LENTEN REFLECTION
In today’s first reading the people grumble against Moses, saying, “Why did you ever make us leave Egypt?  Was it just to have us die here of thirst with our children and our livestock?”  God had called Moses and the Israelites out of slavery of Egypt into the freedom of living as the children of the Living God.  Halfway through the trip, the people lost heart and started to grumble against God and Moses.  Whereas before they complained to God that they were slaves and wanted to be freed, now they complained because God had freed them from slavery…just not in the way they had wanted to be freed. It often happens that way.  We pray and complain and beseech God to change something in our lives, and then we complain when God doesn’t do it the way we want God to do it.  At other times, change comes upon us suddenly, and we react with surprise or excitement, joy or sadness, hope or despair and anger.  All of this is human.  Change is difficult.  The Bible is full of stories of people experiencing times of change.  Deep within these stories often lie calls to growth in prayer and in our relationships with God and with one another.  God never promises that it will be easy.  It was not easy for Moses.  It was not easy for the prophets. It was not easy for Mary of Nazareth.  It definitely was not easy for Jesus.  What God does promise is to be with us always on the journey.  God is faithful, even when we lose faith.  Lent is a time of change.  During Lent we, like the Egyptians, are called out of the slavery of sin to the freedom of life in God.  Our parish, too, has been called by God to a time of change.  With God’s help, it will be also a time of growth—personal growth, growth in prayer, growth in community, and, most importantly, growth in our faith in God.  As the psalmist says today, "If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts."  May we enter into this time of change with a heart open to the voice of God, even if it comes in unexpected ways.


Installation Homily    Prayer of St. Francis