Sunday, March 19, 2017

So.... how about that Lenten season?

This is definitely the most ‘off-the-cuff’ blog post that I’ve published thus far… but I sense the need to write, particularly about Lent and where we are at about a third of the way through, having flown through the two-and-a-half weeks that have already passed since Ash Wednesday.

I was asked by someone last week: ‘How is your lent going?’ To which I replied: ‘Pretty good. Yeah, it’s going well.’ Which was true, but upon reflecting a bit more on this question as the next few days went by, I realized that my Lent is going okay, but that I’m really not getting as much out of it as I want to, or probably should. This unexpected reflection led me to take a step back and re-evaluate my Lenten commitments (or lack thereof) and really contemplate what I am doing, what I should be doing, and how I can get more out of this Lenten season. I decided that it’s never too late to make a change; and that just because Lent is well underway already, does not mean that I can’t commit myself to something more, something new, etc. to make the most out of the remaining weeks in this holy season.

To be honest, Lent is hard for me. I used to love Lent and the time of sacrifice, prayer, & depth… it used to be something that I actually looked forward to. However, after having experienced various sufferings and sacrifices that caused me to feel as if my whole life had been Lent for years on end, entering into a season of extra sacrifice and mortification has lost some of the grandeur it once had for me. So for the past few years, I’ve had a difficult time anticipating this season, preparing for it, and fully entering into it. One of the changes I’ve decided to make at this one-third of the way through point, is to give up Facebook for the remainder of Lent. I realized that the time I was spending perusing through it was taking away from time for prayer, or even just constructive time taking care of whatever else in life needs attention. I also made some new commitments concerning my daily prayer, to try and cultivate a more consistent and committed prayer life.


What about you? How is your Lent going? What are you doing well, or what do you need to change or recommit to in order to get more out of this holy season? Remember that it’s never too late to change and never too late to begin again. Don’t settle for thinking that you’ve already blown it and maybe next year will be better. We are not guaranteed next year, but we ARE guaranteed the present moment. We are guaranteed right now. What comes to mind right now that Jesus is calling you to do in order to go deeper this Lent?

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Awareness of the devil's diversions

A Lenten reflection on temptation...
First Sunday of Lent's Gospel: Matthew 4:1-11 - Jesus is tempted in the desert

“Thus, Pope Francis observed, ‘we who want to follow Jesus, and who by our baptism have taken to the Lord’s path, must be well aware of this truth: we too are tempted, we too are objects of the demon’s attacks,’ for ‘the spirit of evil does not want us to become holy, it does not want us to bear witness to Christ, it does not want us to be disciples of Christ.’” ­–excerpt from Magnificat, March 2017; 'Day by Day' reflection for Sunday, March 5th

So often we lose sight of the devil’s main objective: to keep us from holiness; to keep us from Jesus. We go through our lives, our days, and when little things come up to divert our attention away from God or that deter us from a time of prayer, we don’t see it as a big deal; we don’t see it as a serious temptation. No matter how small it may be, even though it may not even be outright sinful, it IS a big deal. Why? Because the devil is accomplishing his one, his only, main goal – to keep us from growing in holiness; to keep us from life with Jesus Christ! There are many sins, temptations, neglects, and omissions that keep us from God, and many things that the devil uses to accomplish his goal. But often, for those of us who already avoid obvious and/or serious sin and temptation, the devil uses these subtle tactics to tempt us, to distract us, using even good things and good intentions to prevent us from spending time with Jesus, from keeping our focus on Him.

Above all, we need to cultivate this relationship with Christ; to keep our prayer time, to keep our focus on Him. If we take this time and keep this focus, sin will naturally uproot itself from our lives; because, the more time we spend with God and keep our focus on Him, the more we will grow in holiness – which means that sin will dissipate. In this, we defeat the evil one in the way most needed: we don’t allow him to pull us away from Jesus. We must be vigilant in fighting for our life with Christ so as to gain eternal life and defeat Satan. We need to watch for the little, subtle, hidden, sudden ways that the devil uses to try and make us fumble our time and our focus; for these ‘little’ things accomplish the evil one’s big goal: to keep us from growing in holiness. Let us not give in! Let us not let him win! We need to recognize these ‘little’ distractions and diversions and make a BIG difference in our lives by conquering them in order to grow with Christ, and become holy as He is holy.

It can be difficult to recognize the ways that the devil works sometimes… especially when we live in the world and are subject to all kinds of interruptions and changes that we often can’t help or control. But, there are things that we can control. Sometimes, I think the main problem is that many of us have such an incredibly hard time saying ‘no’. We have this intense desire to make everyone happy, to keep the peace, to be attentive and self-giving… sometimes to a fault. So when things come up, and we think ‘oh, I was planning on going to adoration’ or ‘I was planning to sit home & pray’, etc., ‘but I’ll just fit it in later’… how many times – honestly – do we not have time later, or don’t make the time later, or are too tired later and just fall asleep. Whatever. It happens all. the. time. And we proceed to think ‘oh well, it’s not a big deal, it’s just one day’, but the same thing happens again tomorrow or later in the week, etc. And because it is seemingly a little thing, we just keep plugging along, not realizing the long term effects on our spiritual journey.

Now, this is definitely NOT to say we should beat ourselves up, be all scrupulous and think we can’t let our plans be changed, or our prayer time be exchanged at times to assist someone in need, etc. We need to be discerning and sometimes the Lord needs us to move at a time when we don’t expect it and this is good! And it also doesn’t mean that when we do fall into these traps that we should spend all of our time lamenting over our weakness and fickleness and think we’ve failed. We are human, we will fall, we will make mistakes; and though I, personally, have this great resolve to keep attentive to the little things that the devil whispers to put me in a place of laziness, procrastination, etc. in my spiritual life, I will not always succeed. I honestly will probably falter and stumble and fumble at least 3 or 4 times before this first week of Lent is finished! The point is, that we just need to be aware of the ways that the devil tries to keep us from time with God and growth in holiness so that we can overcome them, little by little, and keep on the path of growing in holiness and defeat the demon's attacks. As Saint (Mother) Teresa is famous for saying: God doesn’t call us to be successful, He calls us to be faithful. We might not always be successful in recognizing and overcoming these diversions, but if we stay faithful, and keep trying, and keep getting up after we fall, we will fulfill the call of God in our lives to be faithful and we will grow in holiness!

God bless you all and have a beautiful, life-changing, holiness-growing Lenten season!