In the first reading for today’s masses – Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent – we hear God calling to us in Joel 2:12 – 18: “Return to me with your whole heart.”

The act of returning is not “going to a place for the first time.” The act of returning is to go back to somewhere we’ve been before.

We are being invited – as our 40 day Lenten journey – to return to the God who loves us. Returning – we are not meeting God for the first time. At some point, then, we have all experienced being loved by God. For some, that may not be a conscious memory. But, we are being invited to experience God’s loving embrace going forward.

In the Bible, periods of 40 days/years was always a time of cleansing. The Israelites were sent by God to wander in the desert for 40 years for their disobedience before being allowed to enter into the promised land. Jesus fasted and was tempted in the desert for 40 days following his baptism……

Like the periods of cleansing in Biblical days, we fast and repent – amend our ways – for 40 days of cleansing during Lent. We amend ourselves by mending our relationships – relationships with one another and with God. Surely, this must also mean getting right within our own lives. The greatest commandments – we are told – are to love God and to love one another as we love ourselves. Thus, Lent – it would therefore seem – is a time to set about making everything right.

Most of us have enough self-awareness to know areas in our lives that need to be rendered right. Therefore, what we focus on rendering right is going to be different for each of us……. How we render our lives right is going to depend upon our own particular circumstances. For one person, it might be prayer to establish a relationship with God (FYI, prayer isn’t a uni-directional conversation – it’s about a two-way relationship, like a phone call. You wouldn’t call someone, tell them something, then hang up without giving the other person an opportunity to respond. Prayer should be the same way….we communicate to God and allow God to be tangibly present to us in response). For another person, rendering our lives right might be about fixing human relationships that are strained. Or, fixing the cluttered messes in our lives (several years ago, I knew a guy who decided that Lent needed to be about going back and sorting an unfinished mess involving an ex-wife – he offered to “take the short end of the stick” to get the matter wrapped up). Getting ourselves sorted out in whatever ways are necessary….. In the end, however, the larger number of people who truly engage in repairing – repentance – during Lent…..the more we will collectively participate in bringing about some measure of the Kingdom of God in our communities today (“on earth as in heaven”)……. And…. returning to the God who loves us (while we’re at it, who can we tangibly bring some love-in-action to this Lent?).

Kim Burkhardt blogs about faith at The Hermitage Within. Thank you for reading this faith blog and for sharing it with your friends. While you are here, please feel welcome to provide support to sustain this blog ($$).