a spirit of counsel and of strength - December 5, 2010

Allow yourself to cherish the Sabbath and attending Mass on the Sabbath. Allow this to be a day of charity, humility, and obedience.

Remember the half forgotten prayers of childhood, create some prayers with echoes from yesterday.

Within each prayer rests a portion of your youth, a dollop of all that which is good, kind, and holy within you

And so remember the comfort that prayer does offer

Each time you do acknowledge what you have done

Each momentary strength, momentary weakness

Each prayer does unlock childish memories of faith,

And of Easter, and of the greatest sacrifice you ever heard,

And of a candle-lighted Lent of abstinence and silence

Now, vivid, cinematic, asking me to discern.

Presenting faces of hope, faces of faith, faces of love; faces serving, faces following

Tragedy is the handmaid to all human beings

And yet, those who believe with their entire being

Will surely find salvation and eternal life with God.

I am thinking of a child's prayer now

Said proudly, happily before their father at mealtime.

Penance

Lent allows each Christian to reflect upon their lives and all of the secular influences and then make decisions on how to be more Christ-like. Lent is a time of penance; reconciliation is a prominent component of Lent; each Christian asks God for forgiveness for their individual sins; and hopefully each Christian will be able to forgive others.

Lent is a time of preparation for Easter. These forty days allow time for purification of each Christian soul that obeys the Lord’s commandments. We simply have to believe and allow ourselves to be obedient, humble servants of the Lord.

How we approach each Lenten season can effect how much good we can take from each Lenten season.

Every day of our lives we sin; every day of our lives we face temptation; every day of our lives we move away from God. Each sin can become an obstacles to our relationship with God.

When we take time to consider our choices and the consequences of our actions, we are able to analyze and examine our behavior. If we allow ourselves to be silent, to be contemplative repentance will present itself if our hearts truly love God and want to be faithful to him.

The secular world inundates us with a dissociation of both responsibility and sensibility. Our society promotes the idea that purchasing some product will instantly make us feel better. Our society downplays religion and challenges the authority of God. In a consumerist society all sin is innocuous, can be washed away, swept away with a pill, a broom, or earphones. Christians know that sin does not depart so easily and the ramifications and the consequences of sin can damage our relationships with our family, our friends and with God. We must acknowledge our sins and ask for forgiveness.

As Christians we must remember that each of our individual acts has an impact on our Christian community. Our sins are not simply isolated to ourselves. Our sins are communal, shared with all members of the community, with everyone we encounter. Lent is a time of communal penance.

Each prayer, each fast, each almsgiving is a chance for each of us to move closer to God.

Lent is a somber season which can be filled with joy and hope if our hearts remember why repentance is necessary, if our hearts are ready and willing to be purified by the grace of God, if our hearts desire to be closer to God.