Change and conversion take time.  New habits and behaviors and reforming negative thoughts grow from a pattern of repeated actions that must occur over days and weeks before they truly take hold.

In the wisdom of our faith tradition, we have been given the forty days of Lent.  Forty days is a time-frame in which we continually connect religious significance.  Moses stayed on the mountain with the Lord. (Exodus 24:18)  Forty days were spent by the Isrealites in scouting the promised land. (Numbers 14:34) Before Elijah had heard the Lord in a whisper, he had “walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God” (1 Kings 19:8). Jonah had prophesied the destruction of Nineveh (Jonah 3:4) within the time-frame of "Forty days more.”  Before he began his public ministry, Jesus remained in the desert among wild beasts and tempted by Satan for forty days. (Mark 1:13)

In each of these examples, it was the forty days that was significant.  There never seems to be a commemoration of the initiation of the forty days.  In our calendar today, we are dependant on New Year’s Day to make a resolution or begin a diet.  Ash Wednesday leads us into a time of penitence.

But, let’s face it.  Nothing is stopping you or I from starting a journey anew today.  As we enter into spring, might this be a time for scouting our own promised lands?  As we enter into Holy Week, might this be a time to seek God’s mercy and reform our lives?  As we enter to the Easter Season, might the be an opportunity to build our lives anew based on the whispered voice of the Lord?

This Saturday, over one thousand young people in Baltimore will make a three mile pilgrimage to begin Holy Week. The end-point of their journey is to celebrate Eucharist at their Basilica.

Confucius has a proverb that "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Saturday’s pilgrimage will begin with a single step as well. So, too, does change and conversion.  May God bless your next single step.