“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.” Joel 2:12 (full readings)
Ann's Reflections: During this Holy season of Lent, the Church gives us the gift of remembering the importance of fasting. Fasting - simply hearing that word makes me hungry. The world says that comfort and gluttony are good, while discomfort and abstaining from food are bad. It’s easy to not fast when our bodies tell us we’re hungry and need food. The purpose of fasting is to listen to the Lord, not our bodies. A friend of mine, Fr. Hocken, shared this: “Fasting is an outer expression of an inner decision to hunger for God and learn His ways. It is a practical aid that brings clarity and focus to the soul. It muffles other voices and distracting impulses. It softens the heart and humbles the spirit before the Creator.” This helped me understand why the Church also advises us to fast one hour before receiving our Lord Jesus in the Eucharist. No wonder the poorest of the poor who often fast, often not by choice, have a greater openness and faith in God. Let us fast not only for our own purification but also for our united effort to bring all souls closer to Him...and freedom to the unborn. Begin this Lent with great hope that all of your fasting and praying will indeed bring you closer to the heart of Christ and the joy of the Resurrection day!
* Ann Soave and her husband Antonio have a little boy, and they reside in Overland Park, KS. Ann has a theology degree from the Franciscan Univ of Steubenville. She spent several years serving foreign missions and two years as the Director of Evangelization at Benedictine College. Ann is a generous LIFE Runners partner, helping to host the team in Kansas City (14-15 Oct).
Faith Challenge: For your Lenten journey, also commit to fasting from something that takes your eyes off Jesus...and take on something that keeps your eyes on Jesus.
Our Prayers: Prayer to end abortion, Spiritual Adoption, Alpha Center, Peters family (JP). Add Prayers on our website. Pray with meals, bedtime, wake up, LIFE Runners, etc. Consider mid-week Family Rosary (17 min). Let’s pray now.
Feast Day: St. Frances of Rome
Faith Quote: “To hope is to fly, said Bonaventure: hope demands of us a radical commitment; it asks of us that all our limbs become movement in order to lift off from the pull of the earth’s gravity, in order to rise up to the true heights of our being, to God’s promise.” ~ Pope Benedict XVI (Moynihan, Robert, The Spiritual Vision of Pope Benedict XVI: Let God’s Light Shine Forth, p. 165)
Through Christ our Lord,
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* Pray/Fast: Prayer connects us with God’s will & His miracles, changing us & helping others. Fast from things that take your eyes off Jesus. Those who pray together stay together, and close to God!
* Save Unborn (& family): Abortion reality (images)…#1 death cause (23% pregnancies). Prov 24:11 & Jer 1:5. “A great poverty that a child must die that you might live as you wish.” Mother Teresa
* Evangelize:Make room for unbelievers & re-evangelization of self, by way of prayer (relationship) and following Christ’s example of love (service/sacrifice/mercy). Matt 28:19.
* Save Unborn (& family): Abortion reality (images)…#1 death cause (23% pregnancies). Prov 24:11 & Jer 1:5. “A great poverty that a child must die that you might live as you wish.” Mother Teresa
* Evangelize:Make room for unbelievers & re-evangelization of self, by way of prayer (relationship) and following Christ’s example of love (service/sacrifice/mercy). Matt 28:19.
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