February 25: Lent and Romans 7,15

St. Paul wrote to the Church gathering in Rome to say, “What I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate.” (Romans 7,15) Sound familiar? Who can not relate to the tension between what we want to do and what we actually do? Who has not felt the struggle to make Ash Wednesday’s invocation real: “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel?” St. Paul asks us to be truly what we have been called to be, children of God! He is encouraging us to acknowledge the difficulty of embracing a faithful life, living out of a Christian identity, yet fully aware that, if left to ourselves, we would be helpless, unable to resist temptation. 

Lent arises right now to say, “it is a struggle to live a righteous life in this world!” But it always has been. We dare not forget this: if God dwells in us, then we must allow Him to control our lives. That’s what it means to make Him “Lord” of our lives. This means that we have to prize our loving relationship with Christ. He offers us the hope of being raised up each time we fall down. He offers us the hope that, even if we die, we will be resurrected to new life. Can we let Lent remind us that there is no discipleship without a prayerful and loving relationship with God? Will we let Lent speak to our hearts so that God’s grace can change our thinking, attitudes, and way of life? 

Let us pray. “O God, your Word reveals to us a simple truth, that sin entered this world through human folly and has filled the history of the human family through envy, selfishness and greed. Yet sin, which tries to hold us tight within its grasp cannot resist a heart that is touched by your grace, through Christ Jesus. Sin cannot contend with Living Water pouring into hearts and souls. Your Word reveals to us a simple truth, that sin is defeated and we can become the people we were always meant to be, in and through your Son and by the power of your Spirit. Amen.”

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