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If you are like me, you made sincere resolutions on New Year's Day to exercise more, eat less, read more, and pray more. So how are you doing? Not so good? I know that I'm not. It's interesting that many of us think about ways to become physically fit or engage in activities that we really like, but we leave God out of the picture or down low on our list.
Now, we are in the season of Lent and are hopefully making new resolutions to pray, fast, and donate to charities in a greater way and with more dedication. I recently heard a past clip from a radio program of Mother Angelica speaking about Lent and she encouraged her listeners to develop a constant attitude of repentance during Lent. I've been trying to do this and the word that keeps coming to me is "surrender." How can I better surrender myself to Our Lord, especially during the Lenten season?
Dan and I went to a wonderful event at our Parish in Bluffton, SC this week. It was a traveling pilgrimage of a relic of St. Jude the Apostle. The priest entrusted with bringing the relic throughout the United States told us the life story of St. Jude as revealed to us in Sacred Scripture and through the writings of the early Church Fathers. St. Jude was the cousin of Our Lord, an Apostle and a Bishop of the Church. He is often depicted as wearing a likeness of Christ around his neck. Jude traveled with the Apostle Simon and together they went to Edessa in Turkey, Phoenicia, Arabia, Syria, and Mesopotamia, spreading the word of Christ and performing miracles. Sts. Jude and Simon were martyred during the first century in either Beirut or Persia which is modern-day Iran. Jude was clubbed to death and then beheaded and Simon was sawed in half.
Fr. Carlos Martins is the priest who has been commissioned to present the relic of St. Jude to different Parishes. The relic itself is actually a part of St. Jude's arm bone and is encased in a reliquary. Fr. Martins stressed how St. Jude and all the Apostles said a resounding, "YES" to Jesus's call for them to go out and spread the Gospel message. He asked if each one of us is willing to say "Yes" to Christ's personal call?
To whom are we listening? What are we listening to? God or the world around us? Is the world and other voices pulling us away from Christ? How can we hear Christ's voice if we fill our heads with constant noise?
Think about the young woman who takes a pregnancy test alone and then see the results that she is indeed pregnant with a child, made in the image and likeness of Almighty God. All she can feel now is tremendous fear and confusion about what she should do. What voices will she listen to? If only someone would voice words of love and acceptance, she would save her baby. If only her boyfriend or her dad would offer her help and support, she would save her baby. If only her mom or best friend would stand by her and hold her, telling her that everything will work out, she would save her baby. But, no one is with her; she's alone in her agony and so she decides alone, to abort her baby. Could one of us used our voice to help her?
And now, we look at the resolutions we made at New Year's with some satisfaction and maybe some disappointment. But, we are still trying to fulfill those promises to ourselves. But, what are we doing for Christ? Can we surrender our very selves to Him to use as He desires? Can we make the resolution this Lent to seek His will for our lives? He offered His sacred life for us; can we give our lives back to Him?
"Here I am Lord, I come to do your will." Psalm 40.