Does it seem like everybody is angry? The honking horns, flickering of headlights, and yelling as cars pass are matched by short tempers on the checkout line at the grocery store, with the result that we seem to be in a heightened irascible state that reflects the violence we find around the world. The easy “Covid” excuse should not keep us from facing the fact that belligerence seems to be the default – and this is why we need to make the most of Lent.

Lent calls us to step back, take a deep breath of that breath of God we pray and sing is breathed upon us, and look at what our late Holy Father Pope Benedict called our “friendship with Jesus.” This relationship with God Who made us, sustains us, and most importantly, loves us is the basis of who we are made in His image. A renewed appreciation of being made in God’s image leads us to reflect that image – even when the person ahead of me is driving too slowly or contesting every item the checker rings up at the supermarket.

It’s really a matter of holiness. We hear the word holy all the time, but what does it mean? Holiness is being grounded in God. It means that at the core of who we are, how we understand ourselves, and how we live our lives, we recognize and live the foundational relationship of our lives – our relationship with God in Whose image we are made.

We hear the description “spiritual” all the time now – “I’m very spiritual”. That doesn’t cut it. Being somehow undefinably “spiritual” can be an easy escape from the challenging realization of what it means to be truly “holy” – grounded in God who gives us the grace to face the challenge of being His image in a world that needs His presence.

The “holy” response to the anger and self-centeredness around us is faith. Lent enables us to recognize when we add to the anger, need to accept the forgiveness God wants to give us and let that forgiveness come alive to others.

A shining example of holiness in response to evil occurred the weekend before Ash Wednesday at Assumption Parish, Peekskill. A disturbed person, who has been problematic in the past, crossed the line and left various items on the altar earlier in the week. While it was not a desecration, it was an act of disrespect, perhaps the result of a troubled mind. The faithful community of the parish is a living example of the description of Catholicism as: “here comes everybody.” Largely Ecuadorian immigrants, the long-time parishioners of Irish and Italian families return from neighboring towns for Mass on Sunday, because the parish is still home. They have opened the doors of this home to the Ecuadorian community, who in turn have opened their doors to recent immigrants from other Latin American countries. The parish was upset and shaken by what happened, but did not respond with the anger and vengeance we all too often see in our world. Rather, they responded with prayer – reparation for the evil in the world at large, gratitude for their faith which means so much to them that they were upset by what happened, and prayer for healing for the disturbed person. This is the Catholic response to evil, and this is the challenge we all take up this Lent.

This Lent, take some time to renew and deepen your friendship with Jesus. Talk with Him about a time in your life when your faith was shaken, when you may have responded in anger, and how you know the anger didn’t help but only made it worse. Then, the next time the driver behind you flicks the lights, or the shopper ahead of you fumbles with coupons, say a prayer giving thanks for being made in the image of God – and open your heart to holiness.