Thursday after Ash Wednesday

From the Word of the Day

 What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?

                                                         Luke 9: 25

 How should we live this Word

 Jesus’ provocation is incredibly timely.  The advertisement on a bus read, ‘Hefty earnings assure your happiness.’  This slogan is diametrically opposed to Jesus’ message.  Perhaps you can earn more and more and amass money and things for yourself and your family but does all this accumulation prevent you from somehow damaging your co-worker or from some misunderstanding in your family, or from failure, or from the death of a dear one, or from an incurable illness?

 Losing yourself means that your heart does not possess the key to interpreting events.  Losing yourself means mistaking the course of your life.  We are here to do good and then to possess the good forever.  We will stay with God forever, who is our happiness because God is LOVE.  God’s essence is love without limits and without impurity of any kind.

 It is evident that letting ourselves be persuaded by today’s culture, dominated by the economic imperialism of ‘having more’ means losing the meaning of everything and every true possibility of joy.  The Lenten journey, with all its demands for a livelier adherence to the Gospel, invites us to live more moderately, more in keeping with the Father’s will.  It is, as the Pope has said, the struggle against waste, against the destruction of creation.

 Today as I pause for silent contemplation, I will resolve to rid myself of all that is superfluous and with God’s help, seek to base my value system on what God deems important for my life.

 Jesus, grant that I may truly re-discover myself by leading a life that is less given to accumulation and more committed to listening to Your Word and living it joyfully.

 The voice of Lucio Anneo Seneca, ancient Roman philosopher

 Those who know how to limit their desires are truly rich.