“For you first, God raised up his servant and sent him to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways.”
Years ago whenever I finished a particularly distasteful college course, I took my notes to the final and then joyfully tossed them into the first trash can I saw after the test. In reflecting on the final sentence of today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles, it hit me that this is how I’ve tended to treat the transition from Lent to Easter.
For six weeks, I’ve tried to “turn from evil ways” – or at least improve my boringly fault-filled ways. Then it’s Easter. Done with Lent for another year. Pass the M&M’s, put the Bible back on the shelf. Forget the penance/reflection stuff for another year.
But today’s readings remind us that Easter joy doesn’t end the process of conversion. It was only after they were filled with the joy of the risen Christ that the apostles were able to fully convert their own lives and reach out to others to do the same. The readings tell us that we must continue the journey of conversion that we undertook during Lent throughout the next year.
When I started exercising regularly about 25 years ago, it was painful but the benefits were enormous. I promised myself I would never start exercising again. That meant keeping it up – and I have.
During this joyful Easter week, let us promise ourselves that we’ll never again start another conversion journey because the course we started on Ash Wednesday has no ending. Blessings of the season!
Eileen Wirth
I’m a retired Creighton journalism professor, active in St. John’s parish and a CLC member. In retirement, I write books about state and local history, including a history of the parish, and do volunteer PR consulting for groups like Habitat for Humanities, refugees etc. I love to read, work out, spend time with family and friends including those who can no longer get out much.
Writing reflections has deepened my faith by requiring me to engage deeply with Jesus through the Scriptures. In the many years I have been doing this, I’ve also formed friendships with regular readers nationally, most of whom I have never met. Hearing from readers and what I learn by writing make the hours I spend on each reflection well worth the effort.
