Lent Monday week 4

Monday, March 31

Today's Grace

I pray for the grace to turn my back to the (limiting) past and to embrace the (promising) future.

Scripture/Reading

From "The Still Point: Reflections on Zen and Christian Mysticism" by William Johnston:

 

That detachment - which at first sight seems a cold and inhuman virtue - is in fact of primary importance for normal human development, is an ordinary finding of modern psychology. Erich Fromm tells us that detachment is something so vitally linked to human growth that it must begin at the moment of birth and proceed over one's whole life - which, when all goes well, is nothing more than growth through a series of crises. "The aim of life," he writes, "is to be fully born"; and he goes on to say that some people "cannot cut the umbilical cord completely, as it were; they remain symbiotically attached to mother, father, family, race, state, status, money, gods, etc.; they never emerge fully as themselves and thus they never become fully born. Here from a psychologist is a program of detachment as ruthless as that of John of the Cross; showing that the human perfection aimed at by the psychologist is not alien to the Christian perfection of the saints. Indeed, John of the Cross uses words reminiscent of those I have quoted from Fromm, for he complains that some people, retarded in their spiritual life "still think of God as little children and speak of God as little children, and feel and experience God as little children." In other words, he wants people to get rid of children's ideas of God and to grow up.

Reflection Questions

1. In what ways have I not grown up? What are my umbilical cords connected to? What would it take for me to cut them?
2. What are the "new heavens and new earth" that God is desiring for me at this moment? What attachments are keeping me from embracing this new reality?

Reflection

"Return of the Prodigal Son" etching by Rembrandt, 1636

 

"Abraham In Promised Land" by Andrew Bowers

La Peniche and Kappa Horn - only = the best!!!

Slim Goodies owner Kappa Horn will bring her enormous pancakes to the Marigny at Horn. (Dinah Rogers /NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)

 

By Todd A. Price, NOLA.com | Times-Picayune The Times-Picayune
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on March 20, 2014 at 4:16 PM, updated March 20, 2014 at 5:37 PM

  

Long-running Marigny restaurant La Peniche will close Tuesday (March 25). Kappa Horn, who owns and operates the Uptown diner Slim Goodies (3322 Magazine St.), bought the restaurant. After about three weeks of renovations and updates, she'll reopen the place as Horn's

"We'll pull up that old grandma carpet," Horn said. "It needs someone to love it again."
To start the day, Horn's will offer "breakfast by Slim Goodies." That Uptown diner specializes in classic American breakfast fare.

For lunch and dinner, Horn has hired Greg Fonseca, who was the executive chef at Booty's Street Food until earlier this month.

"The menu will be New Orleans comfort food with a little something beyond," Fonseca said. "A little something that you don't get everywhere. Elevated, if you will."

Fonseca was still finalizing the menu, but he plans to offer some items, like the festival favorite crawfish bread, that aren't often seen on local menus.

Although Fonseca hopes Horn's will be a destination for New Orleans diners, he said that prices will be modest enough to encourage nearby residents to return frequently.

"You want to be able to take care of your neighbors," he said.
Horn's will be located at 1940 Dauphine St., New Orleans.

Lent

Today's Grace

I pray for the grace to recognize how and where I might have a divided heart desiring both "life and death" through my attitudes and choices.

Scripture/Reading

The Two Standards of St. Ignatius Loyola from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola:

 

Imagine the enemy seated himself in that great field of Babylon, as in a great chair of fire and smoke, in shape horrible and terrifying. Consider the discourse which he makes them, and how he tells them to cast out nets and chains; that they have first to tempt with a longing for riches - as he is accustomed to do in most cases - that people may more easily come to vain honor of the world, and then to vast pride. So that the first step shall be that of riches; the second, that of honor; the third, that of pride; and from these three steps he draws on to all the other vices.

 

So, on the contrary, one has to imagine as to the supreme and true Captain, who is Christ our Lord. He puts Himself in a great field of that region of Jerusalem, in lowly place, beautiful and attractive. Consider the discourse which Christ our Lord makes to all His servants and friends whom He sends on this expedition, recommending them to want to help all, by bringing them first to the highest spiritual poverty, and - if His Divine Majesty would be served and would want to choose them - no less to actual poverty; the second is to be of contumely and contempt; because from these two things humility follows. So that there are to be three steps; the first, poverty against riches; the second, contumely or contempt against worldly honor; the third, humility against pride. And from these three steps let them induce to all the other virtues.

 

Reflection Questions

1. What are some signs of a "divided heart"? How do they find expression in my personal life, my community/family life, my ministry?  
2. What is my attitude toward riches, honor and pride? What choices does this attitude lead to?  
3. What is my attitude toward poverty, contempt and humility? What choices do I make based on this attitude?  
4. How do I try to reconcile my divided heart? What role does Christ play in this?

Reflection

"Follow Me" by Ilya Repin, 1903

Lent Monday refections

Today's Grace

I pray for the grace to recall some un-freedoms/resistances from my own history and remember how I was given the grace to overcome them.

