A Revolution of Love: A Reflection

Far too often throughout Lent, the focus of so many people is on fear, divine judgment, and retribution. Their God is a God of wrath who zaps sinners with lightning bolts. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the people expected a warrior descendant of King David to lead the army that would slaughter the hated Romans and restore David’s Kingdom to its former glory. Jesus was not the revolutionary that most of the people wanted. I believe that Jesus called them and today calls us to a revolution of love where swords are beaten into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks in the spirit of the prophet Isaiah’s call in Isaiah 2:4. As I enter this Holy Week, my prayer is that the transformative power of love will be revealed and allowed to change lives.

In his book Seasons of Celebration, Thomas Merton points to that revelation and revolution. Sin cannot be pardoned and healed without love, because all sin is, at its root, a refusal of love. No matter how great our sin may be, it is forgiven when we consent to love… —Thomas Merton in Seasons of Celebration (p. 219)

May the healing power of God’s love play a central role in your Holy Week journey, dear reader. May that power transform our lives and the lives of those whom we come into contact each day.