St. Teresa of Avila describes stages in the spiritual life. We are aiming for the point where the grace and peace of God waters the garden of our soul without any effort on our part. “Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down so shall my word be … doing my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.” But there is an initial stage which is like needing to tend the garden by going to the well and lowering the bucket down and then cranking it up and hauling it over to the garden to do the watering. Lots of work in the spiritual life at that stage — and the season of Lent is the time for such spiritual work.
