This post marks the end of my Lenten reflections. I loved writing them so much that I plan to continue to add my reflections regularly! They won’t be about Lent, and won’t come every week, but I want to continue to share the knowledge I’ve gained and the wisdom God has given me about my spirituality. Stay tuned!
As for today, I pray you have come to recognize more fully the goodness in yourself, others, and the world during this Lenten journey of transformation. I also wish that you may realize that your experience with a loving God grounds your spiritual authority, and will give you permission to share your wisdom with the world.
I am learning a lot right now from my reading of the German theologian, Dorothee Sölle in her books “The Silent Cry: Mysticism and Resistance and Creative Disobedience.” Sölle lived in Germany during the Hitler era, and found herself needing to embrace a new theology and spirituality which would help her make sense of the terrible cruelty and suffering happening all around her, and facilitate a new way of experiencing God and God’s presence in her life and in the world.
(I can certainly identify with her need; we all probably want that right now.)
What Sölle found was “mysticism.” As she writes: “What drew me to mysticism was the dream of finding a form of spirituality that I was missing in German Protestantism. What I was seeking had to be less dogmatic, less cerebral and encased in words, and less centered on men.” She goes on to say: “The scholastic definition of mysticism is ‘the knowledge of God through and from experience. What is meant here is the knowledge of God that, instead of being obtained from instruction, tradition, books, and doctrines, comes from one’s own life.”
This explanation spoke to my heart. I, too, have been looking to deepen my spirituality and relationship with God in order to address the needs of our broken world. Mysticism honors my personal experience. It acknowledges my God experiences. It tells me, ‘Yes, this is how God has been present in my life all along in a very real way.” I love what Richard Rohr said in his book “Eager to Love,”“[Authentic] God experience does indeed make you know you are quite special, favorite, chosen – but you realize others are too!
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Let us walk with our neighbors during this last part of Lent. Let us realize that we are all one, with each other and with God. When one suffers, we all suffer. When one rejoices, we all rejoice. And as we recount the sufferings of Jesus, and feel them through our own pain, remember that none of this is the end. Jesus rose from the dead. Death has been defeated. We are alive in the love of God, and we are being asked to bring that love to others.
About Sister Karen
Karen Lueck is a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration. She has spent much of her life recognizing the goodness in herself and others. As an educator, mental health counselor, spiritual director and leader in her congregation of Catholic Sisters, she acted as a cheerleader for the people with whom she ministered. In her first book, "Cheering for the Good: Leading When It Matters," Sister Karen's urges all of us to step up and be the change.
Her new book, "The Green Thread: Reclaiming Our Spiritual Authority," is part memoir, part research narrative about what happens when church and earthly powers form an unholy alliance to keep people, especially women, subservient. "The Green Thread" debuted in September 2025. Follow this Lenten series by visiting Sister Karen's author page here.