Fourth Thursday of Lent

Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people. Our fathers made a calf in Horeb and adored a molten image; They exchanged their glory for the image of a grass-eating bullock.

If we are not careful, we too can make false idols in our lives. We can allow someone or something to become more important than our faith. We can allow the world to lead us astray and cause us to place our trust and energies into empty pursuits. We can convince ourselves that wrong is right and walk the wide road to spiritual ruin. There are many ways we can exchange the glory of God for the meaningless pleasures of the world. This is why it is so important to take time each day to pray and meditate... to ponder our lives and where we are going, and to examine our consciences.

Are we doing God’s Will or our own? What false idols have crept into our hearts? How can we destroy them and replace them with complete trust in and love of God?

O Lord, remember us and lead us out of bondage to sin and false idols.

Amen.

Ash Wednesday

Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned. Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness; in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense. Thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of my sin cleanse me.

During the time of Lent, we are called to reexamine our lives and realign them with God’s Will wherever we have gone astray. We all have areas in our lives where we can do a better job of being Christians. Sometimes we fail in small ways. Other times we fail in big ways. Thankfully for us, we have a loving and merciful God, who is full of kindness and goodness. He is more than willing to forgive our weaknesses and wipe out our offenses. And if we come to Him in the sacrament of reconciliation and confess our sins with humble and contrite hearts, He will wash away our guilt and cleanse us so we are once again worthy of being His children.

Do we take time to examine our lives and our consciences to realign them with God’s Will? Do we take advantage of the sacrament of reconciliation whenever we need to? How can we be as merciful to others as God is with us?

O Lord, be merciful for we have sinned.

Amen.

Twenty-Third Monday in Ordinary Time

Your boasting is not appropriate. Do you not know that a little yeast leavens all the dough? Clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of dough, inasmuch as you are unleavened. For our Paschal Lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Pride can corrupt us from the inside out. It can spoil our good works and lead us deeper and deeper into sin. It can convince us we are better than others when in fact we are sinners just as much as anyone. This is why it’s so important to examine our consciences, make a good confession, and cleanse ourselves of our sins. The only way to be pure and holy is to rid ourselves of all our bad habits and imperfections and make ourselves more and more Christ-like. Then and only then, will we be ready to share in the Eucharistic feast in truth and sincerity.

Has pride wormed its way into our hearts? If so, then how can we rid ourselves of it? What do we need to do to cleanse ourselves of malice and wickedness and become sincerer and more truthful in our spiritual lives?

O Lord, clear our hearts of all that is evil and refresh our spirits.

Amen.

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

I declare and testify in the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds; that is not how you learned Christ, assuming that you have heard of him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus, that you should put away the old self of your former way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created in God's way in righteousness and holiness of truth.

Every now and then, we need to reevaluate our lives and examine our conscience. We need to look at what we’ve done and failed to do. We need to ask ourselves what bad habits need to be replaced with good ones. We need to know what areas of our lives we need to improve. We need to root out those things that lead us to temptation and sin. We need to put away our old selves and their deceitful desires and instead put on Christ. We need to renew our hearts, minds, spirits, and bodies. We need to recreate ourselves in the holy image of God and the Way, Truth, and Life of Jesus.

What deceitful desires and sins do we need to get rid of? What holy yearnings and virtues do we need to put in their place? How can we be transformed more perfectly into Jesus Christ?

O Lord, help us to cast aside our old selves and put on you.

Amen.

Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Priest

We recognize, O LORD, our wickedness, the guilt of our fathers; that we have sinned against you. For your name's sake spurn us not, disgrace not the throne of your glory; remember your covenant with us, and break it not. Among the nations' idols is there any that gives rain? Or can the mere heavens send showers? Is it not you alone, O LORD, our God, to whom we look? You alone have done all these things.

Before we can make a good confession, we need to recognize our wickedness. We have to examine our consciences and look at ourselves in the mirror... warts and all. We have to be willing to recognize our failings and faults, our sins and indifference, our doubts and fears. We have to make our hearts humble and give a good confession. We have to do penance and seek to sin no more. We have to put aside our false idols and rededicate ourselves to God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths. Because the only one who can nourish our spirits and lead them into life everlasting is our Lord and God.

Do we make regular examinations of our consciences? How do we prepare for the sacrament of reconciliation? What can we do to show God we are sorry for our and are serious about amending our lives?

O Lord, pour your grace and mercy into our hearts.

Amen.

Twenty-First Wednesday of Ordinary Time

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth. Even so, on the outside you appear righteous, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.

We are not called to appear to be righteous, but to be righteous. God knows our hearts and sees our every thought, word, and work in light of our true intentions. Even when we do good works, if we do them for the wrong reason they shall have no merit before God. He knows when we act out of virtue and when we act out of self-interest. He knows us better in that regard than we know ourselves. Sometimes we can fool ourselves into believing we are acting in accord with God's Will, but in truth we choose to blind ourselves to the reasons for our choices and do what we want regardless of what God might want from us. This is why we need to make a constant effort to understand ourselves, our strengths and weaknesses, so that we can make a good examination of conscience and overcome our temptations, imperfections, and sins. If we do that, then even though we might fall once in a while, we will have the tools to recognize what lead us to fall, try to avoid it in the future, and seek to amend our lives.

Are we hypocrites? Do we act out of righteousness or selfishness? What can we do to avoid hypocrisy and evildoing?

O Lord, grant us the graces we need to overcome our temptations to hypocrisy and evil so that we can truly be righteous people.

Amen.

Twenty-First Tuesday of Ordinary Time

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may be clean.”

God calls us to be clean of conscience and heart. We cannot do that if we do not regularly examine our consciences and honestly evaluate our lives as Christians. If we are not reflective on our thoughts, words, and works, we can lose sight of what God is calling us to do. We can become hypocrites, just going through the motions of faith, but without any deeper meaning or motivation. Our outward acts of faith can become mere self-indulgence and self-glorification. This is why it is so important to cleanse ourselves of our selfishness and truly strive to do God's Will without thinking of how it can help us get ahead in life. Our faith and charity is not meant to make us look better in front of others, but rather it is meant to express our choice to follow God without counting the cost.

Are we hypocritical in our faith? Have we cleansed our insides so we can become better vessels of God's Love and Mercy? What can we do to ensure our thoughts, words, and works are done for God's glory and the good of others and not out of selfishness?

O Lord, cleanse us of our self-indulgence so we can be better bearers of your will?

Amen.