Even now, says the LORD,
return to me with your whole heart,
with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;
Rend your hearts, not your garments,
and return to the LORD, your God.
For gracious and merciful is he,
slow to anger, rich in kindness,
and relenting in punishment.
Perhaps he will again relent
and leave behind him a blessing,
Offerings and libations
for the LORD, your God.
Blow the trumpet in Zion!
proclaim a fast,
call an assembly;
Gather the people,
notify the congregation;
Assemble the elders,
gather the children
and the infants at the breast;
Let the bridegroom quit his room
and the bride her chamber.
Between the porch and the altar
let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep,
And say, “Spare, O LORD, your people,
and make not your heritage a reproach,
with the nations ruling over them!
Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’”
Then the LORD was stirred to concern for his land
and took pity on his people.
Many people associate the season of Lent with Catholicism, but that no longer holds true. Many other churches and people are choosing to observe the forty days (not including Sundays) before Easter. Lent is a time of penance, of choosing to look closely at our lives and invite the Holy Spirit in to help us clean house.
Often we will choose to give up something, a sacrifice we offer to the Lord, but also something we use as a way to remind us to be more holy, more dependent on God. We fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and we abstain from meat on Fridays as well, although many Catholics do not understand that we still have an obligation to fast on Fridays or substitute another penitential practice year round. We are called to give alms during Lent.
These practices are meant to help us prepare to meet Jesus on Easter Sunday, having walked these six weeks with him toward Calvary, fasting as he fasted in the desert, carrying our cross as he carried his, doing the will of the Father as Jesus taught us so well.
Like Mary, we hope to find ourselves at the foot of the cross on Good Friday, still with our Savior, looking with a more hopeful and receptive heart toward the Resurrection.
If you are not a member of a church, or your particular church does not have any Ash Wednesday service, you are welcome to participate at any Catholic Church. You do not have to be Catholic to attend the service or receive the ashes. I’m sure that is true of other denominations as well.
Catholics, and many other Protestant denominations follow a liturgical calendar, which I find to be of great aid to me daily and yearly in my attempt to follow Jesus. Advent begins our new Church year, and we look forward to the birth of Jesus. We then celebrate Christmas for an Octave, and the season ends with Epiphany. Soon after comes Lent, and we cast our eyes toward Holy Week, and the death, and Resurrection, and we again spend eight days, another Octave, celebrating Easter. After Pentecost comes the long stretch of what the Church call Ordinary Time before we start again with Advent.
I find this yearly journey helps me keep an eye on where I am going. It helps me not just tread water spiritually, but make progress, and to more “live out” the life of Christ.
If your church has special services today or during Lent, please tell us about it, especially if visitors are welcome to participate. And don’t forget the Knights of Columbus fish fry on Fridays! Usually for five or six bucks you’ll get a get supper and help the Knights raise money for their charitable causes.
This post, and all of those you will encounter during Lent and Easter are meant to encourage us in our worship. If you choose not to worship, are not Christian, or have a grudge against specific faiths such as Catholicism , there are many forums online where you can debate or condemn. This is not one of them, and I will without any second chances ban anyone who breaks that rule. I’m sorry that this has become a necessary warning, but it has.
Thanks for the reminder! That’s Genesis 3:19.
Repent, and believe in the Gospel
Lectio Divina for Ash Wednesday (PDF)
https://catholicdotbible.files.wordpress.com/2021/01/ash-wednesday.pdf
While we are in a philosophical muse, I thought I’d float a “theory” I’ve had swishing around in the old noodle for some time now. A kind of science meets religion interface hypothesis. It goes something like this – so the science boffs tell us that they have some kind of “bother” with the fact that they can’t find enough matter in the universe to account for some or other calculation or theory, and so have decided that there is this unseen, immeasurable, 90% of everything called dark matter and it’s binary partner, dark energy. Without getting into the sciencey stuff let’s cut to the chase – suppose the 90% of the unknowable and “dark” stuff (very un-woke word – will need to change) IS “the other side”, and all one needs to do, to get there, is DIE. In fact, you will probably find everybody “on the other side” is going “why the dickens is everybody struggling so hard to be “alive” – don’t they know that the 10% “matter” world IS hell, and it’s only if one really cocks it up HERE in the 90% “afterlife” that the big man sends you across the energy divide to suffer and learn in the “material” world/universe – which as we have all witnessed and experienced is a completely ass-backwards place where up is down, right is wrong, and not much makes any sence – truly a hellish place.
