Fasting Day 6 of 40 | First Tuesday of Lent
And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. Genesis 7:12
Imagine it pouring for forty days and nights. Noah and his family must have wrestled with fear. As the saying goes, “When it rains it pours!” When difficulties mount, we can feel fearful. It’s common to feel this way during Lent. The evil one throws things at us. He wants us to fear.
In Dialogue, Catherine teaches us how conquer fear. “They remained barred in from fear, because the soul always fears until she arrives at true love. But when they had persevered in fasting and in humble and continual prayer, until they had received the abundance of the Holy Spirit, they lost their fear and followed and preached Christ crucified. So also, the soul, who wishes to arrive at this perfection, after she has risen from the guilt of mortal sin, recognizing it for what it is, begins to weep from fear of the penalty, whence she rises to the consideration of My mercy, in which contemplation, she finds her own pleasure and profit. This is an imperfect state, and I, in order to develop perfection in the soul, after the forty days, withdraw Myself from time to time.”
Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) in Dialogue (Grand Rapids: CCEL), p. 93.
Growing in our walk with God links to arriving at true love. Though you face many difficulties, persevere in fasting and prayer. These disciplines will transform you as you do them. And you find true love.
God, deliver me from both difficulties and fear. I will persevere in fasting and prayer to experience your peace and true love. Amen.
Sit with God. Think of your heart as a home with rooms. Fast to empty the rooms. Pray for Spirit to fill each one. Fear goes. True love grows.