The essence of Lent is listening to the truth and embracing it in the light of the Gospel. The Gospel in its entirety is really all about Jesus Christ who said: "I am the way, the truth and the life". Listening to the Gospel during the Jubilee of Mercy must therefore open us up to the merciful love of God which David the psalmist describes as unending. "Give thanks to the Lord for he is good for his love endures forever”.
Thus, the love of God always packs creative and re¬creative powers. Right at the beginning, God said "let there be … and there was. Then he promised salvation to fallen man…Whenever man submits himself to that word therefore, God's creative power is activated and something about man is created anew. In order not to miss out on such a dynamic and rare privilege Christians must get even closer to God in his word during Lent.
It has been rightly said that the Gospel is a declaration, not a debate, and God gave the Ten Commandments not the Ten Advises. The Bible itself gives full assurance of that compelling dynamism in the words of Prophet Isaiah: "As the rain and snow come down from the heavens and do not return till they have watered the earth, making it yield seed for the sower and food for others to eat, so is my word that goes forth out of my mouth: it will not return to me idle, but it shall accomplish my will, the purpose for which it has been sent" (Is. 55:10¬11).
The Gospel not only causes God's will to be accomplished it also alerts man to the. challenges of today's world which must be surmounted in the task of evangelization. Pope Francis identifies many of such challenges in his Apostolic Exhortation, "Evangelic Gaudium" (the Gospel of Joy), the list is about the trends to reject in the today's world such as the economy of exclusion, the new idolatry of money; a financial system that rules rather than serves; the inequality which spawns violence and some cultural threats affecting the family and faith, women and children, etc.
The Pope practically sums up the right approach to take in tackling these challenges with the encouraging words of saint Paul: "Do not be overcome with evil but overcome evil with good" (Rom 12:21). Similar exhortations are found in the letter to the Galatians as well: "Let us not grow weary in doing what is right" (Gal 6:9). Pope Francis states the obvious that the Gospel offers us a chance to live on a higher plane, one that affords us to live our Christian life with intensity (EG,10).
Such exhortations help us, according to the Pope, to avoid living our whole lives like a Lent without Easter. So there it is, embrace the Gospel and put it into practice. It is a sublime armour against the challenges of today's world.
(Culled from Abide In My Word)
I have been thinking a great deal about my experience at Reconciliation this past Saturday. I felt an intense and unexplainable urge to go and confess my sins when I woke up that morning. I try to go every six weeks or so, but this was no routine visit to the priest for me. I needed to unburden myself of the numerous venial sins I had committed since I last participated in this Sacrament.
Purest Gold: God's Refining Fire in our Lives »
After salvation, many young Christians wonder if there's anything more to their newfound faith than just the security blanket of "being a Christian." Time and time again, God shows himself as a "refiner," and our lives are as gold. God started leading me in this study to understand what He was doing in my life, as well as in the lives of others.
Picking up my pen to write this column, I couldn’t imagine how time flies. Since the last publication of this column I have gone through a lot, especially the loss of my dear mother to whom I dedicate this article. Not only her, but seems I lost a whole generation of my close family.
How to Achieve Business Excellence »
“Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before Kings; He will not stand before unknown men.” Proverbs 22:29
Spiritual Development for our Youth »
Most of us youth in today's fast moving world are easily thrown off by difficulties and worries.
The theme of conversion is a thread that runs all through Lent, but conversion takes on different aspects throughout the phases of Lent. The first two and a half weeks focused on the interior turning of hearts; the liturgy urges the faithful to reflect and examine consciences thoroughly.
Saint Josephine Bakhita »
Feast Day: February 8
Patron Saint Of: Sudan
Saint Josephine Margaret Bakhita was born around 1869 in the village of Olgossa in the Darfur region of Sudan. She was a member of the Daju people and her uncle was a tribal chief. Due to her family lineage, she grew up happy and relatively prosperous, saying that as a child, she did not know suffering.
Catholics Must Fast More Intensely This Lent»
The Norbertine Canons of St. Michael's Abbey have created this digital Lenten retreat so that you can journey through this holy season alongside them. If you want to have one of your best Lenten seasons yet, join us in our Lenten Program "The Great Fast" - https://theabbotscircle.com/the-great-fast-join
When Your Faith Is Put to the Test - Bishop Barron's Sunday Sermon»
Friends, we come now to the Second Sunday of Lent, and we’re on both dangerous and very holy ground with the first reading from the twenty-second chapter of Genesis. The ancient Israelites referred to it as the “Akedah,” which means the “binding”: Abraham binds and is ready to sacrifice Isaac at God’s command.
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