Daybreaks: Daily Reflections for Lent & Easter
by Ron Rolheiser, OMI

“A clean heart create for me, God;
renew within me a steadfast spirit”.

(PSALM 51:12)

In Luke’s Gospel, we read that Jesus, on the night before he died, when to the Garden of Gethsemane with his disciples. There he invited them to pray with him as he struggled to find the strength to face his death. But as Luke cryptically adds, while Jesus sweat blood, he was “a stone’s throw from them” (Luke 22:41).

How far is a stone’s throw? Its distance is enough to leave you in a place where no one can reach you. Jesus faced his death knoweing he was loved by others but also knowing that in the gave of death knowing he was loved by others but also knowing that in the face of death he was entering a place where he was deeply and utterly alone. It is within that utter aloneness that Jesus has to continue to give himself over in trust, love, forgiveness, and faith.

It was not the capacity to physically endure scourging and nails that was the real test inside of Jesus’ passion. Jesus’ agony in the Garden was rather about how he would die: Could he continue to surrender himself to be belied by everything around him? Could he continue to trust? What kind of spirit would he hand over at the end? Would it be gracious or bitter? Forgiving or vengeful? Loving or hate-filled? Trusting or paranoid? Hope-filled or despairing?

That also will be our test in the end. One day each of us will have to give over his or her spirit. Will our hearts be warm or bitter?” (9).

Ash Wednesday was a week ago. It’s time to go back and review the Lenten plans.