Lent: A Time for Wisdom
Dear Friends,
Lord, how wondrous is your wisdom. God's Wisdom is described in many ways in the Sacred Scriptures, and in the lived teaching and tradition of the Church. But
of all the ways we might define, explain, or describe God's wisdom, I'd like to suggest that wisdom is a form of salvation. Lent puts a unique focus on God's wisdom
from the perspective of salvation. In God's wisdom, we have salvation through the suffering, death and resurrection of Christ our Lord. Another way of saying "Lord, how
wondrous is your wisdom" might be "Lord, how woundrous is your salvation". Lent is a time for wisdom.
We can find in the wisdom of Lent, the time for us to give ourselves to Christ as we focus upon how He gave himself for us. Prayer, fasting, doing good works (alms) are
stepping stones for us to walk on over the currents of sin in our lives that meander away from God. These "stepping stones" bring us back. Lent prepares us for holy Easter,
but what good is celebrating the Resurrection unless we give ourselves over to the things that will last, such as God's love, forgiveness, mercy and peace.
Next week in Pastor's Thoughts, we will focus on our Holy Father's 2007 Message for Lent:
"May Lent be for every Christian, a renewed experience of God's love given to us in Christ, a love that each day we, in turn, must 'regive' to our neighbor, especially to the one
who suffers most and is in need." - Pope Benedict XVI, 2007 Lenten Message
May God's Grace and Peace be Yours,
Fr. David