PS – it’s also apparent that everybody on the other side talks with a 19th century middle/upper middle class English accent. – as in “why the dickens”, et al.
try hebrews 11.
Read Ephesians chapters 1-3.
That will expand your mind a tad.
If can comprehend it your joy will expand…
Forever ?
very old (wise) and well spoken
Ironically, many of the same people who theorize the existence of something they cannot see, based on its effect on what the can see, deny the existence of a God they cannot see, in spite of his effect on what they can see.
John 3:8
“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.
“I KNOW god MAY be, not what god MAY be.” We can believe in more, hope for more, and search the heavens for more – but we can Know no more. Alas.
May we all have a Blessed Lent season.
✝️?
As much as politicians and their medical advisors believe that there is a way to avoid covid infection, this obscures the one unavoidable thing in this world: death.
Perhaps these people want to avoid a serious discussion of death because they are uncomfortable with the Christian Scriptures that reminds the reader: “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgement.“
John Owen who wrote, “The Death of Death in the Death of Christ,” points to both the dilemma these words pose and the only solution. They also point out the utter futility of the meaningless political response to covid.
A caution here. Please do not take this post into a political discussion.
This is not a political post but a theological one. Many politicians and their medical advisors do not believe in the sovereign Creator but they expect doctors to play God when treating patients. This is why Christians especially in the light of this particular season in the Christian calendar should be confronting the authorities with what lies far outside of their power and authority. <p>
Paul not only wrote in Romans 13: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities” but also the qualifications that “rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad” and that a ruler “is God’s servant for your good.” <p>
When our leaders twist what God has defined as good and evil, when their actions serves only their own power and greed and not the good of their subjects, they need to be called out and confronted with their folly.
My reply was not just to you. Past experience tells me there will be commenters who will happily take this opportunity to turn the conversation toward the pandemic and the vaccine. We have plenty of posts to cover this topics. I do not want this one to be hijacked.
If we do not recognize at Lent “The Death of Death in the Death of Christ” we have not understood the purpose of this season. Because of this, a Christian has no reason to be fearful of anything in this life not even death nor what follows.
If we do not understand the ultimate sacrifice Jesus made and why, we will dismiss his words as “cruel” when he said, “The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.“
Any gospel that does not have Christ and his death at the center is a fraudulent, fake gospel. This is true of the secular gospel that the media and politicians bombard us with. If they get their way there will be a ban of all Christian gatherings and ban on Lent. However, all who know Christ and the power of his resurrection will continue to serve and proclaim him no matter the opposition and persecution.
God is Spirit and they that worship Him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
If God be for us, who can be against us?
There is an eternal and everlasting truth and comfort in knowing the Creator has made us for a purpose and meditating on this Awesome God–even knowing that our physical lives are finite yet held for eternity by the all powerful hand of Him Who loves us makes death and suffering seem a pale captive.
Psalms 102:1“(A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the LORD.) Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee.”
King James Version (KJV)
I agree. Our current situation with the pandemic and other political and social ills is for sure a spiritual failure. As a society we have lost touch with God. I am reminded of the fascinating prediction by the Hermit of Loreto:
https://stfrancispilgrimages.com/blog/tom-zimmer-the-hermit-of-loreto
Prayer can help us to reconnect with God and heal.
Thank you, Sundance.
Actually, it is Menagerie who posted this.
God is not now so long suffering in putting up with you that he will fail to be just in punishing. Do not say then: “Tomorrow I shall be converted, tomorrow I shall please God, and all that I shall have done today and yesterday will be forgiven me.”
What you say is true:God has promised forgiveness if you turn back to Him. But what he has not promised is that you will have tomorrow in which to achieve your conversion.
St. Augustine, commentary on Psalm 144.11
Very powerful. From an altar boy (ages ago).
Amen?
