On this Saturday - the third week of Lent I'm reminded of Mohandas Gandhi's reflection from his work, "My Religion". He said,
"God is the hardest taskmaster I have known on earth, and God tries you through and through. And when you find your faith is failing or your body is failing you and your are sinking, God comes to your assistance somehow or other, and proves to you that you must not lose your faith and that God is always at your beck and call, but on God's terms, no on your terms." -"My Religion", 45
To know that I live life not on my terms but on God's terms is for me one lesson of the feast of the Annunciation which we celebrate today. I also see that lesson clearly in the agony in the garden story. As you remember Jesus prayed for the cup to be taken away, but not his will but Your will be done.
The Church requires a Lenten practice of fasting, prayer and almsgiving during this penitential season to bring me to a fuller understanding of my place in this life. To live I must remember I live on God's terms and not on my terms.
"Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will." (Ps 40:8a and 9a)