It's hard to believe that the Fifth Sunday of Lent is tomorrow! And then, come Palm Sunday and Holy Week!
The scriptures for the Fifth Sunday of Lent gives us a beautiful image of the Lord writing upon our hearts.
And the passage from Hebrews hints at the suffering of Christ which will command our attention on Passion Sunday and in Holy Week.
The Gospel from John gives us the hard truth that the seed must fall to the ground and die before it produces much fruit. And that's followed by Jesus speaking of "the kind of death he would die."
The final days of Lent allow us to ponder how our lives might change. How our hearts could bleed like Christ. Perhaps we could learn to walk the way of service, so that our brothers and sisters will not suffer needlessly. To show our love by giving of our lives, even to people beyond our normal circles of family members and friends - to reach the "outcasts" of our world, as Jesus did in his.
The question is: Do we have time? Time to bleed? Time to open our hearts to the struggles of poor and powerless people around us? Time to truly love our neighbors as ourselves?
All Jesus asks of us is time ... and maybe a little blood and sweat.
