenant with Him, a God who wants us to follow Him, offering light, peace, tenderness and hope to a world that needs it so much.
Let us take the path that leads us to Him!