Scripture/Reading

Reading via the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops website:

 

2 Kgs 5:1-15AB
Naaman, the army commander of the king of Aram,
was highly esteemed and respected by his master.
But valiant as he was, the man was a leper.
Now the Arameans had captured in a raid on the land of Israel
a little girl, who became the servant of Naaman's wife.
"If only my master would present himself to the prophet in Samaria,"
she said to her mistress, "he would cure him of his leprosy."
Naaman went and told his lord
just what the slave girl from the land of Israel had

said. "Go," said the king of Aram.
"I will send along a letter to the king of Israel."
So Naaman set out, taking along ten silver talents,
six thousand gold pieces, and ten festal garments.
To the king of Israel he brought the letter, which read:
"With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you,
that you may cure him of his leprosy."

 

When he read the letter  the king of Israel tore his garments and exclaimed:
"Am I a god with power over life and death,
that this man should send someone to me to be

cured of leprosy?
Take note! You can see he is only looking for a quarrel with me!"
When Elisha, the man of God,
heard that the king of Israel had torn his garments,
he sent word to the king:
"Why have you torn your garments?
Let him come to me and find out
that there is a prophet in Israel."

 

Naaman came with his horses and chariots
and stopped at the door of Elisha's house.
The prophet sent him the message:
"Go and wash seven times in the Jordan,
and your flesh will heal, and you will be clean."
But Naaman went away angry, saying,
"I thought that he would surely come out and stand there
to invoke the LORD his God,
and would move his hand over the spot,
and thus cure the leprosy.
Are not the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar,
better than all the waters of Israel?
Could I not wash in them and be cleansed?"
With this, he turned about in anger and left.

 

But his servants came up and reasoned with him.
"My father," they said,
"if the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary,
would you not have done it?
All the more now, since he said to you,
'Wash and be clean,' should you do as he said."
So Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times
at the word of the man of God.
His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

 

He returned with his whole retinue to the man of God.
On his arrival he stood before him and said,
"Now I know that there is no God in all the earth,
except in Israel."

Reflection Questions

Saved - by a slave. Naaman, we are told, was highly esteemed, respected and valiant. But not even these qualities would have spared him from the ignominy of leprosy. He could have consulted "the experts" - the leading oracles, the finest medics, the greatest authorities on this cursed disease. Instead, his cure begins with the words of that little girl - captured and enslaved herself - yet ever-ready to offer her master "freedom."

 

To his credit, against all odds, he heeds her advice and approaches Elisha. Yet, his pride, status and valor almost botch the whole affair. Geographical jingoism nearly kept him a leper forever. But he swallows some pride and wallows in the Jordan and his life is changed forever. Who'd have thought that a persona non grata and a piddly stream would have been his keys to healing and freedom?

1. Was there a time when I found myself un-free and somebody got me out of it? When? Who? How?
2. What resistances did I have in seeking help from "lesser" sources? What resistances do I still have toward gaining "spiritual freedom"?  
3. What are my/our current un-freedoms? Personally, as a community and in the apostolate? What are those sore spots that still remain amidst all my successes?  
4. How might God be offering me a "cure" today?

Reflection

"Elisha Refusing Gifts from Naaman" by Pieter Fransz de Grebber

Image via gstatic.com

Other Resources

View the daily readings at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops website.

 

If-
by Rudyard Kipling

 

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

 

If you can dream-and not make dreams your master;
If you can think-and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;

 

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

 

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings-nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And-which is more-you'll be a Man, my son!

 

 

Zeroing In
by Denise Levertov

 

"I am a landscape," he said.
"a landscape and a person walking in that landscape.
There are daunting cliffs there,
And plains glad in their way
of brown monotony. But especially
there are sinkholes, places
of sudden terror, of small circumference
and malevolent depths."
"I know," she said. "When I set forth
to walk in myself, as it might be
on a fine afternoon, forgetting,
sooner or later I come to where sedge
and clumps of white flowers, rue perhaps,
mark the bogland, and I know
there are quagmires there that can pull you
down, and sink you in bubbling mud."
"We had an old dog," he told her, "when I was a boy,
a good dog, friendly. But there was an injured spot
on his head, if you happened
just to touch it he'd jump up yelping
and bite you. He bit a young child,
they had to take him down to the vet's and destroy him."
"No one knows where it is," she said,
"and even by accident no one touches it.
It's inside my landscape, and only I, making my way
preoccupied through my life, crossing my hills,
sleeping on green moss of my own woods,
I myself without warning touch it,
and leap up at myself -"
"- or flinch back
just in time."
"Yes, we learn that.
It's not a terror, it's pain we're talking about:
those places in us, like your dog's bruised head,
that are bruised forever, that time
never assuages, never."

 

 

Song: "Can't Find My Way Home" by Joe Cocker

Song: "Come Healing" by Leonard Cohen

Song: "Leper's Song" by Barclay James Harvest

 

Saturday Lent

Saturday, March 22

Today's Grace

I ask for the grace to look back on the past two weeks and acknowledge, accept and savor the gifts God has given me.

Scripture/Reading

Quieting myself, I become aware that I am in Your presence, O God.
I imagine You looking at me and me looking at You, loving me.

Loving God, open my eyes and ears to see where You have been with me
for these past two weeks.

As I reflect on this prayer experience, I realize that everything I have,
even myself, is a gift from You.

Let me allow You to bring to my awareness all that You want to show me.
For the times that were life-giving, I express my gratitude to You.

I am still learning to grow in Your love.
Forgive me for the times when I chose not to respond to Your invitations to love.

With gratitude to You, I ask for what I really want and need
as I move into the next phase of this prayer experience. Amen.  

