Lenten Meditations: Monday 18 March 2024
| Mon Mar 18 |
am 31 pm: 35 |
Exodus 4:10-31 | 1 Cor 14:1-19 | Mark 9:30-41 |
FIFTH MONDAY OF LENT: Saint Frigidian, Monk and Bishop, c.588
LITURGICAL THEME FOR THE DAY: The son of King Ultach of Ulster. He was trained in Irish monasteries and ordained a priest. His learning was imparted by such flowers of the 6th-century Irish culture as Saint Enda and Saint Colman.
St. Frigidian arrived in Italy on a pilgrimage to Rome and decided to settle as a hermit on Mount Pisano. In 566, he was elected bishop of Lucca and was persuaded by Pope John II to accept the position. Even thereafter the saint frequently left the city to spend many days in prayer and solitude. As bishop he formed the clergy of the city into a community of canons regular and rebuilt the cathedral after it had been destroyed by fire by the Lombards.
BIBLICAL MEDITATION OF THE DAY: While this passage from Mark’s Gospel is often troubling to us as we wonder how the Apostles could ever think of relating and requesting such of Jesus. Yet we can’t admit that they are simply doing what we all do. We all want to belong. We all want to be recognized for a job well done. We all want to be special! This is certainly legitimate and quite human but true greatness is not defined by our criteria but by his as he makes this clear when he says: If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” This Lent have we given any critical and careful reflection on what keeps us from being authentic servants of Christ? Could it be that our pride makes us boost up self-esteem and keep other people down? This is called Pride and pride doesn’t seek the good but rather seeks to assess another person by making comparisons to the self. We are reminded today that it is the Gospel alone that fills our soul with the gift of humility which empowers us to be servants first.
PRAYER OF THE DAY: Lord, what you ask of my life seems so right. It is how I want to live, following your Son, Jesus, so closely. And yet I fail so often to stay on that path. I cannot do it alone, loving Lord. I need your help and guidance. I need to remember your love for me, and I want to remember how very much I need you in my life. Amen.
ANCIENT WISDOM/PRESENT GRACE: “Pilgrims are persons in motion passing through territories not their own, seeking something we might call completion, or perhaps the word clarity will do as well, a goal to which only the spirit’s compass points the way.” ~ H. Richard Niebuhr
Lenten Lyrics: The Pilgrim Song
Lenten Discipline – Today is a day to consider pilgrimage, who do we journey with? How do we see ourselves on Pilgrimage? Do we try to shape the journey or does the journey shape us? Consider a virtual Pilgrimage such as the Holy Land to enter fully into the idea of the Lenten Journey. Go to https://faith.nd.edu/s/1210/faith/interior.aspx?sid=1210&gid=609&pgid=32742#:~:text=Make%20an%20online%20pilgrimage%20to,and%20raised%20from%20the%20dead
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