Archives by: Gary Hoag

Will they find delight in the Almighty? Will they call on God at all times? Job 27:10

“It is the manner of hypocrites, after a while, in a great measure to leave off the practice of this duty. We are often taught, that the seeming goodness and piety of hypocrites is not of a lasting and persevering nature. It is so with respect to their practice of the duty of prayer in particular, and especially of secret prayer. They can omit this duty, and their omission of it not be taken notice of by others, who know what profession they have made. So that a regard to their own reputation doth not oblige them still to practice it. If others saw how they neglect it, it would exceedingly shock their charity towards them. But their neglect doth not fall under their observation; at least not under the observation of many. Therefore they may omit this duty, and still have the credit of being converted persons…

They come to this pass by degrees. At first they begin to be careless about it, under some particular temptations. Because they have been out in young company, or have been taken up very much with worldly business, they omit it once: After that they more easily omit it again. Thus it presently becomes a frequent thing with them to omit it and after a while, it comes to that pass, that they seldom attend it. Perhaps they attend it on Sabbath days, and sometimes on other days. But they have ceased to make it a constant practice daily to retire to worship God alone, and to seek his face in secret places. They sometimes do a little to quiet conscience, and just to keep alive their old hope; because it would be shocking to them, even after all their subtle dealing with their consciences to call themselves converts, and yet totally to live without prayer. Yet the practice of secret prayer they have in a great measure left off.”

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) in “Hypocrites Deficient in the Duty of Prayer” II.

The Lenten discipline of prayer helps us regain what Edwards says “by degrees” we lose in the course of life. As converted persons the rigors of worldly business and the life cause us to pray only on Sundays and over time we actually become the hypocrites in the biblical text that we scorn.

Think of secret prayer as visiting a garden of flowers like those pictured above here in Guatemala. Their beauty captivates. It reminds us of God’s tender care. Remember the flowers don’t toil or spin, because the Father cares for them. He cares for us too.

Secret prayer is simply time alone with God in prayer. Block time for it daily during Lent. Do this not to gain favor with God but to re-learn how to live with and for God as His children. In the full sermon, Edwards shakes and wakes us to realize that without secret prayer we lose our hope.

Where is hope today? As we think about being kind and generous followers of Christ, hope is one of the greatest gifts we can dispense with abundance, but Edwards notes that it’s only found in people of secret prayer. Want to dispense it? Become a person of secret prayer. Form a habit during Lent to last you a lifetime.

And when you pray, remember me, speaking at the CONFIABLE Founders Event and having strategic meetings for Global Trust Partners in Guatemala City today. Thank you.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

“Sometimes the day of affliction becomes as a fast which has been turned into a feast. It is a trying thing to lose one’s health, and to be near to death; to lose one’s wealth, and to wonder how the children will be fed; to have heavy tidings of disaster come to you day after day in doleful succession. But if you can grasp the promise, and know that “All things work together for good to them that love God;” if you can see a covenant God in all, then the fast turns into a feast, and you say, “God is going to favor me again. He is only pruning the vine to make it bring forth better grapes. He is going to deal with me again after his own wise, loving, and fatherly way of discipline.” You then hear the Lord saying to you –

“Then trust me, and fear not: thy life is secure;
My wisdom is perfect, supreme is my power;
In love I correct thee, thy soul to refine,
To make thee at length in my likeness to shine.”

I have met with some saints who have been happier in their sickness and in their poverty than ever they were in health and in wealth. I remember how one, who had been long afflicted, and had got well, but had lost some of the brightness of the Lord’s presence, which he had enjoyed during his sickness, said, “Take me back to my bed again. Let me be ill again, for I was well when I was ill. I am afraid that I am getting ill now that I am well.” It is often worth while being afflicted in order to experience the great lovingkindness of God, which he bestows so abundantly on us in the hour of trouble and perplexity. Yes, God turns our fasts into feasts, and we are glad in the midst of our sorrow; we can praise and bless his name for all that he does.”

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) in Sermon 2248 intended for Reading on Lord’s-Day on 20 March 1892, delivered at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, on Lord’s-day Evening, 7 September 1890.

God turns our fasting into feasting because we forgo that which cannot satisfy and tap into that which does. Fasting is about saying “No” to some things so we can say “Yes” to better things.

It also teaches us how to live life after Lent. Let me explain.

Just as the saints Spurgeon recounts learned that God met them in a powerful way in their suffering, when we say “No” to things, we feel like we suffer for a season, but we learn what is necessary and what satisfies.

