Teach Me Your Way

Homily for Saturday after Ash Wednesday

As I was preparing for this morning’s homily, I found myself really drawn to our Responsorial Psalm antiphon for today: “Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.”

This journey that we call life is not always an easy one to take and, so often in our lives, we need the direction of the Lord; we need His guidance. As Christians, we have been invited to be His disciples and called to follow Him as best we can. We have been challenged to be like Him in our words and actions, to be Christ for others in our world, especially those who are closest to us. But we can’t do that if we don’t know who Jesus is…if we don’t know what He accomplished for us…if we don’t know His heart.

Today’s readings tell us who Jesus is – they give us important insights into His compassion, His mercy, His love. He is trustworthy. He is close to the poor and afflicted. He is good and forgiving. He gladdens the heart of the weary soul. He is responsive to the needs of His children. He has come to be with those who often feel oppressed or ostracized. He reaches out to the sinner. He is close to the broken hearted. He is faithful to His promises. He desires to grant us all good things. He wants to nourish us, to provide for our needs. He wants to restore us. That is who Jesus is…and that is who we are called to be.

Lent is the perfect time for us to reflect on our lives and to see the various ways that we are not being Christ for others. It is a time to reflect on our own sinfulness, to admit that we don’t have it all together. It’s a time for us to recognize that we need the Lord, to invite Him ever more deeply into our hearts, asking for healing grace in those areas of our lives where we need the touch of Jesus. It’s a time for us to strive to learn how to walk in the ways of Jesus, listening to His word, allowing it to change our hearts.

Let’s make this Lenten season special; let’s make it meaningful; let’s make it count. Let’s take the opportunity to learn from the Lord, to commit to reading more Scripture, to spending more quality time with Him. If we want to change the world, if we want others to know the love that God has for them, if we want to be Jesus for others, we have to sit at His feet.

Today, let’s sit at the feet of the Lord. May we make this Responsorial Psalm our prayer. May we say to the Lord this morning: Teach me your way, O Lord…so that I may always walk in your truth.

Photo: Point Reyes National Seashore, Inverness, United States by Stephen Leonardi. Published on September 10, 2017. Used under Unsplash license.