Spiritual Points for Week of March 13

Sunday March 13-Ps.126 shows a type of prayer that uses the imagination of an answered prayer as a guide to contemporary prayer. What deep wishes have come true for you? when have your tears turned into songs of joy?

Monday-“Worship is something like a language school. In particular, it resembles a Berlitz approach to learning a foreign language, in which the novice is repeatedly exposed to native speakers. Someone has described one of the roles of preaching as akin to providing a model to show how the language of faith is used. In other words, we learn the meaning of words like ‘holy,’ ‘repentance,’ and ‘justification’ and phrases like ‘Jesus is Lord’ by using them and hearing them used in various contexts. . .The preacher tells stories, links one thing with another, shows how the biblical stories and images connect with the world. Language school. Over time, one learns the nuances of the language. . .Some things cannot be acquired instantaneously. Like learning to read music or learning French, learning the language of the biblical faith takes time.” Byars,

Tuesday-Have you ever had the experience of being utterly undone by despair and grief, and then suddenly, as if from nowhere, a shimmering joy starts to well up from within your deepest self? What were the circumstances that led to this experience? Abbey of the Arts

Wednesday-This is the opportune moment, according to (Pope) Francis, to accomplish what God intends for the sake of God's mercy. The pope challenges us,..,. that now is the right moment to act selflessly, to risk living out the implications of God's redemptive economy. As Pope Francis says, quoting John XXIII in his opening of the Second Vatican Council: "The Bride of Christ prefers to use the medicine of mercy rather than arm herself with the weapons of rigor." Quoting another of his predecessors, Benedict XVI, Francis says: "Mercy is in reality the core of the Gospel message; it is the name of God himself, the face with which he revealed himself in the Old Testament and fully in Jesus Christ."Mercy is the name of God.Michael Jinkins-

Thursday-“Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the Cost of Discipleship

Friday-“Sometimes we can become paralyzed by the idea of trying to figure out exactly God’s will, as if God has only one option available to us and gives us the burden of trying to figure out what it is.  Instead, I prefer to imagine a much more expansive and spacious God, one who offers life-giving paths out of a variety of directions we might choose.  Often discernment is a choice between many goods.”

Saturday-As you journey through Lent are there times when you feel as though you are living in a weary land? Do you have a rock of strength and support in your life? Will you be restored? Can you live without complaint, without mumbling? Do you look to Jesus when you are weary and need "a shelter in the time of storm?"