Ash Wednesday

Friends,

Welcome to the Lent 2022 edition of All Good Things! I am honored by your choice to read this blog - I hope it becomes part of your daily routine throughout the coming days of Lent.

All Good Things is a seasonal collection of reflections written by members and friends of the St. Francis College community. The chief aim of this initiative is to provide a platform for people to share their spiritual perspectives so that everyone else can be enriched and inspired. Most frequently, contributors will write a reflection on the daily readings from the liturgical calendar, however, it is also commonplace to see poems, songs, and photographs on the blog.

Lent is an excellent time for this project because reflecting is a central aspect of the season. We all understand that these next forty days should not merely be about becoming a pescatarian every seven days. Instead, a good Lenten lens is that we should somehow be closer to God once Easter rolls around than we are today. What exactly does that mean? How can we become closer to God?

Over the last year, I have developed a strong affinity for C.C. Filson Company, an outfitter based in Seattle, WA. They sell clothing and equipment to last a lifetime. Their website communicates that they are “a company founded on equipping folks headed into the frozen desolation of the Klondike goldfields in 1897.” Since then, Filson's reputation for trustworthy, dependable clothing and equipment lives on and allows people to go on expeditions that wouldn't be possible without such high-quality gear. Where are you going with this, Tim?

My thought is that Lent, while it is a journey, can also be thought of as time at base camp before the journey. Lent is a time to take stock of the gear you have been using in life, reflect on what has stood the test of time and what has failed, compare with the gear of others, see what you might be able to get to improve your life, and do more research on what gear is truly dependable and trustworthy to help you live a life of holiness, set apart to glorify God. Lent is a time to equip oneself with God's promises and to cultivate spiritual disciplines in one's life, especially silence, solitude, prayer, and fasting. We become closer to God when we meditate on God's promises because we understand His character more and more. We become closer to God when we practice spiritual disciplines because we create space for God in our lives and we intentionally abide with Him - we make Him the end in itself, not the means to some end we may want. As we walk in the truth of God's promises and in the way of His disciplines for us, we will be living lives built on the same foundation as Jesus; in living live this way, we will grow closer to Jesus.

With all of that being said, I am excited to be at base camp with you. I look forward to seeing what my wardrobe will look like once we reach Easter - always a good time to dress up! In the meantime, I hope you will continue to tune in for these blog posts each day as you think about the gear you are using and consider what recommendations you may get from others.

Happy Lent!

Tim

Timothy Nagy
Assistant Director
Mission, Ministry & Interfaith Dialogue
St. Francis College

Mount Everest Base Camp