Prayer in Lent: Repentance
The housewife is the guardian of conscience
Lent draws closer. The mother in the heart of the home prepares for fasting, almsgiving, and prayer.
The prayer of Lent is a deep encounter with conscience.
By looking to her own conscience, she is able to help the others find peace in their own souls, to be alert to the voice within, the voice of God that leads them to life in God. Her husband, her children, and her friends will benefit from her Lenten efforts in this area. When God says “let your light shine before men,” He is speaking of the inner light that leads without any conscious strain on our part. That is the work of Lent: that interior transformation.
Here are some Scriptures offered by the Church as the holy season of Lent approaches, and thoughts from a trusted spiritual master of the past, that have touched me in the last few days, and maybe they will help you too:
Save me from the waters of the deep, lest the waves overwhelm me. ~Psalm 68 (69)
He that keepeth the commandments shall find no evil. The heart of a wise man understandeth time and answer. ~Ecclesiastes 8:5
But to the penitent he hath given the way of justice, and he hath strengthened them that were fainting in patience, and hath appointed to them the lot of truth. Turn to the Lord, and forsake thy sins ~Sirach 17:20
Who then can be saved? And Jesus looking on them, saith: With men it is impossible; but not with God: for all things are possible with God ~Mark 10:26,27
“Finally, all will be made blessed for eternity… therefore all must go through a certain preparation. .. Happiness cannot be found without goodness… Happiness comes from the possession of a good [through suffering, in love]… While bringing forward these Christian truths, which seem more than ever necessary and opportune in the present day, God forbid that we should seem to lose sight of another great law — the law of reparation and expiation… One thing, however, is required… This essential is prayer… the means whereby we shall become perfectly assimilated to that divine principle which is to restore us and qualify us to enter into the eternal mansions.” The Spiritual Life and Prayer by Cécile Bruyerè, O.S.B.*
The housewife’s model is Mary, the Mother of God, Mother of Goodness. “But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.” ~Luke 2:19
Penitence, devotion, and contemplation, medieval miniature
*affiliate link I recommend the Mother Bruyerè book highly. For more suggestions for spiritual reading, go here.
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