Lenten Meditations: Thursday after Ash Wednesday
| Thurs Feb 11 |
am: 37:1-18 pm: 37:19-42 |
Hab 3:1-18 | Phil 3:12-21 | Lk 9:22-25 |
Thursday After Ash Wednesday – St Gobnata of Ballyvourney, 6th Cent Monastic
LITURGICAL THEME FOR THE DAY: A 6th Century monastic born in County Claire Saint Abban of Kilabban, County Meath, Ireland, worked with her on the foundation of the convent in Ballyvourney, County Cork, where she served as abbess. St Gobnat had a particular calling to care for the sick and she is credited with saving the people at Ballyvourney from the plague. She is also regarded as the Patroness of bees. Gobnata (meaning “Honey Bee”, which is the equivalent of the Hebrew “Deborah”) Of course honey is a useful ingredient in many medicines but she is said to have driven off a brigand by sending a swarm of bees after him and making him restore the cattle he had stolen. In fact, she seems to have been very able in dealing with brigands. She established numerous churches in Kerry and Waterford.
MEDITATION OF THE DAY: Psalm 37, appointed for both the morning and evening offices has a great deal to say to the reader this day. It is not a theme foreign to any of us as the Psalmist ponders: “How is it that the evil/bad/ wicked often seem to succeed or even prosper?” Such a reality makes most people of good will have their blood boil because such a person of faith seeking understanding on this complex questions often becomes become frustrated, angry, or even wrathful in the wake of such injustice. Yet, the point of view of this wisdom literature begs us not to have a reactionary response. Three times the writer demands: “Do not fret. What is even worse than the worry is what we become when we stew in our own juices and became consumed by the issue wanting to insure that the prospering of the wicked in our lives ends.
In these cases, God makes our vindication”. In fact, in verse 6 we are told we will “shine like the light, and the justice of your cause will be like the noonday. Imagine if every time, we started to feel this imbalance we simply went to the Lord instead of the frenzy we work ourselves into?
PRAYER OF THE DAY: Prompt our actions with your inspiration, we pray, O Lord, and further them with your constant help, that all we do may always begin from you and by you be brought to completion. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Lenten Discipline – Take an inventory of self in relation to other people who upset you. List what it is that upsets you so and submit it to the Lord seeking His Grace in those relationships.
ANCIENT WISDOM/PRESENT GRACE: “Wait for the Lord. Behave yourself manfully, and be of good courage. Do not be faithless, but stay in your place and do not turn back.” — Thomas a Kempis.
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