Driven By the Spirit (Mk1:12-15)

"The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert" This is one of my favorite passages in Scripture. How much better our lives would be; how much more at peace we would be if only we could imitate Christ Jesus in the Gospel today and allow the Holy Spirit to drive us where He willed. If we would only let the Holy Spirit guide us in doing the Father's Will. But our wounds keep us from being driven. Our fears keep us from being driven. Our selfish wants and desires keep us from being driven. Our sins keep us from being driven. There is life in the desert. There is consolation in the desert. There strength is to be found and wisdom to overcome our temptations in the desert. But we will not be driven. We want life on our own terms. We want growth on our own terms. We want holiness on our own terms. We will not be driven! If only we would imitate Christ. Perhaps if we seriously fasted even just one day this Lent, we could be driven. Perhaps if we gave just one hour of serious prayer this Lent, we could be driven. Perhaps if we gave just one dollar more than we are comfortable with to charity this Lent, we could be driven. Only in imitating our Lord will we find peace, and strength to overcome our temptations. Driven by the Holy Spirit our lives will be sanctified and be holy as our Heavenly Father is Holy. The choice is ours. Will we let selfishness and fear dictate what we do, or will we let the Holy Spirit?

Love and Responsibility (Is 58:1-9)

"They seek me day after day, and desire to know my ways, Like a nation that has done what is just and not abandoned the law of their God;" If you abandon God's Law. If you do what is unjust. You will have a hard time finding God in your life. If you do find Him you will have a hard time listening to Him or even hearing Him. If you can in fact hear Him and are listening you will have a hard time doing what He asks of you. Why? Because you love yourself more than you love Him. You are selfish and self righteous. You think you know better than God and His Bride the Church. You believe that your judgments are sound and right so you ignore the deeper truths that the Holy Spirit has revealed to the Church. You are unjust and yet so blind that you believe you are acting justly. All under the guise that says "I am a good person. I love God." This is the way of the fool, and many are following it; just like the people of Israel to whom Isaiah was sent. Jesus never said in the Gospel Be Good, instead he said Be Holy as your Father in Heaven is Holy. Holiness requires Obedience just as Love requires Responsibility. We cannot abandon the teaching of the Church and feel justified. We cannot live according to our own morality and spirituality and pretend we are just, that we are doing what is right. In other words acting as if God approves of all that we do. During Lent we must have the courage to be humble and turn away from selfishness and self righteousness and come before the Lord seeking to do His will not our own. We are called to acknowledge His Love in giving us His Beloved Son to be our Savior; our responsibility is to be obedient, to turn away from sin and believe in the Gospel and the teaching of the Church. Then we can be holy for we have accepted that we are dust and unto dust we shall return. Acceptance of this humble truth then will allow the Father to raise us up as He raised His Son Jesus our Savior on the Third Day.

Choose Life and Hold Fast to God (Dt30:15-20)

"I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him." Loving, heeding, and holding are the components that allow us to recognize the blessings of Almighty God in our life. Clearly Moses tells the people of Israel this truth in the first reading today. The disciplines of Lent (prayer, fasting, alms giving) aid us during this holy time to do these three things: love the Lord, heed His voice, and hold fast to Him. Many who struggle in their spiritual life only rely upon the first point. They love God and do not understand why they struggle even as they ignore the next two points. Some in their spiritual lives do actually heed God's voice. They love God and heed His voice still they struggle and wonder why. Only in following all that Moses says can we find peace even in the midst of our struggles, our sins, our sufferings, and temptations. We must hold fast to the Lord. This is in reality the most important point in Moses' instruction for it is the point at which our decision for life or death must be made. When we are desperate, confused, hurt, and floundering is when we must hold fast to our Lord even if we do not feel His Presence. We cling to Him in Truth not in emotion. He Loves us and thus we love Him. This is the Truth of our life. In Loving us our Lord does not abandon us, and He speaks to us even when He is silent. This is the Truth of our relationship with Him. Therefore we cling to Him; we hold fast. In doing so we find peace even as we struggle in our spiritual lives. The disciplines of Lent are meant to strengthen our grip. In essence they bring comfort to us and to our struggle to turn away from sin and believe in the Good News.