Reflection Questions

1. When does gratitude come easily in my life?What evoked it for me over the past two weeks?
2. When is gratitude difficult in my life?When did I sense resistance over the past two weeks?
3. Can I ask for the grace to approach God and others with a greater sense of gratitude in the future?

Reflection

Music: "At The Ivy Gate" by Brian Crain

Lent Thursday

Today's Grace

I ask for the grace of gratitude for God's mercy and the grace to model it for others.

Scripture/Reading

Reading via the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops website:

 

Luke 17:11-19
As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem,
he traveled through Samaria and Galilee.
As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him.
They stood at a distance from him and raised their voice, saying,
"Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!"
And when he saw them, he said,
"Go show yourselves to the priests."
As they were going they were cleansed.
And one of them, realizing he had been healed,
returned, glorifying God in a loud voice;
and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.
He was a Samaritan.
Jesus said in reply,
"Ten were cleansed, were they not?
Where are the other nine?
Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?"
Then he said to him, "Stand up and go;
your faith has saved you."

 

From the March 2013 letter "With Pope Francis at the Beginning of his Pontificate" by Jesuit Father General Adolfo Nicolás to the whole Society of Jesus:

 

We are aware that our efforts are limited and that we all carry the burden of a history of sin that we share with all humanity. But we also experience God's radical call inviting us to consider all things and look to the future in a new way, as Ignatius did in Manresa. This is the time to appropriate the words of mercy and goodness that Pope Francis repeats so convincingly and not allow ourselves to be swept away by distractions from the past, which may paralyze our hearts and lead us to interpret reality with values that are not inspired by the Gospel.  

Reflection Questions

1. How do I experience God's mercy for me?
2. How do I show God's mercy to those with whom I live, pray, serve and relax?
3. Is there an area of my life where God wants to show me mercy? I talk with God about this.  

Reflection

Music: "I'm Alive" by Kenny Chesney

Other Resources

View the daily readings at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops website.

"Whoever humbles himself will be exalted"

Gospel Reading: Matthew 23:1-12: Then said Jesus to the crowds and to his disciples, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat; so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice. They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by men; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues, and salutations in the market places, and being called rabbi by men. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brethren. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called masters, for you have one master, the Christ. He who is greatest among you shall be your servant; whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."

Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 1:10,16-20: Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom!  Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomor'rah! Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. "Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
  

Meditation: Who doesn’t desire the praise and respect of others? We want others to see us at our best with all of our strengths and achievements – rather than at our worst with all of our faults and shortcomings. God sees us as we truly are – sinners and beggars always in need of his mercy, help, and guidance. The prophet Isaiah warned both the rulers and the people of Sodom and Gomorrah to listen to God's teaching so they could learn to do good and to cease from evil (Isaiah 110,17). Jesus warned the scribes and Pharisees, the teachers and rulers of Israel, to teach and serve their people with humility and sincerity rather than with pride and self-promotion. They went to great lengths to draw attention to their religious status and practices. In a way they wanted to be good models of observant Jews. "See how well we observe all the ritual rules and regulations of our religion!" In their misguided zeal for religion they sought recognition and honor for themselves rather than for God. They made the practice of their faith a burden rather than a joy for the people they were supposed to serve. True respect for God inclines us to humble ourselves and to submit to his teaching. We cannot be taught by God unless we first learn to listen to his word and then obey his instruction.

Was Jesus against calling anyone a rabbi, the Jewish title for a teacher of God's word (Matthew 23:7-8), or a father? The law of Moses commanded fathers to teach their children to obey God's instructions (Deuteronomy 6:7). Or was he just directing this sharp rebuke to the scribes and Pharisees? Jesus seemed to be warning both his disciples and the religious leaders about the temptation to seek titles and honors to increase one's own reputation and admiration by others. The scriptures give ample warning about the danger of self-seeking pride: Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall (Proverbs 16:18). God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6; Proverbs 3:24). Origen, a Christian teacher and bible scholar writing in the 3rd century, reminds those who teach and lead to remember that "you have one teacher, and you are all brothers to each other...Whoever ministers with the divine word does not put himself forward to be called teacher, for he knows that when he performs well it is Christ who is within him. He should only call himself servant according to the command of Christ, saying, Whoever is greater among you, let him be the servant of all."

Respect for God and for his ways inclines us to Godly humility and simplicity of heart. What is true humility and why should we embrace it? True humility is not feeling bad about yourself, or having a low opinion of yourself, or thinking of yourself as inferior to others. True humility frees us from preoccupation with ourselves, whereas a low self-opinion tends to focus our attention on ourselves. Humility is truth in self-understanding and truth in action. Viewing ourselves truthfully, with sober judgment, means seeing ourselves the way God sees us (Psalm 139:1-4). A humble person makes a realistic assessment of oneself without illusion or pretense to be something one is not. A truly humble person regards oneself neither smaller nor larger than one truly is. True humility frees us to be ourselves as God sees us and to avoid despair and pride. A humble person does not want to wear a mask or put on a facade in order to look good to others. Such a person is not swayed by accidentals, such as fame, reputation, success, or failure.

 

Refection question:  Do you know the joy of Christ-like humility and simplicity of heart?

Humility is the queen or foundation of all the other virtues because it enables us to see and judge correctly, the way God sees. Humility helps us to be teachable so we can acquire true knowledge, wisdom, and an honest view of reality. It directs our energy, zeal, and ambition to give ourselves to something greater than ourselves. Humility frees us to love and serve others selflessly, for their sake, rather than our own. Paul the Apostle gives us the greatest example and model of humility in the person of Jesus Christ, who emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and ...who humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:7-8). Do you want to be a servant as Jesus served and loved others? The Lord gives grace to those who humbly seek him.