We don’t end up lacking, but rather, we flourish in a way that only God could arrange. Enjoy your fast, because God turns our fasts into feasts!

I notice that Spurgeon wrote this in the twilight of his life. It’s a lesson that can take us years to learn. Do yourself a kindness. Teach it to yourself this Lent!

I am flying to Guatemala City today to speak at the CONFIABLE Founders event tomorrow. CONFIABLE stands for “Concilio de Organizaciones No-lucrativas, Financieramente Integras, Auditables, Bíblica y Legalmente Establecidas” or “Council of Non-profit Organizations, Financially Integrated, Auditable, Biblically and Legally Established.” CONFIABLE aims to serve Christ-centered churches and ministries in Guatemala like ECFA does in the USA. I also have time blocked for prayer and meetings regarding Global Trust Partners, and to speak twice for G2G on Saturday on governance and generosity.

I’d appreciate your prayers for a safe and fruitful trip.

Welcome to Lent! Today is Ash Wednesday, a day we focus on prayer, fasting, and repentance. In modern terms, we recalculate the routes of our lives back to alignment with the way of Christ. From now until Easter, may God use the disciplines of fasting, prayer, and giving to shape us into kind and generous people. And, for our material this Lent, I will draw from famous preachers through church history. This one is long, but worth the read. Enjoy!

Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23

“Why has Christianity done so little good, even among us? Among the Methodists, among them that hear and receive the whole Christian doctrine, and that have Christian discipline added thereto, in the most essential parts of it? Plainly, because we have forgot, or at least not duly attended to, those solemn words of our Lord, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”

It was the remark of a holy man, several years ago, “Never was there before a people in the Christian Church, who had so much of the power of God among them, with so little self-denial.” Indeed the work of God does go on, and in a surprising manner, notwithstanding this capital defect; but it cannot go on in the same degree as it otherwise would; neither can the word of God have its full effect, unless the hearers of it “deny themselves, and take up their cross daily.”

It would be easy to show, in how many respects the Methodists, in general, are deplorably wanting in the practice of Christian self-denial; from which, indeed, they have been continually frighted by the silly outcries of the Antinomians. To instance only in one: While we were at Oxford, the rule of every Methodist was, (unless in case of sickness) to fast every Wednesday and Friday in the year, in imitation of the Primitive Church; for which they had the highest reverence.

Now this practice of the primitive church is universally allowed. “Who does not know,” says Epiphanius, an ancient writer, “that the fasts of the fourth and sixth days of the week” (Wednesday and Friday) “are observed by the Christians throughout the whole world.” So they were by the Methodists for several years; by them all, without any exception; but afterwards, some in London carried this to excess, and fasted so as to impair their health.

It was not long before others made this a pretence for not fasting at all. And I fear there are now thousand of Methodists, so called, both in England and Ireland, who, following the same bad example, have entirely left off fasting; who are so far from fasting twice in the week, that they do not fast twice in the month.

Yea, are there not some of you who do not fast one day from the beginning of the year to the end? But what excuse can there be for this? I do not say for those that call themselves members of the Church of England; but for any who profess to believe the Scripture to be the Word of God. Since, according to this, the man that never fasts is no more in the way to heaven, than the man that never prays.

But can any one deny that the members of the Church of Scotland fast constantly; particularly on their sacramental occasions? In some parishes they return only once a year; but in others, suppose in large cities, they occur twice, or even thrice, a year. Now, it is well known there is always a fast-day in the week preceding the administration of the Lord’s Supper. But, occasionally looking into a book of accounts in one of their vestries, I observed so much set down for the dinners of the ministers on the fast-day; and I am informed there is the same article in them all.

And is there any doubt but the people fast just as their ministers do? But what a farce is this! What a miserable burlesque upon a plain Christian duty! O that the general assembly would have regard to the honor of their nation! Let them roll away from it this shameful reproach, by either enforcing the duty, or removing that article from their books. Let it never appear there any more! Let it vanish away for ever.

But why is self-denial in general so little practised at present among the Methodists? Why is so exceedingly little of it to be found even in the oldest and largest societies? The more I observe and consider things, the more clearly it appears what is the cause of this in London, in Bristol, in Birmingham, in Manchester, in Leeds, in Dublin, in Cork. The Methodists grow more and more self-indulgent, because they grow rich. Although many of them are still deplorably poor; (“tell it not in Gath; publish it not in the streets of Askelon!”) yet many others, in the space of twenty, thirty, or forty years, are twenty, thirty, yea, a hundred times richer than they were when they first entered the society.

