Lenten Meditations: Friday April 12
| Fri April 12 |
am: 107:1-32 pm: 107:33-43 |
Jer 20:10-13 | Rom 11:1-12 | John 10:31-42 |
FIFTH FRIDAY OF LENT – St. Crescens. Martyr., 1st Cent
LITURGICAL THEME FOR THE DAY: This Martyr was from Myra of Lycia, born of an illustrious family. Of his own accord he went amidst the idolaters and admonished them to leave off their futile religion and worship the only true God, Who is worshipped by the Christians; for this he was arrested. When asked by the ruler what his name and lineage were, the Saint would answer only that he was a Christian; counseled to offer sacrifice to the idols, he refused. For this, he was hung up and beaten, was scraped, and then was cast into fire, in which he gave up his holy soul into the hands of God, though not even the hair of his head was harmed by the flames.
MEDITATION OF THE DAY: When Jesus speaks of doing the works of his Father in today’s Gospel , it is important to note that the stories leading up to this account are amazing kinds of activities that has Jesus healing — feeding — comforting, living in solidarity with those who are rejected. The response of the powerful? They can’t find enough stones to throw at Jesus. Please note that Jeremiah is also not very popular with the l people of his era. His prophetic ministry is not unlike the experience of the Messiah. He is surrounded by secret plots and terrors, deserted by his friends. But God protects His prophet and assures him that those who persecute the just will not triumph. Jeremiah knows well the lot of the poor throughout all history where the rich and powerful have forever seen the poor as their prey. Increasingly it is clear that to be one who follows Jesus must mean that we are a people on the side of the poor.
PRAYER OF THE DAY: “Lord, we pray today especially for the children who are poor and marginalized, finding themselves in circumstances they did not choose and helpless to change. We lift up AIDS orphans, children of war, children suffering abuse and neglect, children smitten with malnutrition and disease, lacking education, housing or the most basic of life’s necessities. May they through our efforts come to know the love of their Creator, who knows each hair on their head and collects their tears. Amen.
ANCIENT WISDOM/PRESENT GRACE: “Christ has no body but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours, Yours are the eyes with which he looks Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good, Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, Yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours, Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world. Christ has no body now on earth but yours…”—-St Teresa of Avila
Lenten Discipline – Speak out today against the many ways the powerful are attacking the poor, both in the US and worldwide. Educate yourself. Go to the Food for the Hungry website www.fhv.org to get involved or go to www.justpeace.org/demons.html and study the information about attacks on the poor. Be Christ’s body now.
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