I’ve already been warned.
One of the last things my Sweetie said to me last night, before slumber ensued, is that I should expect some “greening” today.
No doubt, a groan of resignation followed her threat of greening. Irish I am not, nor do I fully grasp the cult of Celt that so many around me embrace on St. Patrick’s Day. After all, the saint himself was not Irish. And from what I understand, his life’s work revolved around getting the Irish to reform from their inbred Irish ways.
But I have to give the Hibernians credit for one thing, I suppose: This feast day of theirs is well-timed…breaking up the dreary days of fasting and mortification that so often accompany our observance of Lent.
Now, a plate of green scrambled eggs is not (to my eyes) all that appealing. But it can serve to divert my gaze from unhealthy inward attentions as this season of purification proceeds inexorably towards Holy Week. What is the call of Lent, after all? Surely not to sacrifice in atonement for my sins – for this battle has already been won.
What then? Why labor and work and struggle to achieve what the Psalmist says can be accomplished simply through prayer: “Create a clean heart in me, O God.”
Perhaps the reason is this: A clean heart has room – room enough to accommodate new things, fresh things. Green things.
Jesus understands this truth about human nature, I think. It’s why he teaches us to embrace green things:
Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.
Our Lenten violet colors this call – a call from Jesus to die to self. But it also contains the promise of a different (and surely more attractive) hue: the green of new life.
Make room, O Lord. Create a clean heart in me today!
Let us pause now…to recall that we are in the presence of the Holy & Merciful One.
IHS
With Us Still 
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