Where it All Leads

At the beginning of Lent, I invited you all to go deep into Lent this year; to let the Lord lead you not into the shallow edges of the desert, but to not be afraid to go with Him every step of the way.  Last Sunday we began seeing where He was leading us to.  With the first Sunday of the Passion, we turned away from the desert to the Passion. 

During our time in the desert our focus was on fasting, self-denial, going to confession, acts of penance for the sorrow of our sins and taking on other ascetical practices because that is what Jesus did.  We understand that to go where He is going, we must truly follow Him as He leads us to the Way.  But the Easter Resurrection doesn’t come immediately after the desert.  It was not preparation for eternal life, but for the Passion.

All roads that are Lord traveled from the time of His Baptism pointed toward His entry into Jerusalem and the death that was certainly to follow.  We hear over and over again throughout the Gospels, the disciples warning Jesus about going to Jerusalem, and His insistence that it was the reason: “for this I came into the world.”  It is equally the reason that we follow Him.

In this entry into Jerusalem, our focus goes from penance for our sins, to the work of the Passion.  The Passion is the essential Christian work, it is why we follow Christ, not to sit in the crowd and on the sidelines, having a front row seat to His suffering and the great fear of the disciples, but that we also take up our Cross.

This is what it is all about: to convert us from the Peter who tried to stop Jesus from going to Jerusalem and who denied even knowing the man, to the Peter who testified about Christ in the Temple and became the rock that the Church was built on.

All roads lead to the Passion and this is what we have been preparing for: to give testimony to the truth of the Father’s love for us; Salvation through the forgiveness; that Jesus is the Son of God who came speaking the truth; and this truth, The Truth, is what will set us free.  The Passion is about testifying to this, even in the face of great opposition, discrimination, denial and even abuse.

As deeply as I encouraged you to go into the desert of Lent, now engage and enter deeply into the Passion.  Allow the liturgy and prayers of the Church to lead you.  The reading of the Passion is not a mere academic exercise, but the reading in parts is meant to help you enter into this Eternal reality.  The Triduum and praying of the Stations further that experience.  Allow yourself to be drawn through the Mystery.  This is the Church leading us to Jerusalem, the place that all roads lead toward.