Above my desk at Castlerigg I used to have the following poem:

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental
To reach for another is to risk involvement
To expose your ideas, your dreams, before a crowd is to risk loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return
To live is to risk dying
To believe is to risk failure
But risk must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing
The people who risk nothing do nothing, have nothing, and are nothing
They may avoid suffering and sorrow, but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live
Chained by their attitudes, they are slaves; they have forfeited their freedom
Only a person who risk is free.

And as followers of Christ we are called to take risks in the way we live our lives at the service of others. Sometimes when I open the confessional door on a Saturday morning nobody comes and other times it is very, very busy. When it is quiet I am conscious of the fact that God has risked in His love for us. He has opened Himself up to us by offering us His forgiveness. He has risked being rejected or ignored by us.

During this time let us take a risk in the way we live our lives by responding to God's offer of love and forgiveness and through our prayer, fasting and almsgiving, and taking the opportunity for the sacrament of Reconciliation be people who live Lent and life to the full. If we do this then we will allow God into our lives and when we do that we will allow others into our lives too. I think that is why I am a person that takes risks: because I am a Christian!