The readings for today’s mass seem to sum up the themes of this week’s celebrations. They beg the question: What is it that gives authenticity to my life as a Christian?
Isn’t it the love I show to others? If so, shouldn’t Lent be the time when I daily examine myself how I put that love into practice in a concrete, unsentimental manner? I know I have the tendency to measure and calculate my feelings and dealings with others.
Only God can teach me to love as he loves, and he does so in my prayer. But prayer is not easy and it never will be. I must have patience. Growth takes time. And the fact that I make such little progress keeps me dependent on him, like a child dependent on his parent.
Then there is the fact that because I am far from being perfect, I must have more resource to the Eucharist. Daily, if possible. What a wonderful Lenten resolution.
Studying the lives of saints is also beneficial because I am not so much moved by the idea as I am by the ideal, the flesh-and-blood expression of the idea. And what better models we have for living out that love than the martyrs whose feast we celebrate today, Felicity and Perpetua! Read their lives to see for yourselves.