Lenten Reflection for March 22nd

Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon, said this of his first experience of seeing Earth from space, “It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn’t feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.”

For me, this quote touches on the sense of what the Holy Spirit’s Gift of Fear of the Lord is like in some ways for us as followers of Christ. A sense of knowing who we are and perhaps some idea of where we fit in the larger plans God has for his people throughout time, past, present and future. It does make one feel rather small!

In the Old Testament, ‘Fear of the Lord’ appears over 100 times, if we look at the times we see God frustrated or disappointed in His people, smiting cities and nations, we likely see ‘fear of the Lord’ as our needing to be frightened into obeying Him. 

However, we know our God is a God of Love who desires a closeness with us, and ‘fear of the Lord’ actually is often written about in positive, encouraging ways such as, “The fear of the Lord is glory and exultation, and gladness and a crown of rejoicing. The fear of the Lord delights the heart, and gives gladness and joy and long life.” (Sirach 1:11-12)

Fear of the Lord is described as being in awe of God’s power and knowledge and having right respect and reverence for Him. God is our Heavenly Father who loves and cares for us. Not out of a spirit of fear but out of love, as His children, we have respect and reverence for the Lord and what He gives to us.

Let’s remember to take some moments of quiet stillness when we can express gratitude for our Heavenly Father and experience the delight in our heart that comes from drawing closer to Him.

For our younger brothers and sisters in Christ:

Neil Armstrong is known as being the first person to walk on the moon. During his first experience of seeing Earth from space he said this, “It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn’t feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.”

One of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit is called Fear of the Lord, or sometimes called Wonder and Awe. When we hear the word ‘fear’ we likely think of being scared, anxious or nervous. But we know that our God is a God of Love and doesn’t want us to be scared of Him, what ‘fear of the Lord’ in this sense means we have reverence for God, or we respect Him because He has done great things for us and given us so much. We are in awe and wonderment of how He blesses us.

In the Bible, Fear of the Lord is often mentioned alongside Wisdom, and we are told how it will bring rejoicing and gladness in our hearts, so we know it’s not a bad Gift from the Holy Spirit, it’s one we have out of love for God.

Sometimes in our daily prayers, let’s remember to take a moment of quiet stillness when we can express thanks to our Heavenly Father and experience that joy in our heart that comes from growing closer to Him.

God bless you!

Lenten Reflection for March 21st

The Book of Malachi is the final book of the Old Testament, in it, the Lord says to His people,

“See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 3:1) He promises them another messenger, another prophet will come to them.

The people didn’t know how long they would have to wait for the messenger. Weeks? Months? Years? 

The time between the book of Malachi and the appearance of the messenger, John the Baptist, was around 400 years! God was asking for His people, His children, to have a great deal of patience while they watched and waited for this foretold messenger.

Sadly over the centuries many of the people didn’t continue to follow God’s Laws and statutes. They went astray and disobeyed His commandments rather than remaining faithful. They didn’t have the patience to wait for what was promised. 

When we are in the midst of a time of waiting, it can be difficult to keep our eyes focused on the Lord, to keep our heart from wavering when it feels like we might never receive an answer or sign. There is a Proverb that says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:12) God knows and understands our struggles to be patient and when we are trying to grasp at any hope for answers, He wants us to reach for Him! Through the Holy Spirit’s Gift of Piety, we can grow in love and devotion to the Lord and realise he is closer than an arm's reach away from us. By hedging ourselves closer to Him, we will find the strength to be patient for whatever His plans are for us. “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope…” (Psalm 130:5) 

For our younger brothers and sisters in Christ:

What’s the longest you can remember having to wait for something, an allowance, the grades from a test, a book or game release? Did you have to wait a week? A month? A year? Can you imagine having to wait for a hundred years… or more?

In the Old Testament of the Bible, through the Prophet Malachi, God promised His people that He would be sending another prophet to them to speak to them. A messenger to prepare His way. He didn’t say how long they would have to wait though.

His people waited and waited, they were waiting for about 400 years before the messenger came. Through the 400 years, God’s people became impatient. They stopped following God’s Laws and disobeyed his commandments. They were tired of waiting. But one day the messenger God promised them arrived, it was John the Baptist, who would prepare the way for Jesus.

Sometimes it will feel like we are waiting forever for answers to prayers, it’s when we get impatient that God wants to draw us closer and have faith in Him.

When we feel like that, let’s try to remember this Psalm from the Bible, “I wait for the Lord to help me. I trust his word.” (Psalm 130:5 ICB)

God bless you!

Lenten Reflection for March 20th

As the Holy Spirit’s Gift of Piety draws us closer into a filial love to the Lord, it can inspire us in amazing ways. St. Thomas Aquinas says that piety, along with fear of the Lord and fortitude, direct the will toward God, As we grow in reverence and respect for God and His Church, we will be inspired to love as He has commanded us to, and modeled for us.

This love is not an easy love, the love we might imagine to feel ‘warm and fuzzy’ inside. Rather, to me it seems like it has some ‘grit’. It is a love that calls us to make sacrifices. Saint Mother Teresa is a beautiful example of not being afraid of loving others until it hurt. To paraphrase something she said on more than one occasion, “A sacrifice (for love) to be real (it) must cost, must hurt, must empty (us of self) ourselves.”

We might feel hesitant about approaching love this way, this ‘gritty’ and hard love. It may feel that having a love like this that we are called to show constantly is an impossible task. Thankfully we know that through the Lord, inspired by the Holy Spirit and led by example through Christ, it is not impossible. Saint Paul encourages us with these words about ‘real’ love, “...It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:7)

Saint Mother Teresa also offered this encouragement and comforting advice, “Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired.”

Let’s pray that as we grow in the Gift of Piety, the Fruit of Love will also blossom in our heart and we will not grow weary of sharing it with others.

For our younger brothers and sisters in Christ:

Part of growing in the Holy Spirit’s Gift of Piety, or that reverence and respect we have for God because we love Him as our Heavenly Father, is that we can learn to grow in and share love in the way that He taught us to and by how Jesus was a role model and example for us of love.

This kind of love is not easy though. It means to love even when it feels there is no hope, when things feel dark or sad. It means looking for ways God wants us to love others. Saint Mother Teresa, a nun who could be considered quite pious, said that this kind of love comes with a cost, we need to continue to love no matter what. 

Love like this might seem impossible, but Saint Paul describes love to us in the Bible, “Love patiently accepts all things. It always trusts, always hopes, and always continues strong.” (1 Corinthians 13:7) and Saint Mother Teresa offers us this advice,  “Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired.”

As we grow closer to God, let’s look for even the small ways we can show others His love and we won’t grow tired or weary!

God bless you.