Empty, Fill, Use

Dear friends on the journey,
Well, here we are on the fourth Sunday of Lent, just over the halfway point of this solemn season. Today is known as Laetare Sunday, a momentary pause for joy and encouragement on our journey to Easter. It’s a good time to renew ourselves in the remaining weeks of Lent and to reflect on the hope and promise of new life through Jesus’ resurrection. Today, at the 9:00 am Mass, we also celebrate the second of three Scrutiny rites for the Elect, the ten children and teens and three adults preparing to receive the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and the Eucharist at the Easter vigil.

Dating back to the early Church, these rites take place in the period of Lent called Purification and Enlightenment, an intense exercise of self-examination, repentance and spiritual renewal. The rites celebrated at Mass lead the Elect to uncover and heal what is broken or sinful while strengthening what is good, strong and holy in their lives.

Though they are meant for the Elect, the Scrutinies can help all of us seeking continued conversion to examine our own areas in need of God’s mercy and healing and to celebrate and give thanks for the goodness and holiness of our lives.

The Scrutinies are rooted in scripture, with gospel stories of people’s profound encounters with Jesus. The First Scrutiny (last week) is Jesus encountering the Samaritan woman at the well – where he offers himself as the Living Water, symbolizing conversion and our thirst for love and belonging.

Today we hear about Jesus healing the man born blind – where he gives himself as Light of the World, representing our call to move from darkness into the light.

Next week Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead – where he reveals himself as the Resurrection and the Life, signifying freedom from sin and death.

Each story of conversion can be a catalyst for our own conversion which involves a certain emptying of ourselves, a turning away from sin, and surrendering ourselves to God’s transformative healing and mercy. These Scrutinies remind me of a simple but powerful prayer offered by Mother Olga as shared in the Hallow app’s Lenten Challenge:

​                                                                                        Lord, empty me. Fill me. Use me. 

It’s a prayer of trust. A prayer of letting go. A prayer that invites the Living Water to quench our deepest thirst, the Light of the World to illuminate our blindness, and the Resurrection and the Life to raise whatever is dead within us. Perhaps, in these last weeks of Lent, this can become our prayer too.


Siempre Adelante,
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Teresa Runyon
Pastoral Associate 

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