"Prayer: Lord Jesus, you became a servant for my sake to set me free from the tyranny of selfish pride and self-concern. Teach me to be humble as you are humble and to love others generously with selfless service and kindness." Amen.

 

Peace and all good,

Brother Ed, OFM

LITANY OF SAINT PATRICK

LITANY OF SAINT PATRICK

 

Lord, have mercy on us. – LORD, HAVE MERCY ON US.
Christ, have mercy on us. – CHRIST, HAVE MERCY ON US.
Lord, have mercy on us. – LORD, HAVE MERCY ON US.
Christ, hear us. – CHRIST, GRACIOUSLY HEAR US.
God, the Father of heaven, – HAVE MERCY ON US.
God, the Son, Redeemer of the world, – HAVE MERCY ON US.
God, the Holy Spirit, – HAVE MERCY ON US.
Holy Trinity, One God, – HAVE MERCY ON US.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
- PRAY FOR US. (Repeat after each line.)
St Patrick,
St Patrick, Apostle of Ireland,
St Patrick, most worthy in God’s eyes,
St Patrick, model of Bishops,
St Patrick, enemy of infidelity,
St Patrick, truly humble,
St Patrick, always trying to do good,
St Patrick, example of charity,
St Patrick, patron of our Congregation,
St Patrick, teacher of the true faith,
St Patrick, our powerful protector,
St Patrick, our compassionate helper, – PRAY FOR US.
Lamb of God, You take away the sins of the world, – SPARE US, O LORD.
Lamb of God, You take away the sins of the world, – GRACIOUSLY HEAR US, O LORD.
Lamb of God, You take away the sins of the world, – HAVE MERCY ON US.
Pray for us, O glorious St Patrick, – THAT WE MAY BE MADE WORTHY OF THE PROMISES OF CHRIST.

Let us pray:
O God, You sent Your blessed servant St Patrick to teach and save the people of his time and place. You gave our patron a loving heart like Your own. You filled him with great faith and a burning desire to work hard for Your Kingdom. Please listen when he prays for us, his sons. Grant to us, through his intercession, a lively faith, a firm hope, and a strong will to build Your Kingdom.
- AMEN.

"Forgive, and you will be forgiven"

 

Gospel Reading: Luke 6:36-38: "Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back."

Old Testament Reading: Daniel 9:4-10: I prayed to the LORD my God and made confession, saying, "O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and ordinances; we have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us confusion of face, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those that are near and those that are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery which they have committed against you. To us, O Lord, belongs confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness; because we have rebelled against him, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God by following his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets."
  

Meditation: Do you pray for God's mercy and pardon for yourself and for those you know who need his

mercy? Do you promptly forgive those who wrong you, or do you allow resentment and ill-will to grow in your heart? Daniel was ‘shamefaced’ before God because he recognized that many of God's people had been unfaithful to God's commands and to his covenant with them (see Daniel 9:4-10). He acknowledged the sins and failings of his own people, and he pleaded with God for compassion and pardon. When we are confronted with our own sins and personal failings we experience guilt and shame. This can often either lead us to cast off pride and make-belief or it can lead us to lose our inhibitions and fall into more shameless deeds! If we are utterly honest and humble before God, we will admit our own sins and ask for his mercy and forgiveness. The Lord gives help and strength to those who choose to do what is right and to turn away from whatever would lead them into hurtful and sinful desires.

Refection question: Do you know the joy and freedom of heartfelt repentance, forgiveness, and a clean conscience?

What makes true disciples of Jesus Christ different from those who do not know the Lord Jesus and what makes Christianity distinct from any other religion? It is grace – treating others not as they deserve, but as God wishes them to be treated – with loving-kindness, forebearance, and mercy. God shows his goodness to the unjust as well as to the just. His love embraces saint and sinner alike. God always seeks what is best for each one of us and he teaches us to seek the greatest good of others, even those who hate and abuse us. Our love for others, even those who are ungrateful and unkind towards us, must be marked by the same kindness and mercy which God has shown to us. It is easier to show kindness and mercy when we can expect to benefit from doing so. How much harder when we can expect nothing in return. Our prayer for those who do us ill both breaks the power of revenge and releases the power of love to do good in the face of evil.

How can we possibly love those who cause us grief, ill-will, and harm? With God all things are possible. He gives power and grace to those who trust in his love and who seek his help and wisdom. The Lord is ready to work in and through us by his Holy Spirit, both to purify our minds and hearts and to guide us in choosing what is good and loving. Paul the Apostle reminds us that "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us" (Romans 5:5) God's love conquers all, even our hurts, injuries, fears, and prejudices. Only the cross of Jesus Christ and his victory over sin can free us from the tyranny of malice, hatred, revenge, and resentment, and give us the courage to overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21).  Such love and grace has power to heal, restore, and transform us into the image of Christ.

Refection question: Do you know the power of Christ's redeeming love and mercy?

Prayer: "Lord Jesus, your love brings freedom, pardon, and joy. Transform my heart with your love that nothing may make me lose my temper, ruffle my peace, take away my joy, or make me bitter towards anyone." Amen.

Have a great day!