…for ye know not the hour or the day wherein the Son of man cometh…
Rejoice and be glad for this is the day the Lord has made! God Bless all of you!
What wonderful things can we do together every day.
Thank you for this reminder. Praying more every single day.
One of the best parts of this treehouse.
Thank you.
I think my favorite part of the Lenten season is the Stations of the Cross, so here is a visual look.
Stations of the Cross
Thanks dogsmaw
Nice!
A true opportunity to –really– think, feel, be still…., and know. ✝
~Thank you, dogsmaw.
Our church will have a Ash Wednesday service via ZOOM tonight. This will be a first for me and my family. We are Congregationalists and traditionalists.
On a Baptist church sign in my county: “Our affection for the Father is no substitute for OBEDIENCE.” Yes. This.
Obedience is what I am working on this Lent.
Me, too, Menagerie. It’s hard to submit. The “Old Man” wants his way and will not be completely vanquished until we reunite with our Savior in Glory. God bless you and yours this Lenten season.
Thanks for the reminder, All! Throughout the Bible we see that the First call is for OBEDIENCE, then in the second call come the BLESSINGS.
I Samuel 15:23
But Samuel replied: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
Jeremiah 7:21-23
21 This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: “Go and offer as many burnt offerings and sacrifices as you want. Eat the meat of those sacrifices yourselves. 22 I brought your ancestors out of Egypt. I spoke to them, but I did not give them any commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices. 23 I only gave them this command: ‘Obey me and I will be your God, and you will be my people. Do all that I command, and good things will happen to you.’
Allow me to offer 5 minutes of the most wonderful spiritual sound: the great symphonist Anton Bruckner using only the white notes of the keyboard and a typical SATB choir.
Os Iusti (The Mouth of a Just Man)
“Reforms” have chased away such great music and replaced it with geetar-plunked Jesus Jingles.
Allow me to recommend the entire symphonic oeuvre of Bruckner: each of his 9 symphonies are exciting, visceral, spiritual experiences.
Adoramus Te, Christe – Voces8 – Claudio Monteverdi (3:32 mins)
Thank you
God our Father has made His Liberty and His Love indissoluble: neither can exist without the other. Here on this troubled side of heaven, in these days of our flesh, every person born of woman is given the absolute right to choose how we will live and love, and who we will serve in these days of our flesh. Some serve God in Christ. Some serve other gods. Some serve only the flesh. Some serve Satan. Like the old Bob Dylan song says: “I might be the devil, it might be the LORD, but you’re gonna serve somebody.” Not even Jesus was exempt from the trial that we all must endure. Granted, the seed of his Divine Father in the womb of mother Mary made his flesh a little different from ours, but in the end He died like we all must and now reigns forever as the Captain of our Salvation; a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec:
HEBREWS 5:6-10 >>> Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.
Gregorio Allegri: Miserere – YouTube
Psalm 50 [1] Unto the end, a psalm of David, 2 When Nathan the prophet came to him after he had sinned with Bethsabee.
50:3 Have mercy on me, O God, * according to thy great mercy.
50:3 And according to the multitude of thy tender mercies * blot out my iniquity.
50:4 Wash me yet more from my iniquity, * and cleanse me from my sin.
50:5 For I know my iniquity, * and my sin is always before me.
50:6 To thee only have I sinned, and have done evil before thee: * that thou mayst be justified in thy words, and mayst overcome when thou art judged.
50:7 For behold I was conceived in iniquities; * and in sins did my mother conceive me.
50:8 For behold thou hast loved truth: * the uncertain and hidden things of thy wisdom thou hast made manifest to me.
50:9 Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed: * thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.
50:10 To my hearing thou shalt give joy and gladness: * and the bones that have been humbled shall rejoice.
50:11 Turn away thy face from my sins, * and blot out all my iniquities.
50:12 Create a clean heart in me, O God: * and renew a right spirit within my bowels.
50:13 Cast me not away from thy face; * and take not thy holy spirit from me.
50:14 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, * and strengthen me with a perfect spirit.
50:15 I will teach the unjust thy ways: * and the wicked shall be converted to thee.
