Lenten Reflection for February 24th

In recognising Fruits of the Spirit that can grow from the Gift of Knowledge, the first Fruit that came to mind is Chastity. During my time of prayerful reflection, I’ve found that Chastity also has both a clear ‘inward’ and ‘outward’ focus.

In many of my readings, the aspect of Chastity that is focused on most is morality regarding physical intimacy, adultery and so forth. I want to look further into what Chastity is through the perspective of Knowledge that is given to us by the Holy Spirit.

One of the points I reflected on came down to ‘worldly’ desires versus what God desires for us. To have desires is not a bad thing, but those desires can be corrupted by seeing them through a worldly lens and acting on worldly impulses.

In our faith life, these are dangerous emotions to have and succumb to. Covetousness, envy, entitlement and lack of gratitude are stumbling blocks in our path which prevent us from growing closer to God. When we can acknowledge and repent of these feelings we are acting chastely. I came across a quote paraphrased from St Thomas Aquinas that says, Chastity is the virtue that enables a soul to say ‘no’ to a lesser desire in order to cleave to God.

We know from Scripture that God created us in his image and likeness.  Through the Spirit, He has blessed us with many of his qualities, the ability to discern, our free will, emulating His virtue, to seek truth, admire what is beautiful, show love, and to know and love Him as our Father and Creator.  He has prepared our hearts to know what is true about Him, our human nature, and the bond of love between us and Himself. 

In John’s Gospel, Christ tells us, “If you love me you will keep my commandments” and “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” The love in our heart for the Lord propels us forward to grow in Chastity.

With God’s help we can have the knowledge to discern right from wrong, to choose to obey the Lord’s commands and live our lives and be chaste in spirit, thought, word and deed.

God bless you!

For our younger brothers and sisters in Christ:

There may be times in our lives when we see that someone has something that we wish we could have. A toy or a game, a nice jacket, or they might have had a fun looking vacation. We might feel jealous of what they have but we don’t. In Scripture we are taught that we shouldn’t be envious of others and want what they have. When we have jealousy in our heart, it is a distraction from what God shows us through love and all the wonderful things He has given to us. 

When we have love for God in our heart, we can show Him gratitude and be thankful for what we have and this will help us grow to love Him even more!

Lenten Reflection for February 23rd

Ever since I was a child I’ve been in a ‘love - hate’ relationship with books. I’ve always loved reading and from the time I was first able to pick up a book and to this very day I love to read anything I can get my hands on. I just hate how I don’t have enough room on my bookshelves for all the books I have, or books I would like to add to my library. Due to my love of reading, I had quite a penchant for English Literature when I was in school

I recently read an amusing quote that expressed something along the lines of, Don't mess with an English major. They keep lots of useless facts trapped in their heads. Once in a while they let some of it out and you’ll end up stunned.  Acquiring knowledge is exciting, information we collect over the years can be useless but entertaining or it can be quite helpful.

Sometimes the Knowledge we receive from the Holy Spirit isn’t meant just to be kept for ourselves and pondered in our heart, it is meant to be shared with others, whether a specific person or for the benefit of others in general.

We can discern that knowledge we gain is inspired by the Holy Spirit when we find it will be helpful and transformative through showing love. Saint Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, “...we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge; but anyone who loves God is known by him.” (1 Corinthians 8:1-3)

Knowledge for the sake of knowledge can be empty, but when we share knowledge inspired by the love Christ has shown for us, it becomes a way to transform the world.

Let’s pray to have our ears, heart and mind inclined to the Lord, listening for the Spirit and using the knowledge we have been given as a gift of love to those we encounter.

God bless you!

For our younger brothers and sisters in Christ:

Learning is wonderful. Throughout our life we can gain knowledge in many different areas. 

What’s even better is learning something that we can share with others which can be helpful to them in their life and shows God’s love.

Saint Paul wrote to the Corinthians saying, “...Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up…” (1 Corinthians 8:1)Just knowledge on its own can be empty, but when we use knowledge we’ve been given with love, it can transform hearts and lives.

When we are able to help work on a project at school with a fellow student or share kind and comforting words to someone who is feeling down, this shows the Gift of Knowledge that is inspired by the Holy Spirit in our everyday life.

Let’s pray to be mindful of using the Knowledge we have received with love for one another.

Blessings!

Lenten Reflection for February 22nd

Hello friends, I recently received some feedback about these Reflections regarding sharing them with our younger brothers and sisters in Christ. Under each Reflection I will also include a shorter Reflection with language that may be more relatable for children to pre-teens and can be shared with the youngsters in your family or in schools. God bless!

A gift bestowed on us by the Holy Spirit which often goes hand in hand with Wisdom in the Scriptures is the gift of Knowledge.  I read in a reflection regarding both that Knowledge might be described as a sense of what ought to be done, Wisdom is putting that knowledge into action.

There are two areas in particular that I have been reflecting on regarding the Gift of Knowledge. The first area I have been reading about and exploring is an ‘inner’ knowledge. These are those things we sense and reflect on inwardly, listening for the Lord speaking to us.. 

There are times for sharing knowledge, and times for quiet discernment when we gather knowledge and take time to pray and reflect rather than speak and share. The book of Proverbs teaches, ‘The wise lay up knowledge, but the babbling of a fool brings ruin near.’ (Proverbs 10:14)’

We read of Mary’s example in Scripture, during the time of Christ’s birth, the shepherds came and spoke about the angel speaking to them and of the multitude of the heavenly host appearing. We read of how ‘Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.’ (Luke 2:19)

The Lenten season can be a wonderful time to make space for silent reflection, preparing ourselves for the beautiful time of Easter when we can share joyfully what we know in our hearts.

God bless you! For our younger brothers and sisters in Christ:

Knowledge is a gift that has been given to us by the Holy Spirit.  It might be said that Knowledge is having an idea about what good we ought to do, Wisdom is putting that knowledge into action and doing good.  Some Knowledge we receive is just meant for us, if we read a bible verse or hear a story and it inspires us to grow in faith and in our lives, that can be the Holy Spirit working in our heart. In the Bible we have examples that talk about this, Proverbs 10:14 says “The wise accumulate knowledge—a true treasure, know-it-alls talk too much—a sheer waste.” (The Message translation) and Mary, the mother of Jesus, heard from the shepherds about seeing the angels and ‘treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.’ (Luke 2:19)

During Lent, let’s remember to have some moments to be still and quietly pray, preparing ourselves for Easter Joy!