MAR. 7, 2014: FRIDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY First Reading: Isa 58:1-9 Responsorial Psalm: Psa 51:3-6, 18-19 “A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.” GOSPEL: MATT 9:14-15 Key Verse: “then they will fast.” (v.15) Dear Friends in Christ, In the literal sense, hunger always follows fasting and as with the Jews who fast when they are in mourning, we too must fast as we mourn the painful experience Jesus will suffer at the hands of the Sanhedrin. This is the time for us look at how we have lived our lives, and use this season to pray and fast for the right reasons and these may include our deliverance from some bad habit, addiction, infidelity, vice, indifference, bitterness and resentments, unforgiveness, anger, pride and, to share in the suffering of the poor. As hunger comes after a period of fasting, our Lenten experience should lead us to grow in our hunger for God and for the things that will please God. St. Basil the Great once wrote: “Take heed that you do not make fasting to consist only in abstinence from meats. True fasting is to refrain from vice. Shred to pieces all your unjust contracts. Pardon your neighbors. Forgive their trespasses.” As fasting is a spiritual discipline that will lead us to the path of holiness, the Lenten Season is an appropriate time for us to take time for spiritual exercises, penitential liturgies, pilgrimages as signs of penance, voluntary self-denial such as fasting and almsgiving. Perhaps this is also the time for us to ask ourselves: Do we want to know God more and grow in his holiness? Do we also want the abundant life of Grace that he is offering us? Then pray and fast about it. … Kindly log onto: discipleshipformation.weebly for the Reflection For Today. GOD BLESS EVERYONE!
Posted on: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 11:01:59 +0000