The Lord’s Prayer
(by R. Rolheiser)
YOUNG ROOTS
“Anger to Love”
Daybreaks: Daily Reflections for Lent & Easter
by Ron Rolheiser, OMI
“The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many”.
(MATTHEW 20:28)
With the current state of affairs whether you’re looking at politics or the churches, it’s a challenge not to become pessimistic, angry, and bitter. But bitterness and anger, no matter how justified, are not good places to stay. Both Jesus and what’s noble inside of us invite us to move beyond anger and indignation.
At the truly bitter moments of our lives – when we’re feeling overwhelmed by feelings of misunderstanding, slight, injustice, and rightful indignation and we’re starting across at those whom we deem responsible for the situation – anger and hatred will naturally arise within us. It’s OK to dwell with them for a time because anger is an important mode of grieving. But after a time we need to move on. The challenge is to ask ourselves: How do I love now, given all this hatred? What does love call me to now in this bitter situation? Where can I now find a common thread that can keep me in family with those at whom I’m angry? How do I reach through the space that now leaves me separated by my own justified feelings of anger? And perhaps most important of all: Where can I now find the strength to not give in to hatred and self-serving indignation?
That’s the ultimate moral challenge, the test that Jesus himself faced in Gethsemane. How do you love when everything around you invites you to the opposite?” (14-15).
“Charity”
Lenten thoughts
“What we would like to do is change the world – make it a little simpler for people to feed, clothe, and shelter themselves as God intended them to do. And, by fighting for better conditions, by crying out unceasingly for the rights of the workers, the poor, of the destitute – the rights of the worthy and the unworthy poor, in other words – we can, to a certain extent, change the world; we can work for the oasis, the little cell of joy and peace in a harried world. We can throw our pebble in the pond and be confident that its ever widening circle will reach around the world. We repeat, there is nothing we can do but love, and, dear God, please enlarge our hearts to love each other, to love our neighbor, to love our enemy as our friend.”
“40 Ways To Be During Lent”
Ashes to Easter
– Be Quiet –