Tag: Lent

Do I forgive my enemies?  

Good Friday is the most difficult day of the year.  Jesus’ journey, which began with praise and adulation on Palm Sunday, now turns to the pain and sorrow of being falsely accused, condemned, mocked, tortured, abandoned by most of His followers, sentenced to death, crucified, and then dying and buried.  I walk along this journey on Good Friday with Jesus through the Stations of the Cross and recognize the role that my sin played in Jesus’ crucifixion and death.

How did I praise God today? 

As we contemplate Holy Week on this Palm Sunday, we must remember what our Lord endured for our salvation.  He offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for sin on the altar of the cross and washed away our sins with His blood.  We must also recognize our responsibility to ask for forgiveness for the sin in our life.  For it is sin, big and small, that made Christ suffer the torment of the cross.  Our crucified Lord on the cross is a vivid image of His love for us.  Meditating on His Passion strengthens us against temptation, moves us to frequent confession, and keeps us on the path of salvation.  Through our praise, we give away ourselves and live in the right order. Jesus gave His all for you and me but can we really say we do the same in return? 

Do I practice gratitude in my daily life?  

It can be easy to take for granted all of the many blessings and gifts that God has given me, and focus instead on what I do not have or on negative events in my life. At times, I feel like the blind man in the Gospel, not physically unable to see, but blinded by impatience, anger, indifference or thoughtlessness to the beauty and graces provided to me by God. To open up my eyes (and heart), I started a gratitude journal and followed the prompt to note five items or events to be thankful for each day. I feel the scales falling from my eyes and my heart growing as I learn to identify and focus on both the great and small gifts in my life.

Have you learned the holy habit of gratitude? 

Saint Francis lived with his heart wide, open to receive the ever-glowing gift of God ‘s love in every single reality – from the smile of a friend to the smell of a flower to the whisper of a refreshing breeze. His life, his words, desires, actions, and decisions became a song of thankfulness to the god of infinite goodness. Gratitude so filled his soul that it crowded out anxieties, doubts, and sorrows.