Take up your cross, the Savior said,
If you would my disciple be;
Deny yourself, the world forsake,
And humbly follow after me.
(A 1st week reminder)
If you would my disciple be;
Deny yourself, the world forsake,
And humbly follow after me.
(A 1st week reminder)
Have your Lenten resolutions remained strong after these first few days of Lent? Someone said that the good intentions have already fallen by the wayside. A response might easily question how intense the resolutions might have been: perhaps too intense! Most cannot become the strongest person overnight. The readings from today's Eucharistic Liturgy provide 20, yes, 20 ways you can adopt practices throughout the Lenten Season. Perhaps taking just one, two or three of these recommendations may be much more profitable.
Don't forget this: Lent is a season calling us to holiness not to become body builders! The 20 suggestions in the Leviticus and Matthean readings are just what we need for Lent: road signs along the journey to Easter. These suggestions are not momentous feats. However, they do become like the bricks a masonry worker uses to build a wall: one brick on top of another and then another or top of another and so forth. It is how we learn. It is how we grow. A personal trainer in a gym usually does not start the beginner on heavy weights or a lengthy number of repetitions for an exercise. It is gradual. It is the way to construct a strong wall, strong muscles, and a strong will. Just one or two of these suggestions might be what you need to make a difference in your life. Indeed, just one or two of these recommendations might be all that God is asking of you at this time in your life. Lente! Lente! Slowly! Slowly!
Isn't it more rewarding to adopt an almost insignificant practice and to complete the time of Lent rather than take on what might be almost impossible challenges and then not finish the Lenten season doing anything but feeling disappointed in yourself? A long sentence ... but one that might provoke some serious thought to those who find the Lenten sacrifices "just too much." Note in the words just beneath the cross: And humbly follow after me. Maybe that might be the genuine penance for many of us: just doing the simply, almost ordinary thing ... but finishing the challenge. Keep going!
Don't forget this: Lent is a season calling us to holiness not to become body builders! The 20 suggestions in the Leviticus and Matthean readings are just what we need for Lent: road signs along the journey to Easter. These suggestions are not momentous feats. However, they do become like the bricks a masonry worker uses to build a wall: one brick on top of another and then another or top of another and so forth. It is how we learn. It is how we grow. A personal trainer in a gym usually does not start the beginner on heavy weights or a lengthy number of repetitions for an exercise. It is gradual. It is the way to construct a strong wall, strong muscles, and a strong will. Just one or two of these suggestions might be what you need to make a difference in your life. Indeed, just one or two of these recommendations might be all that God is asking of you at this time in your life. Lente! Lente! Slowly! Slowly!
Isn't it more rewarding to adopt an almost insignificant practice and to complete the time of Lent rather than take on what might be almost impossible challenges and then not finish the Lenten season doing anything but feeling disappointed in yourself? A long sentence ... but one that might provoke some serious thought to those who find the Lenten sacrifices "just too much." Note in the words just beneath the cross: And humbly follow after me. Maybe that might be the genuine penance for many of us: just doing the simply, almost ordinary thing ... but finishing the challenge. Keep going!
