Monday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
By Beth DeCristofaro
But you, O LORD, are my shield; my glory, you lift up my head! When I call out to the LORD,
he answers me from his holy mountain. (Psalm 3: 4-5)
“Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.” (Mark 5:19)
Piety
What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I ask you, lead me. I ask you, cleanse me. I ask you, free me from the demons in my life which keep me from you. I ask you, free me from my bonds and shackles. I ask you, help me to honestly review my life and give up those practices, habits, attitudes which injure my soul. You are my shield, Lord, you save me.
Study
http://www.usccb.org/nab/020408.shtml
As we approach Lent, we are reminded of the authority, the kindness, the love which Jesus has for us. Lent gives us an opportunity to approach Jesus as did the demonic in Mark’s Gospel.
Who was this man? We don’t know if he was, in fact, possessed in the modern sense of the word or suffering from mental illness. We do know that he was divided to his real nature, lost, isolated, injured and self-loathing. On the one hand he came up to Jesus he ran up and prostrated himself before him (Mark 5: 6) but at the same time he said “I adjure you by God, do not torment me!” (Mark 5: 7) He might today be an alcoholic, an addicted gambler, someone whose infidelities or vices causes her/him to lie to those closest to her/him. He represents we who are afraid, angry, bitter, unforgiven or unforgiving; we who are at odds with our very being. Jesus does not shirk or condemn but rather saves.
In Lent, we accompany Jesus in the desert, through fasting, abstaining and prayer, to confront ourselves and reconfirm our passage to the fertile ground of the Resurrection. And we can do this in the spirit of the psalmist who knows that we cannot find salvation alone: O LORD, are my shield; my glory, you lift up my head! (Psalm 3:3). And we can be as thankful and amazed as the healed man who went off and began to proclaim in the Decapolis what Jesus had done for him (Mark 5:20).
Action
What fasting and abstaining, processes of purification and strengthening, do you plan during Lent? At
“…each of us can choose what else we can fast and abstain from during Lent. What practices of mine get in the way of my being open to hearing God's Word and responding freely? That's what needs transforming. Giving up needing to be right, fasting from my impatience, totally abstaining from escapist fantasies will open our hearts to God's grace. None of that takes extra time. It just takes desire.” http://www.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/online.html
Creighton U also offers this online Lenten retreat: http://www.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/Lent/index.html
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