Enjoy the springtime of life
And live in wonder.
Enjoy in awe the Love
God lavishes upon the lowly.
Enjoy the ever fresh image of Christ
Imprinted in our souls.
It is Lent
Enjoy your food,
Receive it from the hand of God.
Abhor sin and cease to feed on fodder,
That you might have fullness
And your choice portion
At Heaven’s banquet.
©2013 Joann Nelander
St. John . Do not let only your mouth fast, but also the eye, and the ear, and the feet, and the hands, and all the members of our bodies. Let the hands fast, by being free of avarice. Let the feet fast, by ceasing to run after sin. Let the eyes fast, by disciplining them not to glare at that which is sinful… Let the ear fast… by not listening to evil talk and gossip… Let the mouth fast from the foul words and unjust criticism. For what good is it if we abstain from birds and fishes, but bite and devour our brothers?” (St. John Chrysostom – “The Proof of Fasting”)
Lent is about Love
Recognizing our lack and need.
Lent is about Spring,
Becoming fertile ground for Christ’s seed.
Lent is about Life,
Allowing the sprout to be freed.
Lent is about creation,
Imaging Christ in love and deed.
©2013 Joann Nelander
This painting is so consoling, I just have to share it again since Lent brings us closer to our Savior. He comes to save Fallen Man, and with such a gentle hand.
“Virgin Mary Consoles Eve”
Crayon and pencil by Sr. Grace Remington, OCSO
Copyright 2005, Sisters of the Mississippi Abbey
Mother Eve, waiting long,
Your bones resting in the earth,
At Adam’s side,
From which you were taken,
Waiting, waiting for the Woman.Sustained in weary life by a Promise.
Enduring the grave,
Counting the centuries,
Waiting for Good News.
The Virgin is with Child. Rejoice!©2011 Joann Nelander All rights reserved
OSV Daily Take Blog: Shaw: Lent, Ash Wednesday and getting ‘real’.
Why is it that Ash Wednesday and Lent remain relatively popular even in highly secularized times like these? It’s a serious question that touches on matters deeper than might at first be supposed.The popularity I speak of can be seen year after year on Ash Wednesday, when people – some of them perhaps not all that often in church – stream up the aisle to get their ashes. Not a few then return for Mass or Stations of the Cross on weekdays during Lent. How come? Read more
English: Ashes imposed on the forehead of a Christian on Ash Wednesday. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
DO NOT yield to every impulse and suggestion but consider things carefully and patiently in the light of God’s will. For very often, sad to say, we are so weak that we believe and speak evil of others rather than good. Perfect men, however, do not readily believe every talebearer, because they know that human frailty is prone to evil and is likely to appear in speech.
Not to act rashly or to cling obstinately to one’s opinion, not to believe everything people say or to spread abroad the gossip one has heard, is great wisdom.
Take counsel with a wise and conscientious man. 8Seek the advice of your betters in preference to following your own inclinations.
A good life makes a man wise according to God and gives him experience in many things, for the more humble he is and the more subject to God, the wiser and the more at peace he will be in all things.
Be Holy! 