The merciful space of Lent

Julian writes, “Our natural desire is to have God and the good desire of God is to have us. And we can never leave off desiring nor longing until we have him in fullness of joy, and then can we desire nothing more, for he wills that we be occupied in knowing and loving until the time that we shall be fulfilled in heaven. And for this purpose was this lesson of love shown.” (Revelations of Divine Love, Chapter 6)

There is this internal tension always at work in our bodies and souls. While our natural desire is to have God—and because natural, inescapable—and we can never leave off longing until this desire is fulfilled, yet so much of our daily lives consists in a lot of desiring and settling for less. Sadly, at times, a great deal less.

So we are invited into the merciful space of Lent to take inventory and consider what in us gets in the way of the fulfillment of this gracious double desire.

Where and why do we habitually refuse the longing overtures of God to us?

And on what do we spend our holy human energy wishing for, and running after, which, in the end and even in the interim, will not and cannot satisfy?