50:16 Deliver me from blood, O God, thou God of my salvation: * and my tongue shall extol thy justice.
50:17 O Lord, thou wilt open my lips: * and my mouth shall declare thy praise.
50:18 For if thou hadst desired sacrifice, I would indeed have given it: * with burnt offerings thou wilt not be delighted.
50:19 A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit: * a contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
50:20 Deal favourably, O Lord, in thy good will with Sion; * that the walls of Jerusalem may be built up.
50:21 Then shalt thou accept the sacrifice of justice, oblations and whole burnt offerings: * then shall they lay calves upon thy altar.
V. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, * and to the Holy Ghost.
R. As it was in the beginning, is now, * and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.50:3
They are sprinkling Ashes on top of your head this year (at least they did at my Parish). It is to avoid contact due to COVID.
Nice video!
Have a Blessed Lent!
In most of the Catholic world, including both Vatican City and Italy at large, they actually sprinkle ashes on the head and have done so forever. Marking the cross in ash is an American tradition. The US Bishops (pray for their conversion and repentance of their heterodoxy in this modern age) mandated the more traditional sprinkling on the head this year because of the scamdemic. In my parish, however, they used cotton swabs to apply the cross despite the Bishops’ mewlings. A good compromise all things considered that still respects our tradition. Now if we could just get over the sacrilegious practice of the Holy Eucharist in the hand. Viva Cristo Rey!
We had ashes on the head last night too. I am reminded of Job as well. May everyone here have a good, prayerful and productive Lenten season! Got a son going through RCIA this year; pray for his brother and dad who have yet to make the journey. 🙂
thank you for this posting……..it’s making me think…..I am just returning to a church after many years away…I do believe in God ( “deep down in every man women and child is the fundamental idea of God and it is only there he maybe found”), but religion has confused me, but I am trying to reconnect. Thank you, again for posting this.
I pray constantly to Know God’s Love,
Show God’s Love,
And Know Him. Been studying the Bible with daily devotions from Oswald Chambers “My Utmost for His Highest” and just picked up “Crazy Love’ by Francis Chan. Trying to humbly listen for my call to serve.
dont give up, ever
Some (if not MOST) “religions” are run like competing businesses…They are competing for your attendance and your money…It DOES get very confusing for those who are trying to please God.
Pick up a Bible, and start reading it like a novel…I mean, REALLY reading it, slowly, because you will find MANY things that you never hear preached in a Church…things that aren’t “popular” or “politically correct”. Pray to the Holy Spirit who resides within you (IF you are a Believer) to give you guidance and lift the veil from your understanding as you read. God’s words and Jesus’s words (and the examples HE set) will tell you ALL you need to know.
“Pickup a Bible, and start reading it like a novel…I mean, REALLY reading it,”
This is the best advice. Thank you tygtyg for this post.
It’s not just what you will learn that never gets preached, but you’ll learn some of what is preached is also not true. Sometimes a whole sermon is built around 3-4 words from a particular passage, the meaning of which changes as soon as it’s removed from its context.
Only by reading, and rereading will you get the real message of what it says in its entirety. A more simple message than we think.
My opinion about denominations, whether Catholic or Baptist, GOD is bigger than all the manmade structures. It is good to take what is good, Lent, for example. What God wants from us is RELATIONSHIP. He wants to walk with us, talk to us, listen to us. He loves us, and His mercy and kindness are unlimited and everlasting. Amen.
Sigh, didn’t take long for this post to get hijacked. Can we not have one single post that does not get the politics thrown in.
I had hoped to be able to do some Lenten and Easter posts. I see that is not going to work well.
Menagerie
Globalists are minions of Satan and those who are duped by his minions. The global system of government is the beast described by Daniel and by The Revelation. The global system incorporates Finance, Education, Politics and Religion. The ballyhooed “mark of the beast” is not a tattoo or a digital implant. The mark of the beast clearly marks anyone who, wittingly or unwittingly, promotes Satan’s beastly globalist system. If today’s religious leaders were less informed by seminary school and more informed by our heavenly Father’s Holy Spirit, more people would be aware of these plain, simple facts. One of Satan’s most effective tools is i-g-n-o-r-a-n-c-e.
