Thursday, February 26, 2009

day after ashes

Dt 30:15-20; Psalm 1 Blessed are they who hope in the Lord; Lk 9:22-25

We are converted not only once in our lives but many many times.  And conversion is little by little.  Lent gives us an opportunity to move the process along.  Intentionally.  By small surrenders.  One day at a time. 

This is why Jesus in the gospel reminds us the cross is to be carried daily. 

Holiness grows by small surrenders, daily surrenders, without which we cannot finally be free to give ourselves completely. 

A cross to carry for forty days seems unbearable.  A cross for a day is just a day.

A cross to carry is seldom romantic but more often it is part of the everydayness of life.  This is where we live, this is where we choose to lose our life. 

Lent is a lifetime of letting go and letting ourselves come closer to Jesus, but we do this one day at a time.

"If any one wishes to come after me, he must deny himself take up his cross daily and follow me."

excerpt by St Leo the Great
"dear friends, what the Christian should be doing at all times should be done now with greater care and devotion, so that the Lenten fast enjoined by the apostles may be fulfilled, not simply by abstinence from food but above all by renunciation of sin... the works of mercy are innumerable.  Their very variety brings this advantage to those who are true Christians,  that in the matter of almsgiving not only the rich and affluent but also those of average means and the poor  are able to play their part.  Those who are unequal in their capacity to give can be equal in the love within their hearts."

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