Wednesday, Third Week of Lent

WEDNESDAY, THIRD WEEK OF LENT

Broken Soil

And what other great nation has statues and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today? But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind…Deuteronomy 4:8, 9

The seeds of national and international peace are already mysteriously sown in the soil of our own pain and in the suffering of the poor. And I am convinced that we can truly trust these seeds like the mustard seeds of the gospel that grow and produce large shrubs in which many birds of the air can find a place to rest. As long as we imagine and live as if there is no peace in sight, and that it all depends on us to make it come about, we are on the road to self-destruction. But when we trust that the God of love has already given the peace we are searching for, we will see this peace breaking through the broken soil of our human condition and we will be able to let it grow fast and even heal the economic and political maladies of our time. When we have this trust in our hearts, we will be able to hear the words: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:9).

Lord, how I need your grace to set aside even a few minutes for genuine silence. But with your help, I will not give up my search for genuine solitude.

Henri J. M. Nouwen

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