Ignorance. Apathy. Distraction. Yes.
But there is another….
Why do they call it ” Hollywood ” ?
Merlins magic wand was made from ” holly ” wood.
ILLUSION is also a weapon.
( The non-stop mantra that half the nation ‘hates’ Trump is one such illusion )
The first part of your reply reminded me of that old joke about the smart-ass at the back of a 10th grade classroom. When the teacher asked the class, “Which is worse? Ignorance or apathy?” The kid said, fast as lightning: “I don’t know and I don’t care.”
That’s one of three jokes I have heard in my life that I can remember. The other two are too bawdy for these screens.
Merlin is one of my heroes in literature. He could have done evil but he always tried to do his best. “The Once And Future King” by T.H.White gave me a schoolboy’s education about how Merlin used his powers to educate the boy Arthur for his work as king. It’s a great read. If I’m not mistaken, the name “hollywood” was an invention of a real estate developer. Why he chose it is a mystery to me. Back then, the movie biz was still in the future. I’ve seen pictures of the flats before development came and it’s a beautiful scene of two or three big farms under cultivation. I hear what you’re saying about the movie business. After Lew Wasserman busted up the studio system, Hollywood went straight to hell. Living on this side of Heaven ain’t no walk thru the park. God’s Blessings on America made it better than most places. Satan hates God, Liberty and us. Satan has no hope of Repentance. I believe that hopelessness has made Satan insane; he’s still clever and cunning but he is literally crazy as hell. Misery loves company and Satan is the most miserable of all…
So true. Can you see how the capital letters for godless global government become the numerals for the mark of the beast? It’s right there in front of us.
6th seal, 6th trumpet, 6th vial > > > Archangel Michael casts Satan and his 7000 troublemakers out of heaven, down to the earth. Satan #666 stands up in Jerusalem and deceives most of the whole world’s people into believing that he is “the christ” but he ain’t. While Satan is doing his worst, the Two Witnesses of Christ are also there in Jerusalem testifying against him. The whole world hate them for their testimony. Some outfit like CNN will televise the whole thing. Imagine Don Lemon’s sick glee when the Two Witnesses are finally killed and the masses parade their dead bodies thru the streets for 3 days. At the end of the 3rd day, those Two Witnesses’ dead bodies come back to life and ascend into the heavens. As they are ascending, the living Christ of God Himself is descending. When his foot touches the Mount of Olives, everything, every single particle of matter in the earth, is transformed “in the twinkling of an eye.”
Embrace the great commission and spread the good news of Jesus Christ!
Menagerie, not a response to the posting but seeing your comments reminds me that I wanted to share how much I enjoy your avatar – sunglasses on a dog! Fond memories of my own dogs. 🙂
I’ve always wondered why they reverse the King James version which is
“Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shall return.”
I’ve always wished they’ve added – Until the glory of your own resurrection.
Treepers,
I had a wonderful experience…I had a patient that I could transfer out of the ICU…at the same time, they were not giving ashes to patients, only staff, due to covid and I did not know that. So I asked my patient if he wanted to stop at the hospital chapel and get ashes…he said “yes”…so we did as it was on the way to his new room.
This was a rare instance of a patient moving out of ICU, in a wheelchair, which is the circumstance that allowed this to happen….I would not have been able to do this with him in a stretcher or bed. It was a spontaneous thought on my part…two birds, one stone…
The sister who was dispensing the ashes, was surprised but did not turn us away. I don’t think she was expecting a nurse to bring a patient with her!
I believe this is somehow ‘divine intervention’ for this gentleman. Please keep him in your prayers! He needs them.
Okay, now I will read the other posts….
Thank you. Will share this with all my friends and family of faith. God bless!
Thanks for the video. In my morning perusal of various web sites I came across this article and thought you might find it interesting.
FTA: “More rigorous asceticism probably takes place because of membership in a Lifetime Fitness than membership in the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Eternal Lifetime Health Club.”
https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2021/02/world-flesh-cry-baby-craig-david-deavel.html
Apologies for introducing politics to this thread.
Admin please delete.
Fasting does the heart, mind and body good.
