As you know Lent is a season of Almsgiving and penance. During the time we as Catholic Christians take out for penance there is surely a lot to think about. We focus on our sins and we focus on the great Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross for our sakes.
Blessed Saint Paul took the opportunity to give us some encouragement in the form of Christian widsom, which you will find in his letter to the Thessalonians 5, the verses 14-23. Take the opportunity to read them, you will find it worthwhile.
He encourages us for instance never to cease praying and that is important. The prayerchain to our God should never be broken. And.. God does want to hear from us. We are encouraged to give thanks on all occassions. Well that is for a start not an easy thing to do in the times we are living in. So many dreadful things happen and we gasp when we hear about them , and we cannot understand God's way. Yes we must realize that God's ways are wise and wonderful and that we will never understand them until that time we can see clearly through the mirror, which is frosted now.
We, as Catholic Christians can have a habit as not placing enough importance of the utterances of the Holy Spirit, we can get sometimes buried under discussions and arguments over traditions, rubrics and generally the way we do things. But let the Holy Spirit speak. During a time when I attended a pentecostal service on Sunday evening , because part of my family were involved in that Church for some time , like Saint Paul said , I had to scrutinize some utterings of the Holy Spirit. I do take exception about some of their utterings regarding the fact how people get or have a mental illness. One Evangelist got up on the stage and started laughing and laughing, then he told the congregation " No , I am not a scitzophrenic .I had to stand up in a congregation of 3000 and challenge him.
A wonderful guide then for Christian living. Saint Paul closes with the following :"
So may the God of Peace sanctify you wholly, keep spirit and sould and body unimpaired to greet the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ without repreach. Amen to that.
Father Ed Bakker
Anglican Catholic Church / Original Province
Mission of Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne
Bendigo
Australia
