Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent
“Jesus said to him, ‘Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.’”
Jesus is exasperated over the unbelief he experiences. This exasperation arises from his perception that his hearers are unwilling to grow up and take responsibility for their desires.
It is wanting signs and wonders which has to do with wanting to be convinced, rather than to trust. It is a failure to take personal responsibility for desire: ‘What am I seeking in life?’
The Lenten Season reminds the Christian to school desire: What to desire, how to desire, what to wait for, what to choose? The rhythm of daily tasks, feelings, and thoughts appears the same day after day. But our faith in the creative God tells us that today is not the same as yesterday! Today is new; God’s interventions and graces are new. God has never acted upon us today quite like He did yesterday.
But we must pay attention! What we wait and watch for is not something that knocks us over as if we were bowling pins! But we watch and wait with a growing simplicity of mind, a memory, and a focus which learns the ways of God, which teach us to discern. They school us toward a goal truly worthy of our dignity as children of God! If we are driven by a need to achieve, to produce, to star, then we do not notice God’s ways, and our lives yield intrigue and complexity.
Hear this discerning way in today’s prayer over the gifts:
May we receive, O Lord, we pray,
the effects of this offering dedicated to you,
so that we may be cleansed from old earthly ways
and be renewed by growth in heavenly life.
Reflection by Fr. Xavier Nacke, OSB
Posted in Articles for Lent, Daily Reflections, Lenten Resources