The sign we can trust

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Good News ReflectionWednesday of the First Week in LentMarch 4, 2009
Today's Readings:Jonah 3:1-10Ps 51:3-4, 12-13, 18-19Luke 11:29-32http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/030409.shtmlAudio: http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/09_03_04.mp3
The sign we can trust
What sign are you waiting for that would prove that God really, really loves you? What resolution to a problem, what new job, what reconciled relationship? In today's Gospel passage, we find out that Jesus is THE sign. We need no other sign.
In today's first reading, we see that Jonah's mission was to call the Ninevites to repentance. In the Gospel reading, we're reminded that, like Jonah, Jesus emerged from the belly of death to call you and me to repentance. He is the sign we are given.
Jesus died because he loves YOU. Then God the Father raised him from death because he loves YOU. Out of this tremendous love, God calls us to repent so that we can live in his love all the time.
Then why are we reluctant to identify our sins and repent? We're so determined to resolve our problems in the easiest possible way — without making any sacrifices — that we fail to recognize the sign of the cross. We fail to recognize the love that's there and the love we receive when we unite our problems to the cross of Christ.
Yet, we stare at a reminder of it every time we go to Mass and look at the crucifix. We hang reminders of it in our homes and workplaces, and we even wear them around our necks! But we think, "That was for you to do, Jesus. I don't want any part of it! I want resurrection in my life but I definitely do NOT want to go through the cross to reach it!"
When we sin, it's usually because we don't understand how to find God's love in the situation we're facing.
Sin is a selfish attempt to do things our own way — in other words, to take care of ourselves as if we are greater than God. Jesus' death and resurrection is a
sign that we need to repent of this idolatry. We cannot understand God's tremendous love unless we trust in that love when the odds are against us. And we can't trust until we let go of our own ways of fixing problems.
Repentance means changing. Repentance means letting go of our ways when they're not God's ways. We need to sacrifice our resistance to the cross. Then and only then can we experience the joy of trusting God.
Joy amidst suffering comes from trusting that God cares about us all the time, no matter what. Joy comes from trusting that God is generously working a plan that will turn every bad situation into something much better than we could've dreamed up.
Thus begins our resurrection.
Today's step on the Lenten journey: Spend time meditating on a crucifix. Keeping looking at it until you see in it the reason why you can trust God. What sin do you need to repent of in order to give God your complete trust in that problem you're hoping to resolve, or the job situation you're praying for, or the relationship you want healed?
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