Day 10 The purpose of the liturgical season of Lent is to grow in closeness to the Lord through truth, repentance, and the word of God moving into fullness within your heart. Truth of the Spirit with Patti Brunner presents Daily Meditations for Lent. Lenten Logos includes personal revelation for your discernment to grow in your relationship with the Lord during this liturgical season of Lent.
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Welcome to Truth of the Spirit. I am your host, Patti Brunner. This is our series “Daily Meditations for Lent, it’s the Friday of the first week of Lent. Each day during Lent we will share personal revelation for you to discern and meditation from those logos, those words from the Lord.
Psalm 81 says “I heard your cry and rescued you.” I heard the Lord say, “My dear child, grumbling- my people have grumbled for ages. They cannot be satisfied until they rest in me – along with all their friends and family. Meanwhile I am a patient God and I turn not away from them with a stone ear. Nay, I solace my children and give gifts to bring joy and to renew their spirits.
I heard the Lord say this, “My Child, the desert is a lonely place for those who cannot see the beauty that sits at the horizon. The desert will bloom. Life giving water shall burst forth upon the land. Restoration of all living things shall give witness to the glory of the Kingdom of God. Concern for your fellow man shall help bring forth the fountain in due time. My Child, continue to seek the Lord in all you do. Continue to reach out into the shadows and take those in darkness by the hand. They do not see and they do not hear but in the shadows they can feel the touch of God. Be my hands, my arms, and reach out to them and draw them to Me.”
I heard the Lord say, “My child, giving thanks is an important way to begin, and (is) an important way to end the dark. You do not always see the things to be grateful for. The Lord does great things for you. My child, continue to have a grateful heart. In joy, there is thankfulness. In the Kingdom there is thankfulness. It does not pass away as does faith and hope but it lives on with love. Seek it, learn it, live it. Be grateful to those whom you encounter. Be grateful for those who turn from evil and those who give you reason to turn to the Lord in prayer. Let me repeat that last part, “Be grateful for those who give you reason to turn to the Lord in prayer!
One Lent I asked the Lord how to teach 4th graders about evil spirits after their teacher asked me to do this. The Lord told me to say this to the youngsters, “Dear children, there is a force in this land that is against God. It hates God and wants you to hate God, too. As long as you love God you are safe from evil spirits. My angels guard you day and night. But if you do not hate sin but come to love sin, the evil one – the evil spirits – are attracted to you like moths to a light bulb on a summer night. The evil spirit wants you to hate God. If you are not sorry for your sins then other spirits will join you in your hatred for God. There can be several with you because most people do not let them into their hearts. Most people want only Jesus to live in their hearts. Evil spirits cannot live in the same place as Jesus. They are too ashamed of their darkness. But when they live with someone who hates God, they are proud of themselves. It takes a very special prayer to get rid of evil spirits. You can keep them away by staying close to Jesus and the Eucharist. Always be sorry when you have sinned and ask God to forgive you. God will always forgive and He always will love you very much.
Listen to this from Genesis Chapter 4. “3 In the course of time Cain brought an offering to the LORD from the fruit of the soil, 4 while Abel, for his part, brought one of the best firstlings of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not. Cain greatly resented this and was crestfallen. 6 So the LORD said to Cain: “Why are you so resentful and crestfallen? 7 If you do well, you can hold up your head; but if not, sin is a demon lurking at the door: his urge is toward you, yet you can be his master.”
During Lent we focus on sacrifices especially the pascal sacrifice. Inthe Catechism paragraph 614 we are taught: This sacrifice of Christ is unique; it completes and surpasses all other sacrifices. First, it is a gift from God the Father himself, for the Father handed his Son over to sinners in order to reconcile us with himself. At the same time it is the offering of the Son of God made man, who in freedom and love offered his life to his Father through the Holy Spirit in reparation for our disobedience. Jesus substitutes his obedience for our disobedience.
Paragraph 615 continues quoting Romans chapter 5, verse 19,“For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous.” By his obedience unto death, Jesus accomplished the substitution of the suffering Servant, who “makes himself an offering for sin,” when “he bore the sin of many,” and who “shall make many to be accounted righteous,” for “he shall bear their iniquities.” Jesus atoned for our faults and made satisfaction for our sins to the Father.
Let’s think about that. Through one disobedient man, Adam, sin broke the spirit to Spirit connection between God and man. Through one obedient, righteous man, Jesus, life has been restored. We have become the temple of the Holy Spirit through the sacrifice on the Cross. What an awesome gift this Spirit connection must be that our Lord Jesus suffered so much to attain it for us! How little we understand of that which we cannot taste, see, or touch. Jesus anoints us with the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, to teach us God’s goodness, to restore us to hope and understanding. Do we acknowledge our connection?
Unlike the sacrifices of Cain and even Moses, on the cross Jesus became the perfect sacrifice that restores our relationship with God. We enter into eternity during the mass. Each time we celebrate the Eucharist, we are made present to the Crucifixion and the sacrifice of Jesus as we recall the words, “This is my Body, this is my Blood.” This perfect sacrifice by the perfectly obedient Son overcame sin and death. As we are taught in the Old Testament, consuming a portion of the sacrifice brings us into relationship with God. We participate in the perfect sacrifice as we consume Holy Communion. Think about that!
Please click like, follow or subscribe and join us tomorrow for Daily Meditations for Lent with Patti Brunner. Remember, “The event of the Cross and Resurrection abides and draws everything toward life.”[i] “Prepare for it, ready your heart.” The transcript of this episode is available at PatriarchMinistries.com/280. Come back tomorrow for more. With the Holy Spirit there’s always more. Amen.
[i] Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraph 1085
