Dear Brothers and Sisters,
There was an article in the paper yesterday by George Weigel about the fiftieth anniversary of a magazine in Lithuania called the Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania. It was a simple publication to record the sufferings and events of the Church. The names priests murdered or sent to the Gulag and those serving prison sentences, when they started and ended and their location. One priest who lived in the rural area was the organizer and an editorial committee of people who were never known by the Russians. The priest was caught and sent to the Gulag for ten years. In 2019 Pope Francis made him a Cardinal. It’s good for us to know of the courage of these people who fought and died for the Church.
What about us? When we hear a gospel like the one today, we don’t like to hear these words: repent or convert. It is too much for us. And the biggest enemy that we may have is that we say: but I’m already converted, I’m already a Christian. Maybe we don’t say it out loud but often that’s what we think or that is what our actions show.
The Jesuits have a custom of doing the examination of conscience at the end of the day. And their founder, St. Ignatius, taught them to do it in a simple way. To question themselves if they did their work that day for love or for another purpose. To convert and problem is an invitation from the Lord, to do things for him, to do them for love. To take a deeper look this time of Lent to see what is in our hearts.
One of the psalms says, Lord, let us proclaim your merciful love in the morning and your faithfulness at night. Despite our sins, despite who we are the Lord is always faithful to us and helps us. We think that he helps us up to the point up to the point where we sin. But this is not true; the Lord is always with us. And his Holy Spirit doesn’t go away when we sin. That is when we really need him, when we see we can’t love. It’s precisely then that we need him.
Knowing that we are loved no matter what fills us with joy and peace. Nothing and no one can separate us from this love, St. Paul tells us. Image those Catholics who suffered in Lithuania or the people now in Ukraine, I am sure they feel the love of God all day. And that often they love him in return.
The Lord isn’t asking or making demands that we convert today. He is saying, today I will help you convert, I will give you the grace that you need. He’s always patient with us as we see in the gospel. He gives it another year. And he sends us catechists, prophets, retreats, this time of lent, to help us to put a little fertilizer around the tree. Our sins if we recognize them and repent from them are the fertilizer that makes the tree grow and give fruit. The fruit is the ability to love, a love that always remains, otherwise it is not love. God makes this promise to us.
Let us ask the Lord for this gift tonight especially in the Eucharist. Ask that he give us this fruit to love and that it will always be present in our lives.