“Walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:
4)
Lent
is a journey towards the passion and the cross. Today’s reading from Romans
asks us to consider how we might participate in that journey with Christ, seeing the cross not only
as a matter of Christ dying for us,
but a matter of us dying with him
(Rom. 6: 5).
Paul
tells us that dying with Christ is the path to “newness of life” (6: 4). But
how can life come from death? Paul’s answer to this question is to see our
lived encounter with the cross as something active and life-giving. Every day
we can “die with Christ” by praying
for help in the call to self-sacrifice, a deeper concern with injustice, and a
greater capacity for love. In all these ways, we can learn to listen to the
living “word” of the Father (Jn. 5: 24) and be drawn more deeply into the
mystery of His passion, as we journey with
Him “from death to life” (Jn. 5: 24).
One
meaning of “Lent” (as musicians will know) is to slow down. During Lent, we are
being asked to “press the pause button” on our busy lives, and take time to
reflect on our journeys with Christ
to the Cross. We may only be able to offer a small amount of time to this, but
we can be reassured that, according to the psalmist’s way of counting time: “one
day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere” (Ps. 84: 10).
— Laura
Biron
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