Dear Saints,

Do you remember this period of Lent from last year? These next two weeks, traditionally known as Passiontide, call for the veiling of statues and the covering of crucifixes (feel free to shroud your sacred objects and images at home). We enter into this last stage of our Lenten journey blindfolded.

Taking these next steps blindfolded means that we are being deprived even of those things on which we rightly depend, and no longer just those things we can afford to jettison (like sin, overindulgence, and all manner of comfort-seeking). Sacred images inspire us. Their beauty reminds us that God is at work in the world, and that his love will win the day. All of this we forgo in order to enter into a veiled time; an unmediated, unseeing abandonment to God, who himself descends into our darkness.

You might remember that I like to talk about the disciples' hike up the mountain before Jesus' transfiguration. Every step of that journey, I'm convinced, embodied a decision to grow in trust of Jesus rather than to pull back. The same is true for us here and now: Our being blindfolded gives us a chance to cling more desperately to Christ than we might otherwise have imagined.

Throughout these days and weeks of Lent, we’ve claimed our identity as God’s dear, dear children. And we’ve focused more on our mission to worship God and to serve him. Trusting Jesus more fully and following him more closely these blindfolded days, we are made to receive his love more fully and live it out more sincerely for a world that so desperately needs it.

I look forward to seeing you soon, my friends. As always, if you need anything please let me know.

In the Peace of Christ,

Father Daniel

δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