“The Lord God is my help, therefore I am not disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame.”
Isaiah 50:7
Lent is intentionally disorienting. It invites us to seek what really matters.
Most of us know the jarring experience of “the bottom falling out” in our lives – that sinking feeling that something has unexpectedly gone awry in a way that abruptly changes everything. Such events happen in our lives and in the lives of those around us. We aren't always aware of them because people sometimes carry their crosses in silence.
Lent invites us to think deeply about suffering, loss, death and life.
Beyond our immediate Sacred Heart community, the world cries out in so many ways: escalated tensions and conflicts, horrific acts of unimaginable violence, disruptive weather conditions, high levels of anxiety and worry, a sense of meaninglessness among adolescents and workers, and the objectification of human beings. Amid such anomie and fragmentation, in whom and where do we find solid ground?
Lent shifts our focus from the ordinary to the extraordinary, from the transitory to what is everlasting, from what is insignificant to what is of consequence, in ourselves and in the lives of our fellow pilgrims.
As we enter Holy Week, we inch closer to the cross and eagerly await the resurrection. Let us sit in this final week of Lent, in God's invitation to a greater awareness in ourselves and of those around us. Let us listen to the voices of Lent, from the hearts of those who serve as Sacred Heart educational leaders ...
Reflection: Formation to Mission Committee with contributions from the following Heads of Schools: Melanie Guste, RSCJ (Academy of the Sacred Heart, New Orleans); Dennis Philips (The Regis School of the Sacred Heart); Olen Kalkus (Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart); Susan Dempf (Academy of the Sacred Heart, St. Charles); Anne Wachter RSCJ (Sacred Heart School of Halifax)
Image: Painting by Stephen B. Whatley, from the art collection at Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart and photos by the late Georgie Blaeser, RSCJ
