Showing posts with label ash wednesday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ash wednesday. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
The Power of the Cross: Ash Wednesday - Eternal Life or Death?
(Each day during Lent, I will be posting a small excerpt from my Lenten daily reading, The Power of the Cross: Applying the Passion of Christ to Your Life by Michael Dubruiel. This excerpt is from pages 253-254.)
Ask — Am I living my life in fear of death or in anticipation of eternal life in Christ?
Seek — Try to focus on Christ as the motivation for all of your actions throughout the day. Be conscious fo whom you ar trying to please in all that you do.
Knock — Meditate on Genesis 3:19. How does Baptism wash away original sin? What is the purpose of recalling that without Christ we are all living to die? How does the cross of Christ defeat death?
Transform Your Life — Make the cross of Christ your banner of hope. See in the victory of Jesus' cross a life-changing invitation to overcome all the evil forces that try to keep you from being who God has created you to be and to drive away from your true purpose in life.
Ask — Am I living my life in fear of death or in anticipation of eternal life in Christ?
Seek — Try to focus on Christ as the motivation for all of your actions throughout the day. Be conscious fo whom you ar trying to please in all that you do.
Knock — Meditate on Genesis 3:19. How does Baptism wash away original sin? What is the purpose of recalling that without Christ we are all living to die? How does the cross of Christ defeat death?
Transform Your Life — Make the cross of Christ your banner of hope. See in the victory of Jesus' cross a life-changing invitation to overcome all the evil forces that try to keep you from being who God has created you to be and to drive away from your true purpose in life.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Scripture Reflection: Ash Wednesday
(This is the same post from last year. The Ash Wednesday readings are always the same, so the reflection is just as useful.)
I would like to focus simply on the Gospel reading today, Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18, and its intersection with another passage from the same Evangelist in the previous chapter, Matthew 5:13-16.
In the earlier passage, Matthew records these words of the Lord: "You are the light of the world. [...] your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father." (Matthew 5:14,16), but in the later passage, we hear these words: "Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them." (Matthew 6:1). Clearly these must resolve. Jesus has given us two instructions that do not contradict each other, but the second clarifies the first.
We are to let our light -- that is, the light of Christ in us -- shine before others, that they may see our good deeds and glorify God, not us. We are not to perform our deeds of righteousness in vanity so that others may see them and notice us. The hypocrites Jesus speaks of crave the attention and admiration of people, and that is their reward. But Jesus instructs us to seek the Father who will bestow His reward to us.
Jesus doesn't tell us to cover up our religion, to be ashamed of our faith, to keep our beliefs secret; on the contrary, we are to perform deeds of righteousness so that the light in us shines. But he does tell us to remember that the glory is God's, not ours. It is God who will glorify us, not ourselves and not the onlookers. It is God's reward that is everlasting. We are never to perform deeds for the attention of men... or that will be all we receive. We are instead to perform our deeds to give glory to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
I would like to focus simply on the Gospel reading today, Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18, and its intersection with another passage from the same Evangelist in the previous chapter, Matthew 5:13-16.
In the earlier passage, Matthew records these words of the Lord: "You are the light of the world. [...] your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father." (Matthew 5:14,16), but in the later passage, we hear these words: "Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them." (Matthew 6:1). Clearly these must resolve. Jesus has given us two instructions that do not contradict each other, but the second clarifies the first.
We are to let our light -- that is, the light of Christ in us -- shine before others, that they may see our good deeds and glorify God, not us. We are not to perform our deeds of righteousness in vanity so that others may see them and notice us. The hypocrites Jesus speaks of crave the attention and admiration of people, and that is their reward. But Jesus instructs us to seek the Father who will bestow His reward to us.
Jesus doesn't tell us to cover up our religion, to be ashamed of our faith, to keep our beliefs secret; on the contrary, we are to perform deeds of righteousness so that the light in us shines. But he does tell us to remember that the glory is God's, not ours. It is God who will glorify us, not ourselves and not the onlookers. It is God's reward that is everlasting. We are never to perform deeds for the attention of men... or that will be all we receive. We are instead to perform our deeds to give glory to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
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