Glimpses of the Resurrection: Weekly Message for 04-19-2022

Dear Friends,

Happy Easter from the team at RCSpirituality. For many digital pilgrims, we are overjoyed to complete the Lenten season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Our observances may have brought a change of heart as we chose to recommit our lives to being kinder, more merciful, and more patient people. For others, our Lenten observances might not appear to have changed us in the way we had hoped. We might be feeling a little let down. Maybe we still feel like we are wandering in the desert. This reflection is for you. 

Our spiritual lives can be described as long journeys of transformation. This transformation takes time and often, we can become impatient with ourselves. We want to be holy and we want it now. 

As a mother of four, I remember the conversations with my preteens when they were frustrated with how long it took for their physical bodies to develop from adolescence to adulthood. I would remind them often, “You can’t rush nature”. Each person grows and develops at their own pace and so much growth is happening beneath the surface. As parents, we see glimpses of what our kids might look like as adults.  I remember one day looking down the pew at my son and seeing a man looking back at me. I thought “Wow, when did that happen?” The transformation we were both waiting for happened right before our eyes.  

This is no less true of our spiritual lives. Holiness takes time. We look in the mirror and ask ourselves when will I be different? Many of us live through a series of deserts and Lents but we also experience little resurrections; small, sometimes not so small victories over bad habits, resisting temptations to selfishness, committing to a daily prayer life, or growing in our friendship with Jesus. Each time we lay our old selves aside and become a new man in Christ, we see a glimpse of the resurrection.  During this Easter season, let us celebrate the moments when God in his infinite goodness allows those striving to be transformed by him, those little resurrections along the way.  One day in God’s timing, we might pass by a mirror and catch a glimpse of a saint smiling back at us. 

Yours in the Heart of Jesus,

Donna