Blog # 296 LENT - 3

Blog  # 296   Lent - 3

              Some of us 'old timers' will remember among the toys we used to play with were these: Lincoln  logs, erector sets, and building blocks. You start with a big box of many pieces and put them together piece by piece until you build a bridge, a house, or a store.

                 This year it occurred to me to reflect upon these experiences from long ago and apply my recollections to our celebration of Holy Week.  Our life is something like the box of blocks, Lincoln logs, or the pieces in our erector set. There are only so many pieces in our box. As life goes on we use them up. The time will come when there are no more left.  Our life will be over.

                Applying this to Holy Week it came out this way:  from all eternity God has determined the number of years we shall live here on earth, the number of pieces in our box.  We are in the process of building our eternal name by which God will call us at the instant of our death.  As it was in our building a house or a bridge and putting one block upon another and coupling one piece to another, so it is with our life's story and the  eternal name we are building as the years go on.

                A big difference lies in the fact as children we could take our bridges and buildings down when we finished playing with them for a time and put them back into our box.  In real life, however, we get an opportunity of using our years but once.  2013 will never come again.

                 Several questions begin to come to mind.  Do I have an overall goal for my life?  Do I realize the connection between all of the days and years of my life? What single thing, if any, am I putting together as the years go by?  Am I merely taking the pieces out of my box and setting them aside one by one rather than building something I desire and can  recognize?  Am I aware of a plan, purpose, or goal God presents for me to achieve that is uniquely mine?  What is the value of this plan of  God to me, personally?
What degree of commitment to it do I desire and experience?  How does my commitment or lack of it show itself in my everyday experience of life, in the time I spend or do not spend in prayer, in my effort or lack of effort to grow in holiness, in my relationships with my family, friends, and the Church?

                  What heavy questions!  For us who believe in Jesus there is a single answer that covers them all.  The single name of every bridge  and building we are called to put together is love.  We, indvidually, and all creation are called into existence by with and in God, and God is love.

                  Our limited human minds cannot fathom the full meaning of this truth. In the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus it was realized to the fullest extent possible here on earth.  In Jesus God's love was limited by the humanity of Jesus, but was unobstructed by His faithfulness and obedience to the Father's will. Jesus was all the Father wanted Him to be. In union with Jesus through faith and Baptism we can desire, discover, and achieve all that God desires us to be.

               Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of this coming week we remember, experience, and celebrate the total love of Jesus for the Father.  We are invited to be with Him by faith, in the upper room, on the Cross, and at the tomb. To share His love for the Father and to live with Him in  the Father's love and the glory of  His  Resurrection is the goal of our life.  Holy Week 2013 will never come again. Let's not let it pass us by.