First Sunday of Lent

“We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another. Whoever does not love abides in death…. We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us — and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.” —1 John 3:14, 16

One afternoon at Holy Cross Ministries in Salt Lake City, Aniceto, Esperanza and Alma were closing down the after-school program and rounding up children for the bus, when Aniceto spied a fifth-grader standing off to the side. “Come here, campeón!” he called out to the young boy. He then began to brag of the boy’s achievements in the pickup soccer game that day. Everyone complimented him and promised to swing by the field the next day to catch a glimpse of his skills. As the group dispersed, the boy lingered, so Aniceto asked, “What are you thinking, campeón?” The boy replied, “You seem like you like to be with us.” Taken aback briefly, Aniceto said, “Of course I like to be with you!”

If there is one thing that we all long for in our lives, it is one another. We long for an act of welcome, a word of affirmation, an invitation to belong. We, like that boy, are looking for others who want to be with us. When we talk about laying down our lives for one another, however, it can seem that simply wanting to be with one another does not really count. It is not sacrifice enough. Yet that often is how love really starts. After all, before he laid down his life for us, Jesus simply desired to become one of us and be one with us.

—Written by Sister Mary Ann Pajakowski

Excerpted from The Gift of Hope, ed. by Andrew Gawrych, CSC. Copyright (c) 2009 by the Priests of Holy Cross, Indiana Province. Used by permission of the publisher, Ave Maria Press, P.O. Box 428, Notre Dame, IN 46556, www.avemariapress.com