Every day of Lent, Bishop Edward Malesic writes a Scripture reflection for the faithful. Follow the bishop on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Click HERE for the readings.
On Ash Wednesday many of us once again picked something to give up for Lent, like chocolate. Others may have included something to do for Lent, like being kinder to our co-workers. Whatever we decided to do for Lent, it was an agreement with ourselves, a sort of individual pact with our souls: “I promise to give up chocolate for Lent.” Perhaps we even made the promise to God.
But there is something more that we must do. We must reclaim our covenant with God, first made at baptism, most often made for us by our parents and godparents. At its heart, this covenant says that we will be children of God and God will be our Father. We’ve renewed our baptismal promises many times as adults. We are getting ready to do that again at the Easter Vigil and on Easter Sunday.
Now read the first reading for today. The Jewish people were given the Ten Commandments, and God said to them, “Today you are making this agreement with the LORD: he is to be your God and you are to walk in his ways and observe his statutes, commandments and decrees and to harken to his voice.” Keeping the commandments is a requirement of the agreement we made with God – the covenant between God and us. On God’s part, he agreed to be our God, raise us up, and give us the glory that he has promised.
Jesus adds an interpretive nuance to the covenant found in the Old Testament. He adds the commandment of heroic love: “Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father.”
If you made a promise to give up chocolate for Lent, I hope you have done well. Keep your agreement with yourself. But remember, as Christians, we have also made an agreement with God – a covenant – to be his children and allow him to be our God. That’s the agreement that counts most in our lives. How we are living up to that agreement is tested by how much we love even our enemies. I’ll pray for you to keep this important covenant with God. Please pray for me to keep it, too.