Lenten Study – Monday of Easter Week

PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER

Do you ever stop and think about what you can do for others?

Have you ever told someone that you will pray for them?

When you pray for someone you have acknowledged that God is present to hear your prayer. Your ability to offer prayer brings a power into your very being. God will connect with you as you speak to him. He knows that we are all his children and he wants us to pray for each other. Our very human nature makes us one with the same God.

We are Gods “beloved” all of us. No one is forgotten by him. Where we live, God also lives. And we live with all our brothers and sisters in Gods world. So pray to him for yourself and all the others.

Read: Genesis:20-1-7

Prayer

My dearest Father God, you are the God of us all. I was born, I live, I die and then I will join you in eternal life. As I walk this journey, let my sinful self die away and let me rise to praise you with all of my heart and soul. Let us all be in remembrance of the Easter liturgy: “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.”

AMEN

EASTER SUNDAY, April 9, 2023

“He Is Risen”

Easter Morning has come. Our Lord has risen. Gather with friends this morning and celebrate a quiet Communion. Bring together a few…… in His holy name, and celebrate that Christ has risen and dies no more.

“We must as a people keep rolling away the stones that keep our fellow neighbors, friends and family from coming out of their graves.”

After His resurrection, Jesus had breakfast again with his friends and he showed them how important the small ordinary things of life are. We are comforted to know that Jesus’ wounds are still visible in his risen body. And we know that our wounds are not taken away, but they become our witness to others that we all have great Hope in Jesus’ resurrection.

Read: Romans 6:3-8

Prayer

Oh My God, you are my light. I know that with you there is no more darkness. I pray that your light of hope will renew my desire to serve you and give me pure actions that include your love and mercy for all my friends, family and those I so dearly love. Let them see your light in me. I pray that you will let my light and my actions honor only you. I observe your resurrection day with my prayer’s and thanksgiving.

 

A M E N

Lenten Study – Holy Saturday

BEING RESURRECTED

Most of us today are getting busy preparing for Easter celebrations. We go about our daily rituals of washing, cleaning, feeding, dressing, and holding the bodies of those in our care in our own life. This builds our daily life and we create community in our homes. We pause to prayer this  Holy Saturday and we claim our own faith in the resurrection of Christ’s body today. His resurrection is not just todays event after his death on the cross, but it is a reality of our everyday life. Our own care for our body is a calling for unity….intimacy… and to our own integrity.

Read: Colossians 2:11-14

Prayer

Oh my God, you are my everlasting strength and you provide wisdom to me. Please hear my call for help as I keep a watch along with Christ’s disciples at his tomb. Inspire me to find a place of burial for my Lord, just as you did for Joseph of Arimathea. I now “wait in anticipation” for the Easter light to deliver me from the darkness of my own sin.

AMEN

Lenten Study – Good Friday (REVISED) 3 pm – Friday

ABOUT OUR BROKENNESS

GOOD FRIDAY, a day for solemn remembrance, grieving and mourning. Jesus is condemned to death. Jesus is nailed to the cross. A crown of thorns is placed on his head.

MATTHEW 27: 46

And about three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, Lena sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?”

Read MATTHEW: 27:47-52

From this hour forward….each of us should find a large stone and pick it up. Carry it for the next hour …. up to the 3 pm timeframe. This stone you now carry, is to symbolize your own burden and brokenness. If you have a crucifix in your home, place your stone at 3 pm at the feet of the cross of Jesus.

Prayer

My God, you are all my beginnings and my endings. Your Son was nailed to the cross and crucified this day. Oh’ my God, let me nail my sins to your cross so that I may die with you. I now lay my symbolic stone at your feet and let me now bow my head and pray.

”Jesus, Son of God, remember me when you come into your kingdom .”

AMEN

••••••••••••

3:00 pm
“It is finished”

Lenten Study – Holy Thursday

HOLY COMMUNION

Our Lord lives in us in a quiet way. He is even physically with us in the celebration of communion. In Communion we are given a home.

Luke 22:14-20

Prayer

My God of all Grace, let Holy Communion, my Bread of Life, always remind me of the breaking of Christ’s body and the pouring out of his blood for me, and the forgiveness of my sins.

Then he took the loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying…..

“This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”

 

• AMEN •

Lenten Study – Monday of Passion Week – Day 41

SEEK SOLITUDE

It is important to spend time in Solitude. When we seek we find, and then we begin to look forward to the moments of solitude, where we can enter into a period of uselessness. Once we begin our solitude, we know that our prayers bring us into the presence of Gods spirit. In this time of prayer we realize that in our mind and in our heart, we were not alone and that Gods spirit was with us all along. In solitude we feel our pain and our sorrow and they become our way to hope. This hope is not based on something that will happen after our suffering is over, but it is based on the real presence of Gods “healing spirit” in our sufferings.

