n today’s Gospel reading from John we are at the last supper. Judas is revealed as the betrayer and when he takes the morsel from Jesus’ own hands, Satan enters him and he goes off to betray Jesus. Jesus then says, “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and he will glorify him at once.” What is Jesus saying here? Firstly, the world and all the people in it are broken vessels. They are tainted in some mysterious way by Original Sin, and that sin impacts and affects everything that happens. Glory is found only in God. But all is not lost because it is in the cracks that sin manifests in us and around us where the grace gets in. Grace abounds more where sin abounds. Each of us are cracked vessels; cracked in ways we know and in ways we don’t realize. But it is through the cracks in everything that the light of God’s grace comes. The joy that Lenard Cohen oddly expresses about how we should ring the bells and not worry about perfect offerings is counseling us to focus not on the cracks, but on the light; not to dwell on what’s wrong, but what right God wants of us to do out of the crack that is our brokenness and sin.  
 
Shadowboxing is an aspect of the spiritual life that we don’t talk too much about. When God made each of us, He gave us a certain set of talents and faults, strengths and weaknesses, and He even gave us blind spots. While we don’t like our faults and sins, and in many ways, we are not aware of our blind spots, God has given them to us for our sanctification. If you will, our faults, weaknesses, and sins are a sort of calling card to come to Jesus. As we become aware of our faults and sins and we dive down deep to find the root causes of these calling cards, and we can come to know ourselves more fully held in grace as we confront them and move closer to God. Today do a little shadowboxing. Take a look at those cracks that festoon your life. Not just your sins, but your weaknesses and faults. Are there light sides and dark sides to these things in your life? Easter Morning is coming in a few short days, and like Mary Magellan, who once had 7 demons possessing her, Jesus still met her at the tomb. He will meet you there too. Will you be ready?
Lenten Action
If you are a regular practitioner of contemplative prayer, spend a few minutes before you begin your contemplative time in prayer imagining that you are at the tomb and the Risen Jesus is before you. What does He say to you? Then enter normal time in contemplative prayer. For those newer to contemplation, meditate on the Risen Jesus before you at the tomb, and let the joy that brings suffuse your contemplative prayer time. For your time in contemplative prayer, use the Jesus prayer as your focus to quiet your mind.
 
Today is not a Fast day, but if you have a mind to abstain from a favorite food or drink, please do so as a means of strengthening your will power. Remember not to watch TV, or use your computer or your phone to access social media, computer games, or other unnecessary apps.”
 

[i] Cohen, Lenard, The Future, a record by Leonard Cohen, Song: Anthem, © Sony Music Entertainment, Inc/Manufactured by Columbia Records, 666 Fifth Avenue, P.O. Box 4455, New York, New York.