Brother Ed, OFM

Lent for the thrid week

The Lent Gospels for Weeks 3, 4 and 5 What are the Scrutinies in Weeks 3, 4, 5? Audio Conversation for this week in Lent Looking at Marriage in Lent Choosing Lent - Acting Lent Realigning our Priorities  Family Prayer  Pope Francis' Lent Message - 2014 Site Index: the Resources

The Third Week of Lent With this week, we conclude the first part of Lent.  We continue our lessons in the faith, as our practices of Lent become deeper and more full of grace. We enter into this week reflecting upon the Scrutiny that makes up our intense prayer for those Elect, preparing for Baptism.  And, as we beg, as Church, that they be freed from sin and from all anxiety, we ask those same desires for ourselves. The simple and powerful words of the Opening Prayer guides our daily prayer.  We continue to wake each morning, pausing to ask for the graces we desire for the day.  Throughout each day, the background of our thoughts and feelings is more and more taken up with what this journey means for our personal change of heart, the renewal of our Baptismal commitment to be placed with Jesus, and our growing desire to act in solidarity with the poor.  We go to bed each evening, after pausing to give thanks for the gifts of the day

March 14, Lent first week

Today's Grace

I ask for the grace to remember how God has blessed and continues to bless our ministries.

Scripture/Reading

Reading via the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops website:

 

Romans 8:28-30
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

 

For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

 

And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.

 

Reading via the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops website:

 

Isaiah 55:8-9
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways-oracle of the LORD.

 

For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways,
my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

Reflection Questions

1. What are the fruits of our corporate ministries? I talk with God about them.
2. What fruits are being realized in the places where I have served and am serving now? If I am unable to see the fruits at this time, I talk with God about that and ask to trust that God is at work in hidden ways.  

Reflection

Hymn: "O God Beyond All Praising" by Michael A. Perry

Thursday, March 13 week 1 of Lent

Today's Grace

I ask for the grace to realize how God has shown God's love for me through the Society of Jesus, with all her gifts and challenges.

Scripture/Reading

Address of Pope Benedict XVI to the 35th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus on February 21, 2008:

 

As my predecessors have often told you, the Church needs you, counts on you, and continues to turn to you with confidence, particularly to reach the geographical and spiritual places where others do not reach or find it difficult to reach. Those words of Paul VI have remained engraved in your hearts: "Wherever in the Church, even in the most difficult and exposed fields, in the crossroads of ideologies, in the social trenches, there has been or is confrontation between the burning exigencies of humanity and the perennial message of the Gospel, there have been and are the Jesuits." (Paul VI quotation from December 3, 1974, to the 32nd General Congregation)

 

From the letter "To the Jesuits in Parish Ministry" in Japan by Jesuit Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, 29th Superior General of the Society of Jesus, on August 27, 2005:

 

Collaboration also means openness to ... collaborative ministry with lay people, priests and religious. This new vision of empowerment, delegating, forming for responsibility and teamwork are needed basic attitudes. Working together as a team among ourselves as Jesuits and collaborating in mission with others requires a deep continual conversion. This is true for us, Jesuits, as well as for all those who share our mission. We are called to learn to work together as a team, to discover new styles of leadership, and to share the same mission. Deeply ingrained attitudes from years of living and working alone ... truly make this challenge harder.

Reflection Questions

1. How did I experience God's call to me to the Society, to a Jesuit ministry? What are the gifts I have been given? If I can see the gifts only faintly, or if I am filled with gratitude, I talk with God about this.
2. When have I experienced the gifts and woundedness of being a member or partner of the Society? I talk with God about this.

Reflection

How is it that billions of stars can fly the heaven more speedily than light? Because an all-powerful Christ gives them being. Not once for all, but continuously, day after day. How is it that four thousand varieties of roses can grow and perfume our earth? Because an imaginative Christ gives them life. How is it that your long-haired Labrador can look hungrily at you, hear your faintest whistle, lay paws on your shoulders? Because a sensitive Christ gives it senses. How is it that you can shape an idea, construct the Capitol, transplant a human heart? Because a still human Christ gives you intelligence. How can you believe that the Son of God died a bloody death for you, how you can confidently expect to live forever, how can you give yourself unreservedly to God and to your sisters and brothers? Because a living Christ infuses faith in you, fills your flesh with hope, inflames your very bones with a unique love not of this world.

- Walter Burghardt, SJ

 

 

Clockwise from top left: The Jesuit Center in Wernersville, Penn,; Holy Name of Jesus Parish in New Orleans; the Chapel of St. Ignatius at Seattle University; and Cristo Rey Jesuit College Preparatory of Houston.

Other Resources

View the daily readings at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops website.

 

For sale Tau House, NOLA

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/144b076ef584a409?projector=1

The final nail in the coffin.

It's like a bad dream.

Wed. Lent week 1

Today's Grace

I ask for the grace of being filled with wonder and awe at the natural vegetation that surrounds me in the places where I live, pray, serve and rest each day.

