What Is In Your Wooden Box? A Lenten Reflection

by Fr. Robert Aliunzi  |  03/20/2026  |  Weekly Reflection

Dear Friends,

As we continue our Lenten journey and approach this 5th Sunday of Lent, the Church invites us to continue looking more deeply into our hearts. Lent is often the time when we try to “fix” ourselves—we give something up, we pray more, we try to improve. But sometimes, without realizing it, we spend more time looking at the sins of others than examining our own.

There is a story told about St. Peter and Judas Iscariot that struck me, and I think, offers a powerful lesson for this season. The story goes:
One day, St. Peter was standing on a balcony, and from a distance, he saw Judas Iscariot coming with a wooden box. When Judas came closer, Peter asked him where he was going with a wooden box and what plan he was trying to hatch, and reminded him of how he betrayed their Master. Judas Iscariot answered and said that he was coming to see Peter. Peter became confused and asked him what was inside the wooden box, and Judas asked him to come and see. Peter came down and opened the box. He saw a rooster. Infuriated, he asked Judas what that meant, and before Judas could reply, the rooster crowed and Peter remembered what happened the night our Lord was betrayed, and Judas, smiling, said to him: “I am not the only bad man here; you are also a bad man, you denied him three times!

Whether the story is true or simply a spiritual lesson, it reveals something important about the human heart. Sometimes we act like Peter. We look at the sins of others and think, “At least I am not like that.” We judge others. Their failures make us feel better about ourselves. Other times, we act like Judas. We excuse our sins by saying, “Everyone else is doing the same thing.” But Lent calls us away from both of those temptations. The real question of Lent is not: What is in someone else’s box? The real question is: What is in mine?

On this Sunday, the most important offering we bring is not simply what we place in the collection basket. The greatest gift we can give God is a humble and contrite heart. When we stop comparing our sins with the sins of others, something beautiful happens. We begin to recognize that we are all in need of mercy. And that is exactly where grace begins. As St. Augustine of Hippo once wrote: “The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works.”

This week, let us ask the Lord for the courage to open our own “wooden boxes.” Not so that we fall into discouragement, but so that we can run more quickly to the One who never turns away a repentant heart—the same Lord who forgave Peter and who offers His mercy to each of us today.

I love you!