What if Lent Could Rekindle Your Faith? Exploring the Kerygma
Life can take us on unexpected paths, and sometimes our faith journey can feel like it’s taken a detour. If you’ve found yourself distant from your faith, or if you’re simply curious about exploring it again, this Lenten season offers a gentle invitation to reconnect. These daily reflections focus on the Kerygma, the core message of Christianity – a message of love, hope, and new beginnings. We’ll be exploring eight key “Acts” of God’s story, from creation to our present call to partnership with Him. There’s no pressure, no judgment, just an invitation to consider a different perspective and perhaps rediscover a connection you thought was lost.
Act 5 of the Kerygma: The Cross and Beyond
Theme – Embracing the Manifestation of Divine Love.
“God, in His infinite love, sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to bear the weight of our sins, to die on the cross, and to rise again, conquering death and opening the gates of eternal life. This is the ultimate act of love, demonstrating God’s unwavering commitment to our salvation. The cross and resurrection are the heart of the Gospel, revealing the depth of God’s mercy and the promise of new life.”
Isaiah 53:4-6
“Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured; while we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins; upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed. We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his own way; but the LORD laid upon him the guilt of us all.”
Reflection
Can you feel the weight of these words? Imagine, just for a moment, the immense love that compelled God to allow His Son to carry not just His own pain, but ours. In this passage from Isaiah, we glimpse the heart of the Cross, the very act that unlocks the “Cross and Beyond.” It is a revelation of God’s character: a God who doesn’t stand at a distance, but who enters into our suffering, who takes it upon Himself. He is a God who heals, who makes us whole, who bears the unbearable.
This is not a distant historical event; it is a living reality. As we journey through Lent, we are invited to lay our own burdens at the foot of the Cross, to surrender our infirmities and our sins to the One who bore them all. It’s an invitation to intimacy, to allow Jesus to touch those places in us that are broken and wounded. In our baptism, we were united with Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection. Let us live out that promise, knowing that through His stripes, we are healed, and through His sacrifice, we are made whole.
Prayer
Loving God, in the silence of this Lenten day, I bring to you my sorrows and my burdens. Help me to truly understand the depth of your love, revealed in the Cross of Christ. Open my heart to receive your healing grace, and empower me to live out my baptismal promises with courage and faith. Amen.
Action
Today, take a moment to write down a burden or sorrow that you are carrying. Offer it to Jesus, imagining Him taking it upon Himself. Spend a few minutes in quiet reflection, allowing His love to wash over you.
The Kerygma
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Sharing
Jesus last words on Earth were to his disciples, can be found in Matthew Chap 28 when Jesus told his disciples, “Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
Jesus calls all of us to share in his redemptive mission here on Earth. I would ask you to share this Scripture reflection with your family, your friends and your acquaintances, and then share it with a couple of individuals that you may may not be comfortable sharing with, keeping in mind always the words of Jesus, And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age
Author was assisted by AI in the drafting of this Post