Search
-
February 23, 2019One of the more stressful experiences that virtually all of us go through fairly regularly is assessment and evaluation. From the time we begin school until we retire, there is usually someone who breaks down our performance and tells us what we did wrong and how we can do better in the future. Every few years I have a review with the Archbishop. Many have a yearly review with their boss. In fact, perhaps retirement isn’t as free from all this pressure as I imagined. Having never been a grandparent, for all I know there is some sort of standard review between parents and grandparents to make sure one can maintain their license to spoil the kids rotten.
In a few weeks, we will be entering into the season of Lent, which serves the same purpose, to a degree, as these other sources of evaluation in our lives. It’s not so much that God is taking a step back to look at how we’ve done over the past year, but rather that He invites us to examine our attachments and work on how we can replace them with love of Him. To keep up the analogy, I always struggled to produce a helpful self-evaluation if I waited too long to start thinking about it. No one can provide a useful reflection on their shortcomings and faults if they wait until the last minute. The best thing you can hope for then is a list of insecurities, which may or may not be useful in growing personally.
The Church provides countless sources of wisdom and tools for detachment for us to use during Lent, but we will only be able to take full advantage of them if we take the time before Ash Wednesday to examine what needs to be worked on in our life. Waiting to choose a Lenten penance until Fat Tuesday (when many of us are stuffed with fried dough, king cake, or the entire occupants of the cupboard that we want to get rid off before fasting starts) is a recipe for disaster. That’s how we end up either trying to do more than we should at this point, or how we end up giving up candy or pop for the umpteenth time.
This Sunday starts a ten day countdown towards Ash Wednesday and Lent. This season of purification is a beautiful opportunity for us as a parish family to refocus our sights on the Lord and His call in our lives. I encourage everyone to actively set aside time in the coming week and a half to come before the Lord in Adoration and lay at His feet everything in our lives that is consuming our energy, our time, and our love. In that time we must ask ourselves the difficult, even painful questions about our devotion to God. What are the things that are creeping in between us and our relationship with Him? What are the earthly loves and desires that need purification? If we are open and honest with God during that time spent in adoration, He will show us the path to become better and better disciples each day.
Prayers always,
Fr. McCullough
