15:49 LEAD RESPONSE: Week Two (Day 3 plus 1) (Sunday Forum)

by PeterR , Thursday, February 25, 2010, 16:35 (1180 days ago) @ PeterR

Tomorrow is a day of uncertainties for me, so I am sending the next lenten reflection today (Thursday).

Peter

Alternative Opening Prayer of the Second Sunday of Lent

“Your Son .. calls us to repentance and change of heart.”

Several of the thoughts which the bishops shared with us dealt with Jesus being both God and man and what that truth means for us in our everyday lives.

In difficult situations or in dealing with difficult people, we possibly tend to excuse ourselves for not being like Jesus: “It was OK for Him, He was God.”

Some of the bishops spoke of Jesus’ humanity, a truth we find in the scriptures:

“For our sake God made the sinless one into sin, so that in him we might become the goodness of God.” (2 Cor. 5:21)

“For it is not as if we had a high priest who was incapable of feeling our weaknesses with us; but we have one who has been tempted in every way as we are, though he is without sin.” (Heb. 4:15)

“His state was divine, yet he did not cling to his equality with God but emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave, and became as men are.” (Phil. 2: 6-7)

The mystery of Christ, God and man, we share. We have human life. We experience in ourselves all the passions, the selfish drives, and the self-centredness that we see in the animals from which we evolved. Just observe them. We also share the life of God, a reality we used to refer to as sanctifying grace. The priest prays in each Eucharist as he mixes water with the wine: “By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share in our humanity.”

As we sadly know from experience, and were reminded by the Bishops, in our living, we often fall short of the mark. In our humanity we sin: we fail to give witness to the life of God which we share. With St Paul we can say: “I cannot understand my own behaviour. I fail to carry out the things I want to do, and I find myself doing the very things I hate.” (Rom. 7:15)

What can we do? Where can we go?

In the Gospel on which we are reflecting, God’s voice from the cloud is heard: “This is my Son, the Chosen One. Listen to him.” This is at the heart of God’s call to us in Lent.

“Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Luke 12:34)

What is our treasure? What is the goal of life in our hearts that is the determinant of our thoughts, our actions, our key life decisions?

In our Lenten Exodus we are called to repentance and to change of heart. Where there are treasures of the heart that turn us from God and from the growth of His Life in us, we are called to repent of our past values and to change our hearts in a turning to God.

The Bishops in this lectio divina have brought to us the call of Mother Church of Ash Wednesday: “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel”.

“Always, wherever we may be, we carry with us in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus, too, may always be seen in our body. (2 Cor. 4:10)

“I have been crucified with Christ, and I live now not with my own life but with the life of Christ who lives in me. The life I now live in this body I live in faith: faith in the Son of God who loved me and who sacrificed himself for my sake.” (Gal.2:20)

“Life to me is Christ.” (Ph 1:21)

“Your Son .. calls us to repentance and change of heart.”