Scripture/Reading

"God's Grandeur" by Gerard Manley Hopkins, SJ, from "Poems and Prose" (Penguin Classics, 1985):

 

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
  It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
  It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
  And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
  And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

 

And for all this, nature is never spent;
   There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
   Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs -
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
  World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

 

"The Place I Want to Get Back To" by Mary Oliver from "Thirst" (Beacon Press, 2006):

 

is where
in the pinewoods
in the moments between
the darkness

and the first light
two deer
came walking down the hill
and when they saw me

 

they said to each other, okay,
this one is okay,
let's see who she is
and why she is sitting

on the ground, like that,
so quiet, as if
asleep, or in a dream,
but, anyway, harmless;

 

and so they came
on their slender legs
and gazed upon me
not unlike the way

 

I go out to the dunes and look
and look and look
into the faces of the flowers;
and then one of them leaned forward  

 

and nuzzled my hand, and what can my life
bring to me that could exceed
that brief moment?
For twenty years

 

I have gone every day to the same woods,
not waiting, exactly, just lingering,
Such gifts, bestowed,
can't be repeated.

 

If you want to talk about this
come to visit. I live in the house
near the corner, which I have named
Gratitude.

Reflection Questions

1. How do I experience awe in my life?
2. Where does the beauty of creation most strike my heart?
3. When I step outside is there an aspect of nature that attracts me and invites me to linger? Or am I in a hurry and rush past the gift God is giving me this day? I talk with God about this.  

Reflection

Music: "What About" by Peter Breinholt

Other Resources

View the daily readings at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops website.

Image via CNS/Tom Lorsung.

Lent, Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Today's Grace

I ask for the grace to recall and reverence the beauty in the cities, towns and villages where I have lived and where I am living now.

Scripture/Reading

Reading via the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops website:

 

Isaiah 55:10-11
Thus says the LORD:
Just as from the heavens
the rain and snow come down
And do not return there
till they have watered the earth,
making it fertile and fruitful,
Giving seed to the one who sows
and bread to the one who eats,
So shall my word be
that goes forth from my mouth;
It shall not return to me void,
but shall do my will,
achieving the end for which I sent it.

 

Jesuit Father Pedro Arrupe, 28th Superior General of the Society of Jesus, on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima from "Pedro Arrupe: Essential Writings" by Kevin Burke (Orbis Books, 2004):

 

On the morning of August 6, 1945, something happened to break the monotony of the previous months. At about 7:55 in the morning a B-29 appeared ... I was in my room with another priest at 8:15 when suddenly we saw a blinding light, like a flash of magnesium. As I opened the door, which faced the city, we heard a formidable explosion similar to the blast of a hurricane ... We climbed a hill to get a better view. From there we could see a ruined city: before us was a decimated Hiroshima...

 

Since the houses were made of wood, paper and straw and it was at a time when the first meal of the day was being prepared in all the kitchens, the flames contacting the electric current turned the entire city into one enormous lake of fire within two and one half hours...

 

We did the only thing that could be done in the presence of such mass slaughter; we fell on our knees and prayed for guidance, as we were destitute of all human help ... In spite of the urgency of our work, we had first stopped to celebrate our masses. Assuredly, it is in such moments of tragedy that we felt God most near to us.

Reflection Questions

1. Where is the fertility and the fruit in the places I have lived?
2. How does the Word of God bring these places to life?
3. Where do I find beauty, if I am living now or have lived and ministered in cities where violence, drugs and material poverty are rampant? How does that beauty affect me? I talk with God about this.

Reflection

Song: "Every Grain of Sand" by Bob Dylan

 

The Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University (above left) and the Boston College School of
Theology and Minsitry (above right), where Jesuits in the United States complete theology studies.  

Other Resources

View the daily readings at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops website.

 

Monday March 10, first week of Lent

Today's Grace

I ask for the grace of being surprised with the ever expansive and intimate intricacies of God's created world.

Scripture/Reading

Reading via the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops website:

Psalms 104: 1-6; 10-18; 24; 30-35
Bless the LORD, my soul!
LORD, my God, you are great indeed!
You are clothed with majesty and splendor,
robed in light as with a cloak.
You spread out the heavens like a tent;
setting the beams of your chambers upon the waters.
You make the clouds your chariot;
traveling on the wings of the wind.
You make the winds your messengers;
flaming fire, your ministers.

You fixed the earth on its foundation,
so it can never be shaken.
The deeps covered it like a garment;
above the mountains stood the waters.

You made springs flow in wadies
that wind among the mountains.
They give drink to every beast of the field;
here wild asses quench their thirst.
Beside them the birds of heaven nest;
among the branches they sing.
You water the mountains from your chambers;
from the fruit of your labor the earth abounds.
You make the grass grow for the cattle
and plants for people's work
to bring forth food from the earth,
wine to gladden their hearts,
oil to make their faces shine,
and bread to sustain the human heart.
The trees of the LORD drink their fill,
the cedars of Lebanon, which you planted.
There the birds build their nests;
the stork in the junipers, its home.
The high mountains are for wild goats;
the rocky cliffs, a refuge for badgers.
How varied are your works, LORD!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.

Send forth your spirit, they are created
and you renew the face of the earth.

May the glory of the LORD endure forever;
may the LORD be glad in his works!
Who looks at the earth and it trembles,
touches the mountains and they smoke!
I will sing to the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God while I live.
May my meditation be pleasing to him;
I will rejoice in the LORD.
May sinners vanish from the earth,
and the wicked be no more.
Bless the LORD, my soul!

 

Reflection Questions

Consider taking a slow walk outside and use your senses to experience the beauty and creativity of God, as one way that God is loving you.

1. What is it in God's creation that surprises you? Or do you feel too worn out to be surprised? I talk with God about this.
2. How does God the Creator, who cares for the tiniest seed to the entire cosmos, enter into your prayer?

