February 2018

T he beginning of February in the season of the Church is the end of the Christmas period. The Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, with the symbolism of light, both scripturally in the words of Simeon and physically in candles, brings us forward in faith to live our lives day by day.

Despite the light, in truth most of us have to accept that we need to live by faith – which is often weak and clouded. We need courage to be, the humility to accept that God loves us even when we fail to love him or each other, the trust to put ourselves unreservedly into his care.

Part of us is likely to know that this has to do with love. With the tip of a finger, as it were, we can sense this love. Then, at another time, it can be deeply overwhelming in its fullness and strength.

The reason is that God is love and it is for him to be present to us as he sees best-suited to the condition of each of us at any given time. Love can be expressed by presence or by apparent absence, by joyous and sweet communication as well as by the giving demand of sheer continuing-to-beand-to-trust.

However, if we even remotely love, the Church finds a way for us to express this love by giving us the forty days of Lent. As this commemorates for us the time Jesus spent in prayer and fasting in the desert, we can be led that way also. And the essence of what we are at is a combination of listening to him and making ourselves ready to listen by stripping ourselves of all the encumbrances of living which block out the sound of his voice.

Lent is a time for prayer, and penance. The two can be the same for many of us. Let us, then, begin and go forward into Lent with a determination to be open and available for him, through time set aside, through listening to his word in scripture by reading and by sharing in the liturgy. Finally, we can take seriously his advice that some devils can only be thrown out by prayer and fasting.

Whatever else happens at the beginning of this special time, let us get stuck into Lent, let us really get stuck in. Each of us is therefore urged to take this admonition seriously, to plan something for the Lenten season and to carry it out and through all that we say and do and are. Nothing is more public than crucifixion, the witness of Christ to God’s love.

We, too, are witnessing!