LENTEN CONSIDERATIONS FOR PRAYER

 

As we approach Lent each year (today is the FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT 2014),  we always look for small ways to help us reflect on this holy season.   Back in 1988,  there was an article in LIGUORIAN magazine that had some considerations for Lent,  drawing upon modern day realities that are very familiar to us.  It's given here for your Lenten prayerful reflection:

 

 

If we were knives,  Lent would be a time to sharpen our cutting edges.

 

If we were cars, Lent would be a time for an oil change and a tune-up.

 

If we were swimming pools,  Lent would be a time to filter the dirt out of our water.

 

If we were gardens,  Lent would be a time to fertilize our soil and pull up our weeds.

 

If we were carpets,  Lent would be a time to get power-cleaned.

 

If we were VCR's,  Lent would be a time to clean our heads and adjust our tracking.

 

If we were computers,  Lent would be a time to overhaul our disk drive.

 

If we were highways,  Lent would be a time to repair our cracks and fill our potholes.

 

If we were a TV,  Lent would be a time to adjust our focus and do the fine tuning.

 

If we were silverware,  Lent would be a time to clean away the tarnish.

 

If we were batteries, Lent would be a time to get re-charged.

 

If we were seeds,  Lent would be a time to germinate and reach for the sun.

 

 

 

 

 

WORLD DAY OF PRAYER 2014

(art for the event by Farid Fadel)

 

WORLD DAY OF PRAYER

 

World Day of Prayer is held each year on the first Friday in March.   The day was the idea of Church Women United, an ecumenical Christian group of women who work for justice and peace.  Each year, a women's group from a different part of the world writes a prayer service for the day.   For World Day of Prayer 2014,  women from Egypt prepared the prayer service, with the theme:  "Streams in the Desert." 

 

Some of the background for the day and its theme this year is here for your reflection:

 

Egypt: A place where history flows across every location like the Nile River flows through its land.   A place where history speaks to us calling us to remember our past.    Egypt has been both a place of exile and a place of refuge.    It is a place where streams flow through desert lands bringing with them the fertile nutrients needed for plants, trees, and all forms of life to flourish.    However these streams are not only the physical rivers that we can dip our feet into.

 

In the 2014 service, we are invited to seek the streams of living water which Jesus offers.   We come to sit by a well in Samaria where a woman will meet Jesus and, in meeting him, will meet God.    It was at this well that she was offered the life giving waters that became "in her a spring of water welling up to eternal life."   It is in her meeting that we too are offered this living water.    Come, let us dive into those waters and see what may come of our encounter.

 

We are invited to think about our own lives and where we recognize streams in our own deserts;  places and moments where God is actively at work.   To reflect on times when we, like the Samaritan woman, have gone to the well looking for one thing and then discovered Christ offering us what we never expected.   We will come not only to learn what this spring of living water is,  but how we can,  like the Samaritan woman,  carry it back to our communities.   To see the transformation that can happen when we share our stories of encountering the living God.

So come, drink your fill of the waters that God has to offer.    "We no longer believe just because of what you said;   now we have heard for ourselves..."

 

 

PRAYERS FOR YOUR LENT

 

 

MAY YOUR LENT BE BLESSED!

     (our wish for this holy season for you)

 

Repent,  and believe in the Gospel.

 

Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

 

(an Ash Wednesday reflection by Fr. Karl Rahner, SJ)

 

Dust -- truly a splendid symbol.   Dust,  this is the image of the commonplace.   There is always more than enough of it.   One fleck is as good as the next.  Dust is the image of anonymity:  one fleck is like the next, and all are nameless.   It is the symbol of indifference:   What does it matter whether it is this dust or that dust?   It is all the same.   Dust is the symbol of nothingness:  because it lies around so loosely, it is easily stirred up, it blows around blindly, is stepped upon and crushed -- and nobody notices.   It is a nothing that is just enough to be -- a nothing.  Dust is the symbol of coming to nothing:  it has no content,  no form,  no shape;  it blows away, the empty, indifferent, colorless, aimless, unstable booty of senseless change, to be found everywhere, and nowhere at home.   Truly, then, scripture is right.   We are dust.  We are always in the process of dying.  We are the beings who set our course for death, when we set out on life's journey, and steer for death, clearly and inexorably.   We are the only beings who know about this tendency to death.   We are dust! 

 

 

 

 

 

A MARCH SPIRITUALITY - this year at least

 

 

WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR WINTER-Y BLUES?

 

(This reflection is by Fr. James Martin, SJ, and appeared in the February monthly missalette,  LIVING WITH CHRIST, under the title:  "A FEBRUARY SPIRITUALITY".   This year most of us in the middle and upper Midwest and the east coast can take these words to heart even into March;  let them lead us to prayer and to greater hope.   We added the parentheses in the reflection below.)

 

Maybe you live in a sunny clime, where the weather is delightful all year round, but for many of us -- me included -- February (now March, too) is probably the worst month of the year.   At least meteorologically.   In the northeastern United States, it means long, dreary days filled with snow, slush, and freezing rain.

 

This part of the Church's liturgical year can seem similarly bleak.   Christmas is long gone and Lent is not quite here (it'll be here this week).  In the middle of ordinary times things can seem a little too, well, ordinary.   Even dull.

 

MAKING FEBRUARY (MARCH) WORK

 

What's a believer to do?   First, you might take advantage of this time by deepening your spiritual life.  Being stuck inside might be an opportunity to do a bit more praying.   Cold weather and dark days are sometimes conducive to a more contemplative stance.   It's easier to pray indoors when you're not tempted by beautiful weather outside.   Can you see in this dreary time an invitation to spend more time with God in prayer?

 

Second,  if you are feeling low, or struggle with sadness, desolation, or even depression, you might remember that even in these dark times there is hope....In a few weeks (we hope) in the northern climes,  the snow will melt,  the temperatures will rise, flowers will spring out of what looked like dead earth, and all will be green again.   You trust in that, don't you?   Then trust that God can bring something new out of your life, no matter how dark, or dreary, or slushy it may seem.