Believe it or not, we are now a week away from Palm Sunday and the start of Holy Week. I don’t know about you, but I feel like we just stood in line to receive ashes on our foreheads. They often say that time moves more quickly as we age, but I didn’t think it moved this fast!
I had so many plans for these 40 days of Lent: I was going to listen to a faith-based podcast instead of watching the news; wake-up earlier to pray the Stations of the Cross each morning; and not snack between meals. Let’s just say that I didn’t do so hot with these chances to sacrifice and offer things up.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed in myself. I had high hopes for Lent 2025, to be honest. Instead, it didn’t feel much different than other times in my life – except I am wearing a lot more purple while in Church.
But maybe there’s a lesson in this, too. Lent was never meant to be a time to prove to God how much I love Him by fasting and extra prayer or acts of charity. I don’t have to prove anything. I simply have to be open to the love and mercy. He longs to pour into my life, and that’s what the discipline of this season helps us do: be open. So even if I only gave up an occasional piece of chocolate or stayed a few extra minutes in Church after Mass to offer a prayer of thanks, God accepted the feeble offerings and attempts I made and returned to me His grace a hundred times over. That’s just who God is … He can’t help Himself.
The good news is this, by the way: we can still offer-up little sacrifices, prayers and acts of charity for others in these final days leading up to the Sacred Triduum. It’s never too late to invite grace and healing into our lives, and to pray that those same gifts are granted to others.
So yes, time may be moving quickly these days, but there is always this message of hope: God never gives up on us, even when we eat the chocolate in Lent.