A Lenten Reflection with Mount Michael

Fr. John is graciously coordinating quite an undertaking here at Mount Michael. The flora in both courtyards on either side of the chapel is being removed. It began with the discovery that the bushes next to the chapel had overgrown to the point where the exterior stained glass windows had markedly deteriorated.

I share that background with you for my reflection generated by the activity which occurred one morning last week. I was our celebrant for the community Mass that morning. The workers assisting with this project returned early and began to remove the last of the bushes alongside the chapel in the south courtyard as Mass began. There was the juxtaposition of the roar of the heavy equipment and the snap/crackle/pop of the bushes being removed while the prophet Jeremiah cried out to the hard-hearted in the first reading and as Jesus challenged the naysayers in the Gospel reading. It seemed to go together as Lent is a time to remove and to renew.

Those bushes and shrubs were beautiful, but they had overgrown. The exterior chapel windows now need to be examined and repaired. And there is an added benefit of removing the bushes – at least alongside the chapel. The sunlight now streams into the chapel, illuminating all the windows. The color and brilliance of those windows is striking once again.

What has overgrown in our life? Is there a need for some repair? What needs to be removed, so that renewal can happen? Change can be a little painful and jarring like our courtyards project. But like those chapel windows, addressing areas in our life during Lent will allow the light of Christ to shine through us and, in turn, reflect that Light to others.

-Fr. Louis Sojka, O.S.B.