Lenten Meditation

My Dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

 

Book 1 Chapter 22: On the Consideration of Human Misery

 

“You are wretched wherever you are and no matter which way you turn – unless your turning is to God.”

 

Today we are asked the question is misery good or bad? “Who is there that gets their own way all the time?”  Everyone in the world has troubles and faces trials.  None of us are free from pain and suffering.  It does not matter how rich or poor you are, whether you’re a good person or not, a king or the pope, you will have troubles in your life.  We become spiritually weak when we look at other people and think that their life is so much easier because they lead a “nice life”.  In our envy we become jealous and desire things that are not good for us.  Suffering is not bad for us since it unites us with Christ’s suffering on the cross.  It allows us to understand just how weak we are and that we need to rely upon the strength and mercy of our Father in heaven.  Our happiness should not be based on our worldly possessions but on our spiritual possessions.  Our spiritual possessions are possessions that are only visible to God. Thomas a Kempis states that “the more spiritual we become, the more painful it is, for we better understand the defects of human corruption.”  You must be careful not to become consumed by a love for this “miserable and corruptible life” because in your love for this world, you “would never want to leave it for the kingdom of God.”  It is so easy to be lured away from your spirituality by the pleasures of the flesh because “when death comes, then [you] will realize how utterly worthless were the things [you] loved so much.” If you look to the Saints and Christ’s faithful followers as our model for life, you will that they gave up the worldly desires and “set their sights and placed all their hopes on eternal joys.”  It was through the fear of loving the material things that they might be drawn downward into the fires of hell.  During Lent, you need to get up and make these great changes in your life.  We must realize that we live in a fallen world and sin abounds all around us.  We must learn to wait in patience, “having confidence in the mercy of God.” We must learn to be diligent because the virtue we gained by God’s grace can be lost through our own carelessness.

 

A Simple Prayer

 

Father in Heaven, Creator of All;  

Have mercy on my soul.

Help me to accept my suffering and live through my misery

So I can enjoy the Kingdom of Heaven.

 

Yours in Christ

Michael Marcon