This is the first of our meditations to guide us through the 40-day season of Lent, from its somber beginning on Ash Wednesday to the joyful climax of Easter. Based on Henri J.M.Nouwen’s “Show Me The Way” each post contains a Bible text, further thoughts and a prayer. Join us in this journey and make this part of your daily practice through Lent.
ASH WEDNESDAY
Ezekiel 18:30-32
Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, all of you according to your ways, says the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions; otherwise iniquity will be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord God. Turn, then, and live.
“The Lenten season begins. It is a time to be with you in a special way, a time to pray, to fast, and thus follow you on our way to Jerusalem, to Golgotha, and to the final victory over death.
I am still so divided. I truly want to follow you, but I also want to follow my own desires and lend an ear to the voices that speak about prestige, success, human respect, pleasure, power, and influence. Help me to become deaf to these voices and more attentive to your voice, which calls me to choose the narrow road to life.”
Prayer
Faithful God, trusting in you,
we begin
the forty days of conversion and penance.
Give us the strength for Christian discipline,
that we may renounce evil
and be decisive in doing good.
We ask this through Jesus Christ
Amen