"Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do."

These words above of Jesus give us the reason for His Incarnation. God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son not to condemn the world but to save it through Him. There is no saving ourselves or pulling ourselves up by our boot straps when it comes to sin. I would say most of us recognize our powerlessness against our sins. They seem to rule our lives at times. When we misuse God's gift of freedom we become less free and more like a slave. If we cannot say no to something in our lives, especially when that something is sinful we are soul-sick and enslaved.

One of the most important principles of the spiritual life is to know that I am a sinner and in need of a Savior. Pop-psychology (in no way am I diminishing good psychology and its usefulness) says I'm fine, you're fine, we're all fine, but a glance around our world, heck around our immediate surroundings, points to another reality - the biblical reality. It is a strength, not a weakness to recognize ourself as a sinner. It is to truly live in reality. If our leg is broken pretending it is not does not change the reality.  The same goes for sin, pretending we are not sinners changes nothing. Admitting that we are has the potential to change everything.

The Catholic faith helps us recognize the truth of who we are. The sooner we recognize that we are sinners and in need of a savior, the sooner we can experience the healing of the Divine Physician.

This Lent go to confession, no matter how long it has been. Do not be afraid the Divine Physician wants to heal you, to set you free to be truly who you were made to be.

In our first reading from Isaiah, the Lord wants our sacrifices and our fasting to lead to humble service and not to angry bickering. In order to lead to humble service and loving concern of others, we have to see the sacrifices as actions that unite us to Jesus. We must be intentional with them by offer the sacrifice to God with a prayer. Otherwise, we can tend to do these sacrifices for our own reasons and they lead us to be grumpy and bitter. When we combine them with prayer and the intention of growing in our relationship with Jesus, they become a means of spiritual growth. This spiritual growth should lead us from looking inward to looking outward to those around us in need.

There are those in need of the material necessities of life. There are those in need of our time and presence. There are those in need of God's love. St. Theresa of Calcutta said that the most profound poverty in this world is the poverty of love. Everyone is hungry for love. Love is a choice we make to seek and promote the good of the other person. We can be God's instrument of love in this world if we but offer our sacrifices in union with Christ's sacrifice on the Cross and allow it to be the source of humble service directed to those around us.

Today, start by loving your family better and work your way out.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank you for your sacrifice on the Cross,
May we unite our sacrifices to you,
so that we may grow in sacrificial love,
and share it with those around us.
We ask this in Your Holy Name. Amen.

Jesus asks us today, "What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?" God is jealous for our love. He is not willing to share our heart with something else. He wants it for Himself. But as we read in our first reading it is our choice. There are set before us today the choice between following God's law and receiving a blessing or not and receiving a curse. God does not curse us. We curse ourselves by choosing to devote our hearts to something less than God, less than that for which they are made. 

Lent is a time to discipline our desires and seek the more important and lasting things of heaven. What has taken God's place in your heart? Is it money, or pleasure, or power? Are those things really satisfying the deepest longings of your heart?

Jesus is the happiness you seek. He is the one thing necessary. What can you do each day to make Him the center of your life? He is the one for which our hearts long. Seek Him!