And it is an observation which admits of few exceptions, that nine in ten of these decreased in grace, in the same proportion as they increased in wealth. Indeed, according to the natural tendency of riches, we cannot expect it to be otherwise. But how astonishing a thing is this! How can we understand it? Does it not seem (and yet this cannot be) that Christianity, true scriptural Christianity, has a tendency, in process of time, to undermine and destroy itself?”

John Wesley (1703-1791) in “Causes of the Inefficacy of Christianity” Sermon 116.13-17.

Observe a fast this Lent. Fast from food, technology, or something else that your heart frequently desires. Without Christian self-denial, the church will not only lose it effectiveness; it will destroy itself.

Why do people cease too fast? Wesley points to the fact that our faith leads to blessing. We grow rich. Then sadly, we keep the riches for ourselves, and basically, it turns our self-denial into self-indulgence.

Fasting 40 days follows the example of Jesus (cf. Luke 4:1-13). Before His ministry began, He fasted. This enabled Him to set aside His desires for the Father’s will. We must do the same thing.

Lest you think it will be too hard, you get to break your fast and feast on the seven Sundays, and the seventh Sunday of Lent is Easter. Fasting, prayer, and giving help root control, pride, and idolatry from our lives.

Have we forgotten why Jesus died on the cross for us? Lenten disciplines shake and wake us to remember. May the practice Christian self-denial transform us into faithful and fruitful disciples.

Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous rules. Psalm 119:164

For the peace from above, for the loving kindness of God, and for the salvation of my soul, I pray to the Lord. Lord, have mercy.

For the peace of the world, for the welfare of the holy church of God, and for the unity of all peoples, I pray to the Lord. Lord, have mercy.

For the leaders of the nations and for all in authority, for my city and community, and for those who live in them, I pray to the Lord. Lord, have mercy.

For the aged and infirm, for the widowed and orphans, and for the sick and the suffering, I pray to the Lord. Lord have mercy.

For the poor and the oppressed, for the unemployed and the destitute, for prisoners and captives, and for all who remember care for them, I pray to the Lord. Lord have mercy.

Grant that every member of the Church may truly and humble serve you and show your love and kindness to all people, I pray to the Lord. Lord have mercy.

For all who have died in the hope of the resurrection, and for all the departed, I pray to the Lord. Lord have mercy.

Phyllis Tickle in Divine Hours: Pocket Edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007) adapted from the litanies on pages 5, 20, 21, and 69.

Lent begins tomorrow. It is a season to grow in the areas of prayer, fasting, and giving. My hope for my Lenten journey (and for yours) linked to generosity is that kindness will shift from sometime I do to something I am. Make it so, Lord Jesus.

For the discipline of prayer, I plan to pray the divine hours. This simply means I have set a daily alarm on my phone from 6 March 2019 to 21 April 2019 to pray at 6am (Prime), 9am (Terce), 12noon (Sext), 3pm (None), 6pm (Vespers), 9am (Compline), and in the night (Lauds or Matins).

This is not about winning brownie points with God. It’s about becoming a person after God’s heart. I will join followers of Christ through the centuries and servants of God all the way back to the days of King David, who paused seven times a day. Care to join me?

Sometimes I plan to read a Psalm. Other times I will pray a prayer like the litany above. I may proclaim praise or cry out for help depending on my situation. Whether or not you join me, I pray you take time to focus on prayer this Lent.

Today’s Scripture comes from Psalm 119, often called “the treasury of David.” I must note that David shouts praise for the “righteous rules” of the Lord. This refers not to a list of things to do so God will accept you. Hear him praising the Lord that when we walk in His ways, we find the path that is right and good.

Those who follow God’s ways or His design for life and living, become loving and kind. We serve as conduits of divine generosity through which spiritual and material blessings flow. May God guide us all on what to pray for, fast from, and give to this Lent so that, like our Lord Jesus, we become kind and generous.

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8

“Although we are not Christ, if we want to be Christians we must participate in Christ’s own magnanimous heart by engaging in responsible action that seizes the hour in complete freedom, facing the danger. And we should do so in genuine solidarity with suffering flowing forth, not from fear, but from the liberating and redeeming love of Christ toward all who suffer. Inactive “waiting-and-seeing” or impassive “standing by” are not Christian attitudes. Christians are prompted to action and suffering in solidarity not just by personal body experience, but by the experience incorrect by their fellows for whose sake Christ himself suffered.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) in “After Ten Years” Berlin, 1942 as recounted by Chris Pepple in Reflections on Suffering: Defining Our Crosses and Letting Go of Pain.

