What tests us is what makes us, shapes us.
Life is a long test that makes us and shapes us until we die.
We are judged by what comes of this testing, what do we make of the testing of life? What does it make of us?
Does grief twist us or does it transform us?
Does pain make us inflict pain on others, or do we in turn show mercy and compassion?
Does being given a gift make us cling to it or do we share it?
Are inconveniences a matter of annoyance or are they the invitation to adventure?
Does death smother our ability to live or does it renew our thanks for another day to live and breath?
Does violence make us violent or does it make us choose gentleness and attentiveness?
Is it all about power over the other, or giving up power over the other?
Power to control or power to set free?
Life tests and shapes us.
It either teaches us to build the walls of our own prison or to pull down the walls of Jericho.
Which will it be?
Everything depends on how we answer the questions of this test every day until we die.
Moses was tested for forty days on Mt Horeb.
So was Elijah.
Lets not forget Noah in the ark for forty days as the whole world washed away.
Israel in the wilderness- forty years of testing.
Jesus in the wilderness tested by the devil for forty days.
Testing. Shaping. Making.
It is a holy gift. A divine Grace.
I bid you a holy Lent.