The ashes we receive on Ash Wednesday challenge us with a difficult question, Am I free? Am I making my life all that I want it to be for myself and those I love? What’s keeping me from realizing the purpose that I want my life to mean?
The Theologian Kay Northcutt call this challenge, “Lent’s terrible gift”. She writes:
“The question Am I free is the gift Lent comes bearing in its arms for us. Lent asks us how we are living our lives and reminds us that we die as we live. Lent is not the time for giving up something of little consequence, but for identifying, what is most essential in our lives, what is it that we are living for.”
As the spiritual writer, Trappist Monk, Thomas Merton put it, “Ask me not where I live or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, rather ask me what I think. Ask me what I am living for, what I think is keeping me from living fully the thing I want to live for.”
So may we accept Lent’s challenging gift, let these weeks be a time for taking another look at our lives through the lens of the Gospels, to turn away from the things that monopolize our time and energy to do what brings joy and a sense of peace to our lives.
The Jews in today’s Gospel allowed themselves to become prisoners of a legalistic approach to life. They could not see beyond their laws. It made them blind to the life that Jesus was offering to the man who had been ill for 38 years.
We may not be able to effect physical cures, but if we can free ourselves up from that which holds us back from offering life to others, we might be surprised what cures we can make happen.