Read: Romans 5:1-5

Prayer

My God of glory, I pray that you will help me build my inner solitude, my secret place of peace, away from the world and apart from my pain and my struggles in life. If my inner life is strong and I live it with you, nothing in the world can seriously upset me. I seek to practice finding my place of silence, may I honor it as my place to hear your “Word” to help me face the world.

 

AMEN

Lenten Study – Palm Sunday

ERADICATE BLAME

We spend a lot of time wondering who can accept the blame for our own, or other people’s misfortunes. But Jesus didn’t allow us to solve our own problems or the mistakes of others. Instead Jesus challenges us to discern in our darkest times, to look for the “Light of God.” During these times, we are most likely to see that God will reveal His work in us. It is very likely, that if we can move beyond blaming, to proclaiming the works of God, we will experience a radically “new life.” All of humanity has its challenges and its problems, but do we chose to live them as occasions to blame others, or as opportunities to witness God at work in our lives.

Read: John 9:1-5

Prayer

My God, the big and little misfortunes in life, and those of others, provide habits for blaming. We humbly ask for your refuge and your help, to strip these times away from us and our using of blame to cope. Challenge us to move beyond the “blame game” and to understand that these difficult times are beyond our control. Teach us to realize and to clearly see these events, as fruitful opportunities for us to grow in Faith and Love.

God is with you…. to do hard work in your life. Can you finally see this in your own life?

A M E N 

Lenten Study – Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent – Day 39

PRAY FOR DEPENDENCY ON GOD

When you pray, do you stand in front of God with your hands open, and vulnerable….claiming you can do nothing without him? Are you only calling out to Him when you can no longer function on your own? This is a point at which you must realize that you can do nothing at all, but He alone  can do everything through you. Do not make prayer your last resort.

Stand Firm in Prayer

Read Philippians 4:4-7

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Prayer

Dear Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, when I think about my being totally dependent on you, it frightens me. I do know that my life comes from you and I am not my own. It is like  me to act as if I am in control. This is my arrogance. But deep inside my soul I know that you alone will determine my destiny. May I ask you to ease my worries over my leaning too hard on you. Soften my impatience with your plans for me. Please help me to understand and pray for the knowledge that You can do all things through me.

A M E N

Lenten Study – Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent

MAKE YOUR LIFE A PRAYER

When you begin to prioritize prayer in your life you will notice that you are converting yourself more and more and in the prayer process, you begin to gain a more clear understanding of all human beings. Prayer is the pulse of our world. When you are praying you cannot help but pray for all the troubles our world is experiencing. And you must question them. This must bring you to an awakening….. that conversion is necessary for all of us in the entire human community. We must experience a turning around….a revolution, which can only lead to a renewal. Pray about this.

Read: Colossians: 3:8-11

Prayer

My glorious and forever loving God, grant me the grace to be counted as one of “your chosen.” Chosen and loved by you. I do pray, even though I have reoccurring sinful ways. Help-me Father to turn my life into an ongoing prayer. For I wish to smooth my way….. and the way of others and the whole human community. I seek true personal transformation, that my conversion will spill over and inspire others to conversion. Our world community needs to know you so very much. Let us renew ourselves to know that Jesus is all, and in all. 

••AMEN••

Lenten Study – Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent – Day 37

OPEN YOUR HANDS

How do you open your closed hands? First you must not be afraid of Him who wants to enter the place you live, or to let Him really see what you are clinging anxiously too. Don’t be afraid to tell him how little coin is in your hand. He knows how little it will buy anyway.  He comes to you always and reveals himself as love. If you carry bitterness or disappointment or hate….he knows. Even as you have little to show, let it all be seen by him. Don’t pretend to put on beauty, by holding back what is dirty and spoiled. For he knows your little path is not all “proper.” He knows it is forced and not the true essence of you. Find your way to prayer. Do not be fearful.

Read: Revelation 1:12-13, 17-18

Prayer

Dear God, my open and truthful God. My hands are tightly closed. You know that my tightly closed hand is my symbol of fear and trouble. I ask you to make my hands open in friendship and love. I ask you to open my heart too. I want my heart to be honest and open. I want to show you who I truly am in love. Please hold me back from trying to show perfection. I am human… and my sins are very real. I am not perfect…. And I am heartily sorry. Amen