How are we working to define ourselves during this year’s Lenten journey?
Maybe we’ve given something up. Maybe we’ve committed to do something outside of our normal daily life. All of these are very lonely ways for us to be who we are. Why not see what it would be like to have others define us for a little while? Wouldn’t it be by our interactions with one another that others would then define who we are?
That is what it seems like Jesus is calling us to do in this Gospel. Who we are for one another is what makes us who we are. That would mean that it is others who will define us, not ourselves.
I work in a very competitive environment. I know when I work with people we all win. Sometimes it would seem that I could really get ahead by not doing to others as I would have them do to me or not forgiving others or going ahead and putting others down. Who would I be? Well, alone….
This Lent I am striving in my thoughts, words and deeds to live within my communities so that who I am becomes who I am for others.