“Seek good and not evil,

that you may live;

Then indeed the Lord, the God of hosts,

will be with you as you claim.” (Amos 5:14)

Reflection

We cannot claim the Lord as our God when our faith does not match our actions. Lent is a training season to live-out our claim that God is with us. We do that with words, deeds, and sacrifices pleasing to God and edifying others.

Today's Intention

Help us this Lent, O Lord, to seek good in ourselves, others, and the world.

Peace and Goodness

"The stone the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone." (Psalm 118:22)

Reflection

Jesus is the cornerstone of our Lenten journey path. When we travel on that road, we walk with confidence that our lent is in accord with God's will. Even on the coldest of desert nights, the heat stored on the cornerstone of our salvation, Jesus Christ, keeps us warm.

Today's Intention

O God, thank you for the gift of your Son. Without Jesus as the foundation of our faith, we are doomed. May the Holy Spirit continue to direct our footing this lent.

Peace and Goodness

"He will come to us like the rain,

like spring rain that waters the earth." (Hosea 6:3)

Reflection

When our prayer, almsgiving, and fasting are in union with Jesus, their effects are like water that nourishes and cleanses. Being in Jesus transforms us and those we encounter. Our words are genuine, our actions sincere, and our restraint is peaceful.

Today's Intention

O God, we want to be cleaned; come to us like the rain. May we, like your Son, receive the graces of the Holy Spirit.

Peace and Goodness

"His splendor will be like the olive tree

and his fragrance like Lebanon cedar." (Hosea 14:7)

Reflection

Imagine being in the desert and finding a tree to offer relief from the sun. Hopefully, as we continue our Lenten journey, all of us have discovered or are about to encounter our tree in the desert, Jesus' love. It will be a tree which splendor will be visible at a distance. Its fragrance will act like a compass pointing to the tree of life.

Today's Intention

Jesus, you are our refuge. May the Holy Spirit guides us to the comfort of your shade.

Peace and Goodness

"Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters." (Luke 11:23)

Reflection

Our Lenten journey points to the heart of Jesus. In his heart, we find the love that binds us, the arms of mercy that gather us. However, there are children of God who have walked away from Him. Let us pray and walk with them in charity in their journey back to Jesus' heart.

Today's Intention

Jesus, you walked alone in the desert, but your gaze always pointed to your Father. We pray that we, too, are engulfed by the Holy Spirit to remain with you and never scatter away from you.

Peace and Goodness

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill." (Matthew 5:17)

Reflection

Lent is a reminder that Jesus died for us to fulfill God's promises of salvation spoken through the prophets. The Lenten observance opens the door to the beauty of the law witnessed in the life of our Savior: to love God and neighbor.

Today's Intention

Through our baptismal waters, Lord Jesus, we share your office of prophet. We ask that through God's grace, may the Holy Spirit descend upon us to prophesy and fulfill your laws, especially during our Lenten walk.

Peace and Goodness

"Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him?" (Mt 18:21)

Reflection

Forgiveness is an excellent fasting habit to practice during Lent. When we forgive others, we free ourselves from the gluttony of resentment and hate, protecting our body and soul from physical and spiritual harm. As author Marianne Williamson wrote: "Unforgiveness is like drinking poison yourself and waiting for the other person to die."

Fasting from forgiveness is not always easy or painless, but with God's help and human intervention, we can persevere.

Today's Intention

O God, teach us how to make forgiveness a habit in our lives.

Peace and Goodness

"Whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst." (John 4:14)

Reflection:

Water is essential to our body. In most cases, the human body cannot survive without water for more than three days. After that time, the body reaches a dangerous point of collapse, possibly leading to death.

The same is true for our spirituality. A Lenten journey without Jesus, the fountain of living water, will lead to a fruitless spiritual life.

Today's Intention:

God, we pray that the Holy Spirit directs us in prayer, almsgiving, and fasting to the fountain of living water, Jesus Christ.

Peace and Goodness

"A time to tear, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak." (Ecclesiastes 3:7)

Lent is a time of spiritual silence with God.

By journeying into the desert, Jesus found a place to block the noise and focus on prayer.

The fruit of spiritual silence provides nourishment to overcome temptation.

Today's Intention:

Lord, help me make spiritual silence with you a priority in my life.

Peace and Goodness

"As far as the east is from the west,

so far has he removed our sins from us." (Psalm 103:12)

Reflection

It is foolish to try to measure God's mercy. The effects of Jesus' sacrifice of compassion on the cross are boundless. God the Father and God the Son desire to forgive us. They wish to bless us with their love through God the Holy Spirit.

During this Lent, let us reject the lies that tell us that we are undeserving of Jesus' love and mercy.

Today's Intention

Lord, help us to seek your forgiveness. May we bathe in the waters of reconciliation this Lenten season.

Peace and Goodness