I challenged myself to do a post a blog EVERY DAY, this Lent, so for those who haven't given up the internet for Lent, here's a post for today, simple, and short, no photos.
So far, the Lenten homilies at our parish have been really good, insightful, and challenging.
With all the juggling around and combining of parishes, our sister parishes have the unusual advantage of REALLY AWESOME priests offering to fill in often at the parish "campus" that we attend. It's because our church is beautiful, with traditional architectural design and embellishments, beautiful stained glass windows, and organ music. It's a novus ordo Mass, with several of the parts of the Mass sung in Latin (or Greek). Our church is packed every Sunday, with dozens and dozens of children. It's such a blessing to see so many children at our Masses. We need more children brought up in the faith, to save our world from being lost, and to provide us with future priests and religious vocations. (And, our "sister" Church is also beautiful, and jam-packed every Sunday, too! (But, it's downtown, and the parking is a mess. We let the younger generation deal with that, since that campus is literally bursting at the seams!)
But, getting back to the homilies, the first visiting priest came on Super Bowl Sunday. He talked about how Lent is a "moving forward" kind of season. Each Sunday the readings reveal the Person of Christ to us more and more, and our goal is to draw closer to Him, day by day. The visiting priest reminded us that Lent is not just something to get through, and then forget all about come Easter morning. That would be the sign of a wasted Lent. In a well-lived Lent, we should be stronger in our faith and loving God more and more every day. We pray more, we sacrifice more, we ask God to heal our hearts and make us stronger, and lead us one day to a happy death. Sure, you can give up your chocolate if you want, but what God really asks of us is to give up our egos, to become like Him, to the point where we can say, not my will, but Your Will be done. And He asks for our unmitigated unending love and trust. We must pray for the end of suffering, but also be ready to accept it when our time comes. We must pray for a stronger and selfless love, but be willing to suffer in silence when family and loved ones let us down. We must be like Mary, at the foot of The Cross, suffering from the anguish of the cruel death of her son, but staying by his side as he is mocked and tortured to death, never questioning the omnipotent Will of God the Father. Everything that happens to us is part of God's Will for our lives, and each day of our lives must pull us deeper into a faithful stance of trusting in God's way for us, as He lovingly forms us into who we're meant to be.
I challenge you to start one "new" tradition in Lent, if you don't already do this. On Holy Friday, my husband and I pull out our well-used DVD of The Passion of the Christ. It can be difficult to watch, but I like to imagine myself being right there with Our Blessed Mother, and Mary Magdalene, and the beloved apostle John, who were there with Our Mother through the long, drawn out, and abhorrently vicious torture and death of our Lord. I sob my way through that movie every year, and my husband and I pause the video at just the right times, to pray and meditate on the Sorrowful mysteries as we draw near to Christ and join in His suffering. We are washed in the blood, and we witness the bounty of God's mercy in the blood and water that gushed forth from spear that pierced Christ's side. Unselfishly he took the punishment of a world in sin, He died for those who love Him and for those who hated and mocked Him.
In the coming weeks, pick up a copy of that video, and on Good Friday, after you get home from the Good Friday services at your church, watch the video and witness to greatest sign of that love that we will ever know in this lifetime. Or make other plans that will insure that your heart be changed and moved this Lent, drawing you ever closer to the heart of God.
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