In the Old Testament scripture of today’s Mass, we hear from the prophet Joel during a major crisis for the people of Judah. A severe drought and an invasion of locust has ravaged their land and destroyed their crops. For the prophet and the people, this catastrophe seems to be pointing to the end of days.
But God comes to the rescue. Through the prophet, God calls the people to repentance with the proclamation: “Even now, return to me with your whole heart” (Joel 2:12). The people must turn their hearts and minds to God in order to survive the catastrophe and get their lives back in order.
And it can be the same for us.
Sometimes things can go really badly for us. Often the hardships in our life are exacerbated by our turning away from God. And then we come to realize that it is only by turning back to God that things will get easier for us, that we can put our lives back in order. So, just as God did for the people of Judah twenty-five hundred years ago, God does for us. God comes to our rescue. God issues those same words to us, an invitation filled with mercy, compassion, and forgiveness – “Even now, return to me with your whole heart”.
Indeed, God reaches out to us over and over, again and again. God tells us that “even now” – even if we have distanced ourselves from God, even if we have taken on attitudes and actions that are contrary to God’s will, even if we have pushed God to the periphery of our lives, even if we have forgotten about God, even if we have done this time and time again – “even now” God invites us, beckons us, appeals to us with the loving and passionate “return to me with your whole heart”. God issues this invitation over and over because God desires what is good for us, what will make us happy and whole. God wants us to know that this goodness, happiness, and wholeness can only be achieved if we live in harmonious relationship with God.
When you think about it, our relationship with God is one of invitation and response. We see this all throughout salvation history as recorded in sacred scripture. This is happening every day of our lives.
So, what might our response be to this most gracious invitation? Well, one response can be found in the Psalm of today’s Mass – “Have mercy on me O God, in your goodness, in the greatness of your compassion wipe away my offense, wash me from my guilt, cleanse me from my sin” (Psalm 51). Our response is one of repentance – acknowledgement of, and sorrow for, our sins, trust in God’s mercy and forgiveness, and resolving to do better.
Today as we enter this penitential season of Lent, we stay close to Jesus who washes us and makes us clean. We continue onward, grateful to God for his ever-present invitation to turn back to him no matter where we might find ourselves, no matter how many times we might have turned away from him. Today we accept God’s loving invitation with repentant hearts and a confident hope of receiving exactly what God promises – “a clean heart, a renewed and steadfast spirit, and the joy of God’s salvation” (Psalm 51).