Easter Bankruptcy - New Evangelizers

Lent is over. Christ has risen. We can once again eat meat on Fridays. Whatever sacrifice we performed and/or refrained from for 40 days is done. It’s only been a few days but are you about to go bankrupt?

Bankruptcy is a word with negative connotations rightly earned. Whether it is business or personal, no one wants to go bankrupt.

Bankruptcy 101.

Businesses invoice their customers. Customers pay these invoices and the company uses this money to pay their vendors, employees, taxes, and whatever is left over is profit. If the business does not get paid, rent does not get paid, vendors and employees do not get checks, and a business must close or declare bankruptcy. On a personal level, it’s simple. Spend more than you take in, overextend yourself with credit cards, you can no longer pay the monthly bills, your only recourse to keep the creditors at bay is to declare bankruptcy.

Why speak about it here?  What does it have to do with Lent? Or being Catholic.  Easter bankruptcy??!!??

Lent comes and for 40 days we are vigilant. We refrain, rejoice, repent, and give. We strive to be Christ like and turn down the devil’s advancements. Embrace Christ. 40 days. We can do this for 40 days.

That is investment. Every prayer, every rosary, every good deed, every confession, we are filling and cleansing our soul. Easter comes and we feel reborn. Then Easter is gone.

I am a guilty offender. Immediately after Easter, I do let my guard down. The devil creeps in, I start “spending” the good will. It starts slowly, like eating ice cream out of the carton. The sides get soft, you start scraping the outer edges. Scraping and scraping, all of a sudden it seems, you have this small island in the carton tethered to no side. Might as well finish that.

Because my “spending” (sins) never stops and I am no longer investing I find myself overwhelmed and in debt.  How do I get out of this debt. And in real life if you’re struggling to make monthly repayments on your debt, it’s important to click here as soon as you can.

What else to do but declare bankruptcy. There is the twist: This is ok. It is ok to declare your “bankruptcy to Jesus Christ.”

I know I said earlier that bankruptcy had a negative connotation. The secret to bankruptcy is reorganization. Again to use business as the metaphor, look at General Motors, Ashley Stewart, Delta Airlines. These entities each went bankrupt and came back stronger with realigned principles and missions.

Proverbs 28:13 says it best: “He that covers his sins shall not prosper; but whoever confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy.”

There is that word again: Mercy. Show yourself mercy in the Year of Mercy. In the context of what I am proposing, bankruptcy can be positive. Print out a calendar and mark the next 40 days. Reorganize and rededicate yourself.

I am going to paraphrase the words of Pope Francis to end this: Life itself is a pilgrimage to a desired destination. May we find the strength to embrace God’s mercy.

Copyright 2016, Peter Serzo

Peter Serzo

Peter Serzo, observer, listener, author, speaker, and blogger. Visit him at Dotirome.com where he shares practical stories on being Catholic and listen to his popular Priest Podcast. The Priest Podcast is an environment where we have an enlightening conversation with those that lead (Not a theology conversation but a conversation on being a Priest/Leader/Human). Peter travels visiting different Catholic Churches satiating his curiosity and desire to spread each parish's uniqueness though his blog and presentations.