Lenten Reflections
Lenten Season Begins: "Be Merciful, O Lord, For We Have Sinned"
This week is filled with drama. We continue to prepare ourselves to be open to God' graces. We continue to try to
choose Lent, to act Lent, in very concrete ways. We are examining our patterns and realigning our priorities. Our hearts
are being renewed, as we experience God's reconciling love and beg for the gift of healing. May we grow in devotion
and grace as we realize that it is all "for me.""
PRAYER, FASTING, ALMSGIVING
Friday: Faith is given only to those willing to offer their heart to God. Yet to love God can never be a burden. Indeed in
loving Him we come to know Him differently, with a deeper faith. Our faith then confirms for us that He is a God who can
only love, a God speaking to us, remarkable, in the humble tones of our Savior's voice.
Prayer: Father, let me give myself more fully to you by devoting myself more fervently to a love for your Son.
Saturday: Jesus can be found in the strangest places, and the unknown path can bring us to a closer relationship with
God than the comfortable road we had plotted ever could. Jesus can be found in the outsider, in the unexpected
opportunities. Doubt prevents us from moving forward, but faith enables us to be like those in the crowd who look past
the superficial and hear what Jesus is telling them.
Prayer: Father, help us to have faith in the unexpected and trust in your providence even when we cannot see past
what is comfortable and known.
Sunday: Jesus you wept at Lazarus' tomb. You not only call Lazarus but us also to come out to meet Him. In these last
weeks you invite me to enter more fully into the mystery of your passion and bring me a greater desire to follow you on
the way that you create for me. Help me to accept the cross that you give.
Prayer. Lord Jesus, strengthen our faith that You are with us in moments when all seem lost. May we weep with those
who weep and laugh with those who laugh.
Monday: When you find yourself, figuratively speaking, with a stone in your hand-that sharp word, that piece of gossip,
that angry observation-and you're about to hurl it at somebody, think for a moment about what Jesus is writing on the
ground. He is writing your greatest sin, Allow that judgment that you are about to send outward to move inside, and look
honestly at your own sin. And then allow that stone to slip from your hand. Forgive others because you have been so
forgiven.
Prayer: Lord, instruct us in your way-the way of love and compassion and forgiveness. May we learn never to accuse,
may we learn never to condemn. Give us hearts of mercy and love.
Tuesday: Nothing in this world lasts. Everything in the world reflects God, but nothing in the world is God. When you
reorder your life according to Jesus and the love of God, when you are convinced that nothing in this world finally lasts
and so you place your hope in God, you should expect interior warfare. You must ask for God's help.
Prayer: Lord, give us an appreciation for the things below, for the things above. Send your Spirit into our lives that we
might make good choices. Help us to belong to you.
Wednesday: To turn away from the truth is to kill Christ. He dies every time truth is trampled upon, since that is what
sin is. He stands before everyone, just as he stood before Pilate. He places himself in the position of being judged
before all of us. Washing one's hands, as Pilate did, cannot cleanse a conscience that is too indifferent to take a stand.
Will you disown me and condemn or will you take sides with the truth against all sin and be condemned with me? Truth
is a matter of life and death, his and ours.
Prayer: Lord, mold my heart to the truth and grant me the grace to seek the truth and to act on it the next time Jesus
stands at the tribunal of my conscience. Open our minds and hearts to your vision and make us true disciples.
Thursday: Truth must speak, even if such words lead to the passion and death of the Word. These words are intended
for Jesus enemies who could have embraced the cross instead of imposing it-and for us who can know the deepest
identity of Christ and the opposition this arouses. Like Jesus, we should expect that our detractors will twist our words.
And like him, we can take comfort that prayer can be uttered freely for He grasps our words and protects them with his
love.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to choose my words lovingly in the presence of my friends, carefully in the presence of my
enemies and freely in the presence of your Son.
Friday: What goes wrong with the temple of your soul? The same thing that went wrong with the temple in Jerusalem;
what's meant to be a house of prayer has become a den of thieves. What's come into the temple of my heart and my
body? All kinds of distractions, all kinds of money changers, all kinds of buyers and sellers. Lent is a time to allow Jesus
to make a whip of cords and come into the temple of your heart, turn some tables over, turn things upside down if He
has to. What would Jesus chase out of your heart if he had a chance? If you let Him in what would he cleanse? What
would He turn over?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, come into my heart and do what you need to do. Help me to not be quick to condemn someone.
Open my eyes and my heart instead, so that you can teach me.
Saturday: It is here that we come to realize how much being a disciple of Jesus really involves. Not only do we journey
with Him in those glorious moments of feeding the hungry and healing the wounded, but we are companions of Jesus as
He mounts the hill of Calvary. His dying is our death, His rising is our invitation to new life. Discipleship cannot be
piecemeal, for it involves participating in all aspects of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, help us to grasp the meaning of your mission. Empower us to participate in your gathering of all
into one. May we be unifiers, fostering oneness where there is division, wholeness where there is fragmentation.
