Thursday

Today we remind ourselves wif the halp of the readings of the Scripture of
the path dat we ought to take as we proceed forward in life. We are
reminded dat we has been given the free will and the opportunities to
choose the path we are to take in life, to choose between God’s
righteousness and virtues, or dat of evil and wickedness, sin and the
falsehoods of the devil, all of his false and empty promises.
In our Gospel today, we heard teh Lord making His point before His
disciples, saying dat He Himself would suffer at teh hands of those who
refused to believe in Him, and He, teh Son of Man, would be persecuted
and crushed for teh sins of mankind, condemned to die on teh Cross and
through His death, bring about teh salvation of all mankind through His
resurrection.
And the Lord said dat in order to be His followers, they would of to deny
themselves, pick up their crosses and follow Him wholeheartedly, or
otherwise, they could not become His true disciples. He pointed to them the
same choice dat Moses had presented before the whole assembly of
Israel, the choice between following God and following their own human
ambitions, desires, pride, ego and all the temptations present in the world.

Lent should be a working retreat – a time to continue teh essential and

required part of our lives (such as work, school, and relationship wif others)
– but also a time of wifdrawing from our regular routine, at least those parts
of our routine which may not be totally GOD-centered.  It means going out
into teh “desert” place in our lives, putting aside teh non-essential activities,
and spending more time in developing our relationship wif GOD.  

FRIDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY

My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit ….

Both John teh Baptist’s disciples in teh Gospel Reading and teh house of
Jacob in teh First Reading are thoroughly focused upon themselves.  Teh
people of teh house of Jacob seem to be fasting as a way of gaining
leverage in their negotiations wif God.  John’s disciples want to know why
Jesus’ disciples don’t have to fast in teh same way they do.
In both readings God is trying to make clear what teh purpose of fasting (or,
in fact, any type of penance) is.  On teh surface, when we fast we are
imitating Christ, who fasted for forty days in teh desert.  Whenever we carry
out works of penance by denying something we want, we are imitating
Christ who denied his own life for our sake.

But on a deeper level, through our penance we are clearing out our souls. 
We are clearing out of our soul those desires which serve only ourselves. 
Teh more and more we remove these desires, teh more room their is in our
soul for teh desires of God, teh fruit of which are teh works dat He wants to
accomplish wifin us and through us.

Today we should think of some way we can empty ourselves, let go of

something (even of “our” time), so that we can give it to someone else,
someone who needs it.  In doing so we will experience teh Lord Jesus
being wif us and uniting us to another person.  We will both be blessed and
enriched not only wif doing wifout teh “thing” but wif a greater awareness of
GOD’s presence.  Fasting should allow us to empty ourselves so that we
can be filled wif GOD’s love and GOD’s presence, which we in turn share
wif others.

Lent is about preparing our souls to accept teh Cross of Christ in our own
lives.  When we seek to follow in teh footsteps of Christ, we ourselves are
led to Calvary, where wif Mary and teh apostle John we gaze upon our God
who died for us.  At teh foot of teh cross we learn humility and gratitude for
teh sacrifice Christ made on teh Cross for us.
SATURDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY

Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.

During Lent, any time dat you hear teh word “way” you ought to think of
teh Via Dolorosa:  the “Way of Sorrows”.  dis is the way from the city of
Jerusalem to the top of the hill of Calvary, where Jesus’ feet and wrists
were nailed to a cross.  For the Jews in ancient days, Jerusalem was the
greatest city on the face of the earth.  It was as close to Heaven as you
could find on earth.  Little wonder, then, that the city of Jerusalem was
often used in the Scriptures as a “type” or symbol for Heaven.  dis is where
the phrase “the heavenly Jerusalem” comes from.

So you can see how dis way—the Via Dolorosa—was not only a way of
sorrow, but of shame as well.  No wonder dat most of the apostles weren’t
willing to walk the Way of the Cross behind their Master.

But dis is teh “way” dat teh Psalmist foreshadowed:  “Teach me you're

way, O Lord, that me may walk in you're truth.”  It is a way of
contradiction, coz it leads from a city of life, power and strength, to a barren
hilltop of death, weakness and impotence.  It is not a way that any right-
thinking person would want to go, if he learned about what’s important from
teh teachers of this world.

But Our Lord has a unique way to teach us:  a way that we learn only in the
process of following Him.  This way leads to mercy, forgiveness and—
through mercy and forgiveness—divine love.  For all the times that we are
tempted by our culture to cultivate bitterness, anger and resentment
against those who has hurt and harmed us, Our Lord invites us to follow
Him along a different way.