As the 40 days of Lent are drawing to a close, our lessons begin to awaken anticipation in our hearts and minds. We look forward to what we know comes next--well, not quite next. We have been here before. We know that after Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, first comes the gathering tension, building up to the Triduum of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, before we make it to the glory of Easter. We have to go through it, but we know it is worth the effort.

Yet we still can't help but feel anticipation when we hear the Prophet Isaiah proclaim that "[God] is about to do a new thing"--something as astonishing as providing "water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert." Take time to think about that life-giving image for you as an exhausted, thirsty traveler. The psalmist uses the metaphor of restoration to encourage anticipation in the hearts of those who are on the way; for example, "When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, then were we like those who dream.(v.1). . . The Lord has done great things for us, and we are glad indeed."(v.4) Then the epistle describes the anticipation of the apostle Paul who testifies to "forgetting what lies behind, and straining forward to what lies ahead." Does that resonate with you in your Lenten journey? Finally, we see Jesus accepting the anointing from Mary of Bethany with "a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard" in anticipation "for the day of my burial."

May the sure and certain hope of the resurrection, upheld by our anticipation of what awaits us, sustain us through these last days of Lent. May we be able to answer in the affirmative when we hear the Holy One ask, "Now [the new thing that I am doing] springs forth, do you not perceive it?"