By Association

A sweet moment with her 4-year-old inspired Kate Taliaferro to consider how Lent has offered us opportunities to be more closely associated with Christ. 

A little later the bystanders came over and said to Peter, 'Surely you too are one of them; even your speech gives you away.’ At that he began to curse and to swear, ‘I do not know the man.’ And immediately a cock crowed. (Matthew 26:73-74) 

Peter denied being associated with Jesus, even when his own speech and manner of talking identified him as a Galilean. As humans, we are quick to put things and people in categories. We can sort people like we sorted colored blocks when we were children. He belongs in this group because he does his grocery shopping over there. These are beds but those are chairs. Recently, my 4-year-old caused us all to pause when he made his own grouping of items.  

My dad has a prayer table where he likes to sit and meditate in the mornings. There, he also has a small crucifix and a saint’s medal. One morning when he sat down, the crucifix and medal were gone. Knowing kids are kids and things get moved around, he simply asked that as we cleaned up that day to keep an eye out for them. My 4-year-old overheard and came into the room. He saw us looking around and announced,   

“I know where they are!”  

He ran over to a different side table that had a flat, silver, almost paperweight-like cross on it. There, resting on top, were both the crucifix and the medal. He was so proud of the association he made between the objects. He explained he had seen the larger cross and knew that the three items all belonged together.  —

Would I Be Identified as a Friend of Jesus?  

This really made me pause and consider my own life. Who do others associate me with? Who does God associate me with? If my picture was sitting on a table, like that saint medallion, would anyone put my picture near the cross like my son did? 

What if I was put in a situation like Saint Peter? Would onlookers be able to identify me as a friend of Jesus? What would they be looking for?   

Fortunately, we have Scripture to turn to for some ideas about answering these questions. Jesus told His disciples in John 13:35 that the world would know who they were because of their love for one another. We get to see this in action in the Acts of the Apostles, in how the early Christians shared everything they had with one another so that no one was needy or left out of the community (Acts 4:32-35). 

Have Your Lenten Practices Made You Stronger in Your Faith?  

The way we interact with one another tells a great deal about who we are. For the whole of Lent, we have been working on modifying our actions. Through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, the goal of Lent is to become more Christ-like. How did we do? What’s the plan for a few days from now when Lent is over? Are we looking forward to coming full circle, anxiously ready to jump right back to the habits or practices we fasted from? Ready to give up the prayer or almsgiving practice we stretched ourselves to make time for the past 40 days?  

The Church does not expect us to continue our Lenten practices into Easter. However, this doesn’t mean that the new habits we have formed were intended to be an isolated occurrence in the year. No one ever got stronger by holding a weight for a little bit, then putting it down and never returning to it again. We have fasted, prayed, and given. Ideally, these practices have made us stronger in our faith so we can do new things in the coming days.   

Maybe you fasted from chocolate or social media. You have strengthened your ability to deny yourself. I sincerely hope you get to enjoy some chocolate and catching up with others. But I also hope that you keep a lookout for opportunities to say no to a second piece of cake or to take a day off from Instagram. Perhaps you have prayed a Rosary every day for Lent. Maybe it has become something you want to continue in the Easter season. Maybe you are ready to try out a new prayer practice and are less intimidated to start because you have created a larger space for prayer each day. Have you increased the amount you donate to your parish, or started donating for the first time? How can you integrate a little more giving into your everyday habits? 

Lent has offered us the opportunity to become more like Jesus, to be associated more closely with Him based on our words and actions. As we move into the time of Triduum, Jesus offers us the perfect example of how to fast, to pray, and to give. Let’s enter as deeply as possible into the mystery of the Paschal Mystery. May Christ continue to inspire us in the ways we can be as closely associated with Him as possible. 

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Copyright 2025 Kate Taliaferro
Images: (top, bottom) Canva; (center) copyright 2025 Kate Taliaferro, all rights reserved.