Daily Reflection Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent

We know from biblical history that Jeremiah tried so hard to talk his way out of his call to be a prophet. He was well aware of the tension between his own love for God and his call to speak to people about their own failure to follow God’s precepts. Yet, that is the call of the prophet. As we meander through Scripture today, let us be aware that we also were called to be prophets—God’s messengers. God had spoken the same words to each of us through our Baptism:
Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you
before you were born, I dedicated you
a prophet to the nations I appointed you.—Jeremiah 1:5
 
    In today’s gospel, we have the greatest prophet, Jesus, challenged by the mother of the Zebedee boys. Assuming that Jesus’ kingdom is a rich, earthly one, she requests that her two sons sit on Jesus’ right and left hands. However, God’s plans do not include personal ambition. Nurturing our relationship with God in prayer leads to a deeper understanding of who God is and what is asked of us. At this point in gospel history, Jesus’ disciples are still expecting an earthly kingdom.
 
    However, Jesus’ way of life is not that of the “prosperity gospel.” He does not promise us freedom from pain or a comfortable lifestyle when we follow him. “Can you drink of the chalice I am going to drink?” is directed to us as he questions the Zebedee boys. In today’s readings, as well as the Scripture readings throughout Lent, Jesus is showing us through his own life, as well as through the lives of the people he serves, that we struggle. We are loved by God unconditionally. Yet, because of original sin, there is a tension between our responding to goodness and our attraction to sin. This tension causes us pain and suffering—often for long periods of time.
 
    God gives us the grace to be able to struggle through temptation and sin. If we respond to grace, we receive the strength to handle physical, mental, and emotion pain. The love of God does not abolish or minimize pain. But it does help us to live and grow through it. Before his crucifixion, one of the greatest pains—sweating blood pains—that Jesus endured was the agony in the garden. Jesus and his father loved each other deeply. Yet, three times Jesus asked that the cup of suffering be taken away…and his father said,”No.” We need Jesus’ suffering to accompany us throughout our lives’ disappointments, betrayals, and hurts of any kind.
    We know from church history that many people who decided to follow Jesus in the gospel suffered through their doubts until they realized the call of God, for that intimate relationship includes reaching out to other people. St. Ignatius of Loyola experienced his own long struggles when he decided to dedicate his life to God through his own prayer and reaching out to those who were seeking the divine in their lives. 
 
    As we continue to follow Jesus during this Lenten season, let us spend time in prayer asking God to lead us to those who need our love and prayer in a special way: family members, the emotionally distressed, those living in poverty, those rejected by society.
 
Make Me a Channel of Your Peace