The Passionists of Holy Cross Province

The Love that Compels

Daily Scripture, January 21, 2021

Photo credit: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore.

Scripture:

Hebrews 7:25-8:6
Mark 3: 7-12

Reflection:

“To do your will, O my God, is my delight…” Psalm 40: 9

Everyone wants to have some delight in their lives. The Psalmist writes that doing God’s will brings peace and delight.  However, figuring out God’s will can be tricky and challenging. Many of the decisions we face are not choosing between good and evil.  Two courses of action can be equally valid on the surface. How does one go about discerning God’s will?  (Maryanne Hannan, Living With Christ, Thursday, January 21, 2021)

  1. Set aside time to pray that God will increase one’s desire to do God’s will.
  2. Ask for God’s guidance and direction.
  3. Listen to God’s voice manifested in an urging, a prompting or recurrent thought.
  4. Clear your mind of preconceived notions of what is best for you.
  5. Examine one’s motives and intentions.
  6. Seek wise council from a friend, a pastor or spiritual advisor.  (Meadow Rue Merrfill 7 Steps to Discerning God’s Will in Difficult Situations, April 24, 2017
  7. Trust your instincts.  You might feel like something is not quite right or a nagging uncertainty. Pray that God will give you clarity and peace. (Mary Gallagher, How To Discern God’s Will in Any Situation, Simple Life/Simple Faith, May 11, 2018) 
  8. Recall your meaning and purpose of your baptism and your vocation in life. 
  9. Choose the course of action that will affirm your baptism, faith, and vocation. 

Through the process of discerning God’s will may we find peace and delight.

Carl Middleton is a theologian/ethicist and a member of the Passionist Family.

Ash Wednesday

On March 2, the Church celebrates Ash Wednesday. 

Most of us learned early in our Catholic lives that Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent, and that is a time of special sacrifice in preparation for the Easter celebration of Jesus’ Resurrection.

Dear brothers and sisters, every moment of our lives is a time for believing, hoping and loving…. These words of Pope Francis, taken from his Lenten Message of last year, 2021, and echoing the virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity, can still inspire our answer to the question: “What am I giving up for Lent?” 

We can draw our Lenten sacrifices out of our daily life: 

Share our faith in God’s presence by sharing in prayer with our family or with those in our parish community.
Share our hope in God’s promises by encouraging positive and respectful dialogue in our family circle and among our friends. 
Share the charity God has bestowed on us in the Passion of Jesus, with those whose sufferings are ignored or aggravated.

Let us pray for one another as we enter the season of Lent. Our Passionist “motto” can be our daily prayer during Lent, “May the Passion of Jesus Christ be always in our hearts.”