Sunday, March 2, 2025

Lent begins on Wednesday.  I invite us this Lent to reflect on Christianity as the “Way.”  That is what the first Christians called their movement, as we hear in Acts of the Apostles: their faith commitment was following Jesus on the “Way.”
 
Over the centuries the Church developed rituals and customs and, unfortunately, these became the focus for many: being a good Christian meant going to Mass, abstaining from meat on Fridays, saying the rosary, etc.  The concept that it is following Jesus’ Way of being, imitating Him, was lost.
 
To follow Jesus on the Way means that we treat other people as He did.  We don’t condemn the woman caught in adultery, but do our best to help her live a better life.  We are like the good Samaritan, who goes out of his way to help an enemy in need, and the father of the prodigal son, who is waiting to forgive someone who has humiliated him.  We take our five loaves and share with those in need.  And so on.
 
Being a Christian is a way of life, a way of reacting to situations and relating to people in which we think of more than ourselves.  It is living and interacting as did Christ.  The more we can do that, the more “Christian” we are in fact, not just name.
 
A good analogy for us is Bartimaeus, the blind man siting on the side of the road.  Once he was given sight by Jesus, we are told that he “followed Jesus on the Way.”  In other words, he got more than his physical sight: he was given the spiritual insight to know how to live his life.
 
My friends, we all have spiritual blind spots.  It is so easy to “practice” our faith, while not following Jesus on the Way.  I invite us to use Lent as a time of asking Jesus to improve our spiritual sight, so that, when we celebrate Easter on April 20th, we will be better at living out lives for others, as we follow Jesus “on the Way.”
 
Church sign: Lent is spring training for Christians. See you on opening day (Easter).