We're preparing to sow to the Spirit this Lent through prayer and fasting. Until I was Catholic, it never occurred to me that the Filet-O-Fish' sandwich is not an ordinary staple at McDonald's except in the spring, or that the sudden flurry of Red Lobster commercials just before Easter was similarly calculated. Where does this traditional Lenten Catholic practice originate?

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LOVE the Word® is a Bible study method based on Mary's own practice: lectio without the Latin. Get the book based on her method in the right margin, How to Pray Like Mary.

L - Listen (Receive the Word.)

O - Observe (Choose one or more of the following personality approaches to connect the passage to your life and recent events.)

The Harvest Is the End of the World and the Reapers are Angels

from Mathew 13:39

by Roger Wagner

"The essential sign that we are grown up is that we can accept responsibility. All actions have consequences, but the consequences may not be visible. Jesus is adamant that he will not destroy the wheat and the tares, that he will let the sheep and goats pasture together until the time of judgment. None of us is wholly wheat or wholly tare: we are a mixture of both. But every tare we have sown must be destroyed so that we can be pure wheat for God's holy bread. Either we must wait until the time of judgment for the angels to reap God's harvest or we must cooperate with him and do it while we are still alive. Wagner's picture, with a dark, threatening sky and the angels with their sickles, forewarns us of what is to come. We may look over our lives and see a vista like the golden grain, but God knows there are tares hidden there. He will destroy them if we truly desire him to make us pure."

Sister Wendy Beckett, The Art of Lent

V - Verbalize (Pray about your thoughts and emotions.)

Remembering that He loves you and that you are in His presence, talk to God about the particulars of your O – Observe step. You may want to write your reflections in your LOVE the Word® journal. Or, get a free journal page and guide in the right-hand margin.

E - Entrust (May it be done to me according to your word!)

Lord, Hear my prayer as I discern and select my Lenten devotions and begin this wilderness journey with you. Transform me this Lent, heavenly Father. Give me the strength to commit myself to grow closer to you each day. Amen.+

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You can download a complete, word-for-word transcript here, courtesy of Dora Donovan who does our transcripts for you.