A reflection for Holy Week.
We can count 40 days from Ash Wednesday,
skipping the Sundays, or we’d already be over 40 days by now.
Lent is our 40-day pilgrimage toward a joyful destination, Easter;
it’s a pilgrimage marked by prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
By renewed devotion to the sacraments, especially Reconciliation.
The “40 days” recalls the 40 days Jesus spent fasting and praying in the desert,
and it also calls to mind the 40 years the people of Israel spent wandering in the desert,
looking forward to another joyful destination, the promised land.
In bible-speak, “40 days” or “40 years” really just means “kind of a long time.”
How long does our pilgrimage last? How long do we search for the promised land?
All of our lives, we are on a pilgrimage toward a promised land,
a joyful destination of perfect unity with God.
All our lives, we should continue to pray;
we should continue to fast from what we don’t need, so that others’ needs can be met;
and all our lives, we should be generous with the poor and the powerless.
Even though this annual season of Lent comes to a close
Belonging 