Finding Jesus in Lent
Laura DeMaria
Kathryn Jean Lopez wrote a very good thing about the Jean Vanier revelations for Angelus:
It is interesting, because she raises two thoughts I had immediately. The first is:
“I can’t trust anyone, can I? I can’t even trust my own judgment? How can I ever know if someone is holy? “
Then also that, “I don’t think it is any coincidence that we learned about Vanier just before Lent.”
It reminded me of how the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris caught on fire at the beginning of Holy Week last year. It was tragic and heart-rending as we entered a week focused on death and suffering. I don’t think that’s why either of these things happened, but that it is all right to find spiritual meaning in something that seems, at best, senseless. I think it is human to do so, actually.
So, Lent is here, as Lopez notes. I attended Ash Wednesday Mass at 8 am at the Cathedral and Fr. Conrad Murphy said that Lent is a time to “rend your heart and return to the Lord.” This was also in the first reading. My heart is rent, how about yours?