Prayer Reflection

Lenten and Easter Season

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. (John 3: 16-17)

The seasons of Lent and Easter, as all liturgical seasons, celebrate the mystery of God's love manifested in so many differing ways. As John tells us, God loves us so much that he gives everything for us - even his dearest One. And as Jesus also reminds us in John's Gospel: No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. (John 15: 13)

During the season of Lent we reflect on how God loves us and how we have responded and might respond better to this love. The questions from the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius echo in our thoughts and prayers during these seasons: What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for Christ? What ought I to do for Christ?

As we look at God's saving action throughout the season of Lent, we see how God from the time of the first sin has been working to bring us back from the darkness and death of sin to the light and life of grace: giving His word to our forebears, preparing a people uniquely His own, calling this people to holiness through the prophets, dwelling in the midst of His people in the desert and in the temple until the time came for the fullness of His Word to dwell with us and reveal what no one could have ever conceived: that the very Son of God, out of love, would lay down His life for us!

Who could ever believe this? How could anyone even hope for this? How great must the love of God be for us, His people, His children who so often wander and go astray?

Jesus, through his life, death and resurrection proclaims one message: There is nothing greater or more powerful than God's love: not isolation, not separation, not illness, not fear, not guilt, not sin, not addiction, not evil spirits or Satan, not loneliness, not social stigma, not mental illness, not even death. Easter is God's affirmation of this message of Jesus!

God's love is the true liberation, freeing us from death and sin for life and love. This is the reason we say in our Lenten preface: "Each year you give us this joyful season when we prepare to celebrate the paschal mystery with mind and heart renewed. You give us a spirit of loving reverence for you, our Father, and of willing service to our neighbor. As we recall the great events that gave us life in Christ, you bring the image of him to perfection within us."

Let us ponder God's love during these joyful seasons and once again respond: "See, Lord, at thy service low lies here a heart lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art."