Day2 Church Fathers Lenten Reading Plan 2/26/09
Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus:1-6
Day 2 Lite Version
Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus: 7-12
Printer-Friendly Version of Outline: Church Fathers Lenten Reading Plan PDF
Paul Mayers reflects with this silent video: What If God Were One of Us?
Everyday begins with God’s mercy. Everyday is a new beginning. As we open our eyes on this day, we begin again. As long as we are living and breathing this side of the Judgment, the sun comes up on our second chance.
Lent is the trumpeter sounding before the Final Trumpet of our lives. The noise of cacophony is interrupted with a clarion call “Repent.”
“For He says: ‘In an acceptable time. I heard you, and on the Day of Salvation I helped you.’ Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the Day of Salvation.”2 Cor 6:2
The death penalty is being debated in New Mexico. “It’s quite a debate” according to my pastor who finds irony in the fact that this debate rages while the death penalty is in fact “the most common penalty” known to man. “Every single one of us is under a sentence. We are born, so to speak, with a noose around our necks.”
“Our death is an absolute certainty..no second chances, no reincarnation!… ‘Human beings die once, and then the Judgment.’ Hebrews 9:27 ” What our pastor finds absolute madness, “insanity to the highest degree,” is that most people on this “Death March” to the grave, never ever stop to consider their end. “If we die in a state of grace, we shall live for all eternity. If we die in mortal sin, we shall be damned for all eternity.” No do-overs!
“The only guarantee of dying a holy death is living a holy life,” Monsignor Raun concluded.
Good Morning, Everyone!
Before the day sounds through the rafters of my mind like bats in the belfry, before entering the fray myself, I’m making room for another voice:
My Imitation of Christ, Book III, Chapter I by Thomas a’ Kempis:
The Inward Conversation of Christ with the Faithful Soul
I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me.”Blessed is the soul who hears the Lord speaking within her, who receives the word of consolation from His lips. Blessed are the ears that catch the accents of divine whispering, and pay no heed to the murmurings of this world. Blessed indeed are the ears that listen, not to the voice which sounds without, but to the truth which teaches within. Blessed are the eyes which are closed to exterior things and are fixed upon those which are interior. Blessed are they who penetrate inwardly, who try daily to prepare themselves more and more to understand mysteries. Blessed are they who long to give their time to God, and who cut themselves off from the hindrances of the world. Consider these things, my soul, and close the door of your senses, so that you can hear what the Lord your God speaks within you. “I am your salvation,” says your Beloved. “I am your peace and your life. Remain with Me and you will find peace. Dismiss all passing things and seek the eternal. What are all temporal things but snares? And what help will all creatures be able to give you if you are deserted by the Creator?” Leave all these things, therefore, and make yourself pleasing and faithful to your Creator so that you may attain to true happiness.
My favorite line:
“Blessed are the ears that catch the accents of divine whispering, and pay no heed to the murmurings of this world.”
Earlier today, I spoke of preparation for Lent. The Anchoress is giving us a head-start. It’s never too early to prepare, so give a listen to her experimental-podcast as she podcasts her way to Heaven.
Be Holy! 