The word “Lent” actually literally means Springtime, the perfect season for renewal! Here’s Sister Mary’s mid-week pick-me-up for the “mini-retreat” that will refresh your soul throughout Lent. Here’s a list of all of the weeks’ posts.

By Sister Mary Core, OSB

“Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat.”

How are you doing at being a grain of wheat during this first week of Lent?

Have you thought about how dying literally breaks us open, changes us, allows something new to happen in us?

In 50 years the grain of wheat will still be a grain of wheat, if it hasn’t died to its old way of life.

It must encounter – open up to – the soil, sun and rain if it is to grow.

It must accept the gifts and graces it needs to become what it has the potential to be.

Alone – hidden in a jar or lying on a shelf – it remains a single grain. It needs a community of sun, soil and rain to become a new healthy stalk of abundant wheat.

So as you go through the rest of this week, give thought to who or what has been your sun, soil and rain.

Are you trusting enough to let God, others, and daily circumstances soften your shell, break you open and change you?

It is not easy to do and it is not a one-time doing. Our whole life must be a continuous giving ourselves over to God, who comes to us in multitudinous ways, gracing us with all we need.

Are you willing to quiet down and let yourself be opened to what God has in store for you this Lent?  For your life?