Most of us organize our lives in such a way that we are occasionally united to God’s will. If we were to draw a graph of our lives, God’s will would be a straight line down the middle of the page, and our will or life would be a line that zigzags along, intersecting at times with God’s will. How does one hear people make comments like: “I felt great that time when I was on retreat”; “My experience in the parish’s youth group was the best”; “What fun we had when we worked together to build the new library”; or “The first years of our marriage were the best”.
Those times are when we are united to the will of God the Father. Sometimes they are moments; sometimes they stretch out into months or years of our lives. When we drift away from the Father, we begin to feel abandoned and we begin to complain like the people in the first reading. Separated from our Creator, life becomes painful and even distasteful. Look at how they complained to Moses: we have no food, no water, only wretched food. Living separated from God our lives become infected with a sense of abandonment and loneliness and that produces sadness and depression. That is why we run around trying to fill up the emptiness in our lives with so many things.
In Jesus’ debates with the pharisees, he demonstrates a constant communion with the Father. This gives him a sense of security and confidence. He is sure of God’s presence and action in his life, even in the most difficult moments.
All the complains of the people in the first reading and all the objections in the debates of the pharisees are the result of living off the straight line of God’s presence and will. Lent is a time for us to come back to that straight line that produces true life, communion with the God the Father. This is the time to realize that all our wandering around off to one side or the other of God’s will does not produce life. Jesus is inviting us to look up at the Cross today to reorientate our lives towards God’s will and presence.
I say only what the Father taught me.
The one who sent me is with me.
He has not left me alone.
Image: CANVA CJ 21 March2026 AI generated.