Temptations

     There is a vast difference between being tempted and yielding to it.  

And yet, if I know in advance that certain places will tempt me and I go 

there anyway, I am guilty of each temptation that comes my way.

     The way to deal with temptations is to look away from them and at 

the Lord.  if you are still subject to them, continue to resist.  There is 

no sin as long as you say no.

     For every great temptation there will be many small ones.  Wolves 

and bears are more dangerous than flies, but we are bothered most by 

the latter.  You may never murder anyone, but you will certainly 

become angry.  You may avoid adultery, but it is not easy to control 

your eyes.  You may never steal anything from your neighbor but you 

may covet it.

     Let these flies and gnats buzz around you.  Instead of fighting with 

them, do the very opposite of what the temptation is suggesting.  For 

instance, if you are tempted to be vain, think about the troubles of 

others.  If you are greedy, remember how death will take it all away 

from you, and then go give something away or pass up a profit.  Make 

the effort and you will be hardened against future temptations.

                                   Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life

Who is Francis de Sales? Saint Francis de Sales, August 21, 1567-

December 28, 1622, was Bishop of Geneva and a Roman Catholic saint. 

As an accomplished preacher he sought to bring Protestants back to 

Catholicism. He is mostly known for his writings on spiritual formation.

To visit the Lenten Meditations site, click here.

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Obedience, the golden rule of spiritual undestanding

     The golden rule of understanding spiritually is not intellect, but

 obedience.  If a man wants scientific knowledge, intellectual curiosity

 is his guide; but if he wants insights into what Jesus Christ teaches, 

he can only get it by obedience.  If things are dark to me, then I may be 

sure there is something I will not do.  Intellectual darkness comes 

through ignorance;  spiritual darkness comes because of something I do 

not intend to obey.

     No man ever receives a word from God without instantly being put 

to the test by it.  We disobey and then wonder why we don't go on 

spiritually.  "If when you come to the altar," said Jesus, "there you 

remember your brother hath ought against you... don't say another 

word to Me, but first go and put that thing right."  The teaching of Jesus 

hits us where we live.  We cannot stand as humbugs before Him for one 

second.  He educates us down to the scruple.  The Spirit of God unearths 

the spirit of self-vindication; he makes us sensitive to things we never 

thought of before.

     When Jesus brings a thing home by His word, don't shirk it.  If you 

do, you will become a religious humbug.  Watch the things you shrug 

your shoulders over, and you will know how you do not go on 

spiritually.  First go---at the risk of being thought fanatical you must 

obey what God tells you.

                                    Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest

Who is Oswald Chambers?  Chambers, born July 24th, 1874 in 

Aberdeen, Scotland, died November 15th 1917 in Egypt, became a 

Christian following a service conducted by renowned preacher, 

Charles Spurgeon.  We was Scottish Protestant Christian minister 

and teacher, best known as the author of the widely-read 

devotional My Utmost For His Highest.

To visit the Lenten Meditations site, click here.

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The prayer beneath

     Begin where you are.  Obey now:  Use what little obedience you are 

capable of, even if it be like a grain of mustard seed.  Begin where you 

are.  Live this present moment, this present hour as you now sit in your 

seats, in utter submission and openness toward Him.  Listen outwardly 

to these words, but within, behind the scenes, in the deeper levels of 

our lives where you are all alone with God the Living Eternal One, keep 

up a silent prayer, "Open Thou my life, Guide my thoughts where I dare 

not let them go.  Be Thou darest, Thy will be done."  Walk on the streets 

and chat with your friends.  But every moment behind the scenes be in 

prayer, offering yourselves in continuous obedience.  I find this internal 

continuous prayer life absolutely essential.  It can be carried on day and 

night, in the thick of business, in home and school.  Such a prayer of 

submission can be so simple.  It is well to use a single sentence, 

repeated over and over and over again, such as this:  "Be Thou my will.  

Be Thou my will."

                                                 Thomas R. Kelly, A Testament of Devotion

Who is Thomas R. Kelly? Kelly lived 1893 to January 17, 1941.

He was an American Quaker. He taught and wrote on the subject

of mysticism.

To visit the Lenten Meditations site, click here.

To visit The Practical Disciple, click here.

Finding a place

     The first problem is to find a place where the outer confusion can be

shut off, where the bright lights and the telephone cannot break in, and 

where even religious discussion is stilled.  The purpose is not to create, 

or make something happen, but to allow it to happen, and where it 

takes place is an individual matter.  Some people find it easy to quiet 

down in a church where the rule of silence is observed.  For others it 

may be one's own room, or in a  garden or near the water, or on a 

mountain top.

