Tag Archives: Lent

Dare To Believe

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I have been musing on some words of Farrell:

“Jesus has drawn you. He’s been waiting for you all of your life and he wants to pour Himself into you. “If you but knew the gift of God…” If you but knew the gift of yourself. If you but knew the gift of each person. If you could see the glory of God, His presence, His waiting. If we could only believe the truth. “I will give you that water of life. I will give you that love that it may be poured into you and overflow into the life of each person to whom I send you this week”. Dare to believe that Jesus is waiting for you. Recognize how much in you is waiting for Him”.  

Lent is about receiving Jesus. It is about waiting and being replenished in love, patience, kindness, joy. It is saying yes to the overtures of Christ and being drawn into his desert of love.

So often we resist. We say no to what will lead us deeper into God. During this Lenten season may we open our hearts to the God of all compassion who only desires what is truly good for us.

May we dare to believe that Jesus is waiting for us and that at our deepest core we are also waiting for Him.

Lent and Prayer

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 As we move through Lent in prayer, read the words of Thomas Greene as a place to begin:

“Hearing or listening is a good metaphor for prayer. The good pray-er is above all a good listener. Prayer is dialogue; it is a personal encounter in love. When we communicate with someone we care about, we speak and we listen. But even our speaking is responsive: What we say depends upon what the other person has said to us. Otherwise we don’t have real dialogue, but rather two monologues running along side by side” (Opening To God).

During the season of Lent we want to be listening for the voice of God. It is a time to consider the self-giving of Jesus and to open ourselves up to his humble way. When we do this we are encouraged to open ourselves up to our neighbour and his or her pain so that the other is brought into our compassionate circle. 

True prayer invites us to reflect and desire the well-being of others. It is not simply a focusing on our own needs, wishes, convenience or comfort. It is a conversation which resonates with God’s purposes as we become instruments in His divine currents of love.

Prayer helps us to get our eyes off of our egos. It is a dialogue of listening and speaking: a communication linking God, the pray-er, and the one for whom we pray. When we engage in prayer we become a healing force in our broken world.

May this be our desire—to move prayerfully though this Lenten season—emanating peace, compassion and love.