This is a time of year I struggle with — although I am a North Country native — winter is not my favorite time of year. Yes, I skate and ski, but the older I get, the more I mind the cold and having to bundle up so much. I share this with you because in all our lives, there are certain circumstances in life we struggle with, some of them being more serious than others. However, it leads me to reflect on the question: “To whom … to what … can I turn when I am feeling blue with winter doldrums, out of sorts, or things seem beyond my control?”
I am reminded of the recent gospel passage about the healing of a leper (Mk 1:40-45). The man with leprosy comes up to Jesus and begs him: “If you wish, you can make me clean” (v. 40). He is at his wits’ end. He knows that his only help can be found in God and recognizes God’s presence in Jesus. Such recognition in the midst of the struggles of life is a directional signal for you and me to look to when things are going haywire. Notice our contact with Jesus can have immediate results, as witnessed by the man’s healing.
However, it is what happens after the cure that sheds further light on what may transpire in our own lives. Jesus gives the leper some instructions about what to do to verify his cure, but for whatever reason, the leper thinks he knows better than Jesus. The cured man goes on then to make a scene in the public square, which leads Jesus having to locate himself in “deserted places” (v. 45).
The neat thing for me is that we have a God who is willing to meet up with you and me in the out-of-the-way, if not deserted, places of one’s life! Nonetheless, the rashness this moment illustrates also speaks to how things can go out of control because we set God’s prescriptions aside. Isn’t that really the original sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve? They thought that they had a better plan than God!
Although one may be quick to say, “God doesn’t care … I must not matter to God!” … when things are going awry in our lives. Should you and I not ask ourselves if we have taken the time to truly listen to God, and engaged in His prescription of prayer, fasting (given God time and space in our lives), and charitable works to help heal our wounded selves?
Again, one might be quick to suggest that the spiritual practices just mentioned are meant for Lent. Actually, though, our Lenten journey is meant to affect not only 40 days of our lives, but the remaining 325 days as well! How do you and I make Christ present in our lives, and through our living (not even so much our speech), so we bring others to encounter Jesus Christ?
The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy from the Second Vatican Council puts it this way: “To accomplish so great a work Christ is always present in His Church, especially in her liturgical celebrations. He is present in the Sacrifice of the Mass not only in the person of His minister, ‘the same now offering, through the ministry of priests, who formerly offered Himself on the cross,’ but especially in the eucharistic species. By His power, He is present in the sacraments so that when anybody baptizes, it is really Christ himself who baptizes. He is present in His word since it is He Himself who speaks when the holy scriptures are read in the Church. Lastly, He is present when the Church prays and sings, for He has promised ‘where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them’” (#7). This same document goes on to announce that, “[T]he liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; it is also the fount from which all her power flows” (10).
Again, this leads me to ponder that, in these seeming days of confinement brought on by the season of winter, might this be an occasion to reconnect with the Holy One of God and the newness He desires to bring to all the seasons of our lives? As I write this column, I am preparing for my yearly, week-long retreat. I am looking forward to letting God direct me through His Holy Word, through participation in the sacraments, through my fellow retreatants, but most of all in the silence!
A silence that I hope can empower me — in the midst of the cacophony of voices that fills this time in history, thinking they have all the answers to the Church’s and world’s problems — to do one thing: to minister in the name of Jesus. Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the former prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, in a recent interview with The Catholic Herald, stated: “Anyone who reflects even a little bit on the meaning of life and takes seriously his own existence and identity knows that preparing for Christmas cannot consist merely in buying gifts and indulging a bit of seasonal romanticism. What truly matters is opening our ears and preparing our hearts for the coming of Jesus into our minds and our lives. For we cannot place our hope — in life or in death — in the false prophets and pseudo-messiahs of ideological and political manufacture … Our hope rests in God alone, ‘who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ’ (1 Cor 15:57).
By my musings, you can probably tell I am ready for retreat. However, none of this takes away from the joy of the priesthood and the ultimate goal of retreat to come back with renewed vision. Pope Francis said of this renewal in the Church, “She does not renew herself by adapting to the spirit of the times, but by rediscovering the Gospel.” And the Gospel … the Good News … is none other than Jesus Christ himself — and He wishes to “make all things new” (Rev 21:5). May you also discover this newness even in the midst of the winter of life! God’s blessings!
