In the book of Deuteronomy the Lord our God teaches us,
“Understand, then, that the Lord, your God, is God indeed, the faithful God who keeps his merciful covenant down to the thousandth generation toward those who love him and keep his commandments.”

 

Jesus synthesized the commandments to two: Love God and love your neighbor, these form the basis of all of the commandments.  Lent is a good time to review how we are living those two commandments.

May God Be Praised!

As our Lent moves on slowly, today we remember that the Lord calls us to love Him first, totally & always.   

The prophet Joel provides us some insight into how we can do what the Lord asks of us.

“Yet even now—oracle of the LORD—return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.

Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the LORD, your God, For he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting in punishment.”  

Joel 2: 12 -13

May God Be Praised!

Today spend some time forgiving and asking for forgiveness, your day will be spent with God.

Litany of the Dust

For those who have betrayed us...Father, forgive them.
for those who have let us down...
for those who have been indifferent to us...
for those who have tried to cripple our lives...
for those who have doubted us...
for those who have accused us...
for those who have preferred others to us...
for family members who have hurt us...
for friends who have denied us...
for those who have walked away from us...

For my own self pity...Father, forgive me.
for my lukewarmness...
for my times of despair and distrust...
for my refusals to be hugged...
for my disbelief in your love...
for my searchings everywhere but in your heart...
for apologies frozen on my lips...
for my words of love unspoken...
for my kisses and embraces ungiven...
for compliments never offered...
for a heart closed in self-centeredness...
for my own unforgiving postures...
for not believing in your forgiveness...

Take our very selves and wash them in that unconditional love of yours, for you are a God of mercy and compassion, you who live and love forever and ever.  Amen

May God Be Praised!

To prepare our souls to love God more fully, think about the temptations you face and ponder the advice of St. Francis de Sales.

"Temptation to a certain sin, to any sin whatsoever, might last throughout our whole life, yet it can never make us displeasing to God’s Majesty provided we do not take pleasure in it and give consent to it.

You must have great courage in the midst of temptation.

Never think yourself overcome as long as they are displeasing to you, keeping clearly in mind the difference between feeling temptation and consenting to it."

May God Be Praised!

   

St. Augustine said, “If we receive worthily we are what we receive.”

 From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

1374    The mode of Christ’s presence under the Eucharistic species is unique. It raises the Eucharist above all the sacraments as “the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the sacraments tend.” 

In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist “the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained.” 

“This presence is called ‘real’—by which is not intended to exclude the other types of presence as if they could not be ‘real’ too, but because it is presence in the fullest sense: that is to say, it is a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present.”

St. John Chrysostom declares: “It is not man that causes the things offered to become the Body and Blood of Christ, but he who was crucified for us, Christ himself. The priest, in the role of Christ, pronounces these words, but their power and grace are God’s. This is my body, he says. This word transforms the things offered.”

From the first apology in defense of the Christians by Saint Justin,

The celebration of the Eucharist

The apostles … handed down to us what Jesus commanded them to do. They tell us that he took bread, gave thanks and said: Do this in memory of me. This is my body. In the same way he took the cup, he gave thanks and said: This is my blood.”

“The simplest way to express what Christ asks us to believe about the Real Presence is that the Eucharist is really He. The Real Presence is the real Jesus. 

We are to believe that the Eucharist is Jesus Christ - simply, without qualification. It is God become man in the fullness of His divine nature, in the fullness of His human nature, in the fullness of His body and soul, in the fullness of everything that makes Jesus Jesus.”  Father John A. Hardon S.J.

Take a few minutes today to Thanks God for the Eucharist, the Gift Par Excellence.

May God Be Praised!

Today reflect on the great love of God, God so loved you He sent His Son to save you.

“Why did God become man?” 

The Word became flesh to make us ‘partakers of the divine nature’ [2 Pt 1:4]: ‘For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God [St. Irenaeus].

‘For the Son of God became man so that might become God’  [St. Athanasius].

“The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods.”

[St. Thomas Aquinas] (From Broken Gods by Gregory Popcak, p.5)

Take a break from your I-phone today and spend a few minutes, in silence, with God.

May God Be Praised!

St. Teresa of Avila in her stages of interior growth uses a water metaphor.  There are four ways of getting water from the well: by hand with a bucket, draw water from the well using a water wheel (pump), the water may flow from a river or stream, or

the water may be provided by rain.  Our job is to TRUST that God will provide.  

We are nourished by prayer, and our prayer can take many forms.  During Lent enjoy the way the Lord is nourishing you, and thank God for your prayer life. 

Take some time to reflect on John 15:16 “You did not chose, no, I chose you; and I commission you to go out and bear much fruit.”

Genuine prayer bears fruit in the virtues: faith, hope, love, humility, self-forgetfulness, and sensitivity to the needs of others.  During Lent we are reminded by Holy Mother Church to reflect, reform and renew, may we use this Lent for spiritual growth!

May God Be Praised