Great Lent Today
Day 4 - First Thursday of Great Lent
Prayer
Lord,
Let everything I do this day and in this season of Lent
come from you, be inspired by you.
I long to be closer to you.
Help me to remember that nothing is important in my life
unless it glorifies you in some way.
It's so easy to get caught up in the day to day of my life and keep saying,
"Tomorrow, I will spend more time in prayer,"
but now my longing meets your love and I want to do it now.
Help me to rely on you for help.
The prayer asks you that I reach perfection.
Please, Lord, remind me that "perfection"
isn't the crazy, "successful" way I try to live my life,
but a perfection of my most authentic, real self.
My "perfection" might be holding my many flaws in my open hands,
asking you to help me accept them.
Heal me, Lord, and help me to find you in the darkness of my life.
Let me reach out in this darkness and feel your hand and love there to guide me.
May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.
In His Steps - A Lenten Series
Today: The East: Home of the Wise Men
Intercessions
God has revealed himself in Christ. Let us praise his goodness, and ask him from
our hearts:
Remember us, Lord, for we are your children.
Teach us to enter more deeply into the mystery of the Church,
- that it may be more effective for ourselves and for the world as the sacrament
of salvation.
Lover of mankind, inspire us
to work for human progress,
- seeking to spread your kingdom in all we do.
May our hearts thirst for Christ,
- the fountain of living water.
Forgive us
our sins,
- and direct our steps into the ways of justice and sincerity.
Daily Reflection
by Bert Thelen, S.J., Jesuit Community
When we want to emphasize that something is very, very important, we say, "It's
a matter of life or death!" And that's exactly what both of today's readings
claim. The author of Deuteronomy, whom Jesus loved to quote, reminds us that
salvation is a matter of choosing life over death at every step of our journey
of faith. We will do this, he says, "by loving the Lord our God, heeding God's
voice, and holding fast to God." Jesus takes this much deeper, much further. He
says we must be willing to risk our lives, to put our lives on the line, and
even to lose our lives if we are going to follow Him on the path to true and
everlasting life. What a wonderful reminder with which to begin our Lenten
journeys!
How we choose to observe Lent, seemingly a rather undramatic and personal
matter, is actually of crucial importance not only for ourselves, but for
everyone. It is important, I believe, that we take some time to examine our
lives, noticing where lies our resistance to the call of Christ, and doing
something, however insignificant, to break down any barriers we have placed in
the way of Christ's desire to serve others in and through us. What exactly this
will be is completely up to each one of us, but this, at least, can be said: it
will move us away from what is self-serving, narrow, biased, and comfortable
toward a life of compassion, concern, help, and dedication to others.
What does "losing our lives for the sake of Christ" really mean? How do we put
such a command into practice? Each of us has to figure this out in the light of
our faith, which is both a gift and a choice, a power and a commitment. This
much we know for sure: we cannot remain where we are; we are always on the way,
walking resolutely with Jesus toward Jerusalem. For us, it is the New Jerusalem,
and so we walk with confidence and hope, knowing that Jesus both walks with us
and goes before us. But it is still the way of the cross, summoning us out of
our tiny, narrow, self-centered world into the much larger arena of salvation --
involving the whole human race, life for all, the life that is heavenly in its
origin and its destination. We are called to die to what is secure and familiar.
We are called to die to what is narrow and selfish. We are called to die to the
tiny, false life of self preoccupation and self preservation.
The law of the cross is the royal road to a new and greater life -- which is joy
and salvation for ourselves, who are only fulfilled by total love, and which is
fuller life, greater justice, heavenly peace for all. Truly, when we respond to
the summons to choose true life, we enter into the joy that no one can ever take
away from us! "See how the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ has become the tree of
everlasting life!"
Source: Creighton
University's Online Ministries
Preface for Meditation
by Prince Mathew
Lenten season is a time whereby we may gain deeper insight into our deeper
selves; it is a period whereby we cultivate the strength to know ourselves
truly, to acquire honesty with ourselves, and to develop the courage to practice
repentance as a means of constant transformation and purification of our
innermost selves.
