“The Lord, your God, shall you worship and Him alone shall you serve.” (St. Matthew 4:10)
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
The scripture passage above is taken from the gospel of this First Sunday in Lent. It is a reminder of our duty and obligation to Almighty God.
The solemn season of Lent is a time for us to embark on a spiritual journey of our spiritual life. It calls for us to slow down, to reflect, and to put aside all the noise and activity that prevents us from focusing on our Christian life in Jesus Christ. We live in a very active, noisy, and intense environment. Always running here and there. We think if we are not doing something, we are wasting time. The truth is, we are deceiving ourselves. When we pause, reflect, and enter into a period of silence, we truly get in touch with our inmost selves. Maybe we are afraid to enter into the depths of who we are. We should rather avoid the reality of our loves by the continuous activity and lack of quiet.
The Lord, Jesus Christ, invites us during this time to open our-selves to Him. To find in Jesus, spiritual healing, peace, and refreshment. We deny ourselves spiritual growth and renewal if we do not make time to quiet down, to pray, to place ourselves in the presence of Jesus, and to reflect on our lives. Everyone is able to set aside some time and place during each day to leave the hustle and bustle of life and to enter into the desert of ourselves with Jesus Christ. We make time for so many things, why not the Lord, Jesus Christ, and our life of faith? May this Holy season bear the fruit of a strengthening and renewal of our faith, hope and love, of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.