I shot this new header photo yesterday between snowstorms while walking Sammy’s dog, Hope St. Teresa, along the Bear Creek trail. Navigating the frozen and winding trail in single digit temperatures (in Fahrenheit) reminded me of the rigors ahead in the Lenten journey.

For our kindness and generosity to be magnanimous, we must not wait-and-see or stand-by but take action. Part of Lent, which begins Wednesday, is learning to move away from comfort and toward service to the hurting. Linked to generosity, we do this by giving alms, which is making gifts to the needy.

Part of the reason fasting and prayer are coupled with giving in Lent is that the disciplines are interconnected. To move toward the poor is to move away from our own desires or things that might benefit us. What direction should we go? Whom should we serve? That’s where prayer comes into play.

If you want to bear the name “Christian” then don’t let passivity characterize your living, giving, serving and loving. The journey to the cross is one that embraces (rather than runs from) suffering. It does hard things. It counts the cost and pays the price. Jesus moved toward us with kindness. Let us do likewise.

How precious is your loving kindness, God. The children of men take refuge under the shadow of your wings. Psalm 36:7

On 13 December 1545 at the Council of Trent, Ignatius of Loyola offered this instruction which he referred to as their common plan, entitled, “On Dealing with Others.” It’s lengthy, so I offer these excerpts today.

“Since associating and dealing with many people for the salvation and spiritual progress of souls can be very profitable with God’s help so, on the other hand, if we are not on our guard and helped by God’s grace, such association can be the occasion of great loss to ourselves and sometimes to everyone concerned.

In keeping with our profession we cannot withdraw from such association and, therefore, the more prepared we are to proceed according to a common plan, the more likely we are to succeed in our Lord. In the following notes, which may be modified or amplified according to need, we may be able to offer some assistance.

Be slow to speak. Be considerate and kind, especially when it comes to deciding on matters under discussion…and only after having first listened quietly, so that you may understand the meaning, leanings, and wishes of those who do speak. Thus you will better know when to speak and when to be silent…

In lecturing follow the same rules as you do in preaching, and try to enkindle in souls a love of their Creator and Lord, explaining the meaning of the passage read, and have your hearers pray as has been indicated….

Visit the hospitals at some convenient hour during the day, always taking your health into consideration. Hear the confessions of the poor and console them, and even take them some little gift if you can…

But on the other hand, if you wish to urge souls to make progress in the spiritual life, it will be better to speak at length, with order, and with kindness and love.”

Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) in his remarks “To The Fathers Attending The Council Of Trent: On Dealing With Others” in Selected Writings of St. Ignatius of Loyola with commentary by Joseph N. Tylenda, 19-20.

Ignatius instructs us to be good listeners, to be generous ministers to the poor and needy, and to make sure that when we speak, we do so, with kindness and love. What beautiful advice! When we speak truth with the kindness and love of God, through our ministry people find refuge in Him.

Too often we think of generosity only in financial terms and kindness only in interpersonal interaction. Here Ignatius frames these ideas in the context of the common plan for the care of souls. Think of it this way: 0ur generosity and kindness are means that the Spirit employs to work through us to help souls connect with Jesus.

With unselfish awareness we listen and attune to the needs of those we serve. Gifts flow through us to those who are sick, hurting, or needy. And, when we speak, our words are filled with kindness. I have room for improvement in this area. God help me, and may He help you too. Let’s make this our common plan today and every day.

By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Matthew 7:16

How virtues are proved and fortified by their contraries:

“Up to the present, I have taught you how a man may serve his neighbor, and manifest, by that service, the love which he has towards Me. Now I wish to tell you further, that a man proves his patience on his neighbor, when he receives injuries from him.

Similarly, he proves his humility on a proud man, his faith on an infidel, his true hope on one who despairs, his justice on the unjust, his kindness on the cruel, his gentleness and benignity on the irascible. Good men produce and prove all their virtues on their neighbor, just as perverse men all their vices; thus, if you consider well, humility is proved on pride in this way. The humble man extinguishes pride, because a proud man can do no harm to a humble one; neither can the infidelity of a wicked man, who neither loves Me, nor hopes in Me, when brought forth against one who is faithful to Me, do him any harm; his infidelity does not diminish the faith or the hope of him who has conceived his faith and hope through love of Me, it rather fortifies it, and proves it in the love he feels for his neighbor.

