1st Week of Lent
This day, . . . Today . . . (Deuteronomy 26:16, 17)
If an observant Jew were to ask God which day is his favorite, he might expect the answer to be Saturday, the day that God rested. A Christian might expect the answer to be Sunday, the day of the resurrection. But God’s favorite day is today. No, not this date in history, but today, every day, each particular day in which you find yourself. Why? Because today, this very moment, is filled with divine potential. This day is brimming with his power and grace.
Remember the Israelites wandering in the desert. God gave them a new start each and every day. Think about the manna that he provided for them to eat; they could collect enough for only one day. Yet it was there anew every morning (Exodus 16:4-15)! Now, as Moses gathers the people on the edge of the Promised Land, he calls them to trust this same truth: today God will provide everything they need; today he stands fully committed to loving them and protecting them.
You too have a brand-new day today. Yesterday, with all the mistakes and choices you wish you could change, is behind you. Tomorrow, with all the challenges that might make you anxious, is in God’s hands. But today, God is offering you his love. Today, he is offering you his word of wisdom. Today, he is inviting you to follow him.
Everyone has many different needs, but in addition to meeting these needs, God offers one gift to every single person every single day: his full attention. Right here, right now, he is offering you his faithfulness and love. He knows what today holds, and he is offering you the wisdom you need to face it.
God is not limited to the past stories from the Bible and the ancient saints. Neither is he far away in some future time that you might live to see. “Yesterday, today, and forever,” he is with you (Hebrews 13:8). This is the moment when you can come to him, connect with him, and know how close he really is. He knows exactly what you need, and he already has it in hand for you. “This is the day the Lord has made” (Psalm 118:24)!
“Jesus, thank you for this day. Open my eyes to the grace you have for me, grace that is perfect for today.”
Psalm 119:1-2, 4-5, 7-8
Matthew 5:43-48
Blessed Titus Brandsma
a Dutch carmelite, martyr (1881-1942)
Invitation to heroism in faith and love
"But I say to you... pray for those who persecute you"
You have often heard it said that we are living through a marvellous time, a time of great men... It is easy to understand why people long for a strong and capable leader to arise... This kind of neo-paganism [Nazism] believes all nature to be an emanation of the divine...; it admires a race that is nobler and purer than any other... From this comes the cult of race and blood, the cult of its own people's heroes.
By starting out from so mistaken an idea, this view of things can lead to capital errors. It is tragic to see how much enthusiasm, how many efforts are placed at the service of such an erroneous and baseless ideal! However, we can learn from our enemy. We can learn from his deceitful philosophy how to purify and improve our own ideal; we can learn how to develop great love for this ideal, how to arouse immense enthusiasm and even a readiness to live and die for it, how to strengthen our hearts to incarnate it in ourselves and in others...
When we talk about the coming of the Kingdom and pray for its coming we are not thinking of a discrimination according to race or blood but of the brotherhood of all, for all men are our brothers – not excluding even those who hate and attack us – in a close bond with the one who causes the sun to rise on the good and the bad alike (Mt 5:45).