Lent Meditation Day 3
John the Baptist had a following of disciples who wondered if he was the Messiah, but John clearly knew that he was not, and that his mission was to prepare the way for Jesus.
A Note from Ruth
These meditations are a reflection of my personal journey through Lent at a time when I was experiencing deep spiritual growth and learning what it means to grow in community as a student at the Academy for Formation and Mission. In part, I wrote them to process my own thoughts, but mainly to share those contemplations, because I felt they were meant to be experienced by others. My hope was to encourage others to go deep, to see God and Lent with a new perspective, and to self-reflect in a way that brings hope.
He called this decrease. It was a letting go of the glory that can come when we have influence, and putting all the attention on God instead.
The other day I was talking to my priest and colleague about our reasons for doing the ministries that we are called to. He talked about how our works themselves mean nothing to God. What matters is the holy, the presence of God, and the glory that God gets when we live out our callings.
A focus on the Divine is at the center of all works of value and impact. It seems to me that the truth in this perspective is that we are decreasing, as John was: the attention is not on us, our purpose is not for self-gain, we are not feeding our egos. This place of emptying ourselves is a sacred place because it is there that we touch the hand of God.
And God does not leave us empty, but fills us with grace and pure love. When John saw Jesus come to the waters of baptism, John said, “the reason I came baptizing with water was that he (Jesus) might be revealed.” May we live in such a way that the love of God is what people see when they see us. Amen.