Good Trade

1st Sunday of Lent

For many of us the 40 days of Lent take on all the characteristics of preparation for an Olympic marathon. We approach Lent with motivation and gusto, ready to embrace the strict discipline required to finish the race to Easter Sunday. We strengthen our will power and determination by giving things up and fasting. Some of us build our spiritual stamina by attending daily mass. Others set spiritual goals - I will pray more and read scripture everyday; I will go to confession and perform works of charity every week. Lent is a time for us to sharpen our spiritual skills and develop some good Christian habits and routines. But Lent is so much more than simply developing good Christian routines.

The 40 days of Lent provide us with time and space for spiritual growth and development. Lent is not a race. It is a retreat in the midst of life. Lent invites us to slow down, to evaluate our relationship with God, to identify and then turn away from the things that separate us from God (selfishness, greed, materialism, desire for power) and to rebuild our relationship with God.

During Lent, Jesus invites us to go into the dessert with him to confront our human weakness. Through our prayer, fasting and acts of charity, God our Father offers us the grace to make Jesus the center of our lives, to overcome the power of temptation and sin, and to assure our proper place in the kingdom of heaven.

God our Father,

in the desert your Son Jesus struggled forty days

with the demands of his mission,

and he overcame all temptations.

In these forty days of Lent

convert us; turn our hearts

to the peace of your forgiveness,

the light of your love,

your concern for people.

Let us find the life and the joy

which Jesus brings us,

and dispose us to share it with others.

We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. 

Amen.

Eggs

A lady asks: "How much do you sell your eggs for?"

The old vendor replies "50¢ an egg, madam.” The lady says, “I'll take 6 eggs for $2.50 or I'm leaving.”

The old salesman replies “Buy them at the price you want, Madam. This is a good start for me because I haven't sold a single egg today and I need this to live.”

She bought her eggs at a bargain price and left with the feeling that she had won.

She got into her fancy car and went to a fancy restaurant with her friend. She and her friend ordered what they wanted. They ate a little and left a lot of what they had asked for.

They paid the bill, which was $150. The ladies gave $200 and told the fancy restaurant owner to keep the change as a tip...

This story might seem quite normal to the owner of the fancy restaurant, but very unfair to the egg seller...

The question it raises:

Why do we always need to show that we have power when we buy from the needy?

And why are we generous to those who don't even need our generosity?

I once read this somewhere ,that a father used to buy goods from poor people at high prices, even though he didn't need the things. Sometimes he paid more for them.

I was amazed. One day his son asked him "Why are you doing this Dad?" His father replied: "It's charity wrapped in dignity, son.

The story is told of an elderly couple who lived together in a nursing home. Though they had been married for 60 years, their relationship was filled with constant arguments, disagreements, and shouting contests. The fights didn't stop even in the nursing home. In fact, the couple argued and squabbled from the time they got up in the morning until they fell in bed at night.

It became so bad that the nursing home threatened to throw them out if they didn't change their ways. Even then, the couple couldn't agree on what to do.

Finally, the wife said to her husband: "I'll tell you what, Joe, let's pray that one of us dies. And after the funeral is over, I'll go live with my sister.

Anxiety

Do not let anxiety sabotage

your search for God.

You know well that when

you search for something too anxiously

you can come upon it a hundred times

without ever seeing it.

Anxiety masquerades as true spiritual energy,

even as it wearies out mind,

drains our enthusiasm,

and deadens our soul.

It pretends to stir up our soul,

but all it does is dampen our spirit.

It pushes us until we stumble over our own feet.

We need to be on the watch for this impostor

that would have us believing

that our spiritual life

depends completely on our efforts,

so that the more panicked we are,

the more anxiously we search,

the more likely we are to find God.

Let God do his part.

Be patient.

Not even our best efforts

can earn the blessings of God.

Our role is to be ready

to receive God’s gifts

with an open heart -

carefully, humbly, and serenely.

Set Your Heart Free -

The Practical Spirituality

of Francis de Sales

by John Kirvan

Before you ...

 

I Came to Church Today

Hello God, I came to church today

To talk a little while
I need a friend who'll listen
To my anxiety and trial.

You see, I can't quite make it
Through a day just on my own
I need your love to guide me,
So I'll never feel alone.

I want to ask you please to keep,
My family safe and sound.
Come and fill their lives with confidence
For whatever fate they're bound.

Give me faith, dear God, to face
Each hour throughout the day,
And not to worry over things
I can't change in any way.

I thank You God, for being here
And listening to my call,
For giving me such good advice
When I stumble and fall!

Your true presence, God, is the only one
That answers every time.
I never get a busy signal,
because I know your are mine.

So thank you, God, for listening
To my troubles and my sorrow.
Thank you God for loving me
and dying for all my tomorrows.