May we all hear God’s voice in our prayers!
cross posted at https://freedomaustralia.freeforums.net/thread/883/lent
This year in particular Lent has a great importance. God is in control of all things. The book of Job shows us that even the testing that comes by the hand of Satan against believers must be first permitted by God. There is a reason that the evil we are witnessing is being allowed. We need to be seeking God as an American Church, the bride of Christ consists of all who call upon the name of the Lord, and allowing Him to undo and reteach those things we are failing in.
I definitely need to do a better job of consistently fasting. And there are personal sin issues in my life that I really need to allow the Holy Spirit the opportunity to do away with. Most of all I need to learn to love better, this is a constant battle for any human, since it is so easy to be self absorbed, the true opposite of love.
Rush Limbaugh has died this morning……His wife is on radio now…
Catholics, please join in a Divine Mercy chaplet for our dear Rush.
Rush passed away this morning. Rejoice that he is in a much better place!
How appropriate, as we absorb the news of the death of our beloved warrior, Rush Limbaugh. Rush gave his life to Christ so we know that he’s much happier now. But still it will leave a void.
Found in the bin…. 🙁
Godspeed Rush.
Found in the bin… 🙁
Rush Limbaugh has passed away.
Terrible News: Radio Legend Rush Limbaugh Dies at 70 (thegatewaypundit.com)
Found in the bin… 🙁
Rip Rush
Oh Rush, oh Rush, Oh all Treepers. Oh, Jesus, Oh God, shed your Grace on Rush, on Katherine, on all of us. Help us pick up the fallen flag from our beloved flag bearer and press on to save our country from the Totalitarianism infecting Rush’s beloved country and ours.
Our wonderful Rush Limbaugh has passed from this earth.
Thanks. A good presentation.
https://franciscanseculars.com/the-reluctant-saint-video/
This was excellent, Menagerie. A blessed Lent to you and all.
For anyone interested in the former, yet still perfectly licit to use, laws of Fast and Abstinence:
One full meal per day, with two smaller meals that should not add up to full meal.
Abstinence from meat on Fridays.
Children, pregnant or nursing women, those involved in strenuous physical labor and the elderly (69+) are excused from fasting.
I know I’ve said it before, but it’s true each time: even though I do not observe the rituals of the Church, I always look forward to Menagerie’s Christian posts. They are refreshing, in a way other things are not. Calming, or soothing. Thank you for posting these, Menagerie.
May God strengthen everyone on their path to make this year’s Lent sincere and fruitful in anticipation of the Resurrection of our Lord and God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
This year, Great Lent in the Orthodox Christian Church begins on Monday, March 2nd on the Church Calendar (March 15th on the civil or commercial calendar).
Each of the Sundays leading to Great Lent has a special title and meaning that prepares the Faithful for the spiritual struggle ahead.
The period preceding and including Great Lent is the time for the use of the Triodion (a special Liturgical Book).
The Prayer of Saint Ephraim the Syrian is part of daily (weekday) prayers.
The fasting practices and increased prayers and Liturgical services distinctively characterize Orthodox Great Lent.
All is for preparing for the Feast of Feasts, the Lord’s Pascha.
How very singular that a man of great FAITH and love of God, Family & Country would pass away on the first day of Advent when Christians receive ashes to REMIND us..” DUST THOU ART AND DUST THOU SHALL RETURN TO”. Rush is now in his Eternal Home. R.I.P. buddy!
The Lord chose to bless him by taking him home to await Easter, and ending Lent. “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Menagerie- Great article to exhort all Americans (and by extension, all men and women who visit this site from other countries) of the obligation to observe Lent. God is a God of Love and Mercy but He is also the God of Justice.
“Therefore I reprehend myself, and do penance in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:6)
And my people, upon whom my name is called, being converted, shall make supplication to me, and seek out my face, and do penance for their most wicked ways: then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins and will heal their land.”[2 Paralipmenon (2 Chronicles 7:14)]
“For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels: and then will he render to every man according to his works.” (Matthew 16:27)
A blessed and fruitful Lent to all. God bless you! +
Menagerie,
Thanks to you once again for such a beautiful reminder.