If you don’t take advantage of the month of February then before you know where you are, you’re already half way through the year. That might sound a bit odd. But what I mean is that you can’t keep on thinking that you are still at the beginning of the year, and have plenty of time for whatever it is you have to do. If you have not taken things in hand by February, then you probably won’t!
February is ushered in with the Feast of the Presentation. Together with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which we celebrated at the end of the Christmas Cycle, our focus is on Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, as the Father’s ultimate word to us. He is the New Temple, the means by which God communicates his life and grace to us, by means of his body, the Church and the Sacraments. We are no longer wandering in darkness wondering where to find God and how to serve him. Jesus is truly the glory of Israel and the Light of the nations.
Listening to the Gospel of Mark, as we begin our journey through Ordinary Time, we are invited to repent and believe the Good News. Jesus shows us very clearly that he is the one who can cure all ills, even our sins. He demonstrates this by various examples and finally cures the Leper because he feels sorry for him.
Lent follows immediately from this episode and on February 18 we celebrate Ash Wednesday and begin our preparation to accompany Jesus as he enters Jerusalem, ready to suffer and to die for our Salvation. Here is our opportunity to take a grip on things before it is too late. Time is passing, opportunities are being offered to us. Will we accept them, take them, grasp them? We know this is the acceptable time, the Day of Salvation.
Oh, for a closer walk with God,
A calm and heavenly frame,
A light to shine upon the road
That leads me to the Lamb!
Where is the blessedness I knew,
When first I saw the Lord?
Where is the soul refreshing view
Of Jesus and His Word?
What peaceful hours I once enjoyed!
How sweet their memory still!
But they have left an aching void
The world can never fill.
So shall my walk be close with God,
Calm and serene my frame;
So purer light shall mark the road
That leads me to the Lamb.
William Cowper 1731-1880
+Terry