Reflection

Photo Galleries:
Hubble Telescope Album
Ansel Adams and American Nature

Lent week 1

Today's Grace

I ask for the gift of confidence that God is at work in my life and my future.

 

Having prayed over the ways that God has been working in my life, how God does not hold my past against me, how God invites us into a future full of life and creativity and promise, I place my life in God's hands and ask to move forward into this prayer experience with hope and joy.

 

Scripture/Reading

Reading via the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops website.

 

Isaiah 58:9b-12
Thus says the LORD:
If you remove from your midst oppression,
false accusation and malicious speech;
If you bestow your bread on the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted;
Then light shall rise for you in the darkness,
and the gloom shall become for you like midday;
Then the LORD will guide you always
and give you plenty even on the parched land.
He will renew your strength,
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring whose water never fails.
The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake,
and the foundations from ages past you shall raise up;
"Repairer of the breach," they shall call you,
"Restorer of ruined homesteads."  

Reflection Questions

1. The reading today exhorts me to, "remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech...bestow your bread on the hungry...satisfy the afflicted." How might I carry out this exhortation in some concrete way at this moment in my life? How might I be called to do this today? I speak with God about this.
2. Do I have confidence that God can do great work in my life? Do I trust God enough to act boldly? I speak with God about this.  

Reflection

Music: "A Song of Hope" by John Foley, SJ: https://www.ocp.org/products/10649. (Click on the "Listen" button next to "A Song of Hope")  

I pray for the grace to choose life in whatever way God offers it to me.

 

I pray for the grace to choose life in whatever way God offers it to me.

Scripture/Reading

From the First Principle and Foundation of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola:

 

In everyday life, then, we must hold ourselves in balance before all of these created gifts insofar as we have a choice and are not bound by some obligation. We should not fix our desires on health or sickness, wealth or poverty, success or failure, to be considered somebody important or a nobody, a long life or a short one. For everything has the potential of calling forth in us a deeper response to our life in God.

Our only desire and our one choice should be this: I want and I choose what better leads to the deepening of God's life in me.

 

Reading via the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops website.

 

Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Moses said to the people:
"Today I have set before you
life and prosperity, death and doom.
If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God,
which I enjoin on you today,
loving him, and walking in his ways,
and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees,
you will live and grow numerous,
and the LORD, your God,
will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy.
If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen,
but are led astray and adore and serve other gods,
I tell you now that you will certainly perish;
you will not have a long life
on the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and occupy.
I call heaven and earth today to witness against you:
I have set before you life and death,
the blessing and the curse.
Choose life, then,
that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God,
heeding his voice, and holding fast to him.
For that will mean life for you,
a long life for you to live on the land that the LORD swore
he would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."  

Reflection Questions

1. In today's reading, Moses exhorts me to "choose life." Have I chosen life or chosen death, lately? What might choosing life mean for me today? I speak with God about this.
2. Ignatius' Principle and Foundation calls us to be free, to let go of any attachments in my life. What might I be clinging to these days? What might my life be like if I let go of my attachments? I speak with God about this.
3. The paths that Moses set before us today are clear - choosing between life and death, between spiritual freedom and enslavement. Choose life and inherit God's abundant blessings. Where are the darkness and unfreedoms that enslave me? Where are the lights and graces that lead me to life and hope?

Reflection

"God's Grandeur" by Gerard Manley Hopkins, SJ

 

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
  It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
  It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
  And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
  And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;
   There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
   Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs -
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
  World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

Lent begins!

http://liturgy.co.nz/church-year/ash-Wednesday (Ash Wednesday communal service)

Lord of the universe, he hid his infinite glory and took the nature of a servant. Incapable of suffering as God, he did not refuse to be a man, capable of suffering.” -Pope St. Leo the Great

 

Matthew 4:1-11: Then Jesus was led by the Spirit out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, after which he was very hungry, and the tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to turn into loaves’. But he replied, ‘Scripture says: Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’. The devil then took him to the holy city and made him stand on the parapet of the Temple. ‘If you are the Son of God’ he said ‘throw yourself down; for scripture says: He will put you in his angels’ charge, and they will support you on their hands in case you hurt your foot against a stone’. Jesus said to him, ‘Scripture also says: You must not put the Lord your God to the test’. Next, taking him to a very high mountain, the devil showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. ‘I will give you all these’ he said, ‘if you fall at my feet and worship me.’ Then Jesus replied, ‘Be off, Satan! For scripture says: You must worship the Lord your God, and serve him alone.’ Then the devil left him, and angels appeared and looked after him.

 

Christ the Lord  The King of Light does battle with the Prince of Darkness and comes out victorious, reversing Adam’s original defeat. No one else before or after has so soundly trounced the devil. We may think it is because Christ had special powers, but the Scriptures don’t present it that way. According to them, the source of Christ’s victory is his humility.

 

The devil tries to trick him into being selfish, but each time, Jesus appeals to a higher law – he refuses to do things any way but his Father’s way. Christ is the humblest man who ever lived. Having received everything from his Father, he claimed nothing as his own. And it was the strength of such absolute humility that crushed the devil’s kingdom, not only in this desert temptation, but also later, in his final temptation. While he agonized in the Garden of Gethsemane on the eve of his Passion, he resisted the devil’s onslaught with the prayer to his Father: “Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). Christ is the Lord, and humility is his scepter.

