Awaiting Something New – A Reflection by Sr. Sylvia Ahr, OSB

There are only two weeks remaining in our Lenten Journey this year before we begin the Triduum (April 14-16). And then, on April 17, we will celebrate the greatest Church belief in the Resurrected Jesus!

Signs of spring are all around – the leaves are returning to our many oak trees that we can see daily from our Chapel window. Despite some trees and branches that, unfortunately, did not survive the bitter cold weather we experienced in recent months, we are reminded that life goes on. Mary’s Garden, outside our chapel, is being prepared for Easter with a variety of plants and flowers. The spring flowers blossom and paint a picture of hope. Hope in peace and nonviolence, lives of respect and selfless care for others, and lives of gratitude and working for the common good.

Isaiah 43:18-19 says to us, “Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; see, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” God is doing something new in each of us and in our world. Our world is a different world after the COVID-19 pandemic and the continued global unrest. We are different people because of our soon to be completed Lenten season. God has made something new in all of us even if we do not yet see it, feel it, or understand it right now. We rise to a new life each day of our earthly life. Isn’t that a marvelous thing?