Reflection for Tuesday of the First Week of Lent
The theme of a Lenten journey, which is meant to tie these reflections together, gives us some wiggle room. It allows us to use our liturgical readings of the day to illustrate some ideas about making any journey. Most of us would agree that when we travel, we tend to over-pack. “Just in case” permits us to take one more non-essential item with us.
Ed Hays relates a rabbinical story which makes a beautiful point about simplicity:
Once a traveler was passing through a Russian village whose rabbi was renowned throughout the land for his holiness. On the chance that he might see the holy man, the traveler stopped at his simple abode. He was shocked to see how bare and stark was the rabbi’s room. It held only an old wooden table and stool, at which the rabbi sat prayerfully reading his Scriptures.
“Rabbi,” the traveler began, looking around the room, “where are your possessions?”
The old holy man looked up and returned: “Stranger, where are yours?”
Confused, the man replied, “Rabbi, I don’t have any with me. I’m only passing through.”
The rabbi smiled and said, “So am I.”
The question of simplicity during Lent can take us down two different paths of thought. The most obvious path means taking that long-needed inventory of our stuff and downsizing to what we truly need for ourselves and passing the rest of the “treasure” to someone who needs it more than we do. Remember what St. Basil said: “That coat in your closet which you’re not wearing is not yours, it belongs to the poor.”
The other path is to appreciate simplicity as the singleness of purpose when reflecting on God’s original choice of creating us out of love. We were created to do one thing: to reflect like a mirror all the divine light and goodness we can absorb. Isaiah says it so beautifully in the first reading describing the unified purpose in the series of water softening the earth, the seed given to the sower, and then the sprouted seed providing bread to the one who eats.
Jesus, the one, total revelation of the Father, teaches us to pray to the Father in that same kind of focused simplicity. In praying to the Father, we come to that profound phrase, “give us this day our daily bread.” These are words to ponder within the context of simplicity. Are we talking about that faith-filled and enormously rich concept of “enough?”
Perhaps some quiet time today spent with the word “enough” will recharge the word “simple” with new freedom and quiet joy.
Reflection by Fr. Daniel Petsche, OSB
Posted in Daily Reflections, Lenten Resources