 

Christ the Teacher  The first lesson in this passage is easy to overlook: temptation is not sin. Christ himself was the “spotless lamb” foreshadowed by the Old Testament sacrifices, the new Adam who had no sin. And yet, he experienced temptation. He was invited to disobey God’s will. As his followers, then, we should expect nothing less. We too will experience temptation; we should neither be surprised nor perturbed by feeling the attraction of sin. In fact, by battling against temptation we grow in our love for God, showing we love him and giving him glory.

 

The second lesson is even easier to overlook: the devil is real. St Matthew leaves no room for doubt on this point. The reason the Spirit led Christ into the desert in the first place, he tells us, was “to be tempted by the devil.” (The forty days of Lent correspond to this forty-day sojourn of Christ in the desert.) We don’t fully understand the nuts and bolts of how the devil influences things, but the Church has always taught that his influence is real. The devil is dead-set against Christ and his Kingdom. Therefore, we should expect him and his minions to do all they can to disrupt Christians who try to build that Kingdom: stirring up opposition, multiplying difficulties, and putting up plenty of roadblocks.

 

The third lesson is the most important one. By his all-out attack on Christ, the devil shows his hand. Jesus’ three temptations expose the devil’s three favorite ploys. In order to divert us from God’s path, the devil will appeal to our desire for comfort and pleasure (“Turn those stones into jelly donuts”), our desire for recognition (“Do a swan dive off the top of the temple; that will impress them”), or our desire for greatness (“Just do it – it’ll make you rich and powerful”). Of course, merely knowing the devil’s tactics won’t neutralize them completely. Our desires for comfort, recognition, and influence run deep. To be able to resist them, we have to desire something else even more, just as Christ did: we have to “set our hearts on his Kingdom first” (Matthew 6:33), and then everything else will fall into place.

 

Christ the Friend  Jesus Christ knows what it means to suffer temptation. He is truly human, just like us in all things except sin. Therefore, we can appeal to him when temptations beset us – he knows what we are going through. He did not want to leave us alone in our struggles; he wishes to walk by our side every step along the way. That’s why he came to earth in the first place. In Christ we have a friend like no other: his patience is boundless, his empathy is complete, and his concern for us is as personal as it is pure.

 

Jesus: Do not be afraid – even when you are weak and you fall, I will be there to pick you up. Trust in the strength of prayer and sacrifice, and no temptations will drag you away from me. To be tempted doesn’t mean to deny me – just turn your gaze back to me and I will be there to strengthen you against the wiles of the devil. In the desert, the thought of you spurred me on. I wanted to suffer in the wilderness to convince you that I can be there to hold you and guide you in the dark nights of your soul. I am with you until the end of time.

 

Christ in My Life  Lord, your motto was so simple: “Thy will be done.” I want to live by the same motto. But I often follow other motto's, other desires. Teach me how to close the gap between what I want to be (your faithful follower), and what I too often am (self-seeking, self-absorbed, self-indulgent). With the Kingdom of your heart, reign in my heart…

 

I have fallen victim to all three of the devil’s favorite ploys, but you know the one that plagues me most. It comforts me to know that you faced temptation too. You will never let me be tempted more than I can resist. Be my strength, Lord, because I am so weak; always guide me along your true, sure path. Help me not to give in to the tricks of the devil…

You have done so much for me, Lord. And I forget so easily. You suffered for me – just for me. You were tempted, you fasted, you were hungry – all for me, to save me, to redeem me. Thank you, Lord. What would you have me do?…

Read more: http://rcspiritualdirection.com/blog/2014/03/05/8-desert-storm-mt-41-11#ixzz2v73dF6YF

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Ash Wednesday, March 5

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Today’s Grace

I ask for the grace of an intimate knowledge of God's presence in my life and an awareness of my own response.

Scripture/Reading

From the First Principle and Foundation of the Spiritual Exercises, based on a paraphrase by David Fleming, SJ:

The goal of our life is to live with God forever. God created us and gave us life because God loves us. Our own response of love allows God’s life to flow into us without limit.

All the things in this world are gifts of God, presented to us so that we can know God more easily and make a return of love to God more readily.

As a result, we appreciate and use all these gifts of God insofar as they help us develop as loving persons. But if any of these gifts become more valuable to us than the goal for which we were created, they displace God and so hinder our growth toward our goal.

Reading via the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops website:

2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2
Brothers and sisters:
We are ambassadors for Christ,
as if God were appealing through us.
We implore you on behalf of Christ,
be reconciled to God.
For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin,
so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Working together, then,
we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.
For he says:

In an acceptable time I heard you,
and on the day of salvation I helped you.

Behold, now is a very acceptable time;
behold, now is the day of salvation.

Reflection Questions

1. Today, I receive ashes on my forehead. Why do I choose to participate in this very old ritual? What does it mean to me, personally? What recent experiences in my life do I bring to this ritual? What hopes and dreams for this coming Lent do I bring to this ritual?
2. Reflecting on 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2, we read, "Now is a very acceptable time. Now is the day of salvation." Reflecting on the circumstances of my life at this moment, I explore: Now is an acceptable time for what, exactly? I ask God this question. How might now be a "Day of Salvation" for you? I speak with God about this.

Reflection

Image via www.theafricana mericanlectionary.org/images/AshWednesday2008.j pg.