Offered by Dcn. George Kelly

 

 

Yesterday we celebrated [The Annunciation of the Lord] Mary’s Yes to God, our yes to God can happen if we follow my daughter Elizabeth’s plan.  On her refrigerator is a piece of paper with a To-Do List:

1.    pray

2.    be patient

3.    be present to my family

4.    spend time listening to God

5.    pray.

That is a very good list for any season, but particularly for Lent.  Catholics and many other Christians are trudging through our journey of Lent.  Today spend some time praying and sacrificing for the healing and consolation for all those who have been affected by violence since Lent 2021 began, pray for a conversion of hearts, pray that our communities and nation will blessed with peace.

St. Francis de Sales reminds us, "What is the prize if it is not Jesus Christ?  How can you take hold of him if you do not follow him?"

Lent calls us to look deeply into our lives, to seek forgiveness and to offer forgiveness.  To seek forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, so that the Lord’s grace can touch us more fully and form us more profoundly.  Think about the noise that constantly surrounds us, maybe this story about a monk who joined a very strict monastery can help us.

In a very strict order of monks, each monk was only allowed to say two words every 10 years:  one day the Abbot met with a monk and said, you get two words, the monk replied, “Bed Hard”, 10 years later the Abbot said to the monk you get two words, the monk replied, “Food Bad”, after another 10 years the Abbot said to the monk you get two words and the monk replied, “I Quit.” 

The Abbot replied, “Thank God you’ve done nothing but complain since you got here.”  We are not going to run into that situation, but time for silence, for quiet, for listening to God should be part of our daily Things To-Do.  Remember that To-Do list I shared with you earlier:

1.    pray

2.    be patient

3.    be present to my family

4.    spend time listening to God

5.    pray.

Our society is filled with constant noise, SILENCE is good for us spiritually and emotionally.  Don’t expect thunder and lightning; rather listen for a gentle whisper – that is why the SILENCE is so important.

In the Common Law tradition SILENCE GIVES ASSENT, so our SILENCE can be our yes to God’s plan for us.

 

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saint Andre Bessette intercede for us.

May God Be Praised!