Lenten
Resource: A Season for Change: Praying the Gospels of Lent, by Philip St. Romain. Paperback, PDF, ePub, Kindle. ________ “In regard to all persons, have the same love, have the same indifference, whether relations or strangers. Detach your heart as much from the one as from the other; in a sense, even more particularly from relations, for fear lest flesh and blood be stirred with the normal love which must be forever mortified if one is to achieve spiritual perfection.” - St. John of the Cross - (This is a difficult teaching, to be sure. Later, C. S. Lewis will make the point that "normal love" [e.g., romance, friendship, etc.] can co-exist with and be enriched by divine love. What is your experience?)
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Dt 30:15-20; PS 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6
-Lk 9:22-25
Jesus said to his disciples:
“The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected
by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.”
Then he said to all,
“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world
yet lose or forfeit himself?”
Christianity and Spirituality monthly forum March 7, 2024, 7:30 - 8:30 p.m. CST Topic: "The Four Biases," by Sr. Carla Mae Streeter, OP More info via the link below Free sign up for Zoom link
Reflection on the Scriptures
The season of Lent is a time for us to repent. Repentance doesn’t necessarily mean that we feel bad—though negative feelings may be a starting point for realizing we need
to repent. Rather, it means that an internal change takes place that leads us to move in a new direction in our external life. The practices often associated with Lent are an invitation to reflect on what areas of life may be preventing us from fully embracing the life God desires for us. When we fast, we give
up those things that have become barriers between us and God. Maybe we feel a stronger pull towards things that aren't necessarily good for us than we do toward God. Fasting is our way of sacrificing something to focus our eyes more on God and God’s desires for us. When we give alms, we move outside of
ourselves. We are made to be in community and care for others, yet selfishness can take over. When we choose to give from our excess, we become more aware of those around us and their needs. We may experience a deeper empathy for their situations. We may even experience seeing them as God sees them. As we
choose to pray more, we grow in our relationship with God. As in any relationship, the more time we spend with someone, the better we come to know the other. Perhaps when we first encounter someone, we immediately develop an impression of them, but over time as we learn about their life, our impression changes. It is no different with prayer. The more time we spend with God, the more unhelpful images drop, and we come to know the God who is Love. Further, we come to know what is important to
God, and we desire to live as co-creators who bring that vision to life. Lent is a time set aside to focus on how we’re supposed to live all year long. It’s an invitation to let go of that in our life that keeps us from God and choose a life rooted in Jesus. As we begin this season of Lent, what in your life
might you need to let go of so that you can be freer to choose the life God desires for you? -by Robby Francis
St. John of the Cross and the Beginning of Contemplation
by James Arraj From St. John of the Cross and Dr. C. J. Jung, Part II, Chapter 4. Inner Growth Books, 1986.
Perceptibility
In the Dark Night when St. John is describing the second sign which is "that the memory is ordinarily centered upon God, with painful care and solicitude than before, in its anxiety
not to fail God; and if it is not immediately conscious of spiritual sweetness and delight", this is because it is still too used to the operations of sense.(39) The soul is deriving strength and energy from the beginning of contemplation, and if this contemplation "is secret and hidden from the very person that experiences it"(40), yet far from this being a habitual state in which they will remain, St. John states in the very same number, "If those souls to whom this comes to pass knew how to
be quiet at this time, and troubled not about performing any kind of action, whether inward or outward, neither had any anxiety about doing anything, then they would delicately experience this inward refreshment in that ease and freedom from care."(41) Thus, he again links up the hidden nature of the contemplation with its actual experience. It is hidden not because it should remain imperceptible, but because the soul is at the precise moment of transition where it is receiving the contemplative
experience without realizing it must cease its discursive activities.
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