A Lent Like No Other

Wednesday of Holy Week

When I began thinking about the readings for this Last full day of Lent, I wasn’t sure where the Lord was calling me. I decided to start by stepping backward to February 23rd. 

February 23rd, 2020 was the last Sunday before Lent. On that Sunday, I wrote a reflection for our bulletin. It began like this, “This weekend, we stand on the brink of another Lent, and I wonder if this one will be different.” Okay, God! Talk about taking me at my word. I had no idea how different it would be. 

Yesterday, I went to our Church by myself and walked around. The Church feels different. It feels like it is vacant, not just empty of people, but really alone. 

Our Church that usually gives me a great deal of peace brought tears to my eyes. I noticed the sanctuary light was out, and the flowers by Mary were dead. One of our sacristans usually changes the candle, and one of our parish staff cares for the flowers. I changed the candle, relit the light, removed the dead flowers, and sat in the first pew in the dimness, praying. 

The reading on Ash Wednesday is always the temptation of Jesus in the desert. 

God has powerfully sent us into the desert with Jesus this Lent. This year Lent has demanded that we look deep into our souls to find what we really value. 

This Lent has been about:

• rising death totals from a virus, we don’t understand and realizing the world is beyond our power and control. It has forced us to look to God. 
• Social distancing, when a hug was what we wanted more than anything. It has made us re-evaluate the people in our lives. It has rekindled love for those that we have taken for granted, 
• being confined and lonely. A loneliness that had the potential to call us into a deeper relationship with God, if we dared to go where he was leading us. Loneliness that pushed us to make a call we have been putting off, or to heal a relationship that is broken.
• Millions of Americans losing their financial security and with it their sense of themselves. It is forcing us all to re-evaluate what is important in life. It is calling forth the generosity of those who can help. It has taught us that we are all dependent on one another.
• Masks that cover faces. Real masks, cloth masks cover our faces. Perhaps, they are calling us to a sense of authenticity. When we can remove the literal masks that hide our faces, we will also remove the barriers to our hearts and souls so others can see and know us more fully.
• Missing Eucharist. This Lent has been about learning to be Eucharist. It has taught us that Eucharist is never about just me and God. It is about God and us and the world.

This Lent is about knowing the road Jesus walked in a whole new way. Jesus knew what it meant to walk the path of uncertainty. He understood loneliness and isolation. Jesus, during these days just before His death, knew what it was like to have his world rocked, to be anxious, afraid, and unsure what and where it was safe. 

While our quarantine is not over yet, and the virus still rages. Our Lent is coming to a close. We are going to walk the days of the Tridium in a way we never have before. We will gather virtually. But we will know the Love of Jesus and the support of our Sacred Heart community in a powerful new way. It will be a balm for our souls. I know my soul can use a little balm right now, and I bet yours can too.

Please join us for the Tridium. Thursday night at 7 PM, Friday at 3 PM, Saturday at 8:30 PM, and Easter Sunday at 11 AM. Go to the parish website or Facebook, and you will be directed on how to get to the services, this year, from the comfort of your living room.

Let us continue to pray for one another and hold each other in our hearts in this very trying time. I close this reflection with the comforting words of St. Julian of Norwich, “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.” 

In God’s unending love,

Gwen

Gwen Coté, Pastoral Associate

Please note, it has been suggested that I sign my reflections, so it is clear who has been writing them. I am aware there has been some confusion. The pieces Father Jerry writes are always titled, “From the Pastor’s Pen.” Any other reflections are from the heart and hand of your Pastoral Associate. I consider it a great compliment that some of you thought the reflections have been from Father Jerry.