Lenten Season Begins: "Be Merciful, O Lord, For We Have Sinned"
This week is filled with drama. We continue to prepare ourselves to be open to God' graces. We continue to try to
choose Lent, to act Lent, in very concrete ways. We are examining our patterns and realigning our priorities. Our hearts
are being renewed, as we experience God's reconciling love and beg for the gift of healing. May we grow in devotion
and grace as we realize that it is all "for me.""
PRAYER, FASTING, ALMSGIVING
Friday: Faith is given only to those willing to offer their heart to God. Yet to love God can never be a burden. Indeed in
loving Him we come to know Him differently, with a deeper faith. Our faith then confirms for us that He is a God who can
only love, a God speaking to us, remarkable, in the humble tones of our Savior's voice.
Prayer: Father, let me give myself more fully to you by devoting myself more fervently to a love for your Son.
Saturday: Jesus can be found in the strangest places, and the unknown path can bring us to a closer relationship with
God than the comfortable road we had plotted ever could. Jesus can be found in the outsider, in the unexpected
opportunities. Doubt prevents us from moving forward, but faith enables us to be like those in the crowd who look past
the superficial and hear what Jesus is telling them.
Prayer: Father, help us to have faith in the unexpected and trust in your providence even when we cannot see past
what is comfortable and known.
Sunday: Jesus you wept at Lazarus' tomb. You not only call Lazarus but us also to come out to meet Him. In these last
weeks you invite me to enter more fully into the mystery of your passion and bring me a greater desire to follow you on
the way that you create for me. Help me to accept the cross that you give.
Prayer. Lord Jesus, strengthen our faith that You are with us in moments when all seem lost. May we weep with those
who weep and laugh with those who laugh.
Monday: When you find yourself, figuratively speaking, with a stone in your hand-that sharp word, that piece of gossip,
that angry observation-and you're about to hurl it at somebody, think for a moment about what Jesus is writing on the
ground. He is writing your greatest sin, Allow that judgment that you are about to send outward to move inside, and look
honestly at your own sin. And then allow that stone to slip from your hand. Forgive others because you have been so
forgiven.
Prayer: Lord, instruct us in your way-the way of love and compassion and forgiveness. May we learn never to accuse,
may we learn never to condemn. Give us hearts of mercy and love.
Tuesday: Nothing in this world lasts. Everything in the world reflects God, but nothing in the world is God. When you
reorder your life according to Jesus and the love of God, when you are convinced that nothing in this world finally lasts
and so you place your hope in God, you should expect interior warfare. You must ask for God's help.
Prayer: Lord, give us an appreciation for the things below, for the things above. Send your Spirit into our lives that we
might make good choices. Help us to belong to you.
Wednesday: To turn away from the truth is to kill Christ. He dies every time truth is trampled upon, since that is what
sin is. He stands before everyone, just as he stood before Pilate. He places himself in the position of being judged
before all of us. Washing one's hands, as Pilate did, cannot cleanse a conscience that is too indifferent to take a stand.
Will you disown me and condemn or will you take sides with the truth against all sin and be condemned with me? Truth
is a matter of life and death, his and ours.
Prayer: Lord, mold my heart to the truth and grant me the grace to seek the truth and to act on it the next time Jesus
stands at the tribunal of my conscience. Open our minds and hearts to your vision and make us true disciples.
Thursday: Truth must speak, even if such words lead to the passion and death of the Word. These words are intended
for Jesus enemies who could have embraced the cross instead of imposing it-and for us who can know the deepest
identity of Christ and the opposition this arouses. Like Jesus, we should expect that our detractors will twist our words.
And like him, we can take comfort that prayer can be uttered freely for He grasps our words and protects them with his
love.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to choose my words lovingly in the presence of my friends, carefully in the presence of my
enemies and freely in the presence of your Son.
Friday: What goes wrong with the temple of your soul? The same thing that went wrong with the temple in Jerusalem;
what's meant to be a house of prayer has become a den of thieves. What's come into the temple of my heart and my
body? All kinds of distractions, all kinds of money changers, all kinds of buyers and sellers. Lent is a time to allow Jesus
to make a whip of cords and come into the temple of your heart, turn some tables over, turn things upside down if He
has to. What would Jesus chase out of your heart if he had a chance? If you let Him in what would he cleanse? What
would He turn over?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, come into my heart and do what you need to do. Help me to not be quick to condemn someone.
Open my eyes and my heart instead, so that you can teach me.
Saturday: It is here that we come to realize how much being a disciple of Jesus really involves. Not only do we journey
with Him in those glorious moments of feeding the hungry and healing the wounded, but we are companions of Jesus as
He mounts the hill of Calvary. His dying is our death, His rising is our invitation to new life. Discipleship cannot be
piecemeal, for it involves participating in all aspects of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, help us to grasp the meaning of your mission. Empower us to participate in your gathering of all
into one. May we be unifiers, fostering oneness where there is division, wholeness where there is fragmentation.
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