"Easter"

JMJ. Lent is always described as a journey. We are invited to travel with Jesus throughout the forty days of His passion, to suffer with Him as He witnessed one of His own chosen disciples betray Him into the hands of His enemies, to suffer with Him in the garden of Gethsemane, to be lashed with Him at the pillar, to help Him bear His cross to Calvary, and to feel the spikes as they fastened Him to the tree.

And that's as it should be. We, because of our sins, put Him on His road to death and, mystery of mysteries, we hopefully share with Him in His resurrection to eternal life. But there's another aspect to this Lenten journey. It's an embarkation of our own from a life of uncleanliness to one, through His grace, of unstained souls and lives. I didn't make it. I didn't arrive, finally, in my Jerusalem. Through sin, and unfaithfulness, and weakness I lagged by the wayside.

But I progressed. My soul is maybe a little whiter. I have a little better knowledge of my weaknesses and my future promise. And I'm a whole lot nearer my goal than if I had never set out on that Lenten journey. I'm a little bit closer to Home.