Daily Readings Also check the master link list for Collaborative Ministry.
Today the readings for the liturgy focus us on prayer --- one of the principal activities during Lent. It is a call to set ourselves aside. It is the call to listening, similar to the "calls" Jesus experienced in the away from the crowd moments. Don't be afraid of prayer. Jesus was not afraid during those along-moments with the Father when the Holy Spirit was gradually opening his mind and heart to the mission the Father wanted him to live. "Be not afraid." In those desert moments, Jesus was learning what Isaiah and Jeremiah had learned in their struggle with the mission God was entrusting to them. STOP. STOP at this point and ask: "What is God's mission for me now?" Don't proceed unless you can begin to answer that question ... if you are not afraid of what it might hold for you. In prayerful quiet let the Holy Spirit open your heart and mind for you to know what God wants of you. "Is this really what you want from me?" Repetition of thoughts about one issue in life so often lead a praying person to singular moment of awareness of God's will ... no matter how challenging ... and great peace of mind and soul.
Return to me with your whole heart,
with fasting, and weeping, and mourning
[might we add ... and with praying]
Rend your hearts, not your garments
[it's your heart, your very being not what others see]
and return to the Lord, your God. (Joel 2:12)
