March 21, 2021: Fifth Sunday of Lent

Today's Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032121-YearB.cfm

As you think about this Gospel I invite you to close your hand in a tight grip. Think about some of the things you have had to let go of and loosen your grip on over the last year. Yes, many people have had devastating losses. But all of us have also had daily “dyings”—our freedom to go here and there when we wanted, 24/7 sports, hopes for your kids’ endeavors, family celebrations, vacations, perhaps even trips to our favorite coffee shop, barbershop or nail salon.

“I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.”

Loosen your grip a little more and think about some of those things you have had to let “die,” things you thought you could never live without and yet learned you could. As tough as it is to admit, I know this loss has been good for me in areas of my life. It produces much fruit. Yes, there are fruits if I can take a moment to consider what they are.

We are in Lent. During Advent I heard Pope Francis talk about how “death and decay” can give way to “birth and blossoming,” how in times of trial, God’s grace leads us.

Tighten your grip again now. Think about what is most important to you—the things to which you must hold on. Family? Friends? Faith? Maybe this pandemic has forced you to figure out how to be creative in connecting with family and friends, how to make time for prayer, your commitment to your church and organizations, your goals for your studies and career—not to let go but to keep them alive in different ways.

We have been challenged to hold on to what is most important to us. Though we haven’t been able to be with loved ones the ways we have desperately wanted, we have been challenged to hold on and be open to innovative ways of nurturing our relationships. And sometimes that has meant simply working on our hearts and our prayer life. We have been asked to lean on Him more—the One who says, “I will draw everyone to myself.”

Look at your hand. Tighten your grip again. What else do you need to loosen your grasp on—to pray for the grace to let die? A hurt? A fear? Misunderstanding? Can you open your hand, give this to Him and listen quietly in your heart to what He wants you to do? “Whoever serves me must follow me.” In saying this, Jesus urges a moving forward, a leaving behind. At the core of this is love, radical love, a big-picture realization that amid the day-to-day hurts and struggles, this world is passing. But the rewards are so great. “The Father will honor whoever serves me.”

- Colette Liddy, Director of News and Media Relations & adjunct lecturer, Theology and Philosophy Department.


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