USCatholic.org - Lent

Day 40. Mary Lynn Hendrickson: Turn off the technology

Online Editor — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Each day of Lent (minus Sundays) we'll bring you words of wisdom from spiritual guides.

40. Mary Lynn Hendrickson: Turn off the technology
We can spend time away from our spouse but not our cell phone. The VCR giveth and taketh away: taping Dr. Phil one minute and chewing up treasured family memories the next. Taking a day off from our love/hate relationship with technology can be a valuable spiritual experience. It can help keep our frustrations at bay, our expectations in check, our priorities straight.

Day 39. Richard Rohr, O.F.M.: Being prayer

Online Editor — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 10:00:00 +0000

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Each day of Lent (minus Sundays) we'll bring you words of wisdom from spiritual guides.

39. Richard Rohr, O.F.M.: Being prayer
Prayer is one of those words that needs revisioning. We tend to think of it as something we do, but it is much more something we are. When we live in union we are a prayer, and everything we do becomes conscious, willing, and free...

Day 38. Thomas Merton, O.C.S.O.: Give it time

Online Editor — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Each day of Lent (minus Sundays) we'll bring you words of wisdom from spiritual guides.

38. Thomas Merton, O.C.S.O.: Give it time
If we really want prayer, we'll have to give it time. We must slow down to a human tempo and we'll begin to have time to listen. And as soon as we listen to what's going on, things will begin to take shape by themselves.

Day 37. Diana Hayes: Dying on the cross

Online Editor — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Each day of Lent (minus Sundays) we'll bring you words of wisdom from spiritual guides.

37. Diana Hayes: Dying on the cross

Day 36. C.S. Lewis: The risks of love

Online Editor — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Each day of Lent (minus Sundays) we'll bring you words of wisdom from spiritual guides.

36. C. S. Lewis: The risks of love

Day 35. Madeleine L’Engle: Repentant lambs

Online Editor — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Each day of Lent (minus Sundays) we'll bring you words of wisdom from spiritual guides.

35. Madeleine L'Engle: Repentant lambs
How often the image of the good shepherd is used throughout scripture! The good shepherd goes out into the wilderness after the one lost sheep and brings it home, rejoicing. There does seem to be more excitement over the return of the lost sheep than there is over all the good little sheep who stayed home. There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

Day 34. Thich Nhat Hanh: Mindful consumption

Online Editor — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Each day of Lent (minus Sundays) we'll bring you words of wisdom from spiritual guides.

34. Thich Nhat Hanh: Mindful consumption
The Buddha said that we cannot only talk about doing what is beneficial, we have to put it into practice. By practicing [the Five Mindfulness Trainings], we gain more awareness of the suffering caused by the violence in our thoughts, words, and actions. . . .

Day 33. Phyllis Tickle: Spiritual season

Online Editor — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Each day of Lent (minus Sundays) we'll bring you words of wisdom from spiritual guides.

33. Phyllis Tickle: Spiritual season

Day 32. Archbishop Oscar Romero: Admit guilt

Online Editor — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 10:00:00 +0000

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Each day of Lent (minus Sundays) we'll bring you words of wisdom from spiritual guides.

32. Archbishop Oscar Romero: Admit guilt
Easter is a shout of victory! No one can extinguish that life that Christ resurrected. Not even death and hatred against him and against his church will be able to overcome it. He is the victor! Just as he will flourish in an Easter of unending resurrection, so it is necessary to also accompany him in Lent, in a Holy Week that is cross, sacrifice, martyrdom . . . Happy are those who do not become offended by their cross!

Day 31. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin: Redemptive suffering

Online Editor — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 10:00:00 +0000

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Each day of Lent (minus Sundays) we'll bring you words of wisdom from spiritual guides.

31. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin: Redemptive suffering
What a vast ocean of human suffering spreads over the entire earth at every moment! Of what is this mass formed? Of blackness, gaps, and rejections. No, let me repeat, of potential energy. In suffering, the ascending force of the world is concealed in a very intense form. The whole question is how to liberate it and give it a consciousness of its significance and potentialities.

