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First Sunday of Lent
| | Readings for February 26, 2012
As we begin our Lenten journey, today's readings include two words that resonated strongly with me. The words are flood and desert. Recently my niece's husband died. He committed suicide. There was no suicide note or any obvious indication of his impending death. The autopsy was inconclusive. He left a wife and two teenaged sons. My extended family was devastated. Words can't adequately describe the flood of emotions we experienced. There was shock, disbelief, anger and an overwhelming feeling of sadness for my niece, her sons, and late husband and for our family. It truly was a flood, an almost overwhelming wall of emotion rushing over us all. This initial flood of emotion then led us to a desert place, a dry numb place. What is getting us through this time is our support for each other, our covenant with each other to continue to be there in whatever way we can for each other. Kind of like God's covenant with Noah, promising to always be there for Noah and his descendants.
We have all experienced desert times in our lives. It may difficulties with our health, job or relationships but whatever it is, it truly can be desert time. I draw comfort in the knowledge that whatever emotion I am experiencing; God has experienced many of these same human emotions through the life, suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Reading The Crucified God by Jurgen Moltman has given me an understanding of God's relationship to us that helps me get through the flood and desert times of my life. Moltman writes about the Trinitarian as well as the Unitarian nature of God. As a Unitarian being, what one member of the Trinity experiences, all members of the Trinity experience. So I can take comfort knowing in my heart that when I suffer and when people I love or people I minister to as a chaplain suffer I know that God suffers with them. Not in some ethereal way but a real way based upon the human emotions experienced by Jesus the human manifestation of God in the Trinity. \
As we begin Lent we can take comfort in knowing that whatever flood or desert times we may experience on our journey, a loving God who does know and understand our human experience accompanies us. May you be blessed during this Lenten journey.
Roger Vandervest is a deacon at Ascension and a board certified hospital chaplain.
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| Lectio Divina... | | "Lectio divina is a slow, contemplative praying of the Scriptures. Time set aside in a special way for lectio divina enables us to discover in our daily life an underlying spiritual rhythm. Within this rhythm, we discover an increasing ability to offer more of ourselves and our relationships to the Father, and to accept the embrace that God is continuously extending to us in the person of his son, Jesus Christ."
Father Luke Dysinger, O.S.B
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| About Living the Word | |
LIVING THE WORD...opportunity, challenge, commitment
Opportunity: Living the Word is an opportunity for us to grow in our knowledge and love of God through the prayerful reading and study of the scriptures.
Challenge: Living the Word is a challenge to make more time for God in our daily lives. We challenge ourselves to come to Mass each week ready to hear God's Word proclaimed and to take that Word to the world!
Commitment: Living the Word invites us to commit ourselves to spending time with God's Word several times each week. As we read and reread these scriptures, think about the words we read, and bring these words to prayer, we encounter Christ, God's Living Word.
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| What is a Lectionary? | |
A lectionary is a list of scripture readings (also called "lections," from the Latin lectio) selected for reading at worship services; it is also the book containing the actual readings. The term is most commonly used in the Catholic Church for the Lectionary for Mass, which contains the readings prescribed for the Masses for Sundays, feast days, weekdays, sacramental celebrations, funerals, and Masses for special occasions or particular devotions-basically, any Mass.
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