Lent is a time of giving your best to God

By Sister Ann Carmen Barone, OSF

Lent had a broader focus for me this year.  Yes, it is a time of prayer, almsgiving, fasting.  Yes, it is a time when we renew our call to repent and look to the call to follow Jesus, to renew our commitment to live the Gospel.  For some it is a time of giving up.  But it is also a time of giving your best to God and our sisters and brothers – the people of God.

This year I experienced a musical ”lento” or slow time.  Even though the day light lengthened, I was caught in a slow musical tempo of my life.  It began when the baby grand left Queen of Peace Chapel to get re-strung.  The process is more complicated than changing the strings on a guitar.  The grand was moved to a workshop where the entire grand, all its pieces and parts would be measured and checked.  I was fascinated by the care of the movers and confident that equal care would follow in the workshop.  The body or shell, is carefully protected and measured.  Strings are loosened evenly to distribute the pressure on the shell.  Every layer and every section of the instrument is measured.  What needs to be replaced?  How do the inner workings reflect the wear on the strings?  Putting things back together requires just as much attention to details, distribution of pressure, the strength of the pins, the length of strings and various arrangements of these sections.  The technician has to  make sure  that the shell remains true to its original size and shape and is able to be supported by three small but powerful legs.  The baby grand will be tuned gently and often to get it back up to pitch and then will experience many tunings once it comes home.

Musically it accompanies the slow unfolding of the Paschal Mystery – the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

The pain is real.  The details come alive in the Gospels.  The loving care of our Savior is also tuned to our call to follow him and be ready to sing out in every tongue and in every community of faith, Alleluia! He is Risen!