Today’s Reflection March 18

 

Joy does not depend on acclaim, advancement, promotion, recognition, fame, prestige, or power. Joy can never come from without. It can only come from the Lord who plants it deep within us. If our joy is contingent upon affirmation, success or career, it is planted in sand and will never endure. Actually, our joy should have nothing to do with where we work, what we are doing, or any external reward or recognition we get. It only depends on who we are, not what we do or have. We are beloved of the Father, configured to his Son, alive with his grace, sealed with his promise. Everything else is extra. If we’re counting on anyone or anything outside of the Lord to cause our joy, we’re setting ourselves up for a fall.

-Cardinal Timothy Dolan

Today’s Reflection March 17

All of us will die on a day we do not know at present, but how happy we will be if we die with our dear Savior in our hearts. Indeed, we must always keep him there, making our spiritual exercises in his company and offering him our desires, resolutions and protests. It is a thousand times better to die with the Lord than to live without him . . . If the death of the Savior is propitious for us, our own death will be a happy one. For this reason we should often think of his holy death, and love his Cross and his Passion.

– St. Francis de Sales

 

Today’s Reflection March 16

We need silence. We need to be alone or together looking for God in silence. There it is that we accumulate the inward power by which we act, by which we do the smallest duty and by which we suffer the severest hardships that befall us . . . Once I was asked by someone what I consider the most important aspect of the training of the Sisters of our Order. I answered, ‘Silence,’ – interior and exterior silence. Silence is essential in a religious house. The silence of humility, of charity, the silence of the eyes, of the ears, of the tongue. There is no life of prayer without silence. Silence, and then kindness, charity; silence leads to charity, and charity to humility.

– Mother Teresa of Calcutta

 

Today’s Reflection March 15

Christ, who identified himself with sinners . . .turned to sinners as much as to saints for help. He was grateful for the help of the thief on the cross, the generosity of this derelict, dying man who acknowledged Christ’s goodness when those who knew him well had fled. Even when he was dead, he accepted his tomb, the place where his body should rest, from Nicodemus, the hesitating, careful man who dared only to come to him under cover of darkness. There is no exemption from the love of Christ in one another, or from sharing the cross. There is no moment when, if we meet one whose burden is too heavy, we may delay in helping him to carry it. It is not for those who are good alone to help Christ; it is most of all for sinners, for the weak, the hesitating, even the selfish . . . Every day, hidden under our sins, abject in his need, Christ says to the sinners who put out a hand or speak a word to help him: This day you shall be with me in Paradise.
– Caryll Houselander

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Today’s Reflection March 14

 

We unite with Jesus crucified as we endure the difficulties and hardships of our labor. Underneath our strengths and weaknesses, God’s power is working in and through us. We rest in his power when nothing seems to go right. We accept what happens, do what we can, then step aside and let God take over. . .We are in the best of company when we hand over our reins of control to Jesus. During his time on the cross, Jesus could seemingly not do anything. At that time his life seemed useless, but by being where he was, he redeemed the world.

– Carolyn Humphreys

 

 

Today’s Reflection March 13

 

While we all hear many voices in our lives, it is critical to our spiritual health that we listen first and foremost to the voice of Jesus Christ. The goal of our lives is not to meet the expectations of our parents, friends, spouses, children and others. We are called to follow Jesus Christ and carry out his mission of love, generosity and compassion in this world. Lent is a great time to refocus our attention on Jesus – to listen to him through the teachings of the Church, through scripture, and through our service. Lent isa time to listen through our own experience and to try to discern the voice of God amid all the other voices that we hear each day. And Lent also challenges us to avoid letting anyother person or institution take the place of God in our lives. No matter how well intended our friends and family are, they are not God. Jesus is God’s son. The challengeof Lent is to listen to him.

– Bill Peatman

 

Today’s Reflection March 12

 

The wilderness or desert, formed the backdrop for the prophets, the Psalms, and the Exodus. John the Baptist preached in the wilderness, and the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted. The Spirit urges us to seek time alone with God. Our desert and wilderness can be a meaningless job, chronic illness, a crumbling relationship, or the loss of a loved one. Whatever wilderness we travel into, God is ever inviting us to depend on the love poured out in Jesus. In the midst of the desert, we might grumble and rebel. We might temporarily abandon the God who truly liberates us from our slavery, the God who loves us totally. God understands this rebellion and anger as our attempt to control our own destiny, to call all the shots. God trusts that once we have faced the desert, confronted the reality of our vulnerability, we will rush into the Divine embrace.

– Wayne Simsic

 

Today’s Reflection March 11

 

The Lenten season, a period of approximately six weeks of repentance – Christians are encouraged to practice different means of expressing repentance – fasting, the giving of alms, atonement and self-denial. A Lenten discipline that many people take upon themselves is the giving up of favorite foods, entertainments or other within reach items so as to do the best they can in living out the word ‘sacrifice.’ Whereas the above mentioned practices are fine, there is another and I think just as a good a way of going about our Lenten days. That way has to do with doing the best we can to slow down, to gradually ease off of the treadmill a good many of us are on throughout the year. One then begins to notice certain things that zoom past our line of sight when we are moving too fast. They are important things. They are the living gifts of God’s presence in our day to day lives. They are gifts that move us and form us whether we notice or not. But Lent can be a time when we allow ourselves the effort to see better what has always been there, and to hopefully learn from it. In this way, we are not so much about doing something for Lent as much as being someone in Lent, being a more peaceful and attentive person.

Father James Behrens, O.C.S.O.

Today’s Reflection March 10

 

Trials are not only good for us, but necessary for our spiritual growth, especially if endured with the right disposition. During hard times, God helps us see that control is really an illusion. We’re not in charge. Our lives don’t even belong to us. We would cease to exist if the Holy Spirit stopped actively sustaining our existence, even for one second . . . God is more responsible for our lives than we are. Our job is to listen, humble ourselves, work hard and not get in his way.

– Anonymous

 

Today’s Reflection March 9

 

If you love truth, be a lover of silence. Silence, like the sunlight, will illuminate you in God and will deliver you from the phantoms of ignorance. Silence will unite you to God. More than all things, love silence. It is fruitful in a way that words cannot describe. In the beginning we have to force ourselves to be silent. But then there is born something that draws us to silence. May God give you an experience of this ‘something’ that is born of silence.

– Isaac of Ninevah