Lent means "springtime." As nature awakens from the dormancy of winter to the vitality of spring, so should our life in the Spirit break forth into new life. The Lord wants to give us a freshness and a newness in our relationship with Him. He wants to go on a "second honeymoon" with us and restore our early love (see Rv 2:4). He desires to bring us back to the childlike awareness of His loving presence which we had when we first started to love Him (see Lk 18:17).
To give us a spiritual springtime, the Lord may lead us through a time of crisis. Like Esther, we may be "seized with mortal anguish" and cry out to the Lord from the depths of our hearts (Est C:12). Or we may experience the Lord's glory and power through a conversion, deliverance, breakthrough, or healing in our lives. Then our relationship will be so refreshed that we will pray with childlike faith and simply ask and receive (Mt 7:7). We will no longer gasp for breath amid the secularist pollution of doubt and confusion. We can take a deep breath for the first time in a long time and breathe in the fresh, warm air of a Lenten springtime.
| PRAYER: | "My Lord, our King, You alone are God. Help me, who am alone and have no help but You, for I am taking my life in my hand" (Est C:14-15). |
| PROMISE: | "Put in my mouth persuasive words in the presence of the lion." –Est C:24 |
| PRAISE: | Thomas returned to Confession again after an absence of several years and the peace he experienced melted his heart. |
Reprinted with permission from Presentation Ministries, a lay association of the Catholic Church that focuses on evangelization and discipleship through Bible teaching, daily Mass, the charisms of the Holy Spirit, and Small Christian Community. Their ministries include:
· One Bread, One Body
· Daily Bread Radio Program
· Annual Bible Institute
· Discipleship Retreats
· Guadalupe Bible College