Who Will Love Me For Me?

You ever have days where it seems you continue to mess up, where it seems that no one understands you?
You ever go a day and wonder, Where was God in all of that?


Well, have I got some news for you!

You aren't alone.

Especially in the journey of our discernment of whatever Vocations the Lord may have planned for us, it is important to recognize that our Vocations are His and not ours. What a blessing that is! So why do we fret? Why do we fear?
...I ask myself the same questions sometimes.

Today, on this Monday of Holy Week, let us claim our discernment for the Lord. Let us press on into Jerusalem with the Lord as we prepare for our passionate love to be revealed and exposed in such vulnerability! Be not afraid!

May this simple but powerful phrase be our battle cry this week:

The Great build up

One of the great benefits we have living in the formation house is being able to experience and worship at daily mass. Though it may be early (630 AM meditation for some, and 7 AM prayers followed by mass), one can feel the fruits, especially during this Lenten season.

When you go to daily mass, you also realize that the Church in her wisdom likes to order the readings to build up to certain points. In the case of Lent, that point is the Triduum, and more specifically Easter.

Looking just at last weeks Gospels, the stories included Jesus saying that it was "The hour for the Son of Man to be glorified" (Sunday), "Where [He] is going [His disciples] could not come" (Tuesday), and "Whoever keeps my word will never see death" (Thursday). Can't you feel the tension building!!!!

On Saturday, we read in the Gospel that the Sanhedrin had gathered together (in their secretlair with candle light and scary music playing) and decided to capture and kill Jesus. Jesus then went near the desert. The end reads "They looked for Jesus and said to one another as they were in the temple area, "What do you think? That he will not come to the feast?"

You can picture it! Right after this statement, there is a cut to Jesus entering Jerusalem, being greeted with cloaks and branches strewn on the road, riding in majestically on a colt, or if you're reading from John...............on a donkey!

Holy week is all about this continued build up. The Gospel for today is literally the day (or scene) after the one noted above, where Jesus is at table with his good old buddy Lazarus (who he raised from the dead), and Martha who anointed Jesus' feet with oil and dried them with her hair. We get our little hint that Judas would betray Jesus when he scolds Martha, and Jesus says to "Let her keep this for the day of my burial"......as if He knew it wasn't that far away.

During this holy week, let's sit on the edge of our seats....spiritually that is. Offer up our Lenten penance even more devoutly than the last 30+ days, to prepare for the great climax of the story of our salvation.

On another note, our Salesian vocation website has been updated recently, including now full bios of most of the guys in formation currently. Check it out at:

http://www.salesiansofdonbosco.org/

(just a warning, the home page includes a video that auto plays, so just turn down your speakers before you check it out)