“I have decided not to let this Lent go by like rain on stones, leaving no trace. I will let it soak into me, changing me. I will be converted. I will turn again to the Lord and love Him as He wants to be loved.”
St. Jose Maria Escriva
Today is the first Sunday of Lent. The journey has truly begun. What does this Lenten journey truly mean to you? If God snatched you up right now and moved you to another place in your journey, what changes in you would you want to see?
To be intentional during Lent, requires CHANGE.
How do we change?
Often, we hear the Lenten journey is a dying of oneself and new birth. It’s a renewal of our baptismal promise where we entered into a covenant with God “for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 3:21).”
What might that look like? Archbishop Fulton Sheen said it very plainly – “When we die to something, something comes alive within us. If we die to self, charity comes alive; if we die to pride, service comes alive; if we die to lust, reverence for personality comes alive; if we die to anger, love comes alive.”
In each of those examples of death, we see exactly what Jesus’ sacrifice for us was. It draws us closer to our Heavenly Father as we accomplish our part in honoring the covenant with Him through our baptism, through the sacrificial blood of the Lamb shed for our sins to redeem us.
I invite you to look within yourself and search the areas you need to experience death and new life. Imagine snatching away the sins that continue to sprout up in your life, the ones that dampen your spirit, your joy, and your peace. And then imagine the new life without that reoccurring sin, imagine the life-giving spirit, the joy and the peace you experience.
Many blessings to you on this first Sunday of Lent.
Women Who Walk By Faith 
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