A Daily Lent

Ordinary Work Good Friday – April 10, 2020 Brother Lawrence communicated with God by going about his ordinary work. For most of us, our “ordinary work” has changed in recent weeks. For Brother Lawrence, ordinary work meant working in the monastery kitchen and repairing shoes in the monastery cobbler shop. For us, “ordinary work” is very different. But this monk’s emphasis remains the same. Whatever we do, God is our center. God is the focus of who we are and what we do. This takes our eyes off preoccupation with the situation around us or off trying to please those around us. When we do our work in this way, we truly do “ pray always ,” as Paul suggested in 1 Thess. 5:17. You cannot “ pray continually ” or “ pray without ceasing ” if prayer is nonstop talking or conversation. But Brother Lawrence discovered the key to continual communion with God. Do everything you do in conscious contact with God. He thought it was a shame that some people pursued certain activities (whi...

Good Friday Daily Reading : John 19:17 – 30 Focus Passage : Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (Jn. 19:28 – 30) John editorializes about Jesus in verse 28: “ knowing that everything had now been finished . . . .” Then he writes of Jesus cry from the cross: “ It is finished .” The words announce his death. They also make a statement about his life-purpose. At other times in his ministry, Jesus claimed that his purpose was to complete the work God sent him to do. In John 4:34, for instance, when the disciples offered him food to eat, he said, “ My food is to do the will of the One who sent me and to finish God...

Good Friday – April 3, 2015 AN OLDER MONK AND A YOUNGER MONK were in Cellia. The older suggested that they live together. The younger refused, saying, “I am a sinner, Abba. I must not live with you.” But the older monk insisted. The old man was pure in heart, and the younger monk did not want him to discover that he sometimes had sexual cravings. The older monk said, “I will go away for a week. When I return, we can talk about this again.” Seven days later, the younger decided to test the older by saying, “While you were gone, I was strongly tempted. I went into town on an errand, and I ended up in bed with a woman.” The older monk asked, “Are you penitent?” “Yes.” “Then I will carry half the burden of this sin with you.” The younger man responded, “Now I know we can stay together.” [Bernard Bangley, By Way of the Desert , pp. 146 – 147] Most people feel that their own sin is so unique, so dark, so despicable, that no one else would understand it, much less st...

Good Friday John 18:1 – 5 When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was a garden, and he and his disciples went into it. Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. So Judas came to the garden, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons. Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who is it you want?” “Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “I am he,” Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) The death of Jesus serves as a tangible expression of the reality that death and life are woven together as one, as inseparable in the whole rhythm of the created order. This is how God created the world. It is spring where I live in Texas. Trees are budding. Flowers are blooming. Ducklings are being born...

John 19:17 - 30 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). Here they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle. Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.” Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.” When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.” This happened that the scripture...