Yet, all of those Lenten themes can be summed up in the word’s offered by the Lord in the Gospel this morning: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.”
Put simply: Lent exists so that we can experience God’s love for us and we can love others better.
God so desires the transformation of our hearts so we can experience all of the love he has for us, so that our hearts can in turn be free to love others with that same sort of love. To paraphrase Hosea again, God wants to heal the defects in our hearts, so that we can be loved more freely—more deeply, more fully.
Our sins have made us afraid of God’s love. “Well, if I let him in, he might see all of me, he might see my secret sins, he might see the resentment I hold on to, some of the grief I’m not ready to let go of, some of the hurt that I’m not ready to be healed of.” We are afraid to be encompassed in the consuming fire of God’s love, for we know that God’s consuming fire will change us. We are afraid to trade anger for forgiveness, lust for purity, selfishness for selflessness. We are afraid to change, but we need to remember that the change God wants for us is always for the better, He has our best interests in mind, and he always provides the grace and help and aid for doing what he asks of us.
The Lord desires so much to heal from our sinful defections, and disordered desires and attachments, addictions, vices, and bad habits. He so wants to transform our hearts so we can experience all of the love he has for us, so that our hearts can in turn be free to love others with that same sort of love.
At this point in Lent some of us begin to pull away from the prayer, fasting, and almsgiving to which we’ve committed. Yet, God wants to heal our hearts through those Lenten penances, again, to trade the love of things, of power, of wealth and fame, for the love of the Divine, love of service and penance, and self-forgetfulness for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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That love of God and neighbor may mark the life of every Christian.
That all families will recommit themselves to fervent prayer this Lent so as to grow in greater love and holiness. We pray to the Lord.
That this Lent we will be faithful to fasting and to all the ways that the Lord sanctifies us. We pray to the Lord.
For generous giving for the needs of the poor, the hungry, the homeless, those who are sick, unemployed, victims of natural disaster, terrorism, war, and violence, the grieving and those most in need. We pray to the Lord.
For all those who have died, for all the poor souls in purgatory, for those who have fought and died for our country’s freedom, and for [intention below], for whom this Mass is offered. We pray to the Lord.
Mercifully hear, O Lord, the prayers of your Church and turn with compassion to the hearts that bow before you, that those you make sharers in your divine mystery may always benefit from your assistance.
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