OPreach
Dominican Preaching through Word and Image
Teach Me Your Paths, O Lord
Today I am sharing Sister Gervaise Valpey’s reflection on tomorrow’s reading for the 3rd Wednesday in Lent.
Tuesday, Third Week of Lent
March 13, 2012
Daniel 3: 25, 34-43; Matthew 1: 21-35
The reading from Daniel 3:25, 34-43 encourages us to delve deeper into our hearts to find the humility that will release God’s generous mercy to us. It may have taken the raging furnace for Azariah and his companions to acknowledge their God, but once they recognized their sinfulness and their immense losses they could see a way to
find favor with their God. With “contrite hearts and humble spirit” they sought forgiveness – for themselves and their nation – from the “God of kindness and great mercy.” Once they sought forgiveness, they could “follow God unreservedly . . . with their whole heart.”
What does it take for me – for us – to reach that point of humility, that moment of letting go so we can speak honestly before our gracious God? What do e need so we can go forth giving our all? I have found that taking time to reflect on the experiences
when I have felt most lost and not in connection ith God, enables me to pray humbly with the Responsorial Psalm, “Your ways, O Lord, make known to me teach me your paths.”
One such challenging experience, when I felt most bereft, as the time when my mother lived in a full care unit of a retirement residence. My mother as suffering from dementia. I felt I as indeed being “tried by fire,” as I visited her each day. I looked for answers and searched for words to say. I felt deeply saddened by her condition and that of the residents around her. When I could pray with humility, letting myself move out of the way, before entering the facility, I could be at peace because it as only then
that I truly could be present to my mother. Turning over those moments to God, I could learn from my mother – her sense of gratitude, her peace, her need only for presence.
I believe God responds generously when we are honest with ourselves, and when we can really see hat God has done for us. Let us pray today to recognize God’s abundant grace and presence in our lives, especially at the most challenging moments. “Guide me in your truth and teach me.”
The above can also be found at http://www.opwest.us/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/00-2012-FINAL-Lenten-Reflection-Booklet-271.
We Proclaim Christ Crucified
Certainly we proclaim the Risen Christ. And we remember, especially during Lent, the road that Jesus walked prior to His resurrection. And so, with the Apostle Paul,
We proclaim Christ crucified.
Shepherd Your People
We read from the Prophet Micah how God is like a shepherd.
Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance,
That dwells apart in a woodland, in the midst of Carmel.
Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old;
As in the days when you came from the land of Egypt,
show us wonderful signs.
Remember the Marvels the Lord has Done
Today’s antiphonal response from Psalm 105 is:
Remember the marvels the Lord has done.
Like a Tree Planted by a River
Today’s Responsorial Psalm is from Psalm 1
Blessed the one who follows not the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners, nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD and meditates on God’s law day and night.
This person is like a tree planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Meeting God in Everyday Activities
Contemplate how you are being asked to give your heart to God amidst your everyday activities.
Be prepared to meet your grace in every circumstance of life.
– Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton
It would be enough of a Lenten practice to give oneself to God in this way. As today’s Gospel reading from the Book of Matthew reads:
Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served
but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
The Importance of Prayer
Today I quote Dom Helder Camara.
I understood that in view of my decision to give myself unreservedly to God and my neighbor, it would be absolutely necessary for me to devote space and time to prayer.
So how is my Lenten practice going?
Be Merciful as your Father is Merciful
Today is the 3rd Monday in Lent.
The Gospel reading is from Luke 6:36-38.
“Stop judging and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you.
Transfiguration and First Vows
On Sunday afternoon Sister Colleen McDermott, OP will make her First Profession of Vows as a Dominican Sister of San Rafael. She is delighted that the Gospel reading of the day
from Mark 9:2-10 is about Jesus’ Transfiguration. Jesus’ disciples saw him on the high mountain, suddenly, as he truly was . . . even though they didn’t understand. All of us are also on a journey to becoming more of who we truly are . . . even though we may not be able to see it clearly or understand the process.
Sister Colleen’s profession will be one more step on her journey of becoming. A transfiguration of a sort. And we, the Dominican Sisters, are delighted that she wants to continue with us on our journey becoming more of who we are called to be.
How is our Lenten Fast Going?
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laboreres, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.
– Dwight D. Eisenhower
The words above are of one who truly knew war and the effect of it. Last week we were challenged by Isaiah that our fast should be to feed the hungry and give warmth to those who are cold. Do Eisenhower’s words challenge us to fast from making war? If so, what does that mean to us personally and as Church? Where are my priorities?
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