The Woman At The Well

“This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mk1:15)
Wild beasts of evil and sin roam the world today as in earlier times. Evil is not an illusion; God is not superfluous, and man cannot be indifferent. Man is not in control of the earth, himself. Man is not God, no matter how much he sacrifices himself to the reasoning of the wild beasts of the world. Only God is creator; only God can control the floods of destruction. Only God has made a covenant with man through Noah and others; only God has promised man to send One who will enable man to overcome the wild beasts- even the wild beasts within man.

God sent His Son- the One He loves, the One who loves us- the One who showed His love on Good Friday and who rose from the dead on Easter Sunday. He did this once, for all men, for all time. We remember, we love, we imitate.

Lent is a preparation, an arming of ourselves, a Christian “boot camp”, if you will. Lent is forty days of preparation as Christ prepared for His mission of love and redemption for the world.

John and Jesus call sinners to “repent and believe”. Repent is to leave behind something and move toward Someone. Lent is time to leave behind old ways of destruction, old self-attachments -to “die to self” and to live in Christ. It is time to overcome apathy, discouragement, pretension of self-sufficiency and let God enter one’s heart. Now is the time to look carefully inside oneself- to unite one’s body and soul, mind and heart into a living love – to refocus one’s life.

Now is the time to reflect and ask oneself:

What temptations are most prevalent in me?

In what way have I hurt others and God?

What are the gods in my life?

Repentance involves making a decision:

With whom do I want my heart to stay?

Now is the time to make a proactive stance that will allow one to grow closer to Christ. It should not be viewed as a problem to solve, rather, “How can my actions be pleasing to God? How can my prayers, charity open hearts to Christ?” Only when I am submissive to Him, can I beg for God’s help and mercy.

Lent is the time of fulfillment for man’s response to God’s love.