Ash Wednesday

Today God our Father brings us to the beginning of Lent. We pray that in this time of salvation He will fill us with the Holy Spirit, purify our hearts, and strengthen us in love. This prayer comes from the introduction to the intercessions at Morning Prayer in the Divine Office for today, Ash Wednesday. I invite anyone who reads this blog to place this prayer before you as you enter Lent. God the Father brings us this holy season so that we may enter deeply into the Mystery of His Merciful Love, by meditating upon the life, death, and resurrection of His Son Jesus the Christ. Now is a time of salvation, not punishment. Our Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and alms giving are not punishment. They are practices that open our hearts and our eyes to our Father's Loving Mercy, and the gift of His Son. Filled with the gift of the Holy Spirit we will be reminded of all that Jesus taught us. The disciplines and meditations of Lent will strengthen us in our Father's Love and our hearts will be purified. While Lent is a serious season that calls for our own examination of conscience while we meditate on our Lord's Passion, let us not forget it is the Loving Mercy of our Father that brings us here, and in that we can find comfort and consolation.

Reason for lack in blogging

I have been alone in the parish these last two weeks and have another to go. Lent will be busy but I will make time for meditations.

Our Father Love's Us

"His heart was grieved." Does this not say it all. Our Father Love Us. He is grieved by our sins. He is moved by our sins. While we hear of the destruction caused by the flood, do not forget that in the fullness of time our Father sends to us, the remedy for our sins. He gives us His only Son to be our Savior. Because He Loves us. In meditating on our Lord's Passion this Lent, do not forget the grief of our Father nor His Merciful Love.

Mastering Sin (Gen 4:1-15,25)

So the LORD said to Cain:"Why are you so resentful and crestfallen. If you do well, you can hold up your head; but if not, sin is a demon lurking at the door: his urge is toward you, yet you can be his master." These words which God speaks to Cain are so profound. Sin is very near to each of us, it is lurking at the door. Sin is drawn to us. Sin wants to dominate us. Yet we can master sin. Often times we actually believe the exact opposite and or live as if the exact opposite were true. That is that sin has great power over us and we cannot help ourselves. Often we claim that our sinful tendencies are simply human nature. This lie is destroyed in the light of the first reading today. God tells Cain that we have within ourselves the ability to Master sin. This then is a challenge to each and every one of us today. You can master your sinfulness. Yes you need God's Grace but you are capable of turning from your sins, and embracing the life that God wants to give you. Of course the Sacraments are the great means by which our Lord aids us in our struggle to master sin. However as we approach the beginning of Lent, it is good to once again turn to prayer, fasting, and alms giving. Frequent attendance at Mass and regular Confession grant us the grace to implement these Lenten practices in our lives. All prayer flows from the Eucharist, therefore we should take time this Lent to prepare for Mass, especially by reading Sacred Scripture. That is we could read the daily readings before Mass, or if we cannot attend Mass at least remain in union with the Church by praying with the same readings. We could also pray the Rosary more often and allow our Blessed Mother to teach us about the life of her Son, and Salvation History. We can also fast from things that we particularly enjoy one or more days a week, or fast from food at one meal time or for one whole day. Finally we could give time to serving the poor, or make a monetary donation to the Church or to a good organization that helps the poor. All these practices in truth are things that we should be doing all year long and we should only emphasize them during Lent. In reality many struggle throughout the year to do any of them consistently or at all. Perhaps meditating upon the words God speaks to Cain will help us to recognize that in fact we do these things not only as an offering to God but also in order to Master the sin in our life that is constantly with us, lurking at our door seeking to dominate us.