Susan Tassone (Photo courtesy of Our Sunday Visitor)
Lent is a time when we open our hearts more fully to the love and mercy of God through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. What better time to give “prayerful alms” to the Holy Souls in Purgatory which could help to send many souls home to heaven in time for Easter!
“Then I said, ‘Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips’…Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding an ember which he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with it. ‘See,’ he said, ‘now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.’” (Isaiah 6:5 – 7)
I used to think mortification during Lent was something that belonged to the dark ages. Giving up chocolate (which I rarely eat) and fish on Fridays (I love fish) was my speed. Anything rougher than that? Not so much. And then one year the Lord taught me a lesson . . .
When it comes to following God’s will, the most challenging task can be figuring out just what His will is. Of course, prayer is a vitally important tool in this discernment process. Best case scenario: we ask God to disclose His plan for us, and circumstances fall into place, quickly and effortlessly, to lead us in the right direction.
“Love is not blind; that is the last thing that it is. Love is bound; and the more it is bound the less it is blind.” – G. K. Chesterton
“Love consists not in feeling great things but in having great detachment and in suffering for the Beloved. The soul that is attached to anything however much good there may be in it, will not arrive at the liberty of divine union. For whether it be a strong wire rope or a slender and delicate thread that holds the bird, it matters not, if it really holds it fast; for, until the cord be broken the bird cannot fly.” St. John of the Cross.
We all know what the passage of time can do to an attic. It gets crammed full of stuff – most of which we no longer find useful. If not discarded, this stuff begins to spill into our homes and the living space we need for daily life. This usually means it’s time for a yard sale. But did you know that, according to the spiritual masters, the same thing can happen to our hearts?
To some, love might mean never having to say you’re sorry, but on this Valentine’s Day – which happens to fall on Ash Wednesday – millions of Catholics will be doing just that as they kick off the penitential season of Lent on the same day that they celebrate the great gift of love.
“If you are what you should be, then you will set the world on fire.” St. Catherine of Siena
“If you are what you should be, then you will set the world on fire.” St. Catherine of Siena
