You Don’t Have to Leave

There are two weeks left of Great Lent, and yesterday the Church reminded us, through the commemoration of Saint John of the Ladder, that the first step of journey in our climb to heaven is our need to renounce the world. In the next two weeks, as you prepare for Holy Week, take a few moments to consider how you renounce the world every day.

As Christians we often say we live in the world but are not of the world. The reason we are called ‘saints’ is to affirm the reality that our live is found not in or on the Earth but in heaven. Our hope and future rest in heaven. Yesterday Saint Paul reminded us, “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 6.19-20)

Our Great Lenten journey has been about shifting our hope from worldly desires to heaven. Your fasting and prayer will do much these next two weeks to assist you in your goal to renounce the world, but you don’t have to leave. Leaving would be an act of cowardice, but living in the world but not desiring the world is an act of courage.