In one of his World Youth Day addresses, Pope St. John Paul II said, “We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures; we are the sum of the Father’s love for us and our real capacity to become the image of His Son.” Because of our baptism, our identity is completely wrapped up in God. All of our mistakes, our failures, even our sins do not define who we really are. The essence of our existence is that we are beloved children of God. It is God and His love that define us.



As we approach the end of this year’s Lenten season, it can be easy to look back with regret on our failings in regard to our Lenten penance and on the fact that things did not go the way we had expected.  Or we may be tempted to pat ourselves on the back for having a relatively “good” Lenten season this year. But both of these would reflect a wrong understanding of the purpose of Lent and of who we are as Christians.

Lent is meant to lead us through the Cross to the Resurrection. This season should help us to enter more deeply into the gift Christ won for us. This weekend, all of our Lenten prayer and penance comes to a climax as we celebrate the Paschal Triduum — Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday. We commemorate the gifts of the priesthood and the Holy Eucharist on Holy Thursday. On Good Friday, we celebrate the passion and death of our Lord through which He saved us from our sins. We remember His time in the tomb and His descent to the realm of the dead on Holy Saturday, and we look forward with glorious hope to His Resurrection from the dead, which we will rejoice in through the Easter season. Throughout these days, we celebrate the events of our salvation, through which we are brought back into right relationship with God.

We see in the Paschal Mystery the great depth of God’s love for us. St. John the Apostle tells us, “In this is love: not that we have loved God but that He has loved us and sent His Son as expiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). If nothing we have done can earn God’s love, then nothing, absolutely nothing, that we fail to do can end His love for us, either. Although we can choose to reject God’s love, we cannot cause His love itself to cease. And as faithful Christians seeking to live our baptismal promises and to grow in Christ’s love, our identity itself comes from how God loves us! As we enter into the season of Easter, may we be filled with the joy of the Resurrection, knowing that, thanks to His sacrifice, we are now able to be His children, to be “the image of His Son.”

Sr. Mary Martha Becnel is a member of the Ann Arbor-based Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.