Lent, love and work
At the end of St John's Gospel (21:15-17), Our Lord asks Peter three times: Do you love me? Commentators have connected these three questions with Peter's previous three denials (18:17, 25-27). Peter gets the chance to express his love for Jesus three times, as opposed to his denying him three times during Our Lord's Passion.
Lent gives us the chance to express our love for Jesus. Our sins and imperfections are like denials that we know Our Lord. How could we ever sin, or even live less than perfectly, knowing Him as we do? But we do sin, and we do not live the perfect life to which Our Lord calls us (Mat 5:48).
Now here we are, almost a week into Lent. Each precious day is a call to us: Do you love me? What is our answer? Not in words, but in our actions today?
Our work can be that means to express our love for Jesus. Each moment of this workday, we can apply ourselves, wholeheartedly, to the task at hand. Even the smallest, seemingly insignificant action - for example, the words we write in an email - can be an expression of love for Our Lord, if done in the right spirit.
It doesn't take much more time to do something perfectly - or at least try to do it perfectly - as opposed to just "pumping out" our work. When we put our whole heart into our work, and offer that effort to Our Lord, we're telling Him we love Him.
Lent gives us the chance to express our love for Jesus. Our sins and imperfections are like denials that we know Our Lord. How could we ever sin, or even live less than perfectly, knowing Him as we do? But we do sin, and we do not live the perfect life to which Our Lord calls us (Mat 5:48).
Now here we are, almost a week into Lent. Each precious day is a call to us: Do you love me? What is our answer? Not in words, but in our actions today?
Our work can be that means to express our love for Jesus. Each moment of this workday, we can apply ourselves, wholeheartedly, to the task at hand. Even the smallest, seemingly insignificant action - for example, the words we write in an email - can be an expression of love for Our Lord, if done in the right spirit.
It doesn't take much more time to do something perfectly - or at least try to do it perfectly - as opposed to just "pumping out" our work. When we put our whole heart into our work, and offer that effort to Our Lord, we're telling Him we love Him.
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