Letting Go To Be Made New

04-06-2025Weekly ReflectionFr. Augustine Acheme, VC

Lent is a season of surrender- of letting go of what was, so we can receive what God is doing now. In today’s readings, we hear a gentle but firm call to open our hearts to something new. Isaiah proclaims God’s message: “Remember not the events of the past… see, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:18-19). This is not a dismissal of the past, but an invitation to stop living under its shadow. God desires to lead us forward- to water our deserts and revive what feels barren in us.

St. Paul echoes this movement in Philippians, declaring, “I consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord… forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead” (Phil 3:8, 13). Lent challenges us to loosen our grip on pride, fear, guilt, or past wounds, so that we may pursue the “prize of God’s upward calling”- a deeper communion with Christ.

And then comes the Gospel- a story not of condemnation, but of transformation. A woman, caught in sin and dragged before a crowd, meets Jesus’ gaze. Instead of judgment, she finds mercy. “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone,” Jesus says (John 8:7). One by one, the accusers walk away. Finally, Jesus tells her, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin anymore” (John 8:11). This is the heart of Lent- not a cold reckoning, but a warm embrace of God’s mercy that calls us to change.

St. Augustine once said, “God has promised forgiveness to your repentance, but He has not promised tomorrow to your procrastination.” Lent is now. It is the moment to return to the Lord with our whole hearts (Joel 2:12), to receive His mercy, and to start walking in a new direction.

St. Teresa of Avila reminds us, “Let nothing disturb you… all things are passing; God never changes.” Whatever burdens we carry- sins, regrets, shame- God is not bound by them. He can do something new. But we must meet Him with hearts open, willing to be reshaped by grace.

This week, let us come before the Lord in humility and hope, ready to release the past, embrace the present, and step forward into the newness of life He longs to give us.

Fr. Augustine Acheme, VC