Faith Is Not a Feeling, It Is an Awareness

From the pages of the Lenten Magnificat...

Thursday, February 26:

"If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." Each year on Good Friday throughout the world Catholics and other Christians join in the tradition of commemorating the Way of the Cross. Where I live, several hundred of us walk the way of the cross through the heart of the city, a capital city where hundreds of thousands work downtown in government and financial offices, and where so many carry their daily crosses, often dreadfully alone. The drama of the twenty-first century is this, that the ever-present and loving God has nothing to do with life, with our daily struggles. Christ's relationship with the world is the cross; it is the sign of absolute love and companionship that didn't remain in death but is present. Often our cross is to simply let him in, to bear our burdens with us. What more intimate way possible to be with Him; the Christ who begs for the heart of man; the heart of man which begs for Christ. This is the witness of the Christian in the world - the certainty of a Presence (not an absence), that God is with us. This certainty converted Europe in the first centuries and it still converts hearts today.

Reflection based on Luke 9:22-25

Holly Peterson

Jesus, let me say yes to you today, not because I feel you but because I know you are with me.

Today's suggested penance: Offer your day for the intentions of another person whose name you keep in mind all day.