by Fr. Ron Calhoun
Some people have asked me about the broken shards
of pottery in our Lenten Display this year. As with
most of our liturgical décor, they have a symbolic
meaning.
St. Paul writes about us as being ‘earthen vessels’
which hold ‘wealth untold’. Furthering that
symbolism, as we journey through this Lenten Season,
we come face to face with our brokenness – hence the
broken earthen vessels.
None of us likes to look at our own brokenness. We
have to admit our faults and failings, our sin. The
other side of those admissions, is that we encounter
the compassion and mercy of God. When we admit
our dependence upon Him, we receive the bounty of
His forgiveness, and the gift of the Resurrection, He
heals our brokenness and restores the wholeness of the
‘earthen vessel’.
This weekend, our Gospel reading is the
Transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain top. What
Jesus is revealing to the apostles, is the totality of His
earthen vessel within which is His divinity as well. It
is a prefiguring of glory that each of us will share in
the kingdom of heaven.
In the first reading today from Genesis, God promises
Abraham that he will receive blessings in abundance .
God begins that covenant relationship that guarantees
those who believe and follow Him will be restored
one day to the wholeness of the Garden of Eden.
Our earthen vessels may not be shattered but we
certainly all have our chips and cracks. Let us bring
them to the Lord during this Lenten Season and seek
his healing and wholeness.