Rocks that pilgrims have placed in the shape of a cross.
The Cross of Iron along the pilgrimage trail.
Prayers that Lincoln placed at the Cross of Iron.
Lincoln attaching a rosary at the base of the Cross of Iron.
Today, as we come to church to
commemorate Ash Wednesday, we begin the season of Lent, a time of preparation
and renewal. Most of us come here today
with an acknowledgement that there are sins that are present in our lives. Yet,
we desire to leave sin behind, to change our hearts, and to grow closer to God
during this holy season.
In the Gospel today, Jesus talks about
prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Since
the early centuries, the Church has encouraged us to undertake these 3
practices during Lent as a form of penance & conversion: praying more,
fasting, and giving alms to the poor. In
fasting, we fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, we abstain from meat on
Fridays during Lent. There are many ways
in which we can give alms, in which we can help others as a reflection of the
love we have for God. Through the word
of God that we meditate upon during Lent, through prayer devotions such as the
stations of the cross and the rosary, through any spiritual readings we may
undertake during this holy season, may our prayer life be enriched as we
journey to the cross with Jesus.
Lent is indeed a special time where we
focus on the life of Jesus, on the sacrifices he made to save us & to bring
us closer to God. For me, a rock is a good symbol of the journey we are going
to make as followers of Jesus during Lent.
A rock is a symbol of Lent for me
particularly in the context of a journey of faith that I have taken twice in my
life. I walked more than 300 miles both
in 2003 and in 2012 on a pilgrimage to the city of Santiago de Compostela in
the country of Spain, to the church where St. James the Apostle is buried. Now, you may ask why I walked so many miles
just to get to a church, when I could have taken a bus or driven in a car and
gotten there in less than a day. The whole idea of going on pilgrimage as
Catholics is to bring us closer to God through the experiences we have on this
pilgrimage journey.
Part of that pilgrimage to the church
dedicated to the apostle James in the city of Santiago de Compostela is to
carry a rock with you all the way from your home country, & then to leave
this rock at the foot of a tall cross that is located on the top of a very high
mountain. Even though this rock seems
very small, carrying it day after day, step after step, it starts to feel like
a big weight, something that weighs us down along our journey.
This rock is a symbol for all the
things that keep us away from God. What
we sometimes say or do or think can rupture or strain the relationship we have
either with God or with others.
Sometimes these words or actions happen one isolated time, but sometimes
they form a habit or an addiction that is impossible to breaks. These words or thoughts or actions can result
in a burden that stays in our hearts.
For me, this rock is a useful symbol of all those things that are
keeping us from God, all those things that we need to let go.
Think of this rock and all the things
that weigh us down and burden us as we make our journey during Lent. What we want to do is to place this rock at
the cross of Jesus at the end of our Lenten journey, placing it at the cross of
Jesus those crosses, those sins, those sufferings that bear down heavily upon
us.
We are challenged to carry our crosses
with Jesus during this holy season of Lent.
We are challenged to repentance, conversion, and renewal. May we heed the call that Jesus makes to each
one of us during this holy season.
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