Day 30. Macrina Wiederkehr, O.S.B.: Real presence

Online Editor — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Each day of Lent (minus Sundays) we'll bring you words of wisdom from spiritual guides.

30. Macrina Wiederkehr, O.S.B.: Real presence
Everything can bless us, but we've got to be there for the blessing to occur. Being present with quality is a decision we are invited to make each day. It is another way to become like God.

Day 29. St. Thérèse of Lisieux: The vocation of love

Online Editor — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 10:00:00 +0000

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Each day of Lent (minus Sundays) we'll bring you words of wisdom from spiritual guides.

29. St. Thérèse of Lisieux: The vocation of love
Yes, my beloved, this is how my life will be consumed. I have no other means of proving my love for you other than that of strewing flowers, that is, not allowing one little sacrifice to escape, not one look, one work, profiting by all the smallest things and doing them through love.

Day 28. Ronald Rolheiser, O.M.I.: Mourning our losses

Online Editor — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Each day of Lent (minus Sundays) we'll bring you words of wisdom from spiritual guides.

28. Ronald Rolheiser, O.M.I.: Mourning our losses
Perhaps the greatest spiritual and psychological challenge for us once we reach mid-life is to mourn our deaths and losses. Unless we mourn properly our hurts, our losses, life's unfairness, our shattered dreams, our radical inconsummation, and the life that we once had but that has now passed us by, we will live either in an unhealthy fantasy or an ever-intensifying bitterness.

Day 27. St. Vincent de Paul: God’s mercy

Online Editor — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 10:00:00 +0000

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Each day of Lent (minus Sundays) we'll bring you words of wisdom from spiritual guides.

27. St. Vincent de Paul: God's mercy

Day 26. Megan McKenna: The fast I want

Online Editor — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Each day of Lent (minus Sundays) we'll bring you words of wisdom from spiritual guides.

26. Megan McKenna: The fast I want

Day 25. St. Francis of Assisi: Peace prayer

Online Editor — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 10:00:00 +0000

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Each day of Lent (minus Sundays) we'll bring you words of wisdom from spiritual guides.

25. St. Francis of Assisi: Peace prayer
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is sadness, joy.

Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled,
as to console;

To be understood, as to understand;

To be loved, as to love;

Day 24. Joseph Cardinal Bernardin: The value of suffering

Online Editor — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Each day of Lent (minus Sundays) we'll bring you words of wisdom from spiritual guides.

24. Cardinal Joseph Bernardin: The value of suffering
It is a normal, instinctive response to run from suffering. We try to avoid it for ourselves, and we make every effort to protect our loved ones from it. Suffering is perceived as a dire threat to our life and happiness.

Day 23. Meister Eckhart: True conversion

Online Editor — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Each day of Lent (minus Sundays) we'll bring you words of wisdom from spiritual guides.

23. Meister Eckhart: True conversion
Many people think that to show their sorrow for sin they must do extraordinary things such as fasting, walking barefoot, and the like. The best penitence, however, is to turn away completely from all that is not God and not divine, whether it be in yourself or some other person, place, or thing.

Day 22. M. Basil Pennington, O.C.S.O.: A clash of wills

Online Editor — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Each day of Lent (minus Sundays) we'll bring you words of wisdom from spiritual guides.

22. M. Basil Pennington, O.C.S.O.: A clash of wills
How often have we prayed: "Our Father, who art in heaven . . . thy will be done. . . . " We have watched the ultimate expression of our Lord's own struggle as he sweat blood in Gethsemane's garden and in his anguish cried out: "Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me, but not my will but yours be done."

Day 21. Joan Chittister, O.S.B.: A growing season

Online Editor — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 10:00:00 +0000

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Each day of Lent (minus Sundays) we'll bring you words of wisdom from spiritual guides.

21. Joan Chittister, O.S.B.: A growing season
Lent is not an event. It is not something that happens to us. It is at most a microcosm of what turns out to be a lifelong journey to the center of the self.