To begin the day, I had too much on my schedule, but I was not sure what would have to be sacrificed. After all, it is Ash Wednesday and I have four Masses to say, all at different locations, and in three different counties. So that was the start, and from there things began to go wrong. I realized just before I left the house that I had not considered a vital aspect of the renovations of our new Church building and had to scramble to figure it out (as well as ask my dear wife to try to talk it through with me on the phone, with her at the new building and me 30 miles away at another parish).
One thing after another kept going awry through the entire morning. I wish to make it perfectly clear, however, that I am not complaining. Actually, just the opposite; I am praising. All these awful complications and mistakes that kept occurring were clearly the grace of God. I could even go so far as to say that I started Lent off wonderfully! Yes, there were various events that were unpleasant, but (by the grace of God) I did not fall into sin as a result of any of them, and I was given a fantastic opportunity to start Lent off on the right foot.
It was somewhere earlier this morning (I believe it was when I was racing out of the Veteran's Home to go back to the Church; I had brought everything for Mass, except the altar wine!) that the thought snuck into my head, "what a horrible way to start off my Lenten observance". Thankfully my guardian angel protected me from falling for that one. I recognized right away that this was not my own idea, but the temptation of the evil one. I turned immediately to the question of the hand of God; what is He doing in this?
It was at that point that I saw the exact opposite perspective from what the devil wanted to implant in my mind, "what a wonderful way to start off my Lenten observance". Consider this: no one was actually harmed by any of these problems; I was protected from falling into a sinful response to them; and every one of them made me go the Lord, the Blessed Virgin, and my patron saint in prayer. The last point is especially significant. I have no idea how much (or little) I would have spent praying this morning with having so many things that I needed to do (but, of course, the Lord knows). I do know, however, how much time I did spend in prayer; it was almost constant.
So in that way, I can say that I started off Lent with a spiritual boost. I was the recipient of a great grace from God that said "don't forget you need Me in all this; busy or not, you need to pray". And I did; thankfully. What will the rest of Lent be like? I do not deny that I hope it is a bit less hectic. At the same time, I also have to say that if it is hectic, then I have already received a grace to remember how to handle it.
How will you handle Lent this year? Will it just slide by and end up getting missed? Or, will you take advantage of every aspect of it by looking to see God behind every event (thus praying to Him in the midst of them all)? Lent could easily pass each of us by if we do not pay attention to it. Do not let anything keep you from receiving all the grace God has in store for you.
