Deep stuff (Lenten style)

I want this Lent to be different from years past. This year, I really want to dig deep and look past the superficiality that I always seem to succumb to. Lent means so much more than not eating sweets for a month, or whatever. It is a beautiful period of time that the Church gives us to contemplate the very core of Christianity, so succinctly summed up (and oft-repeated) in John 3:16-that the Creator of everything that exists not only deigned to create us so lovingly and surround us with beautiful things, but He also had pity and compassion toward us in our peril and misery, and this One sent His Son to live among us and free us from the clutches of darkness and death. How mind-blowing is that? Sadly, it seems that it doesn't take too long for me to forget it. But that's what makes the Church's liturgical seasons even more valuable; they serve to bring our minds & hearts back to the Mysteries and Truths that define our Faith and (hopefully) our lives. For Lent, this means a renewed pondering/meditation on the Mystery of Suffering and the Cross...and its triumph. I pray that this Lent I'll be able to dig deeper into these Mysteries and draw closer to Him who so loves me.