A Third Sunday of Lent Thought to Start the Week Off Right
On the Third Sunday of Lent, we're coming up to the half way point of this holy season. The Inner Life of the Soul offers us some practical suggestions to help us press on with our Lenten discipline. Let's look at some of these. The hope is they can propel us even further in our efforts to grow closer to God through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.
First, let's ask ourselves if we have spent any time meditating on the Passion of Our Lord and Savior. If so, has this fostered a deep, heartfelt sorrow for our sins?
"Above all , the great and fundamental disposition of continual sorrow for sin is wonderfully promoted by the constant remembrance of the Passion...How can the heart tolerate sin any longer when sin has bowed my Saviour's head in the Agony, sin has torn His flesh in the scourging, sin has pierced Him with the thorns, sin has nailed Him to the cross!"
Gazing at a Crucifix can help us here. A Catholic with even a rudimentary knowledge of our holy religion and the life of Jesus Christ, should have no trouble imagining His Passion. If we do so the rest should flow quite naturally.
You might also choose some special sin or fault that God's grace could help you root out. Lent brings with it special graces, so, with such special graces in hand, now's the perfect time to face and fight that sin or fault.
A common fault many of us share:
"...to seek human sympathy in our troubles, to complain of our trials, to rebel against them. What a gain it will be to us to meditate humbly on the manner in which our Divine Master bore the heavy load of His cross, and to endeavor, all this Lent, to bear our crosses like Him."
Our remembrance of His Passion may not necessarily free us from the actual troubles that afflict us. It will, however, keep us from placing so much emphasis on the misery they cause us. Over time, we can use our difficulties, temptations, and suffering as a means to grow closer to God.
"By Thy loving acceptance of pain, give me the courage to accept all that I have to suffer! By Thy meekness, extinguish the natural disturbance of my breast against those who injure me! By Thy lifting up of Thy Heart, teach me how to make use of physical pain! By Thy silence, help me to repress murmurs and complaining! By Thy ardent love of Thy Heavenly Father, enable me to understand how affliction may intensify my love of God!"
Who of us has not experienced pain, injury at the hand of others (physical, emotional, gossip, false accusations, etc.). For most of us, the natural response is to dwell on that pain or injury, maybe to complain or at least seek the sympathy of others. But here we're urged to go to Our Lord first and foremost. Doing so we forget about ourselves. If this doesn't come easily (no surprise here), simply pray for the grace you need. Even if it's a continual struggle, know that you've received sufficient grace to keep you going, to keep you coming back to God's well of graces. Notice how, doing so, you're in constant touch with Him. Over time, that constancy can't help but draw you closer to Him.
On a practical level, checking in at the end of the day can be good practice:
"Each night let us reckon up our victories and number our defeats, and then come to our dear Lord with our offering, begging Him to pardon our failures, and to bless the efforts we have made for love of Him."
Almost half way through Lent, we may be feeling a bit stretched as we struggle daily to apply ourselves faithfully to our special prayers, penance, and almsgiving. If that's the case, just remember that we're not alone. Millions of other Catholics around the world join us. But more importantly, Our Lord is with us. He does not watch us from some Mount Olympus like the Greek gods who were amused by the struggles and misery of their human subjects. Rather, He gazes down from His Cross. His love for us is infinite. His gracious assistance will always be there for the asking:
"O Jesus! guide us each day through this Lent, closer and closer to Thy Heart; fill us with Thy Spirit; make us like to Thee! Mary, dear Mother of Sorrows! teach us to stand with thee beside the cross..."
First, let's ask ourselves if we have spent any time meditating on the Passion of Our Lord and Savior. If so, has this fostered a deep, heartfelt sorrow for our sins?
"Above all , the great and fundamental disposition of continual sorrow for sin is wonderfully promoted by the constant remembrance of the Passion...How can the heart tolerate sin any longer when sin has bowed my Saviour's head in the Agony, sin has torn His flesh in the scourging, sin has pierced Him with the thorns, sin has nailed Him to the cross!"
Gazing at a Crucifix can help us here. A Catholic with even a rudimentary knowledge of our holy religion and the life of Jesus Christ, should have no trouble imagining His Passion. If we do so the rest should flow quite naturally.
You might also choose some special sin or fault that God's grace could help you root out. Lent brings with it special graces, so, with such special graces in hand, now's the perfect time to face and fight that sin or fault.
A common fault many of us share:
"...to seek human sympathy in our troubles, to complain of our trials, to rebel against them. What a gain it will be to us to meditate humbly on the manner in which our Divine Master bore the heavy load of His cross, and to endeavor, all this Lent, to bear our crosses like Him."
Our remembrance of His Passion may not necessarily free us from the actual troubles that afflict us. It will, however, keep us from placing so much emphasis on the misery they cause us. Over time, we can use our difficulties, temptations, and suffering as a means to grow closer to God.
"By Thy loving acceptance of pain, give me the courage to accept all that I have to suffer! By Thy meekness, extinguish the natural disturbance of my breast against those who injure me! By Thy lifting up of Thy Heart, teach me how to make use of physical pain! By Thy silence, help me to repress murmurs and complaining! By Thy ardent love of Thy Heavenly Father, enable me to understand how affliction may intensify my love of God!"
Who of us has not experienced pain, injury at the hand of others (physical, emotional, gossip, false accusations, etc.). For most of us, the natural response is to dwell on that pain or injury, maybe to complain or at least seek the sympathy of others. But here we're urged to go to Our Lord first and foremost. Doing so we forget about ourselves. If this doesn't come easily (no surprise here), simply pray for the grace you need. Even if it's a continual struggle, know that you've received sufficient grace to keep you going, to keep you coming back to God's well of graces. Notice how, doing so, you're in constant touch with Him. Over time, that constancy can't help but draw you closer to Him.
On a practical level, checking in at the end of the day can be good practice:
"Each night let us reckon up our victories and number our defeats, and then come to our dear Lord with our offering, begging Him to pardon our failures, and to bless the efforts we have made for love of Him."
Almost half way through Lent, we may be feeling a bit stretched as we struggle daily to apply ourselves faithfully to our special prayers, penance, and almsgiving. If that's the case, just remember that we're not alone. Millions of other Catholics around the world join us. But more importantly, Our Lord is with us. He does not watch us from some Mount Olympus like the Greek gods who were amused by the struggles and misery of their human subjects. Rather, He gazes down from His Cross. His love for us is infinite. His gracious assistance will always be there for the asking:
"O Jesus! guide us each day through this Lent, closer and closer to Thy Heart; fill us with Thy Spirit; make us like to Thee! Mary, dear Mother of Sorrows! teach us to stand with thee beside the cross..."
We adore Thee O Christ and we bless Thee,
Because by Thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world.
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