Psalm Reflection: The Fifth Sunday of Lent - Cycle A

“With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.” - Psalms 130

What does it look like to live in fullness?

Maybe it is easier to describe what it does not look like. 

We cannot live in fullness if we are pulled in multiple directions, or half-filled by multiple things. We must be singularly-focused; two half-commitments do not make a full one.

We cannot fill ourselves only to the degree that we are comfortable, desiring to leave room for something better that might come along. We must be fully committed and devoted.

We cannot only show up when it is convenient or easy. To live in fullness is to be completely present and receptive to what is in front of us.

To look at it this way probably reveals that many of us fall short in this invitation. We commit to the degree that it is safe, easy, and comfortable, producing the least amount of conflict in our lives possible.

But Jesus does not work that way. He does not want part of you, He wants all of you. He does not only want the polished and proper parts of us, he wants the broken sinful parts too. Jesus did not only die on the cross for the righteous or the repentant, He died for every single person who exists, who has ever existed, and who will ever exist.

There is no halfway in the Christian life. It is either yes or no. Sin or redemption. There is no fence-sitting. We must choose.

“Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the evil one” (Matthew 5:37).

“I know your works; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:16).

T.S. Eliot said that Christianity is, "a condition of complete simplicity, costing not less than everything.” If we want the fullness of redemption that Jesus offers us, we must be fully willing to give him our entire selves.

The Season of Lent can sometimes cause us to compartmentalize this, focusing in on one or two vices we want to reverse, or virtues we want to grow in, instead of helping us understand that the entire point of Lent is to purge and purify us of everything that stands in the way of following the risen Lord Jesus. I wonder how our Lenten devotions, commitments, and practices might change if we allowed ourselves to be fully convicted of that truth.

In what parts of your life are you sitting on the fence? Where are you being called to actively choose the Lord, especially in aspects of your life where you may have grown complacent or comfortable?

Where in my life am I negotiating with God instead of surrendering to him? Where am I holding back? 

If I truly believed that Jesus wants all of me—not the polished parts, but the broken, sinful, messy parts—how would that change the way I respond to him?

I am praying for you. Please pray for me and my family, and I will see you in the Eucharist.

Matt

This reflection is based on the Responsorial Psalm for this Sunday, March 22nd, 2026, the Fifth Sunday of Lent: Psalms 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8.