For, he sees that the infidel is unfaithful, because he is without hope in Me, and in My servant, because he does not love Me, placing his faith and hope rather in his own sensuality, which is all that he loves. My faithful servant does not leave him because he does not faithfully love Me, or because he does not constantly seek, with hope in Me, for his salvation, inasmuch as he sees clearly the causes of his infidelity and lack of hope.

The virtue of faith is proved in these and other ways. Wherefore, to those, who need the proof of it, My servant proves his faith in himself and in his neighbor, and so, justice is not diminished by the wicked man’s injustice, but is rather proved, that is to say, the justice of a just man. Similarly, the virtues of patience, benignity, and kindness manifest themselves in a time of wrath by the same sweet patience in My servants, and envy, vexation, and hatred demonstrate their love, and hunger and desire for the salvation of souls.”

Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) in The Dialogue of Catherine of Siena, trans. by Algar Thorold (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd., 1907) and ed. by Harry Plantinga (1994) 22-23

I wish I could have engaged in dialogue with Catherine. In this excerpt from “How virtues are proved and fortified by their contraries” she reminds us that our true colors come out not so much on good days but in times of adversity.

To see if virtues of generosity and kindness are present in our lives we must look on bad days when evil abounds against us and not just good days when we live in harmony with our neighbor.

How are you doing with regard to difficulty?

One of my daily readers replied a few days ago rejoicing that God allowed generosity and kindness to flow through him when everything around him seemed to be unraveling. Of course I affirmed him and praised God for this testimony, but let’s reflect on it a moment.

The reason we marinate in God’s Word is so that its flavors come out when we are cut. The reason we soak in Scripture is so that living water saturates us and spills onto others when we are knocked over. We must not be overcome by contraries but overcome them with good.

How do we grow in these areas? We can’t apart from allowing God to work in us.

Hear this as yet another invitation to make the most of Lent in 2019! Consider what you will fast from, give to, and pray for this Lent and how God might want to use those disciplines to make sure the fruits of kindness and generosity are “proved and fortified by their contraries.”

I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:13-14

“This shewing was made to [teach] our soul wisely to cleave to the goodness of God. And in that time the custom of our praying was brought to mind: how we use for lack of understanding and knowing of love, to take many means [whereby to beseech Him].

Then saw I truly that it is more worship to God, and more very delight, that we faithfully pray to Himself of His goodness and cleave thereunto by His grace, with true understanding, and steadfast by love, than if we took all the means that heart can think. For if we took all these means, it is too little, and not full worship to God: but in His goodness is all the whole, and there faileth right nought.

For this, as I shall tell, came to my mind in the same time: We pray to God for [the sake of] His holy flesh and His precious blood, His holy passion, His dear worthy death and wounds: and all the blessed kindness, the endless life that we have of all this, is His goodness.

And we pray Him for [the sake of] His sweet mother’s love that Him bare; and all the help we have of her is of His goodness. And we pray by His holy cross that He died on, and all the virtue and the help that we have of the cross, it is of His goodness.

And on the same wise, all the help that we have of special saints and all the blessed company of Heaven, the dear worthy love and endless friendship that we have of them, it is of His goodness. For God of His goodness hath ordained means to help us, full fair and many: of which the chief and principal mean is the blessed nature that He took of the maid, with all the means that go afore and come after which belong to our redemption and to endless salvation.

Wherefore it pleaseth Him that we seek Him and worship through means, understanding that He is the goodness of all. For the goodness of God is the highest prayer, and it cometh down to the lowest part of our need.”

Julian of Norwich (1342-1430) in Revelations of Divine Love, recorded at Norwich in A.D. 1373 (London: Methuen, 1901) Ch. 6. This one of my favorite people on the journey through church history. She reminds me of my wife, Jenni.

Julian was an English anchoress and well-known Christian mystic and theologian. She experienced and recorded 16 shewings or revelations of divine love. After that, she dedicated her life to helping people anchor their lives to God.

Likewise, my wife, Jenni, today serves as the Soulcare Anchoress. Having experienced the goodness of God, she too desires that everyone learns to cleave to Him and His goodness, so she spends herself to helping people do that.

Why cleave to the goodness (or generosity) and blessed kindness of God? Julian says it best: “It cometh down to the lowest part of our need.”  That’s precisely what we celebrate at Easter.

