Often when I pray the prayers that we use at Mass in the big red book (aka the Sacramentary), I am reading words and wondering if everyone knows what these words mean. For example, one prayer reads: “Lord, from all you have given us, we bring you these gifts in your honor. Make them the sacrament of our salvation.” (1st Wed of Lent) What is salvation? We read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church that “God’s saving plan was accomplished once for all by the redemptive death of his Son Jesus Christ.” #571.  This is great but what does it mean for us in our daily lives?

Most of us may know that Jesus, by the power of his freely chosen death on the cross, has freed us from the power of sin and death. Salvation is a gift from God. Being “saved” can be from many things. Through the cross of Christ, I can be freed of my addictions; I can be freed from my lack of faith; I can be freed from my selfishness, my lack of patience. But this is not magic. It is a gift that God offers to us. It is also a gift that can be refused or ignored.

Those in 12-step recovery programs (alcohol, drugs, food, sex, gambling, etc.) know that every day they must work the steps. Step 2 states: “We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” This is one way of understanding salvation: that only God can save us from those things that make us less human, less like God, spiraling into darkness and death.

Where do you need God to save you? What is it in your life that needs the healing power of God? Perhaps it is depression or moodiness; perhaps it is feeling angry and hateful; perhaps it is feeling disconnected from self and/or others; perhaps it is in feeling overwhelmed with life. Our faith in the power of the cross is that death was not the end: NEW LIFE IS!

So where do you need God to save you? Where do you need new life? Turn to Jesus: talk to Him.

Fr. Andy Prachar