THE SERRA CLUB OF Orange County’s mission is to build a Catholic culture that fosters religious vocations through prayer at twice-monthly meetings, programs that raise community awareness and efforts to affirm the lives and works of those who have answered the call to religious life. During Lent, the group sponsors events that use this season of prayer, fasting and reflection to inspire and transform.
FR. CHRISTOPHER SMITH SPEAKS DURING THE SERRA CLUB OF ORANGE COUNTY’S LENTEN MORNING OF REFLECTION. PHOTO BY ALAN WENDELL/DIOCESE OF ORANGE
This year, they invited Fr. Christopher Smith, rector emeritus of Christ Cathedral, to lead a Lenten retreat at St. Cecilia Parish in Tustin. Drawing from three stories in the Gospel of John—the man born blind, the woman at the well and Lazarus raised from the dead—he guided an audience of about 100 Serra members and guests on a journey of hope.
In the first story, from John 9:1–41, the man born blind, Jesus comes under criticism from the Pharisees for restoring the man’s sight, which upsets the religious authorities.
According to Fr. Christopher, “The challenge for people of faith is to see more, so that we can grow more with God and with each other. When our hearts are touched by Jesus, our capacity to see more than what meets the eye grows. Sight to the heart means that the hard facts of personal suffering can be soothed by letting our gaze fall also on the blessings and the successes in our lives that may have been hardened by the hard facts of the tough things we see in front of us.”
In the second story, from John 4:5–42, the Samaritan woman at the well, Fr. Christopher pointed out how the woman at first put up obstacles and prejudices, rejecting the gift of living water Jesus offered. Fr. Christopher challenged the group to “think about where we might need to be more honest with ourselves, where we might need to have the courage to be vulnerable or where we might be putting obstacles in the way preventing God’s grace to come into our lives.”
Eventually, the woman allowed herself to see beyond her resistance and consider a new possibility: Jesus, the Messiah. By allowing herself to see beyond her pain and prejudices, everything changed. The third story, from John 11:1–45, is the dramatic account of Jesus raising Lazarus, who had been dead for four days and buried in the tomb.
“I have stood at thousands of open graves, waiting to conduct the burial rites for someone who has died,” said Fr. Christopher. “Each time I stand peering down into that deep, open space, I know there is only one reason why it is not just a big, gaping hole: I believe in the promise of eternal life, which makes the grave a sign of hope in eternal life. Death is not the end of things. We can be stuck in the tomb of our own making, which keeps us from going about freely and loving as Jesus wants us to.”
Fr. Christopher closed his reflection with words of encouragement.
“Lent is a good time to look at our good qualities and talents that might have gone dormant in us and revive them—to live again,” he said. “Lent doesn’t have to be dreary.”