Millennial Lenten Reflections: Give and Receive

Editor’s Note: The following is part of Millennial Lenten Reflections, a blog series in collaboration with Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. Short reflections on the day’s readings, written by young adults from FMS and other organizations, will be posted everyday throughout Lent. 

When I read today’s first reading, I was reminded of our human weakness. We see life as what we can get instead of what we can give, and if we are like most Christians, we try to fit God into a corner of our lives. But if someone asks us about our faith, we are the first to show our wounds, and use this as a way to say, “See, I am a good Christian…a good person…a good wife, mother, brother, or neighbor.”

The issue with living our lives like this is that God doesn’t ask us to worship Him as a way to feel good about ourselves, or even to show others what it means to be a good follower, but to give Him the kind of love that we have received. And what kind of love was that? The kind that allowed Him to ask His son to die on the cross for us so that we might live. When we’re thinking about what kind of sacrifice we should make this Lenten season, let us remember the sacrifice that Christ made to open for us the gates of Heaven forever.

Valerie grew up outside of Wichita, Kansas, and attended the University of Tampa. She is working with children in a Montessori-style school and at a sexual violence prevention center, applying her knowledge of non-violence while on mission in Bolivia.