Radical Dependence this Lent

It’s easy to become so invested in lists of sacrifices and extra prayers for the Lenten season that, by the halfway point of Lent, we lose sight of the foundational reason for these sacrifices.

“Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning. Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God” (First Reading, Ash Wednesday, Joel 2:12-13).

Return with your whole heart. 

Three weeks into the liturgical season, the journey towards a heart completely oriented toward God can seem even more uphill and littered with detours and insurmountable obstacles. 

The momentum of the new year and the new liturgical season has faded. 

Maybe a sense of drudgery and difficulty has set in, and the tougher parts of leadership, whether in your business or family, are taking a toll. 

But the Church guides us along the journey with wisdom for every stage. 

This past week, Tuesday’s Gospel reading illustrated a familiar story: 

“When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be well?’ The sick man answered him, ‘Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me.’ Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your mat, and walk." Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.” (Jn 5: 1-9). 

If you've been stuck in the "sickness” of discouragement, apathy or exhaustion recently, Christ’s "Rise, take up your mat, and walk,” can seem really challenging. 

But the command to take up your mat and walk is an invitation to let Christ provide the grace necessary to take the necessary steps towards God. 

It’s a dependence that, as business leaders, can feel uncomfortable. But as faith-driven business leaders, we reject the image of the self-sufficient “go-it-alone” maverick who shows no weakness and relies on no one but himself.

Rather, we ask for the grace to embrace dependence more radically every day.

“Recognizing this utter dependence with respect to the Creator is a source of wisdom and freedom, of joy and confidence:” (Catechism, 301).