First Sunday of Lent 2015
Unhampered by words, Lord Jesus,
you construct our relationship,
by building from your name’s
forgiveness and mercy,
unable to remember sin,
conveying a mother’s tenderness
together with strength of a brother,
like the covenant
of Jonathan and David,
both willing to stand eager and ready,
with life itself at stake.
This Lenten covenant engages
totality,
like the covenant of Genesis,
with a savior promised,
for more than physical combat
would correct the inner healing.
The rainbow of Noah’s covenant
revealed God’s playfulness,
his laughing joy
in rejuvenating vineyards,
those remnants of Paradise
for people learning to laugh.
Each covenant would reconcile
the conjurers of possessions
to gifts a hand could hold
with love made supple enough
to fit a created heart,
returning the heart’s response
as equal to the infinite and eternal.
This Lenten time of prayer, my Jesus,
is time for covenant,
your incarnational presence
with a hero’s strategy of love
conveyed to our desperation,
with trust our only claim,
while hearts erupt
in the joyous laughter
that makes our human love indestructible.
February 2015
Bonaventure Stefun, OFM Cap.
See more reflections here.
Advent-Christmas
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