I noticed my no name wristwatch was beginning to run slow that indicates time for a new battery. It was running 10 minutes slow and heaven forbid that I start late for Mass or fail to get all my work done by the end of day. We are bound by time due to deadlines, or some internal clock that says, “get your work done.” Sadly, many people are running out of time after being laid off and their severance is scheduled to run out. A few people ran out of energy before they began their job search because of chronic depression and fear. It’s moments like these that we need to recharge our battery and look to God for wisdom. The forecast for this morning is that a major snowstorm is heading up the east coast. Despite this dire prediction, we are gaining six minutes of light each day and realize that spring is truly on the way.During Lent, Jesus is on the move, bringing with him God’s kingdom that is electrifying. Instantly crowd’s start coming to him, looking for and finding the healing that they assume will signal the arrival of the Messiah. But Jesus’ announcement of the kingdom and the good news is about far more than just individual healing from disease, and that is something that many of those who crowd around him never seem to grasp. Physical healing – however welcome - simply allows them to go back to the life they had before. What Jesus is really announcing is a whole new life, a whole new way of thinking and seeing, something he calls the kingdom of God.
At the heart of that kingdom isn’t a set of policies, some rules and regulations. At the heart of that kingdom, at the center of his message is a relationship, a relationship with God. That’s what really matters, he says. Understand that relationship right, catch a hold of it and treasure it and all the rest will follow.
Notice how the Sonshine list of prayers for our special friends has grown from a few to a few hundred. You are moved to pray for your loved ones because you know their suffering and pain. Your desire is a moment of grace to remember the beautiful story of your relationship that you have with them. So now is a good time to include them in your daily prayers.
They are your starlight friends whom you know or have known when you walked with them during their struggle and hardship. You deal with the fact that their struggles were not going to be cured like you hoped and prayed for. Despite the emotional or physical pain in the relationship, you discovered that your friend’s disabilities didn’t alter the love you have for them at all. Whatever they are going through, whatever they were capable of, or not capable of, this was your friend, and you loved them. Your prayers are like a healing salve.
It is this kind of relationship, this kind of love, a love that transcends the frailties of humanity – physical, mental, or moral – that Jesus comes to declare. Christian faith is about this relationship with God. It is about learning to trust its strength and indestructibility as we come to God to ask for healing and forgiveness. It’s about learning to live in its light as we let it shape our lives and our attitudes to those around us, who are as much beloved of God as we are.
God prays for us as we reflect: “And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness.” (Isaiah 35:8).
Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine friends and all their living and deceased special friends that as we share in Jesus’ forty days of reflection and struggle, we hear those words that Jesus heard, “You are my beloved daughter, my beloved son; with you I am well-pleased.” Let’s ask ourselves what it might mean really, deeply to believe those words and to live by them.
