Now that we are more than halfway through the Easter octave and thoroughly enjoying that He is risen and paid the price for our sins and regained entrance to heaven, I have to ask myself
“how did I fare this Lent?”
I admit, I did better than most years, handling those spiritual curve balls with more grace than I thought possible. Truly God knows what we can handle and He does not spare us the opportunity to glorify Him through the daily trials and sufferings we endure provided we are looking to use our suffering for something greater than ourselves. Though few of us can cheerfully say we look forward to suffering, they are each opportunities to unite ourselves to Christ on the Cross – or, more importantly, a way to really put that suffering in perspective when compared to every drop of blood that He shed for us.
So…my Lenten journey likely started like most everyone else. Decide what to give up, decide what extras I want to work on and GO!
I have my two favorites I like to give up for Lent – everything was going hunky dory until my husband and I suddenly/abruptly/insanely decided that we wanted to pursue house hunting – seriously – right in the throes of Lent, right in the throes of being pregnant {i.e. third trimester, no less!}, right in the throes of my husband’s busiest time of year at work, right in the throes of still being in the middle of pregnancy fog – you get the idea. Throes being the theme – throes meaning that no sane person would take on more when what we had already wouldn’t fit on our plate!
However, it had been decided. We found the home – which meant we needed to sell our home. Which also meant we needed St. Joseph’s intercession. How convenient that his novena started almost to the day that we started the process for both home selling/buying!
Each day was centered in specific prayer, offering up our daily struggles and handing over our wishes and desires and aligning our will to God’s, whatever that would be. And the struggles were aplenty, for sure – some physical, some emotional, some mental. I found when I was able to genuinely hand over those desires, instead wishing for God’s will above mine, I was able to maneuver the trials during the day with more appreciation and fervor.
Lent provided the perfect opportunity for us to really get down to the nuts and bolts of the Faith and disregard the rest. I found myself more attuned to the needs of others and for all the little things that would have irritated me and gone wasted in offering up, I found specific prayer intentions from friends and family who I could instead offer that suffering for, making it an almost efficient use of suffering.
We shouldn’t desire to get through our suffering and be done with it – rather, while we know that those moments can’t be avoided, we should find creative ways to offer it up for others who have it worse than we do. Why? Connective prayer is one way for us to not only align ourselves to God, but also to each other – it calls to mind Scripture that talks about the vine and the branches. Very profound stuff.
So, how did you do this Lenten season?
What would you do differently?
How did you manage the sufferings that came your way?
Now that we are in the Easter season, do you view those struggles differently?
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