by Return to Me: Lenten Reflections by Holy Cross 2019
In today’s first reading the prophet Isaiah depicts Zion crying out:
“The Lord has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me.” Now, Zion may seem a little overdramatic, but how often do we cry out like Zion, overwhelmed by the suffering of our existence? This cry is deeply relatable. Life can be hard and rife with pain, and so often God can feel distant, if not absent altogether. In these times when things go wrong, it’s all too natural to cry out, to complain, to wallow in our misery and to wish things were different.
Most certainly, there are times to cry out to the Father; Jesus, our Lord, and model of faith, cried out as he hung on the cross. Still, we must not spend all of our lives, nor all of our time in prayer, wallowing over the suffering of existence. Our lives, after all, are gifts from God. Our Christian vocation calls us to view our lives as such; it even invites us to gestures of praise.
Today, I ask myself these questions: Do I take time to praise the Lord for the gift of my life and its many blessings or do I, like Zion, see only life’s suffering? Do I give thanks for my mission, given to me by the Father or do I instead focus on the inevitable pain that my mission entails?
During this Lenten season, when we find ourselves crying out to God, may it be cries of praise.