Lenten Moments – Fifth Sunday of Lent – 2024

Walking on Holy Ground: A Lenten Journey

I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts;
and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
(Jeremiah 31:33)

You already carry the blessed seeds of your own flowering deep within. Every human heart is full of divine promise and power. Your human experiences of joy in your life, courage in your pain, freedom in your fear, letting go in your resentment, staying truthful in a web of lies, fighting depression, staying faithful to your promises, growing younger in spirit as you grow older in years – they are all, somehow, experiences of the infinite Source of Life (O’Leary, The Happiness Habit, 69).

The Hebrew Scriptures have many passages that describe the new covenant as written not on stone but in the hearts of the people. These passages show a shift from a list of rules to follow to a true experience of conversion. The motivation to do good things in the world comes from an internal motivation rather than an external one. This speaks to me of the ripening wisdom of a people and how God speaks to us in different ways at different times. The beauty is that it says God is willing to try different approaches with us (Valders Paintner, The Love of Thousands, 147).

Reflection
Recall a time when has God spoken to you in different ways and at different times on your journey?

God of the Journey,
may this Lenten season challenge us
to a change of heart:
to live gently,
to love generously,
to count blessings and
to walk paths of peace
and inclusion.

Amen