"Save me, O Lord, in your steadfast love."
Jer 18:18-20
Jn 8:12
Mt 20:17-28
Lent is a time to look with greater precision into our hearts. It is a rather intimidating work because we do not always like what we see, 'more blessing to those who keep on giving likable and lovely to see about' and we are afraid of what we might have to face if we look too deep. Our fears are unfounded, however. Although God is not intent on condemning us ; he is intent on saving us. It is with this solid conviction that we allow him to lead us into greater self-knowledge, and a deeper examination of our inner life. The word of God, sharper that any two-edged sword (Hb 4:12), slices very finely and deeply to depict two problems that can lurk within our hearts : bitter resentment and prideful ambition.
We do not come up with a way to God by ourselves. We follow the One who knows "the way" : "Anyone among you who aspires to greatness must serve the rest, and whoever wants to rank first among you, must serve the needs of all. Such is the case of the Son of Man who has come, not to be served, by others but to serve, to give his own life as a ransom for the many." Pray that we empty our hearts of selfish ambition, resentment, and envy, and allow the Lord to fill them with self-emptying love, in loving the love to somebody.♥
"Happy are they who follow the law of the Lord."
Dt 26:16-19
Mt 5:43-48
If your love is a calculation, it is not love at all ; if you are measuring it out, it is not really worth giving, because it will create guilt and obligation and dependency ; if there is ego in it, it is diseased and you had better keep it yourself . . . . Jesus asks us to do the impossible. Love is not something that can be organized ; it is a gift given in freedom, and freedom is its mark. If it were a calculation, it would be given only to those who deserved it. But like God's grace, it flows out freely on good and bad alike.
The choice we are asked to make is not whether or not we can love like this. In our human strength it is impossible. The choice is whether or not we will open ourselves to allow God to change our hearts so that we can love like this. God is one who makes it possible for us to "be perfect," because nothing is impossible for God.
The choice, trusting that he can transform our hearts. Then we will know the joy of being "a people peculiarly his own." "Happy are they . . . . who seek him with all their heart!"♥
"Your words, Lord, are spirit and life."
Lv 19:1-2, 11-18
Mk 25:31-46
Can you put the whole human race in two categories : the good and the bad? Surely there are shades of goodness and badness. But that is not the point of the parable. A parable makes only one point, but we often read parables as if they were allegories, that is, stories whose every single element points some moral. No, the single point today's parable is there can be no love of God without love of other people. We make this examination so that we can be more aware of how we fail in our love for our brothers and sisters.♥
Impartial observers from other planets would consider ours an utterly bizarre enclave if it were populated by birds, defined as flying animals, that nevertheless rarely or never actually flew. They would also be perplexed if they encountered in our seas, lakes, rivers, and ponds, creatures defined as swimmers that never did any swimming. But they would be even more surprised to encounter a species defined as a thinking animal if, in fact, the creature very rarely indulged in actual thinking.♥
~ Steve Allen ~
Development is now regarded less as a linear sequence of stages, in which a mature version of self replaces an infantile version of self, than as an accretion of new experiences which are additions to rather than replacements for earlier experiences . . . . Human experience is constructed out of many experiential dimensions, perceptions, memories, imagination, available cultural images and mythologies, bodily sensations, and so on, all operation as psychic building materials. Each of those dimensions of our experience impose constraints upon the range of what can be constructed, but none of them determines the result in a direct casual fashion.♥
~ Stephen Mitchell ~
Men are disturbed not by things, but of the view which they take of them.♥
~ Epictetus ~
"No matter the beauty perceived in your appearance, know that the loveliest aspect of you is found deep within you . . . . your heart and your soul. Some says these beauties cannot be seen, cannot be photographed, and cannot be painted, but, you're wearing it all along ---- in your physical being - You."♥
George Herbert, Thou who hast given so much to me, give me one more thing ---- a grateful heart!♥
We are born into a vast room whose walls consist of a thousand doors of possibility. Each door is flung open to the world outside, and the room is filled with light and noise. We close some of the doors deliberately, sometimes with fear, sometimes with calm certainty. Others seem to close by themselves, some so quietly that we do not even notice.♥
~ Terry Teachout ~
Life is as fleeting as a rainbow, a flash of lighting, a star at dawn. Knowing this, how can you quarrel? At the end of life, our questions are very simple : Did I live fully? Did I love well?♥
~ Jack Kornfield ~
We seek a love which will make us whole ; Such a burden we place upon those we love. So I work to become whole in myself, Hoping the lightness in my being, Leaves no burden for others to carry.♥
"Happy are they who hope in the Lord."
Dt 30:15-20
Lk 9:22-25
To walk in God's ways is to love, because God is love. Love means to choose the good of the other over our own preferences. However, because of the distorted perspective of our fallen human nature, this choice 'seems' like a choice for death to us, not a choice for life! And so we tend to turn our hearts away from love, that is, away from God, and seek other "gods" that will give us life. We turn to ---- anything that seems to promise "life" to us. But we have learned by now that these things are all "false gods". They do not fill us with life, only emptiness and despair.
We take the Lord at his word. What good does it do to us if we gain the whole world and destroy ourselves in the process? Rather, let us abandon our lives to him, and so live with him eternally. Let us make the choice for life! We have a choice to make : "Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom." The choice is most serious, with eternal consequences : life or death, prosperity or doom. Given a choice, which of us would not choose life and prosperity?♥
