We will begin the Season of Lent on Ash Wednesday, March 9, 2011. Let this Lenten Season renew in each of us our Hope in our troubling times. Dear Jesus, we love you, we adore you, our hope is in you.
Dear Jesus, forgive us as we forgive others. Dear Jesus, strengthen in us the love that we have for our neighbor. As St. Francis lived the life of the Gospels in his daily interactions with all he met, may we spread the Gospel by our actions, words and deeds. We pray to you, Our Lord, for guidance as we go forth.
In the account of "History of the Monks of Egypt", the last days of the fabled Abba Paphutius, we are told, that as his end approached, he "entreated the Lord to show him his like upon earth." The Lord showed him a street musican who had been a thief, the very busy headman of a local village, and a wealthy Alexandrine merchant. As the priests gathered around him he said that the Lord had revealed to him, that no one in this world ought to be despised, let him be a thief, or an actor on the stage, or one that tilled the ground and was bound to a wife, or was a merchant and served a trade: for in every condition of human life there are souls that please God and have their hidden deeds wherein he takes delight; whence is it plain that it is not so much profession or habit that is pleasing to God as the sincerity and affection of soul and honesty of deed.
May God Bless each of you!
Lent comes to us just as we are feeling cold, worn, and tired of the winter chill. Reflection on the Love of God so great that he would send his only son to die for us, to make us his children forever.Take this season to go from chilled to enveloped in God's loving warmth as we will Celebrate Easter.
ReplyDeleteI found a quote that expounded on my joy of being with our fraternity this past Saturday. I thought it apropos: “Through our dialogue with others, we discern our openness to truth and beauty. We observe our capacity for moral goodness. We experience our love of freedom and the voice of conscience. We discover our thirst for the infinite and ultimate happiness. These are ways that convince us of the reality that our souls contain the seeds of eternity, a gift that could only have come from God.”
ReplyDeleteAlfred McBride, O.Praem.