Actually, this year it's 47 days to be exact.
Today is February 28th, Mardi Gras 2006. In approximately an hour and a half the Lenten season will begin and little Catholic children around the world will say goodbye to their chocolate bars and playstations until the Bunny arrives on Easter morn.
I've decided to give myself up this year. I've made a list, as I am known to do, of all of the things I want to give up and all of the things I want to do in some pathetic attempt to align myself with the side of Christ. I've also decided that I want to journal about it. Why? because I enjoy writing and it will keep me accountable. Writing could be a healthy outlet as I attempt to purge myself of all of the other indulgences I substitute for God on a daily basis.
I hope more than anything this Lent to once again fall passionately in love with He who is passion himself; Jesus Christ. I have slowly seen my hand release from His as of late and He still stands there waiting for me to take hold of it again. I cannot grasp....
The title of this blog "the refusal to grasp" is taken from an article that I read my first semester here called "The Chastity of Jesus and the refusal to grasp" by Jean-Pierre Batut. Of all the mind bogling articles that pass in front of my eyes daily here at the John Paul II Institute, this is one that stuck out in my mind for some reason and resurfaced just when I needed it. I will quote only part of it but I suggest you track it down and read it for yourself.
"Thus, sin is not first the act, which is only the consequence of sin, but a disfigurement of God, suggested by the tempter and to which man has consented. In Genesis 3, the tempter begins by destroying the true representation of God by misrepresenting his word (Gn 3:1). The moment this misrepresentation is accepted, the evil is done. The commandment of life appears arbitrary (Gn 3:3), and even wicked (Gn 3:4); and, because the true reality has been lost from sight, that which does not exist begins to exist (Gn 3:6). For the desirable character of what we substitute for God is but a construction of our minds. It is God alone who is desirable, and it is for this reason that the rest is good and quite truly belongs to us when we receive it from him."
We grasp for that which we feel we must take for ourselves. That is how we approach life and salvation as if God our Father might fall short in providing all that we need. We grasp to "get ours" but for that which is truly good in light of Him there is no need to grasp, it is ours as sons and daughters in the son and we've only to open our hands and let him love us abundantly.
