Today’s devotional comes to us from Katie Robb. Katie is a Junior, Chancellor’s Scholar, and double major in Neuroscience and Spanish from Richardson, TX. She is also in the Chancellor’s Leadership Program, Global Scholars Program, and she is a Pre-Health Peer Mentor.
Katie is heavily involved with TCU Catholic and the Catholic representative on TCU’s Religious Advisory Council. Additionally, Katie is the founder and president of Frogs Aiding Immigrants and Refugees (FAIR). In this TCU student organization, students have the opportunity to volunteer at the International Newcomer Academy to help students who are immigrants and refugees learn English and other subjects, as well as adjust to life in the United States.
I have had the privilege of getting to know Katie this academic year, and she radiates kindness, selflessness, and a servant’s heart. I hope you enjoy her words today!
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
Reflection:
Sports have always been a large part of my life – from dance in elementary school, to basketball and volleyball in middle school, to basketball, crew, and lacrosse in high school. My favorite sport by far though was basketball. The satisfying swish of the net after making a shot. The camaraderie with my teammates. I absolutely loved it. Sometimes, though, I would become bogged down by all the mistakes I made in a game, a turnover or a bad foul, and lose sight of just how much I loved basketball.
My understanding of Lent for many years was like my experience with basketball. I’d lose sight that Lent is about preparing to celebrate Easter, when Jesus Christ died for us out of His love. Instead, my focus with Lent became all about repenting of my sins, giving up something that I enjoyed, and abstaining from meat on Fridays. I equated my ability to successfully achieve all these things as a way of gauging how good of a Christian and Catholic I was. So, Lent became a time of frustration – whenever I would sin yet again, look at social media when I had committed to giving it up, or accidentally eat meat on Fridays (darn you, Cobb salad and your hidden bacon bits!).
While being sorry for our sins and fasting are important aspects of Lent, yes, I was forgetting their purpose, which is ridding our lives of earthly distractions so that we can deepen our relationship with Christ. By doing so, we can more fully experience His love for us. And it’s not just through denial that we can do so, but also through centering our lives around prayer and giving our time and resources to others, like by volunteering or more intentionally connecting with family. I hope that we can all keep Jesus’s love for us at the forefront of our minds this Lent.
Let us pray.
Lord, this Lent, help us to remember the incomprehensible depth of your love for us. As we take time to be sorry for our errors and remove things from our lives that keep us from you, let us keep in mind that we are doing so that we may grow closer to you, who is love Himself. Amen.