God, because He is so generous and kind, came down to the deepest part of our need. He dealt with our sin on the cross. As we discover this afresh during Lent, life in the light of Easter propels us to do the same thing.

God makes us into people who are generous and kind. We go down and minister to the lowest place of need of those around us. Or in plain terms, our generosity and kindness gives people not what they deserve but what they need most.

Want help from the Soulcare Anchoress for your Lenten journey? Visit her website and download the Lent 2019 Journey with Jesus. Print it and enjoy the journey of learning to cleave to the goodness and blessed kindness of God.

He told them this parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Luke 21:29-31

“Schoolmen have often asked how it is possible for the soul to know God. It is not from severity that God demands much from men in order to obtain the knowledge of Himself: it is of His kindness that He wills the soul by effort to grow capacious of receiving much, and that He may give much. Let no man think that to attain this knowledge is too difficult, although it may sound so, and indeed the commencement of it, and the renouncement of all things is difficult. But when one attains to it, no life is easier nor more pleasant nor more lovable, since God is always endeavouring to dwell with man, and teach him in order to bring him to Himself. No man desires anything so eagerly as God desires to bring men to the knowledge of Himself. God is always ready, but we are very unready. God is near us, but we are far from Him. God is within, and we are without. God is friendly; we are estranged. The prophet says, “God leadeth the righteous by a narrow path into a broad and wide place, that is into the true freedom of those who have become one spirit with God.” May God help us all to follow Him that He may bring us to Himself. Amen.”

Meister Eckhart (1260-1327) in “The Nearness of the Kingdom” in Meister Eckhart’s Sermons, Trans. Claud Field (London: H. R. Allenson, 1909) 11-12.

Sit with two ideas as we think about the intersection of kindness and generosity.

Firstly, consider this thought. “It is of His kindness that [God] wills the soul by effort to grow capacious of receiving much, and that He may give much.” Anyone who desires to be generous must first learn to grow capacious of receiving because everything good and perfect comes from God.

Are you putting yourself in a position to receive from God? Is there noise or are there distractions in your life? We must learn from God how to grow our capacity to receive. The season the church sets aside to grow in this area is known as Lent.

As we approach Lent, what will you fast from to increase your receiving capacity? Once you make that decision, decide what you will give to, so that that self-indulgence will not swallow your surplus time, energy, and/or resources.

Secondly, consider this saying my wife, Jenni, likes to say during Lent while fasting. “I am feasting on Jesus. I am feasting on Jesus.” She says that because we need to train ourselves to forgo that which does not satisfy in order to partake of the only thing that does.

Eckhart says it this way. “The renouncement of all things is difficult. But when one attains to it, no life is easier nor more pleasant nor more lovable, since God is always endeavouring to dwell with man.”

When we fast or renounce other things, we grow our capacity to gain the one and only thing that satisfies. God takes us on this journey because He wants us to find our satisfaction in Him.

Lent begins next Wednesday. Follow God’s leading regarding what to fast from, give to, and pray for. As Eckhart concludes: “May God help us all to follow Him that He may bring us to Himself.”

A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity. Psalm 37:10-11

“From the same source which gives rise to meekness there also arises kindness, for only a meek person can be kind. This kindness makes a person present a loving appearance and give affable responses and do all kinds of benevolent deeds for those who are quarrelsome, in the hope that they will come to see themselves as they are and amend their ways. Through graciousness and kindness, charity remains living and fruitful in a person, for a heart of kindness is like a lamp full of precious oil. This oil of kindness enlightens erring sinners through good example, and it salves and heals through comforting words and deeds those whose hearts are wounded, grieved, or embittered. Though the fire of charity it provides a flame and bright light for those who are living virtuous lives, and neither jealousy nor disfavor can harm it.”

John Ruusbroec (1293-1381) in The Spiritual Espousals (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1985) 58-59.

When we combine kindness with generosity we enlighten the erring through our example and we bring healing wherever we go.

In practical terms, we get to “give affable [or friendly] responses and do all kinds of benevolent deeds for those who are quarrelsome.”

This is not easy. Frankly, it’s downright difficult. Furthermore, it’s the opposite of how our flesh and the world leads us to interact with such people.

When, however, with God’s power, we do this, we inherit the land and enjoy peace in a world filled with wounds, griefs, and bitterness.

Our lives shine like bright lights in dark places, and we radiate with beauty like this the sunset last evening in the header photo.

Father, make meekness, kindness, and generosity spring from our lives people, so that others may find light and life. Hear our prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.