Sister Joan Chittister OSB wrote an article a few years ago saying, “Lent is not about penance. Lent is about becoming, doing and changing whatever it is that is blocking the fullness of life in us right now.”
Right now what is blocking my fullness of life is extra clutter: material and emotional.
Since Lent began I have been taking on the discipline of purging items. I have spiritual clutter to work on too. For instance, I need to up my compassion and get rid of some of my judgments.
Sister Joan talks about opening “ourselves to life” during Lent. When “we’ve failed to repent old abrasions, quick words, harsh judgments made in haste and expiated never. We have closed the doors of our hearts, as time went by, to so many of the things we need to live full and holy lives.”
Please pray for Women of the ELCA synodical presidents who are meeting in Chicago this weekend. This message is adapted from a blog, “My lenten discipline,” written by Elizabeth McBride.