Lenten Meditation: March 11, 2024
Daily Scripture Passage: Genesis 49: 1-28
...this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, blessing each one of them with a suitable blessing. — Genesis 49:28b
So your father is dying. You and your eleven siblings are waiting outside his bedroom door, when you all are summoned to his bedside. He says, “Gather around, that I may tell you what will happen to you in days to come.” Trepidation and hope wrestle in your heart. You have no choice. You must enter the room to receive a blessing. And then you listen carefully to everything your father says.
What then is the blessing? Is there another to follow this encounter? You know in your heart that the first blessing is the incontrovertible truth you have just heard in all your father has said.
In this penitential season of Lent, we turn to our own self examination with trepidation and hope. For penitence to be genuine, we look for the unvarnished truth about ourselves, both for the good and for the evil we have done. Sometimes we do this with the assistance of a spiritual director or a regular confessor, sometimes with a therapist or good friend who gives us truthful feedback, and always with the enlightenment and support of the Holy Spirit.
It is natural to feel some trepidation in this journey inward, but we need not fear the outcome because we put our hope in Christ and the blessing of his cross.