One Minute Reflection – 22 March – Friday of the Second week of Lent, Year C and the Memorial of Blessed Clemens August Count von Galen (1878-1946)
“Therefore, I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruits of it.”...Matthew 21:43
REFLECTION – “My brothers and sisters, God does not avenge himself. God loves, He does not avenge himself. He waits for us to forgive us, to embrace us. There is only one obstacle to the tenacious and tender will of God – our arrogance and our conceit which, at times also becomes violence!
The urgency of replying with good fruits to the call of the Lord, who asks us to become His vineyard, helps us understand what is new and original about the Christian faith. It is not so much the sum of precepts and moral norms but rather, it is first and foremost a proposal of love which God makes through Jesus and continues to make with mankind. It is an invitation to enter into this love story, by becoming a lively and open vine, rich in fruits and hope for everyone.
A closed vineyard can become wild and produce wild grapes. We are called to leave this vineyard to put ourselves at the service of our brothers and sisters who are not with us, in order to shake each other and encourage each other, to remind ourselves that we must be the Lord’s vineyard in every environment, even the more distant and challenging ones.”…Pope Francis – Angelus, 8 October 2017
PRAYER – Almighty God, help us dear Father to produce fruits acceptable to You. Help us to reach out of our enclosed spaces in love to all. Even when the road is rocky, grant that we may not falter but always turn back to Your merciful gaze. May the prayers of Blessed Clemens August von Galen, who fearlessly withstood the fury of evil, be a help in our times of need and fear. We make our prayer through our Lord Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, one God for all eternity, amen.
AnaStpaul 