     ...there is manna in certain places that can draw a person in silence, 

for instance in a room which has known the silence and listening of 

many people.  This was the kind of power that Jacob felt when he 

awoke from dreaming  of the ladder to heaven and cried out, "Truly, 

Yahweh, is in this place and I never knew it!"  Then he was afraid and 

said, "How awe-inspiring this place is!  This is nothing less than a 

house of God; this is the gate of heaven!"  And he made a sacred 

monument of the stone on which he had lain and poured oil on top 

of it, and he named the place Bethel (Genesis 28:10-19).  We in the 

Western tradition are often reluctant to admit that there is reality 

behind an experience like this.

     ...Each of us can have a place like this, where stillness can take over 

and one becomes open to a reality beyond oneself.

                                           Morton T. Kelsey,  The Other Side of Silence

Who is Morton T. Kelsey?  Morton Kelsey died at the age of 84 in 2001.  

He was an Episcopalian priest who wrote dozens of books on spiritual 

formation.  Kelsey also helped develop the spiritual formation program 

at San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo, California.

To visit the Lenten Meditations site, click here.

To visit The Practical Disciple, click here.

The gift of interruptions

     A few years ago I met an old professor at the University of Notre 

Dame.  Looking back on his long life of teaching, he said with a funny 

wrinkle in his eyes:  "I have always been complaining that my work was 

constantly interrupted, until I slowly discovered that my interruptions 

were my work."

     That is the great conversion in our life:  to recognize and believe 

that the many unexpected events are not just disturbing interruptions 

of our projects, but the way in which God molds our hearts and pre-

pares us for his return.  Our great temptations are boredom and 

bitterness.  When our good plans are interrupted by poor weather, 

our well-organized careers by illness or bad luck, our peace of mind 

by inner turmoil, our hope for peace by a new war, our desire for a 

stable discernment by a constant changing of the guards, and our 

desire for immortality by real death, we are tempted to give in to a 

paralyzing boredom or to strike back in destructive bitterness.  But 

when we believe that patience can make our expectations grow, then 

fate can be converted into a vocation, wounds into a call for deeper 

understanding, and sadness into a  birthplace for joy.

                                                           Henri J. Nouwen, Out of Solitude

      Who is Henry Nouwen?  Nouwen, January 24, 1932 to September 

21, 1996 was a Dutch-born Catholic priest and write who authored 

40 books on the spiritual life.  Nouwen's books are widely read by 

both Protestants and Catholics.

To visit the Lenten Meditations site, click here.

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Why and how to love God

     You have asked me to tell you why and how God is to be loved.  

God himself is the reason why.  Without limit is how.

     For the wise, that is answer enough.

     But now I will speak more elaborately, if less profoundly, for the 

benefit of less agile minds.

     There are two reasons for loving God.  First, there is no one more 

worthy of your love.  Second, no one can return more in response to 

your love.

     God deserves our love because he first loved us.  His love for us was

genuine because he sought nothing for himself.  See the object of his 

love: enemies.  For it, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled 

to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been recon-

ciled, shall we be saved through his life.  Paul writes to the Romans.   

God's love was unconditional.

     How much did he love?  The anwer is in John's Gospel:  "For God so 

loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever 

believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."  The Son, speaking 

of himself, said, "The greatest way to show love for friends is to die for 

them."  We, the wicked, then, should love the Righteous One in return.

  

                                                          Bernard of Clairvaux, On Loving God

Who is Bernard of Clairvaux? Bernard, 1090 to August 20, 1153, was a

French abbot principally responsible for reforming the Cisterician

monastic order. Bernard was the first Cistercian monk placed on the

calendar of saints. He was canonized by Pope Alexander III, on January

18, 1174.

To visit the Lenten Meditations site, click here.

To visit The Practical Disciple, click here.

The inadequacy of our love

     Faithful people understand how fully they need Jesus and his death 

on the cross.  Seeing his love, they desire to return what little they can.  

Those who know they are loved are better able to love.  The one who is 

forgiven more loves more.  Seeing the wounds of Christ, the believer 

says, I am faint with love.

     Who is it that remembers God?  It certainly is not a stubborn and 

rebellious generation.  Christ says to them, "Woe to you who are rich, 

for you have already received your comfort."  The ones who remember 

God are those who can say, I remember God, and was troubled:  I 

complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed.  Our soul is Christ's bride 

and loves him ardently.  But even when she thinks she is completely in 

love, she feels that her love is inadequate, because she is loved so much.  

And that is true.  How could she love as much in return?  God loves 

with all his being.

                                                            Bernard of Clairvaux, On Loving God

Who is Bernard of Clairvaux?  Bernard, 1090 to August 20, 1153, was a 

French abbot principally responsible for reforming the Cisterician 

monastic order.  Bernard was the first Cistercian monk placed on the

calendar of saints.  He was canonized by Pope Alexander III, on January

18, 1174. 

To visit the Lenten Meditations site, click here.

To visit The Practical Disciple, click here.