In J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, the One Ring is destroyed on March 25th which leaps out as us because that's when we celebrate the Annunciation.  I wondered why Middle Earth is called Middle Earth.  There are several possibilities here.  Many of them involve Middle Earth being in the middle between various things.  Above is a video about the The Simarillion and it's connection to Catholicism.

     I'm in the middle of my training between my right toes injury on January 1st and my next 5K race in late June.  I could interpret my progress pessimistically, optimistically, and/or realistically.  The most optimistic statistic is my heart rate getting down to 50 this morning.  It's a sign that my heart is getting back in shape.  My legs need more training.

     We are in the middle of Lent.  How are you doing with your Lenten practices?  Maybe you're in the middle between success and failure.  You could interpret your spiritual growth pessimistically, optimistically, or realistically.  But we have something better:  hope.  Regardless of how we've been doing so far, by God's grace and our cooperation, we can grow closer to God.  Today's Collect caught my attention:

Pour your grace into our hearts, we pray, O Lord,
that we may be constantly drawn away from unruly desires
and obey by your own gift the heavenly teaching you give us.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.

     At Mass, we pray to the Father, through the Son, and by the Holy Spirit.  The Collect (Opening Prayer) often identifies a theme for the readings.  Since we are in the middle of Lent, we may have noticed unruly desires.  So, we ask God the Father to pour His grace into our hearts so that we might be drawn away from those unruly desires.  We want, with His help, to follow His heavenly teaching.

     The scribe in the Gospel was in the middle of his spiritual journey.  He asked Jesus about the greatest commandment.  Jesus gave him the top 2.  The scribe replied with understanding.  Jesus told him he wasn't far from the Kingdom of God.

     We're in the middle of our spiritual journeys.  We are not far from the Kingdom of God because Jesus, the King, is close to us.  He wants to help us get closer to His Father in Heaven.

God love you,

Fr. Jim