Mid-Lent Reflection

JMJ+OBT
Omnia Pro Iesu Per Mariam!

Near the middle of the Lenten Journey to Holiness of Life in Christ, we take time to REJOICE "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal Life." (St. John 3:16). We REJOICE that our BELIEF IN JESUS, THE ONLY SON OF GOD, has grown and matured during this Holy Season of Lent. Yes, we have more maturity and growth ahead of us, but we REJOICE in this Lenten Journey of grace, favor and formation.

It is our BELIEF IN JESUS that has given us the victory over the many temptations that have appeared to us in this Lenten Journey in the desert. It is the Holy Spirit Who has LED us to LISTEN to the Word of God that tells us we can do all things IN CHRIST. It is the Holy Spirit Who has revealed that our relationship with the Most Holy Trinity is the most ESSENTIAL aspect of our lives. In fact, we have come to BELIEVE that We belong to God and everything else is incidental in our lives. It is the Holy Spirit Who has instructed us to DEPEND ON GOD. Coming to this BELIEF is cause for REJOICING.

We now renew our commitment to this Lenten Journey and our dedication to the holy practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. We realize that prayer is a gift of God and true prayer is realized in a living relationship with the Divine Person of the Holy Spirit. We realize that fasting frees us from our narrow selves so that we may serve the All Holy, Just and Beautiful Will of God Our Father. We realize that the ultimate almsgiving is the gift of Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist, and Jesus teaches us to give all of ourselves to our brothers and sisters so that they, too, may find the Eucharistic mystery of Life.

As we live in the Immaculate Heart of Mary, let us learn in the School of Mary to keep our vision fixed upon the face of Christ. We are being LED by the Holy Spirit to empty ourselves (kenosis) so that we can be filled with Christ and have communion (koinonia) with God and all mankind in time and eternity. We are on a Lenten Journey to union with Christ in the Paschal Mystery. We are on our way to Holy Week and the Easter Triduum. Our Lady is here to help us BELIEVE IN JESUS. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

REJOICE that you have been called and chosen to join Jesus this Holy Season of Lent. Renew your BELIEF IN JESUS. Continue to be LED by the Holy Spirit in the process of kenosis and koinonia. Ask Our Blessed Mother to help you keep your vision fixed upon Jesus as we get nearer to the gift of the Cross of Christ and the fulfillment of the Divine Plan of Our Father.

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Through the intercession of Our Lady, St. Joseph, St. Michael, St. Peter, St. Paul, St. John, St. James, St. Therese, St. Rita, St. Philomena, St. Jude, St. Nicholas, St. Alphonsus, St. Peter Chrysologus, St. Zachary, St. Elizabeth, St. John the Baptist, St. Perpetua, St. Felicity, St. Francis, St. Veronica Guiliani, St. Joan of Arc, St. Louis, St. Joseph Calasanz, St. Padre Pio, St. Patrick, St. Bridget, St. Columban and all the Holy Angels and Saints may you be abundantly blessed in the Covenant of Communion of the Most Holy Trinity, with my Priestly blessing,

Father Zachary of the Mother of God, SOLT

THE HOLY SEASON OF LENT

JMJ+OBT
Omnia Pro Iesu Per Mariam!

THE HOLY SEASON OF LENT is a time of great grace and favor. We must keep our vision focused upon the Father and His Divine Will for each of us. Our Father loves us and desires that we come to the Oneness that He has with His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. This union between the Father and the Son is the Divine Person of the Holy Spirit.

We are gifted to be LED by the Holy Spirit into the desert for 40 days and nights in order that God can speak to our hearts and transform our hearts in the power of Divine Love. We are LED by the Holy Spirit just as Jesus was LED by the Holy Spirit into the desert to overcome temptations and to learn how to win the victories over sin, satan, the flesh and the world. It is by living IN JESUS who is LED by the Holy Spirit that we have the victories that Jesus desires to gift to us. The victories are Jesus victories.

We see Jesus LED by the Holy Spirit as He witnesses to us the blessing of OBEDIENCE to the Father's Holy Will. Jesus enters the desert to fulfill the command of the Father to show us that Jesus has the victory over satan. Some people think that satan is powerful but he has no more power than the ants when we live IN JESUS. The problem is when we try to fight the battle by ourselves. Jesus enters the desert to bestow the gift of Himself on us in HIS VICTORIES over satan, sin and the seeds of sin.

Jesus went into the desert to weaken the power of sin. Jesus teaches us the importance of destroying the seeds of sin. The seeds of sin are the capital sins which are pride, anger, greed, lust, envy, gluttony and sloth. We overcome IN JESUS and live a life of virtue. We embrace humility, meekness, generosity, purity, simplicity, fasting and diligence. We must avoid the occasion of sin and the proximate occasion of sin. We do not even get near sin because we have nothing to do with anything below our dignity. We must be careful of what we look at and what we read and what we listen to because we must guard the purity of our thoughts and heart.

Jesus asks us to be LED by the Holy Spirit. L stands for LISTEN TO GOD as He speaks His Divine Word to us in Sacred Scripture, in Sacred Tradition and in the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. Lent is a privileged time where God speaks to our hearts in a special way so please make time to LISTEN TO GOD.

E stands for ESSENTIAL. We pick up so many things that are not essential in our lives. Lent is a time to realize that God is Essential. We are created by God and we are created for God. We belong to God and everything else is incidental. Do we live this reality? Make the commitment during Lent to get closer to God and He will get closer to you. Also, remember another ESSENTIAL: THE MOST HOLY EUCHARIST. Try to participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass every day, if possible, and your life will be blessed.

D stands for DEPEND ON GOD. So many people depend on themselves or other people or the economy or other things and all of them leave us disappointed. WE MUST DEPEND ON GOD. God is our Father. He will protect us and provide for us and love us. When we DEPEND ON GOD our lives are blessed.

Ask Our Lady to obtain a better relationship for you with the Holy Spirit. All grace comes to us through Our Lady because she is the Spouse of the Holy Spirit. Since we are to be LED by the Holy Spirit it is most prudent to ask Our Lady to help you come to a deeper relationship with the Divine Person of the Holy Spirit. My prayer for you is that Our Lady and the Holy Spirit will bring forth Jesus in your lives so that you live the blessed life of Jesus and always fulfill the Father's Divine Will.

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Through the intercession of Our Lady, St. Joseph, St. Michael, St. Peter, St. Paul, St. John, St. James, St. Therese, St. Rita, St. Philomena, St. Jude, St. Nicholas, St. Alphonsus, St. Peter Chrysologus, St. Zachary, St. Elizabeth, St. John the Baptist, St. Perpetua, St. Felicity, St. Francis, St. Veronica Guiliani, St. Joan of Arc, St. Louis, St. Joseph Calasanz, St. Padre Pio, St. Patrick, St. Bridget, St. Columban and all the Holy Angels and Saints may you be abundantly blessed in the Covenant of Communion of the Most Holy Trinity, with my Priestly blessing,

Father Zachary of the Mother of God, SOLT