As we prepare for the beginning of the Lenten season, the gospel passage today issues another challenge. Jesus is setting out on a journey when a man runs up to him and asks: Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? (Mk 10:17). I wonder if we have asked this question of Jesus in prayer.
The answer Jesus gives (at least the first part of the answer) is something that we all might expect: the Commandments are like a prescription for maintaining good spiritual health, but that young man wanted more. We should all want more when it comes to the promise of eternal life, and it is the next part of the story that is most intriguing. When the man assures him: Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth (Mk 10:20), Jesus looked at him and loved him (cf Mk 10:21).
Many if not all of us can rightly say - like the man in the gospel - that we have kept the Commandments, but how many of us have had the experience of knowing that Jesus is looking at us, gazing at us, and loving us? This is perhaps the simplest and most profound experience of prayer: to know that Jesus is looking at us and loving us. Perhaps this can be the beginning of our Lenten experience. Ask the Lord simply to look at us and to love us.
Have a great day.
No comments:
Post a Comment