Lenten Meditations: Saturday 14 March

Mar 14, 2020 by Jill

FRIDAY of  LENT II – Saint Matilda, Queen of Germany (968)

LITURGICAL THEME FOR THE DAY: Matilda was from a royal family in Denmark. She became Queen of Germany when she married King Henry I. As queen, Matilda put her faith into action. She treated the people of Germany as children of God rather than her subjects. She was a generous person and wanted all people to share equally in the blessings of life. Her good deeds were an example to King Henry. They worked together to help all the citizens of Germany to have better lives. When Henry died, she continued to help the poor and neglected people of her country. But her sons accused her of wasting the family’s money on strangers. To put an end to the fighting, Matilda gave up her share of the money she had inherited from King Henry. She retired to the country house where she was born in 895 to live a prayerful life and to help the people of her village. She favored her son, Henry, more than her son, Otto, in the struggle to be king. She was sorry for having done this. She made up for it by accepting without complaint the sufferings that came her way. Nevertheless, she was betrayed by Otto after Henry’s death when he falsely accused her of financial mismanagement. After years spent in practicing charity and penance, St. Matilda died peacefully.

MEDITATION OF THE DAY: The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? One Thing I ask this alone I seek to Dwell in the House of the Lord  all my days. For one day within your temple is every day alone, O Lord bring me to your dwelling. What yearning these words speak? What power and promise they offer. The question of this Psalm is how do we make these words, our words, our heart and soul? It would seem that the first step is to forgo what about what others think of us and focus instead on what God sees in our lives, heart and soul.

PRAYER OF THE DAY: “Lord Jesus, help me be the person the Father created me to be . Give me passion, joy and maturity in the gospel. I’m thankful that it’s your grasp of me, and not my grasp of you, that defines this way of life;  let me always have the desire to lift my soul  in awe and gratitude for the way you love me. Amen.

ANCIENT WISDOM/PRESENT GRACE : “The soul must long for God in order to be set aflame by God’s love; but if the soul cannot yet feel the longing, then it must long for the longing. To long for the longing is also from God.” ~ Meister Eckhart

LENTEN DISCIPLINE –Seek out the places where you find God’s presence. Pray there and then invite another person to come along side you and experience a sense of the holy as well.

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