As we embark on Lent, we allow Jesus to prepare us for His Passion as He prepared the apostles for it. At the end of this season, we will be sorrowfully accompanying Him in his passion and death, leaving us empty so as to most fully experience the joy of His resurrection.
In the first book of Samuel, scripture tells us David spared Saul’s life. Choosing to do so was counter to all conventional human wisdom, counter to what might seem ‘right action’. Capacity to act with Divine wisdom can only come from God’s purifying love.
Restoration of Love within us, which is God Himself, must then involve restoration of love within our human relationships too.
Our broken nature drives us to use God as a means to our end goal. We convince ourselves that, because a thought came to us in prayer, it is from God. But God isn’t a means to an end. He is the Means and the End.
In this Jubilee of Hope, let us keep front of mind that God never ceases to delight in us personally and He desires to exalt each of us as His own.
Contemplating the first Christmas: Am I ready for Christ to be born in my soul?
Our resolutions for change so often fall flat! Perhaps this is because we focus on correcting a bad habit rather than improving relationships, especially our relationship with God. The new Catholic daily devotional, Moments with Jesus, can be a step toward true transformational change.
Eventually, we are faced with the most important question of our life: is salvation an option or a necessity? If it isn’t optional, then my holiness can’t be either.
In the parable of the Good Samaritan, a man is left half-dead as people pass him by. Perhaps the man had to lie in wait so that the Samaritan could have the opportunity to choose to help him. Which begs the question, how well do I lie in wait of God’s providence?
The book of Job, which we’ve been hearing in daily mass readings, is one of the wisdom books. It is through Job that we can embrace the magnanimous power of our Creator, our God, as He reminds Job that He truly is in charge: “where were you when I founded the earth?” (Job 38:4) etc.
Most people live with some sort of inner turmoil. They may think, “but Job was a righteous man” while voices in their mind pester of their own unrighteousness…