“WARM WITH GOD’S LOVE”
Lenten Reflections
19thFebruary 2018.
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MONDAY, FIRST WEEK OF LENT
Reading 1: Lev 19: 1-2, 11-18 God proposes an ideal of holiness which is arrived at by refraining from injuring our neighbor in any way.
Res. Psalm: Ps 19: 8-10, 15 “Your word are spirit, Lord, and they are life.
Gospel: Mt 25: 31- 46 Jesus tells us that our eternal destiny depends on the manner and degree of the care and help we give to the poor and underprivileged.
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GAINING HOLINESS THROUGH OTHERS
We are in first full week of Lent, and the readings show us the groundwork that must be laid in our lives as disciples. Our life individually and as a group must reveal our God that. The first reading is an account of the Law given by God to Moses. It begins with the basic commandment: “Be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am holy.” This is followed by a series of “You must not..” and ending with “You must love your neighbor as yourself.”
In today's Gospel, Jesus goes beyond the "don't" of Leviticus and tells us about the positive side of participating in the Goodness of God. The "sheep" on his right hand fed the hungry, clothed the naked, visited the sick and imprisoned, and so forth, whereas the left-side "goats" are condemned to hell for failing to see Christ in the suffering and deprived. "Whatsoever you did (or did not do) to even the most insignificant of my brothers is what you did to me!"What makes this a startling religious precept is that the least of the earth’s children are the privileged presence of God among us. What we neglect to do in our care and appreciation of them, we neglect in our worship and attentiveness to God. So our relationship with God, our personal holiness, and our eternal destiny depend entirely on our relationship with our neighbor.
Prayer: Dear Lord, I do understand and believe that You are present, in hidden form, in the weakest of the weak, the poorest of the poor and in the sinner in our midst. Help me to diligently seek You out in each and every person I encounter, especially those in most need. Amen.
Lenten Act: "Christ, comes to the door of your house every day, not only spiritually to the door of your soul, but also materially to the door of your house. For every time a poor person approaches your house, it is without any doubt Christ who is coming, he who said: “As often as you did it for one of these little ones, you did it for me”. So don't harden you heart; give a little money to Christ, from whom you want to receive the Kingdom. Give a piece of bread to him, from whom you hope to receive life. Welcome him into your home, so that he might welcome you into his paradise. Give him alms, so that in return he might give you eternal life” (St Cesarius of Arles).