“[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.”

- John 12: 24-2

One could say each day we are invited to “die to self.”  We only need to reflect on the daily “involuntary acts of dying to self” we have witnessed and personally experienced during this pandemic.  So many people put others before themselves by their selfless acts of kindness and service.  Those selfless acts motivated by love and care for the good of others and in service to living gospel values, gave birth to “new life” in so many ways and for so many people.

Life experience has taught me that by “dying to self” I can experience new life.  I am called to let die anything that keeps me from greater freedom to follow Jesus, from giving witness to God’s love, from living a life rooted in the gospel. When anything in me dies in the service of God and for the good of others, something better is born.

When the daily “dying to self” is painful and heart wrenching, I remind myself of these lyrics from the song, “The Rose” -

“Just remember in the winter

Far beneath the bitter snows

Lies the seed that with the sun’s love

In the spring becomes the rose.”

God’s Word always invites me to “go deeper.”  Reflecting on today’s scripture, I find myself asking these questions:

What needs to die in me so that I may live more fully the life God desires for me?

What “new life” is God longing to bring to birth in me, with me and through me?

As our Lenten journey brings us closer to Holy Week – let us remain open to the dying and rising our everyday experiences hold for us.