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“The purpose of the Disciplines is freedom. Our aim is the freedom, not the Discipline. The moment we make the Discipline our central focus we will turn it into law and lose the corresponding freedom....Let us forever center on Christ and view the Spiritual Disciplines as a way of drawing us closer to His heart.”
― Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth
(How might this principle inform your Lenten disciplines this year?)
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5 weeks, begins February 25, noon CST.
February 27, 9 a.m. - noon, CST.
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Jl 2:12-18; Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 12-13, 14 and 17; 2 Cor 5:20—6:2
Mt 6:1-6, 16-18
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Take care not to perform righteous deeds
in order that people may see them;
otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.
When you give alms,
do not blow a trumpet before you,
as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets
to win the praise of others.
Amen, I say to you,
they have received their reward.
But when you give alms,
do not let your left hand know what your right is doing,
so that your almsgiving may be secret.
And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.
“When you pray,
do not be like the hypocrites,
who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners
so that others may see them.
Amen, I say to you,
they have received their reward.
But when you pray, go to your inner room,
close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.
And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.
“When you fast,
do not look gloomy like the hypocrites.
They neglect their appearance,
so that they may appear to others to be fasting.
Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.
But when you fast,
anoint your head and wash your face,
so that you may not appear to be fasting,
except to your Father who is hidden.
And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.”
USCCB Lectionary
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Praying the Daily Gospels: A Guide to Meditation, by Philip St. Romain,
2018 (3rd ed.)
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Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18: Be sincere!
Gaining the esteem of others is something we all desire, but Jesus makes it clear that our religious acts should be done to bring us closer to God, not to impress people. Some of the examples of hypocrisy he gives refer to practices of the Pharisees.
• How important is it to you that others know you are committed to following Jesus Christ? What are your motives for letting others know that you are a Christian?
• In what ways does your heavenly Father repay you for your personal prayer? Spend some time thanking God for these graces.
Paperback, Kindle and eBook
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Treatise on the Love of God, by St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
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BOOK II: THE HISTORY OF THE GENERATION AND HEAVENLY BIRTH OF DIVINE LOVE
Chapter 5: That heavenly providence has provided us with a most abundant redemption
For though the divine Providence has left in a person deep marks of his severity, yea, even amidst the very grace of his mercy, as for example the necessity of dying, diseases, labours, the rebellion of sensuality,--yet the divine favour floating as it were over all this, takes pleasure in turning these miseries to the greater profit of those who love him, making
patience spring from labours, contempt of the world from the necessity of death, a thousand victories from out of concupiscence; and, as the rainbow touching the thorn aspalathus makes it more odoriferous than the lily, so Our Saviour's Redemption touching our miseries, makes them more beneficial and worthy of love than original innocence could ever have been. I say to you, says Our Saviour, there shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need
not penance, [69] and so the state of redemption is a hundred times better than that of innocence. Verily by the watering of Our Saviour's blood made with the hyssop of the cross, we have been replaced in a whiteness incomparably more excellent than the snow of innocence. We come out, like Naaman, from the stream of salvation more pure and clean than if we had never been leprous, to the end that the divine Majesty, as he has ordained also for us, should not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil
by good, that mercy (as a sacred oil) should keep itself above judgment, and his tender mercies be over all his works.
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