A Daily Lent

Original Purpose Friday after the Resurrection – April 17, 2020 Each person has a different charism, a different grace given by God to animate our lives. Think of this charism or grace as your original purpose, the design for your creation, your truest vocation. Considering your charism or unique grace may not lead you to fame or financial security, but it will enable you to fill out the purpose for which you were created. Your calling in life is not to be like anyone else, but to be fully yourself, fully the person you were intended to be. At the end of the excerpt below, Underhill says, “All have access to direct sources of spiritual strength in prayer, quietude, communion, and spiritual reading and will not do their best work without these things.” Indeed, prayer, quietude, communion, and spiritual reading are but a few of the ways we begin to come to a sense of our original purpose, our most authentic vocation. Now the three-fold Ignatian question: “What have I done ...

Fairness and Deserving Thursday after Ash Wednesday – February 27, 2020 Matthew 20:1-16 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. 3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went. “He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ 7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’ 8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones ...

Monday of Holy Week Daily Reading : John 12:1 – 11 Focus Passage : Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. (Jn. 12:1 – 3) As a young man in the ministry, I was convinced that I could save the world, and that I would do so single-handedly. I worked tirelessly, spending myself and doing for others in both official and unofficial capacities. I noticed early on, though, that when someone showed me kindness, gave a gift of appreciation to me, or paid me a compliment, I didn’t receive it well. I would say things like, “I don’t really deserve this,” or “It wasn’t really me.” Sometimes I would think, “I...

Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent Daily Reading : John 5:17 – 30 Focus Passage : Jesus gave them this answer: "Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does." (Jn. 5:19 – 20) Perhaps this passage could become an alternative to WWJD (“What Would Jesus Do?”). “What Would Jesus Do?” is a hypothetical guess. There are no firm answers about what Jesus would do in any given contemporary situation, only hints and guesses. Frankly, the phrase can be used to justify any number of responses. Further, WWJD assumes that the person asking the question has taken upon himself or herself the full spirit of Jesus. While I believe we each are connected intimately to the Father, we live mostly unaware of that connection, and thus don’t see life completely as Jesus does. Jesus only did what he saw the Father doin...

Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent Daily Reading : Matthew 5:17 – 19 Focus Passage : "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Matt. 5:17) Many contemporaries of Jesus would have heard these words and fought for a more rigid code by which to live. It is can be a good thing to have a code of ethics which orders life, distilling life down to some fundamental rules to keep and regulations to follow. I am among the many who want someone to tell me what the rules are and what is expected of me. Then, I can work toward doing all the right things, thus bringing happiness and fulfillment. In my mentality, if you can show me what the expectations are, I can work to meet or exceed them. I can be a very accomplished rules-keeper! But rules-keeping is not to be confused with a full and authentic life. In fact, in my efforts to do right by the regulations, I may in fact miss what is deepest and most...

Thursday of the First Week of Lent Daily Reading : Matthew 7:7 – 12 Focus Passage : “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; those who seek find; and to those who knock, the door will be opened. (Matt. 7:7 – 8) Jesus did not prescribe a formula for success in prayer – as if there were such a thing! He described the tensions we hold in prayer. He invited us to hold the tensions between asking and receiving, seeking and finding, knocking and entering. Each pole has its place in our prayer, in our relating to God. You might think of it this way: There is a time to ask of God, as well as a time to open oneself to receive what God gives. There is a time to seek relentlessly, and a time to celebrate that which has been found. There is a time to knock on many different doors, and a time to see which doors are open already, then walk through them. In all, the three phrases remind us t...

Saturday of the Second Week of Lent Luke 15:25 – 32 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” The older son weighed li...

John 12:1 - 8 It was six days before the Passover Feast. Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived. Lazarus was the one Jesus had raised from the dead. A dinner was given at Bethany to honor Jesus. Martha served the food. Lazarus was among those at the table with Jesus. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard. It was an expensive perfume. She poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the sweet smell of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot didn't like what Mary did. He was one of Jesus' disciples. Later he was going to hand Jesus over to his enemies. Judas said, "Why wasn't this perfume sold? Why wasn't the money given to poor people? It was worth a year's pay." He didn't say this because he cared about the poor. He said it because he was a thief. Judas was in charge of the money bag. He used to help himself to what was in it. "Leave her alone," Jesus replied. "The perfume was meant for...

Luke 15:21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’" The full text for today is the larger parable of the lost and found son who is received back home by the father (Luke 15:1 - 3; 11 - 32). I'm going to concentrate on the son's short speech to the father after returning home. The son makes his speech to the father assuming that his acceptance back in the father's house is all about how worthy he is. He understands -- as do we -- that he is "unworthy" of the father's house by virtue of the quality of his life to this point. "Worthiness" is ingrained in us, as well. We fill churches and prayer-language with the language of worthiness and deserving, with conditional propositions of the "if . . . then . . ." variety. We have made the religious or spiritual quest about somehow attaining a worthiness or a state of deserving in order to receive God...

John 12:1 – 11 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, "Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages." He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. "Leave her alone," Jesus replied. "[It was intended] that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always h...

Matthew 5:17 – 19 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. Truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Many contemporaries of Jesus would have heard these words and then fought for a more rigid code by which to live. It is popular to have a code of ethics that orders life, to distill life down to some key rules to keep and regulations to follow. I am among the many who want someone to tell me what the rules are and what is expected of me, so then I can work toward doing all the right things that will bring happiness and fulfillment. In...