The purpose of fasting extends far beyond a superficial abstinence from certain
foods; it is a discipline that has as its principle aim our overcoming of all
worldly pursuits or material desires that divert our attention away from our
spiritual communion with God. Its purpose is to strengthen our capacity to focus
constantly and consciously upon God, to "seek first the Kingdom of God and His
righteousness" (St. Matthew 6:33) before all else. By defining God as the chief
priority in our lives, we restore to our minds a proper view of reality in which
He is the One who ultimately sustains us with our every need.
In the very same way as Moses led his people, the Church leads Her children
through the fifty-day sojourn of Great Lent. For it takes at least this long for
many of the faithful to discard the vanity and the concerns of this world and to
be transformed. In this transformation the faithful people of God become the
newborn children from the secular wilderness who will be able to experience the
joy of the Promised Land.
Increased prayer and fasting are encouraged by the Church during Great Lent as a
means to purification and preparation. Both physical and spiritual purification
are stressed so that the believer may feel prepared to experience a spectacular
event, the event of the Lord's return. His Bride, the Church is always in
anticipation of the glorious return of Her Bridegroom. Fasting and prayer,
therefore, during this time of the year is not simply because it is Great Lent
but because the Church is awaiting the return of Her Bridegroom.
Bible Reading:
Fifty-Day Gospel Planner
(Read all Gospels during the Great Lent)
Evening
Morning
Gospel Readings:
Matthew
7:1-27 (KJV)
1Judge not, that ye be
not judged.
2For with what
judgment ye judge, ye shall
be judged: and with what
measure ye mete, it shall be
measured to you again.
3And why beholdest
thou the mote that is in thy
brother's eye, but
considerest not the beam
that is in thine own eye?
4Or how wilt thou say
to thy brother, Let me pull
out the mote out of thine
eye; and, behold, a beam is
in thine own eye?
5Thou hypocrite, first
cast out the beam out of
thine own eye; and then
shalt thou see clearly to
cast out the mote out of thy
brother's eye.
6Give not that which
is holy unto the dogs,
neither cast ye your pearls
before swine, lest they
trample them under their
feet, and turn again and
rend you.
7Ask, and it shall be
given you; seek, and ye
shall find; knock, and it
shall be opened unto you:
8For every one that
asketh receiveth; and he
that seeketh findeth; and to
him that knocketh it shall
be opened.
9Or what man is there
of you, whom if his son ask
bread, will he give him a
stone?
10Or if he ask a fish,
will he give him a serpent?
11If ye then, being
evil, know how to give good
gifts unto your children,
how much more shall your
Father which is in heaven
give good things to them
that ask him?
12Therefore all things
whatsoever ye would that men
should do to you, do ye even
so to them: for this is the
law and the prophets.
13Enter ye in at the
strait gate: for wide is the
gate, and broad is the way,
that leadeth to destruction,
and many there be which go
in thereat:
14Because strait is
the gate, and narrow is the
way, which leadeth unto
life, and few there be that
find it.
15Beware of false
prophets, which come to you
in sheep's clothing, but
inwardly they are ravening
wolves.
16Ye shall know them
by their fruits. Do men
gather grapes of thorns, or
figs of thistles?
17Even so every good
tree bringeth forth good
fruit; but a corrupt tree
bringeth forth evil fruit.
18A good tree cannot
bring forth evil fruit,
neither can a corrupt tree
bring forth good fruit.
19Every tree that
bringeth not forth good
fruit is hewn down, and cast
into the fire.
20Wherefore by their
fruits ye shall know them.
21Not every one that
saith unto me, Lord, Lord,
shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven; but he that doeth
the will of my Father which
is in heaven.
22Many will say to me
in that day, Lord, Lord,
have we not prophesied in
thy name? and in thy name
have cast out devils? and in
thy name done many wonderful
works?
23And then will I
profess unto them, I never
knew you: depart from me, ye
that work iniquity.
24Therefore whosoever
heareth these sayings of
mine, and doeth them, I will
liken him unto a wise man,
which built his house upon a
rock:
25And the rain
descended, and the floods
came, and the winds blew,
and beat upon that house;
and it fell not: for it was
founded upon a rock.
26And every one that
heareth these sayings of
mine, and doeth them not,
shall be likened unto a
foolish man, which built his
house upon the sand:
27And the rain
descended, and the floods
came, and the winds blew,
and beat upon that house;
and it fell: and great was
the fall of it.
Bible Verse for the Day:
St. Matthew 7:7- "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you".
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