Fourth Sunday of Lent: Crossing the Space Between Heaven and Earth
While we are called to love ourselves and our neighbor, Jesus tells us that the greatest and first commandment is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
Perhaps God might challenge us as Tevye in “The Fiddler on the Roof.” “Do you really love me?” And we respond, “Of course, God, I raised good children, I remembered the poor, I have volunteered, I did my part.” And Jesus looks on us with love and says: “Do you really love ME?”
To love someone means that we set aside what is familiar and move with compassion into their perspective, into their space. This means that while God comes to us on earth, we are also called to imagine ourselves going to God in God’s space, crossing the space between heaven and earth.
As we pray during this fourth week of Lent, perhaps we can ponder:
- What do I imagine heaven would be like for me? Who would I want to see? Who would I want to greet me?
- What am I waiting for? In prayer, we can place ourselves in the presence of our loved ones who have died, the angels, the saints, Mary, and Jesus. Could I try to have a conversation with someone on the other side today?
- Moving into an unknown space can be uncomfortable and we need to be gentle with ourselves. What can I do to slow myself down, to be more restful in the space between heaven and earth?