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Prayer Cafe
LENT …A Reflection by Steven Macy With the Lenten Season just around the corner, many of us might be asking ourselves, “What should I give up for Lent this year”? Rather than forego some physical treat or pleasure such as desert, or wine or watching TV - how about giving up one of our negative personal characteristics or non-christian behaviors. At first we might have some hesitancy to approach this idea open mindedly, because after all we tend to see ourselves in a positive light and most of us, me included, hate to admit that we have negative traits. Nevertheless we all have areas of our life where we can improve and be in grater communion with Christ. Therefore the place to start is a period of quiet private prayer including a self-examination of the actions in your life that pull you away from God – the things that we know, deep down, that should be swept from the shadowy recesses of our heart. One area of life for many of us that generally has some real cobwebs are resentments or the dislike of certain people that for one reason or another are adversarial to us. This can be defined most simply as our failure has humans to Love Each Other, especially our failure to love those that are different from us or those that have hurt us (Our Enemies). Let love be your only debt! If you love others, you have done all that the Law demands. In the Law there are many commands, such as, "Be faithful in marriage. Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not want what belongs to others." But all of these are summed up in the command that says, "Love others as much as you love yourself." No one who loves others will harm them. So love is all that the Law demands. Love Each Other......Not a bad idea at all..... May you and your loved ones have a blessed and grace filled Lenten Season. |
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