A Lenten Blessing . . .

 May you be found by God when your path is obscured by the ashes of your life. When the contentment of the present is disturbed and broken by the failures of the past, may the God of beginning again become known to you. When the ashes of what once was threaten to cover you, may the God of New Fire fan into flame the hidden embers that lie within. May this rekindled energy light the way for others who walk with you. May the God of New Fire bless you. --Maxine Shonk, OP

Slowing into Lent!!

 

Fasting & Feasting

Lent is more than a time of fasting, it can also be a joyous season of feasting.
Lent is a time to fast from certain things, and to feast on others.

Fast from judging others
        Feast on the Christ dwelling in them
Fast from emphasis on differences
        Feast on the unity of life
Fast from apparent darkness
        Feast on the reality of light

Fast from thoughts of illness
        Feast on the healing power of God
Fast from words that pollute
        Feast on words that purify
Fast from discontent
        Feast on gratitude

Fast from anger
        Feast on patience
Fast from pessimism
        Feast on optimism
Fast from worry
        Feast on Divine Providence

Fast from complaining
        Feast on appreciation
Fast from negatives
        Feast on affirmatives
Fast from unrelenting pleasures
        Feast on unceasing prayer

Fast from hostility
        Feast on peace
Fast from bitterness
        Feast on forgiveness
Fast from self-concern
        Feast on compassion for others

Fast from personal anxiety
        Feast on trust

Fast from discouragement
        Feast on hope
Fast from acts that tear down
        Feast on acts which build up

Fast from thoughts that weaken
        Feast on promises that inspire
Fast from idle gossip
        Feast on purposeful silence
Fast from problems which overwhelm
        Feast on prayer that is supportive

(Sharing of other Fast from . . . or Feast on . . .)

Closing Prayer:

God, we honor the Mystery of your presence in us.  We celebrate through feasting and fasting your Indwelling Presence in our daily lives.  You are here today in ways we did not know.  We cherish your presence in our lives as we journey through life.  We receive your joy in the midst of our sorrows.  We receive your love in the midst of our fears and we receive your light in the midst of our darkness . . .

And so we pray:

May there always be a little light in our darkness.

May there always be a little faith in our doubt.

May there always be a little joy in our sorrow.

May there always be a little life in our dying.

May there always be a little hope in our sadness.

May there always be a little courage in our fear.

May there always be a little slow in our hurry.  Amen.                       

  (Adapted from Song of the Seed by Macrina Wiederkehr)

Mardi Gras Prayer

 

Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation,
for it is from your goodness that we have this day
to celebrate on the threshold of the Season of Lent.

Tomorrow we will fast and abstain from meat.
Today we feast.
We thank you for the abundance of gifts you shower upon us.
We thank you especially for one another.
As we give you thanks,
we are mindful of those who have so much less than we do.

As we share these wonderful gifts together,
we commit ourselves to greater generosity toward those
who need our support.
Prepare us for tomorrow.
Tasting the fullness of what we have today,
let us experience some hunger tomorrow.

May our fasting make us more alert
and may it heighten our consciousness
so that we might be ready to hear your Word
and respond to your call.
As our feasting fills us with gratitude
so may our fasting and abstinence hollow out in us
a place for deeper desires
and an attentiveness to hear the cry of the poor.

May our self-denial turn our hearts to you
and give us a new freedom for
generous service to others.
We ask you these graces
with our hearts full of delight
and stirring with readiness for the journey ahead.
We ask them with confidence
in the name of Jesus the Lord.  (Creighton University)

Praying Lent:

https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/prayer-spirituality-resources/praying-lent

Pre-Lenten Poem Ponderings . . .

 

Gather Me to Be with You

O God, gather me now to be with you as you are with me.
Soothe my tiredness; quiet my fretfulness; curb my aimlessness;
Relieve my compulsiveness; let me be easy for a moment.

 + + +  

O God, gather me to be with you as you are with me.

Forgive me for claiming so much for myself that I leave

no room for gratitude; for confusing exercises in self-importance

with acceptance of self-worth;

+ + +

For complaining so much of my burdens that I become a burden;
For competing against others so insidiously that I stifle celebrating
them and receiving your blessing through their gifts.

+ + +

O God, gather me to be with you as you are with me.

Keep me in touch with myself, with my needs,

my anxieties, my angers, my pains, my corruptions,

that I may claim them as my own rather than

blame them on someone else.

+ + +

O God, deepen my wounds into wisdom; shape my weaknesses

into compassion; gentle my envy into enjoyment,

my fear into trust, my guilt into honesty,

my accusing fingers into tickling ones.

+ + +

O God, gather me to be with you as you are with me.

(From: Guerrillas of Grace by Ted Loder)

A Lenten Reflection

 

Praying Lent:

https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/prayer-spirituality-resources/praying-lent

Lenten Psalm of Longing by Ed Hays

I thank you, O God, for the warming of the winds that brings a melting of the snow, for daylight hours that daily grow longer and richer in the aroma of hope.

Spring lingers beneath the horizon as approaching echoes of Easter ring in my ears.

I lift up my heart to you, Beloved, in this season of Lent that gently sweeps across my sluggish and sleeping heart, awakening me to a deeper love for you.

May the wind of the Spirit that drove Jesus into the desert, into the furnace of prayer, 
Also drive me with a passion during this Lenten season to enkindle the fire of my devotion in the desert of Lenten love.

Birds above, on migratory wings, signal me to an inner migration, a message that draws me Homeward bound on Spirit’s wings to the heart of my Beloved.

May I earnestly use this Lenten season to answer the inner urge to return.
(Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim)

Befriending our inner joy and gratitude . . .

 

Nothing is more practical

than finding God,

that is, than falling in love

in a quite absolute, final way.

 

What you are in love with,

what seizes your imagination,

will affect everything. 

It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you will do with your evening, how you will spend your weekends, what you read,  who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.

Fall in love,

stay in love

and it will decide everything.

 

Pedro Arrupe, s.j.

(1907-1991)

Light blazing in your heart . . .

 

Blessed Are You Who Bear The Light

Blessed are you

who bear the light

in unbearable times,

who testify

to its endurance

amid the unendurable,

who bear witness

to its persistence

when everything seems

in shadow

and grief.

 

Blessed are you

in whom

the light lives,

in whom

the brightness blazes ___

your heart

a chapel,

an altar where

in the deepest night

can be seen

the fire that

shines forth in you

in unaccountable faith,

in stubborn hope,

in love that illumines

every broken thing

it finds.

 

Author: Jan Richardson                                         

From Circle of Grace/

 http://www.janrichardson.com/index.htmlichardson.com 
janrichardson.com