Throughout the season of Lent, we’re featuring the Millennial Lenten Reflection Series co-sponsored by Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Franciscan Mission Service. Each small reflection will be written by a young person, focusing on that day’s Mass reading. You can sign up for the series here.

When I read today’s first reading, I was reminded of our human weakness. We see life as what we can get instead of what we can give, and if we are like most Christians, we try to fit God into a corner of our lives. But if someone asks us about our faith, we are the first to show our wounds, and use this as a way to say, “See, I am a good Christian…a good person…a good wife, mother, brother, or neighbor.”

The issue with living our lives like this is that God doesn’t ask us to worship Him as a way to feel good about ourselves, or even to show others what it means to be a good follower, but to give Him the kind of love that we have received. And what kind of love was that? The kind that allowed Him to ask His son to die on the cross for us so that we might live. When we’re thinking about what kind of sacrifice we should make this Lenten season, let us remember the sacrifice that Christ made to open for us the gates of Heaven forever.

Valerie Ellis grew up outside of Wichita, Kansas, and attended the University of Tampa. She worked in higher education for 12 years, including recruiting students internationally and designing and teaching a class called “Avoiding Violence: Be A Part of the Solution.” Valerie loves to work with children, and hopes to apply her knowledge of non-violence while on mission in Bolivia.