Day 1 of Lent

February 18, 2015|Adam Minihan|Lenten Reflections

St. Michael Radio is grateful to be apart of your Lenten journey this year.

In hopes of making this Lent a more fruitful one, we will be offering a Bible verse each day of Lent along with a small reflection. The hope is by the end of the 40 days, we will have memorized (or at least become more familiar with) 40 different Bible verses that we can carry on through the rest of 2015.

We will start out easy on Ash Wednesday as you have heard this verse before and will be hearing it today. There are many good blogs out there, that explain much better than I could, what Lent, Fasting, and Penance means and why Catholics do it.

Good Blogs on Lent and Fasting. Here. Here. Here. Here. And Here

DAY 1 BIBLE VERSE:

GENESIS 3:19

“By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”

When you receive your ashes today and hear the words “Man is dust, and to dust you shall return”, we are reminded of our dependence upon God for our souls’ eternal life in Heaven, and the fallibility of our Free Will. We are reminded that we are not made for this world, but for the next. The very fact that you cannot be fully satisfied in this life, proves you are made for the next… made for something greater! “My heart is restless Lord, until it rests in you!”

In Chapter 4 of The Rule of St. Benedict, St. Benedict tells us, “Day by day remind yourself that you are going to die.” Perhaps at first, this may seem like a gloomy thing to remind yourself, but after reflecting on Genesis 3:19, God tells us this will happen. We will all die. And each day we remind ourselves of this, it pushes our pride out of the way. For true love cannot exist with pride sitting next to it. Each day we have been given a gift of another day of life. Let us use this gift to Know Him, to Love Him, and to Serve Him in this life so we may have eternal life with Him. Our Lord has prepared a seat for each of us at his beautiful banquet in Heaven. For that is when our hearts will no longer be restless, for they will be at rest in Our Lord.

We will be praying for all of you during Lent. We pray this may help enrich your Lent so you may become closer to our Lord. For He loves you so much and begs you to come closer to Him. Let us all walk the path towards sainthood! Be Not Afraid!

IDEAS TO HELP YOU MEMORIZE BIBLE VERSES EACH DAY:

ASK FOR THE GRACE TO REMEMBER THE VERSE THROUGHOUT THE DAY.
ASK YOUR GUARDIAN ANGEL TO HELP YOU REMEMBER THE BIBLE VERSE THROUGHOUT THE DAY
BEFORE UNLOCKING YOUR PHONE OR SENDING A TEXT MESSAGE, EACH TIME REPEAT THE BIBLE VERSE.
BEFORE SENDING AN EMAIL OUT, REPEAT THE BIBLE VERSE.
WHILE BRUSHING YOUR TEETH IN THE MORNING AND AT NIGHT, REPEAT THE BIBLE VERSE.
EACH TIME YOU GET INTO YOUR CAR, BEFORE YOU START IT, REPEAT THE BIBLE VERSE.
BEFORE PRAYER BEFORE MEALS WITH YOUR FAMILY, REPEAT THE BIBLE VERSE.
SEND THE BIBLE VERSE TO YOUR SPOUSE, KIDS, OR FAMILY THROUGHOUT THE DAY AS A REMINDER.
START EACH PRAYER THROUGHOUT THE DAY WITH THE BIBLE VERSE.
EACH TIME YOU WALK THROUGH A DOORWAY, REPEAT THE BIBLE VERSE.