A Daily Lent

Wide Roads and Narrow Roads Thursday of the Second Week of Lent In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches his followers using this analogy: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matt. 7:13-14, NIV). You may want to shift your thinking a bit today. Traditionally, this passage has been used as a description of a person’s relationship to sin. The wide road is the road of a sin-filled life, I’ve heard often. But today, consider instead that Jesus is talking about our inner landscape. The wide road is not the life of wanton sin, but a life that basically flows along with the way things are, influenced by cultural mores, social patterns, and values that are generally accepted by a community or nation. The wide-road person is not reflective, that is, he or she does not question the validity of those values,...

Thursday of the Second Week of Lent – March 5, 2015 AMMA SYNCLETICA said, “Money in an open treasury is soon spent. Any virtue will be lost if it becomes public knowledge. Wax in front of a fire will melt. Shower vain praises on a soul and it will become weak. The soul will look for goodness with less fervor.” [Bernard Bangley, By Way of the Desert , p. 93.] The Desert Mothers and Fathers believed that spiritual practices could have their full effect on us only when we practice them in secrecy. This is another aspect of solitude. In fact, many took up “secrecy” (as it relates to one’s virtuous actions or spiritual practice . . . NOT as it relates to one’s addiction , brokenness, or sin) as a spiritual practice. They took their cue from Jesus in Matthew 6 . . . praying in secret and not before a crowd for recognition . . . fasting, but washing your face so that your countenance does not announce that you are fasting . . . giving alms, but not letting your right hand know...

Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent – March 4, 2015 APHRAHAT THE PERSIAN ascetic said, “Our Lord instructed us to pray in secret, by which he means in your heart. He also told us to close the door. The door we must shut is the mouth. We are Christ’s temple, as the Apostle said, and the Lord enters your inner self in this temple. Christ will purge it of any uncleanliness, but only while the door (your mouth) is shut.” [Bernard Bangley, By Way of the Desert , p. 374.] Jesus’ words in Matthew 6 about fasting, prayer, and almsgiving shape the season of Lent. Fasting attends to the personal dimension of the season. Almsgiving gives attention to the social or neighborly dimension of Lent. And prayer attends to our God-connection. In Matthew 6:6 – 8, Jesus says some strange words about the location of prayer. He encourages prayer, not on the street corners (that is, public places), where people would see and notice your holiness, but a quiet, interior location. “Go into your ...

Saturday of the First Week of Lent Matthew 5:43 – 48 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” I’ve heard contemporary Franciscans talk about how Francis of Assisi loved the Sermon on the Mount, how it was for Francis the core of his spirituality and connection to God. It is a radical teaching, in which Jesus challenges every part of who we are and what we invest ourselves in. The complete corpus of the teaching is in Matthew 5 – 7. For instance, today’s te...