We always thank God for you all, mentioning you in our prayers continually. We remember before our God and Father how active is the faith, how unsparing the love, how persevering the hope which you have from our Lord Jesus Christ. We know, brothers loved by God, that you have been chosen, because our gospel came to you not only in words, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with great effect. And you observed the sort of life we lived when we were with you, which was for your sake.
since it was from you that the word of the Lord rang out -- and not only throughout Macedonia and Achaia, for your faith in God has spread everywhere. We do not need to tell other people about it: other people tell us how we started the work among you, how you broke with the worship of false gods when you were converted to God and became servants of the living and true God; and how you are now waiting for Jesus, his Son, whom he raised from the dead, to come from heaven. It is he who saves us from the Retribution which is coming.
| Shepherds of Christ Daily Writing |
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Today’s Gospel in its story certainly points ahead to Jesus in His Passion
and death. And as we read passages such as this during the Lenten season, we
are reminded once again that the Church in her Liturgy of the Word gives us
an opportunity to undergo a purification, an ever deepening cleansing of
ourselves so that we may be a more fit instrument for receiving the great
graces which are to be given to us at the time of the Resurrection memorial
on Easter. And so all in all, Lent is a time of purification to prepare us
for ever-greater gifts of the Lord. It’s a time of self-discipline, a time
to renew our efforts to be self-disciplined in the service of the Lord.
Self-discipline is an aspect of purification. And I suggest that one of the
most difficult acts of self-discipline in the spiritual journey is to
concentrate on the present moment. We have a very strong tendency to
disregard the importance of the present moment by focusing in a wrong way on
the past or in a wrong way on the future. There are proper occasions for
thinking of the past and the future. For example, we have to learn from the
past and we have to prepare for the future, but our great emphasis has to be
upon the present. There is a Latin axiom which says, age quod agis, age
quod agis, which means: do what you are doing, concentrate on the
present. And of course we are familiar with that term in the history of
spirituality: the sacrament of the present moment. And so the discipline of
Lent certainly encourages us to include in a deeper self-discipline a
greater determination to get as much as we can out of the present moment.
People with a terminal illness have an opportunity as they prepare for death
for increased prayer, contrition, love of God. However, some are taken very,
very quickly. But for those who have the opportunity of knowing with some
certainty the time of their death, I’m sure as they look back on their
lives, they are saddened by the many times they did not use time and
opportunities for the service of the Lord properly, and are overjoyed at
those times in which they did use the present opportunity properly. A great
means we have of living in the present properly is a greater focus upon our
Lord. For if I have that awareness of the fact I am united with Jesus here and now, why should I be concerned so much
about the future or the past? Yes, a great help in living in the present and
deriving all the good we can from it for ourselves and others is an ever
greater focus upon Jesus, because the more I focus upon Jesus and the more I
live with Him in the present moment, the more I am satisfied with the present
moment. And so let us in our Lenten activity resolve to grow in that
self-discipline - which is very difficult at times - to really live in the
presence with the fullness of our being as much as is possible, with the help
of God’s grace. Now is the day of salvation. Now is the day of salvation.
Copyright
© 2014 Shepherds of Christ.