“It’s not about the great things that we do; but rather, about what we do before we do great things.”

I have had the beautiful privilege of spending this weekend in Boston with a dear friend.  She and her husband are members of St. Clements Eucharistic Shrine, a gorgeous Church near down town Boston that has brought back Perpetual Adoration to the city after a forty-year absence. The priest, a member of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary, centered his homily yesterday on the first line of this post: “It is not about the great things that we do; but rather, about what we do before we do great things.” (Speaking in relation to the Gospel of Jesus’s forty days in the desert before any miracles were performed, any revelations revealed, any suffering, death or resurrection.)

I was struck by the relevance and truth of his words. If we allow, there are always periods in our lives that call for us to take time to be prepared for what’s to come: every year in the Church during the Lenten season we are given the opportunity to take forty days to fast and pray as Jesus did in preparation for our Lord’s death and resurrection, an expectant mother has nine months awaiting her child that she may prepare a home and her heart for the welcoming of new life into their family.

Sometimes, like the examples above, we go into the desert knowing for what it is that we are to prepare. Other times, and perhaps more often, we enter the desert having no idea for what we prepare. But, does it matter? The priest who gave the homily which provoked these thoughts to begin with would say no…all that matters is that we prepare. That we pray, surrendering all to God and allowing him to strengthen us for what, perhaps only He knows is to come.

I pray that we may all use this lent as a season to allow God to prepare us…for what is to come in our lives, for a deeper understanding of the Truth of Easter Sunday, and for an over all greater awareness of Him present, at all times, in our lives.

(To mix Gospels…)We may go on to do great things, but they will not matter if we do not use this time to prepare for them by building firmly on the solid rock of Jesus Christ and there is only one way to do so…pray.