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MEDITATIONS FOR LENT PART III
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Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners. Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. –Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England
What do we love? What do we desire? In what ways are our wills and affections “unruly”?
It is curious that people who are filled with horrified indignation whenever a cat kills a sparrow can hear that story of the killing of God Sunday after Sunday and not experience any shock at all.
--Dorothy Sayers
We can only be shocked if we realize the full extent of that love for us; if it does not fill us with gratitude flowing over into active love for God and others, can it at least lead us to say “Thank you?”
Every believer in this world of ours must be a spark of light, a center of love, a life-giving leaven amidst his fellowmen. –Pope St John XXIII
Can we become a brighter spark during the remainder of Lent?
When Jesus calls a man, he bids him come and die. –Dietrich Bonhoeffer
We know this, and we hate it. Are we too easily persuaded that a comfortable life of piety is enough?
Most High and Glorious God, bring light to the darkness of my heart. Give me right faith, certain hope, and perfect charity. Lord, give me insight and wisdom so I may always discern your holy and true will. –St Francis of Assisi
Our faith might not be right, our hope might not be confident, our love might not be perfect. But are we truly willing to desire them to be?
“Milton was right,” said my teacher. “The choice of every lost soul can be expressed in the words ‘Better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven.’ There is always something they insist on keeping, even at the price of misery. There is always something they prefer to joy—that is, to reality.” --CS Lewis, The Great Divorce
Is there something that I refuse to give up? Is there something I might want to hold on to and prefer, even instead of God? Is there something that I would refuse to die to, even at the price of never truly living?