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A Season of Transformation

The most holy season of Lent is one of my favorite liturgical seasons. We begin on Ash Wednesday, signed with a reminder of our mortality and repentance. We enter into the desert with Jesus for 40 days, praying, fasting and giving alms so that we can rise on Easter Sunday one step father away from sin and closer to Jesus. Lent challenges us with the question “what are you going to work on or eliminate from your life that will help you to know Jesus more personally come Easter?”

When I was little, my mom would have my brothers and I make caterpillars during Lent out of pompoms. We could decorate them any way we wanted and when we were done they would each get placed in a brown paper bag, their cocoon, only to be seen again on Easter Sunday. Miraculously, on Easter Sunday when we awoke, our caterpillars had turned into beautiful butterflies hanging over the dining room table, complete with felt wings perfectly shaped! Although this was a simply craft, it holds a beautiful significance for Lent and Easter. We begin Lent by entering into the cocoon with Jesus where he transforms us so that on Easter Sunday we rise changed. I encourage you to spend some time reflecting on this question: “What in me needs to be transformed so that I can rise on Easter Sunday closer to Jesus?

A good examination of conscience for this precise question is to ask, who do you let influence your life….who is leading you, teaching you what is morally right and wrong….why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own? We tend to be so judgmental about everyone else and what they are doing wrong. But Jesus is challenging us to stop and look at our own shortcomings and to focus on living just a little differently and a little more like Jesus to change our world. You have the power to change the world one small step at a time. Lastly, Jesus says that a tree will be known by its fruit. Lent is a time to reflect on what are the good fruits and bad fruits in my life. Where do I need to be pruned in order to bear more fruit?

Don’t let Lent pass you by without truly examining your life, so that by the grace of God you will slowly be transformed into the person God created you to be. For, we were not created to remain caterpillars, but to be transformed into beautiful butterflies bringing the message of Christ to all!

The Power of the Holy Spirit

Do you believe the Holy Spirit is at work in you? Though we cannot see Him, we can recognize His presence if we allow Him to guide, instruct, and change our hearts and minds. As we invite Him into our lives and surrender to His power, we may experience strength during difficult times, a greater ability to forgive, and an increase in His spiritual gifts.

The excerpts below from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops article “What is Evangelization” speak to the transforming work of the Holy Spirit.

We must be open to the transforming power of the Holy Spirit who will continue to convert us as we follow Christ. If our faith is alive, it will be aroused again and again as we mature as disciples." (14)

Transformation speaks of the change of heart that, as a member of the Church, each one must undergo. The Gospel speaks across time and space to each human being, each mind, each heart. It asks us what we think about our lives, how we hope, whom we love, and what we live for. If faith is not transforming each heart and life, it is dead. (16)

The Gospel must overflow from each heart until the presence of God transforms all human existence. Sometimes this means that, as believers, we must confront the world as did the prophets of old, pointing out the claims of God to societies that are blind to God. More often, however, this means that we must let our faith shine on the world around us, radiating the love of Jesus by the everyday way we speak, think, and act. (17)

This gospel message gives us a different vision of what life is about. We see a pattern of love, hope, and meaning because the intimate relationship with God in which we were created, lost through sin, has been restored by Jesus, whose death has destroyed our death and whose resurrection gives us the promise of eternal life. We do not see a world of blind forces ruled by chance, but a universe created to share God's life . . . to live for God and others in love. We do not calculate what we think is possible, but rather, know the Spirit of God always makes new things possible, even the renewal of humanity. (21)

This vision we share is the power of the Good News. As it compels us, we believe it can compel, by its beauty and truth, all who sincerely seek God.  (22)”

Have you seen the Holy Spirit at work in your life? If not, ask Him in daily to give you the mind and heart of Jesus, to lead and guide you, and watch what happens!

Transformation and Conversion

Over my years in ministry, I have heard many different interpretations for why we take up practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving during Lent. I’ve heard that we take up these practices for the sake of suffering as Jesus suffered. Another common theme is that we do these practices as a form of penance for our sinfulness, or that we take on these practices as a kind of personal testing, as Jesus was tested in the wilderness, to see if our faith holds up. The list goes on.

While there is some element of truth in each of these interpretations, what they lack is that they often make the practices ends in themselves. We suffer for the sake of suffering, or undergo a test for the sole purpose of saying we did it.

But the Gospel for today shows us what we are truly aiming for: transfiguration, transformation. This passage from Mark is widely understood as a revelation of the true reality of the crucifixion—that what on the face of it looks to be gory destruction, is actually the glorification of Jesus Christ. So too, our Lenten practices are not meant to be just brutal sacrifices for the sake of brutal sacrifice; they are meant to be transformative. They are meant to bring about the glory of God through our own transfiguration. The goal of Lent is not suffering, it is conversion. We too are meant to be “dazzling white.”

So this Lent, may we keep this perspective as we strive and struggle to hold fast to our resolutions. May we remember the ultimate goal is conversion, and allow the Lord to use our successes and failures to lead us closer to Christ and make us more Christian, more Christ-like.