Some Encouragement to Help Us Through These Days of Lent at Work
Here's some encouragement for us all as we set out to work today, in the middle of Lent.
Last Sunday being Laetare Sunday, we experienced a bit a respite from the deep purple of Lent - even if your priest didn't wear those joyful rose-colored vestments recommended but rarely worn these days. I think of Holy Mother Church being sort of like my Mom when she would pack a good lunch for me as I trundled off to grammar school. She was there in my lunch box to help lift me up in the middle of a long school day.
In that light, I came across these wise words from Father John Grou. If you read them carefully, I think you'll get a lift as you trundle off to work doing your best to observe your Lenten discipline despite the demands of your busy day. When I read them, my thoughts turned to those times at work when I didn't always get the support from colleagues or backing from my employer that would have made my job easier, or helped me succeed in a particularly difficult assignment. I remembered that, while it would be great if people always came through for us, that's just not the case many times.
On the other hand, our great God does and always will. And during these days of Lent, when we strive to be faithful to our special combined discipline of prayer, penance and almsgiving - with special emphasis on the penance part - we can turn to Him, as we should always do in any difficulty in our lives, and He will not let us down.
I find this especially consoling when facing temptations. Whether it's the temptation to slack off during these 40 days of Lent, or the usual daily temptations we face throughout the year, it's important to remember that God will always provide the grace we need to not only resist temptation, but that His grace will strengthen us over time and help us grow in virtue, thereby helping us grow closer to Him.
Take a few moments to thoughtfully consider how faithful Our Blessed Lord is to us. Can you say you've always been likewise faithful to Him? Maybe that will help you persist in that special sacrifice to which you've committed during Lent. It's the least you can do for Him who suffered and died for you, isn't it?
We adore Thee O Christ and we bless Thee,
Last Sunday being Laetare Sunday, we experienced a bit a respite from the deep purple of Lent - even if your priest didn't wear those joyful rose-colored vestments recommended but rarely worn these days. I think of Holy Mother Church being sort of like my Mom when she would pack a good lunch for me as I trundled off to grammar school. She was there in my lunch box to help lift me up in the middle of a long school day.
In that light, I came across these wise words from Father John Grou. If you read them carefully, I think you'll get a lift as you trundle off to work doing your best to observe your Lenten discipline despite the demands of your busy day. When I read them, my thoughts turned to those times at work when I didn't always get the support from colleagues or backing from my employer that would have made my job easier, or helped me succeed in a particularly difficult assignment. I remembered that, while it would be great if people always came through for us, that's just not the case many times.
On the other hand, our great God does and always will. And during these days of Lent, when we strive to be faithful to our special combined discipline of prayer, penance and almsgiving - with special emphasis on the penance part - we can turn to Him, as we should always do in any difficulty in our lives, and He will not let us down.
I find this especially consoling when facing temptations. Whether it's the temptation to slack off during these 40 days of Lent, or the usual daily temptations we face throughout the year, it's important to remember that God will always provide the grace we need to not only resist temptation, but that His grace will strengthen us over time and help us grow in virtue, thereby helping us grow closer to Him.
Take a few moments to thoughtfully consider how faithful Our Blessed Lord is to us. Can you say you've always been likewise faithful to Him? Maybe that will help you persist in that special sacrifice to which you've committed during Lent. It's the least you can do for Him who suffered and died for you, isn't it?
“Listen to the words of St. Paul – it is to you he speaks: God is faithful, he says; He will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able to bear; but will, with the temptation, also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it. (1 Cor. 10: 13)
“Weigh well these words, for they will fill you with consolation and confidence in the midst of the hardest trial. God is faithful: He owes it to Himself, He owes it to His own promises, He owes it to his love for you, to succor you in any danger that threatens your soul. His glory is interested in helping you, because sin is an offence against Himself. He knows that you can do nothing without Him, and that you will most certainly fall if He abandons you. If He failed you in these critical moments He would not be Himself.
“He will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able to bear. The faithfulness of God towards us does not consist in delivering us from all temptation – for that would be to deprive Himself of His own glory, and to deprive us of the merit attached to the victory – but His faithfulness consists in never allowing the temptation to go beyond our strength to resist. God knows perfectly, and infinitely better than we do, what our strength really is, for we derive our strength solely from Him and His grace.” (Father John Grou, S.J., 1731-1803)
We adore Thee O Christ and we bless Thee,
because by Thy Holy Cross
Thou hast redeemed the world.
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