WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO DO TO ATTAIN SALVATION?

“If the prophet had

comande you to do something difficult,

you would have done it;

how much more so now

when he tells you: wash and

you will be clean.”

How many people might receive this admonition at the hour of their death! And how many might receive it even during their lifetime!

If God had required us to withdraw to the deserts, practice the most austere penances, or live in perpetual fasting to be saved; if it had been necessary to suffer the greatest torments to avoid hell, or if only martyrs and the most severe penitents could enter heaven, would it have been reasonable to hesitate in the choice?

Between eternal fire or a few years of penance, between fleeting suffering or eternal happiness, what sensible person would have wavered?

“How much more so now that he tells you: ‘Wash and be clean.’”

How much more should we obey when God asks nothing more of us than to love him with all our hearts, to serve him, and to live according to his will!

What does the Lord ask of us that isn’t gentle and reasonable? He asks us to love him: doesn’t he deserve our love? Is there any difficulty in loving an infinitely kind God who loves us first?

He asks us to keep his commandments: is there any that isn’t for our good? Has there ever been a gentler yoke or a lighter burden than that of Jesus Christ? He himself has assured us of this.

Let us compare what God asks of his servants with what the world demands of its own. Let us think of the suffering endured for a career, for wealth, for a job, for pleasing people, or for gaining a reputation.

How much work!

How much worry!

How much toil and sleeplessness!

Health is wasted, days are shortened, and often to no avail.

If salvation demanded as much effort as that expended for worldly things, wouldn't its price be considered just, according to the opinion of those who live in the world?

And yet, Lent seems too long; some days of fasting seem too harsh; the slightest mortification for God seems impractical.

We are covered in sin; our souls are wounded by guilt. And we are told: “Wash yourself, and you will be clean.” Jesus Christ offers us the healing bath of his Blood in the sacrament of Penance, through which we can recover our innocence; and yet we refuse to use this remedy.

What a just reproach could also be made against many devout people who, having left everything for God, live without fervor or constancy, in a lukewarm and perilous life, neglecting even the smallest acts of fidelity!

Those who have embraced a more perfect state are asked only for a little more recollection, a little more punctuality and faithfulness in small things, to enjoy inner peace and ensure a holy death.

But many prefer to drag themselves through life in the sadness of an imperfect existence rather than observe what they call small things.

“If He had commanded you to do something difficult, you would have done it; how much more so now that He only tells you: Wash and be clean.”

FR. JEAN CROISSET SJ: LENTEN REFLECTIONS

MONDAY OF THE THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT

(2 Kings 5:1-15)