You might have heard some world leaders and people in prominent status speak about ‘reset’ since this pandemic started. It is still a matter of discussion what they mean by ‘reset’. Some people welcome it, but some others fear it. I do not know what those influential people intend to reset.
However, we are all familiar with the word, ‘reset’. Most frequently, we use this word for our electronics. When your phone or computer does not operate well because of too much junk data and apps, we reset them. When we reset them, we return them to their original conditions and configurations as they left their manufacturers. Resetting removes all unnecessary add-ons and burdensome accumulations on your machines. In other words, your appliances are reborn.
In this familiar sense of the word, Judeo-Christian religion has a long practice of resetting. After the fall of Adam and Eve, God renewed the whole world of sin by the Great Flood. Through the reset of the Great Flood, the whole creation was reborn. This returning to the original condition of God’s creation also found its expression in the tradition of Jubilee years in Israel. Every seven years, Hebrew slaves were freed, debts were forgiven, and every tribe went back to their original inheritance. And Every fifty years was a great jubilee or a great reset. Israel people went back to the original conditions of what the Lord their God called them out of Egypt.
The Immaculate Conception was the beginning of the Great Reset. And Jesus was the Reset of mankind. Jesus and Mary were new Adam and new Eve. Now, through his death and resurrection, Christ opened a new way of resetting. It is the Baptism. When we are baptized, we are recreated according to the original image of God. Baptism removes all our previous burdens of sins. We are reborn without original sin.
But, not only that, but Jesus also gave us the Sacrament of Reconciliation for frequent resetting. And the Church developed a special period of reset – Lent. In this season of Lent, Jesus calls us to reset our life so that we may return to the original innocence and purity we received at Baptism.
This is the second Lent under this pandemic. We were in shock and frozen at the first Lent last year because the pandemic just began. Since then, under frequent shutdowns and partial lockdowns, we started discerning essential things for our life. We had to learn how to remove all unnecessary activities. I think last year was a time of resetting our spiritual life, too. It was an extended Lent. I hope that we all realized how necessary the Mass and the other sacraments are.
Indeed, it is time to reset. We want to remove all unnecessary burdens of life. And this pandemic is a good time to do it. I wish we turn this disaster into an opportunity to renew our lives. We want to remove all sinful habits and sinfulness that oppress our life. Let the Holy Spirit bring us to a desert as he drove Jesus to the desert of testing. Jesus turned the forty days of temptation into preparation for his ministry. When we ask the Holy Spirit, he helps us with his angels as he assisted Jesus in the desert. As the people of Israel marched through the desert of Sinai by the lead of the pillar of cloud and fire, we will also be able to go through this desert of the pandemic by the lead of the Holy Spirit. As the people of Israel were reborn at the River of Jordan and entered the promised land, I hope that the Holy Spirit may reset all of us during this Lent and grant us the joy of the resurrection of Christ.
