Lenten Reflection – 13 March – Wednesday of the First week of Lent, Year C
“…Something greater than Jonah is here.”…Luke 11:32
St Bernard (1091-1153)
Doctor of the Church
“Come back to me with all your heart” (Joel 2:12)
“Be converted with all your heart,” the Lord says. My brothers, if he had just said “Be converted” without adding anything, perhaps we should have been able to reply – it’s done, now you can give us something else to do.
But if I understand correctly, Christ is speaking to us here about a spiritual conversion that does not come about in a day. May it even be achieved in our lifetime! So pay attention to what you love, what you fear, at what makes you happy or what makes you sad and you will sometimes see that, beneath your religious habit you are still a man of the world. Indeed, the heart is wholly contained in these four feelings and it is concerning them, I think, we must understand these words: “Be converted to the Lord with all your heart.”
May your loving be converted, in such a way, that you love nothing but the Lord, or rather that you love nothing except for God’s sake. May your fear also be turned towards Him, for any fear that makes us afraid of something apart from Him and not because of Him is bad. May your joy and your sadness be converted to Him, this is how it will be if you neither suffer nor rejoice except in Him. Thus, if you mourn for your own sins or those of your neighbour you do well and your sadness is salutary. If you rejoice in the gifts of grace, this joy is holy and you are able to enjoy it in peace in the Holy Spirit. In the love of Christ you should be glad of your brothers’ good fortunes and sympathise with their misfortunes according to this verse: “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” (Rm 12:15)
Daily Meditation:
Hear our prayer.
The Wednesdays and Fridays of Lent take on a more penitential tone.
Our longing intensifies.
We know we have to work hard to resist temptation
and to change some of our bad habits.
We know that spiritual renewal won’t come easily.
But we know that all we will ultimately be able to do
will come from God’s inspiration – as a gift.
So we ask from a deeper and deeper place in our hearts.
We listen to the wonderful story about Nineveh.
They responded to God’s word and repented.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
Psalm 51
“And as Jonah was sacrificed for those endangered by the storm, so Christ was offered for those who are drowning in the storm of this world.”
St Augustine (354-430)
Closing Prayer:
Dear Lord,
I know You receive what is in my heart.
Let me be inspired by Your words
and by the actions of Your son, Jesus.
Guide me to make sacrifices this Lent
in the spirit of self-denial
and with greater attention to You
and to those around me.
Help me to believe that You will grant me this
because of the sacrifice Jesus made for me.
May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.
AnaStpaul 