A Second Sunday of Lent Sunday Tonic From St. Paul To Help Us Keep The Lord's Day Holy

It's the second Sunday of Lent. We want to keep Sunday holy as a rule. And now we have the Holy Season of Lent surrounding us. If we've gotten into the habit of keeping Sunday holy, we'll have a leg up on keeping Lent holy.

In this Lenten spirit, let's continue to seek ways to keep Sunday holy. If we take the trouble to look, we can find endless ways. Simply reading Psalms will likely yield some specific suggestions. A quick example taken from today's Divine Office.

Set before me for a law the way of thy justifications, O Lord: and I will always seek after it.
Give me understanding, and I will search thy law; and I will keep it with my whole heart.
Lead me into the path of thy commandments; for this same I have desired.
Incline my heart into thy testimonies and not to covetousness.
Turn away my eyes that they may not behold vanity: quicken me in thy way.

Prime for the Sunday Office begins with Psalm 118, the longest Psalm. This was just verses 33-37. Keep reading the Psalm and you'll find much more.

St. Paul's Epistles can serve as another ready source. The entry for Sexagesima Sunday in The Inner Life of the Soul brought us this tonic from the great Teacher of the Gentiles. It's a tonic because a bit of meditation on these words will restore our spiritual vigor. And don't we need it! - surrounded as we are by the world, the flesh, and the devil. Read this and spend a few minutes mulling it over. ("Mulling it over" is just another way to say "meditate.")

"... 'Thrice was I beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea. In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils from false brethren. In labor and painfulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides those things which are without : my daily instance, the solicitude for all the churches.'

The author then poses a question. Depending on our answer, we may find yet another source of motivation to get to work on our spiritual life on this Second Sunday of Lent.

"This is what one man could do, whose intense devotion was to the same Lord God we serve. How are we going to imitate him?"

God speaks to us through David in the Psalms. St. Paul speaks to us in his Epistles. These are just some of the endless sources given to us to help us keep Sunday - and Lent - holy.

During the week, we can find ourselves pressed for time by our work and our domestic obligations. But it's Sunday. And Sunday brings a respite from all that presses in on us. But we can only find that respite if we set aside our usual ways and give God His special due, something we need to do to keep holy the Lord's Day. 

That's been our theme on recent Sundays. And now that we're immersed in Lent, we need to ramp up our efforts to keep Sunday - the Lord's Day - holy. If we can manage that, it gives us a leg up on fulfilling our Lenten resolutions, whatever they might be. 

Look back at this past week. Did we faithfully attend to our Lenten discipline? Identify any areas where improvement might be needed. Then look ahead to the coming week. Be specific about any improvements needed. It may even be appropriate to write them into our schedules if we tend to let our work and domestic obligations dampen our spiritual lives.  

We adore Thee O Christ and we bless Thee

Because by Thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world.