We don't like to be pushed around or led where we don't want to go. When we are, we get upset.
Our God doesn't push. He sort of nudges us in a certain direction. Lent is a time for us to feel the "nudge" of God. It is God's way of urging us in a new direction.
The Lenten season provides opportunities to reflect more carefully on where we are heading.
God's "nudge" simply says: "Stop resisting and start listening."
When we do, our Lenten season can help us grow wiser and stronger.
During Lent, we often hear these words of St. Francis de Sales:
“God takes pleasure in seeing us make little steps and, like a good father holding his child's hand, He will conform His steps to ours, quite happy not to go any faster than we can walk.”
When we follow His lead, we do grow wiser and stronger.
A Reading from Romans 15:7-10
Welcome one another, therefore just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs.