Follow us
Posts Tagged ‘almsgiving’
2nd Sunday Lent Yr B – Lent: denying ourselves sweets or confronting injustice?
Download Reflection 2nd Sunday Lent Yr B
Reflection Questions
- At first glance, Abraham’s willingness to kill his son Isaac looks like murder. A deeper reflection leads us to recognise what is involved in offering a ‘sacrifice’. Abraham’s hope and future promise for many descendants is in Isaac. Abraham places his life and future in the hands of God. A ‘test’ for Abraham has found him ‘worthy’ and completely abandoned and obedient to whatever God will ask. Has God called you to do something? Have you delayed? Why does God invite followers to ‘give up’ things we hold so tightly?
- Some scholars suggest that this special ‘high place’ where Abraham was to offer Isaac was the actual site of the 1st Temple of Solomon. High places were often on ‘mountains’ and were ‘meeting places with God’. Where is your ‘high place’ and what ‘offering’ or ‘sacrifice’ could you offer to God showing you yield to God’s will for your life in total trust?
- St Paul encourages us to enter our imagination to feel how great God’s love must be. Have you ever had a friend or family show great generosity in buying or doing something for you? That ‘proof’ of their love allows you to deeply know they are ‘for’ you. If God did not spare his own Son, there is nothing more he could give to show the depth of his love. Does this give you confidence? To ask? Love?
- The Transfiguration is in the middle of Mark’s gospel. It is time to go deeper. Jesus has just challenged disciples to be willing to ‘give up your life’(8,34-35) for his cause. They probably want ‘proof’ that it will be ‘worth it’. Jesus shows disciples his divinity (dazzling white as a sign of God’s presence) and authority (Moses and Elijah both spoke to God face to face on special mountains). He is truly the Son of God! Persecution and even death will be moments of persecutors merely bringing judgement upon themselves as against God, and will be a doorway for a disciple into heaven and victory. Do you overly spiritualize the phrase ‘deny oneself’? Is Lent about punishing the body or a transformed lifestyle and society confronting injustice? How much ‘cost’ are you willing to endure? How could you ‘give alms’ to lift up those in need this Lent?
- The presence of God – like a cloud covering the Mountain to speak face to face with Moses – speaks. We are not simply to gaze or adore, but LISTEN TO HIM. How could you more faithfully ‘listen’ to Jesus in prayer this Lent? What has worked? What has not worked?
- Fasting has often been a spiritual practice that intensifies within our bodies a focus, a need, a prayer, a request, a cause. What or Who could you fast From or For?
- How will you ‘livetheword’ this week?
Download Document: Ash Wednesday
Reflection Question 4: Jesus does not ask, but presumes that a disciple will do certain actions. When you give alms…. When you pray…. When you fast…. These traditional lenten practices are powerful practices that help us to clearly focus on what is important. Prayer: What voices do you listen to? Fasting: What things fill your life? Almsgiving: Do you hear the cries of those in need and respond?
Lent is like a time of running the race. Receiving the Ashes during Ash Wednesday is like being at the starting line. But will we run the race? Here are some helps to get started. Download: Ash Wednesday – Getting Started
- HOW DO I START? Ash Wednesday begins Lent. It is easy for 6 weeks of Lent to pass by and one has not placed oneself on the ‘starting line’ to begin the journey. Taking part in the reception of the ashes symbolises starting the journey. It is possible to appear at the starting line but not enter the race! What was the experience and journey of Lent last year like? Share a decision and plan with a faith-friend and ask for them to cheer you on over the next 40 days.
- IT TAKES TIME The image from the prophet Joel 2:12-18 (1st Reading Ash Wednesday) is an invitation for everything to come to a complete stop. Call everyone. Old. Young. Babies. Newly married. Priests in the middle of their work at the altar. How could you ‘stop’? Where? When? The image is of a special people called to be a ‘light’ not a ‘reproach’ among the nations. Give some time in a quiet place to tell yourself you have started the journey and write a decision or plan for Lent
- WHAT CAN I DO? Jesus presumes that a disciple will do certain actions (see Gospel reading for Ash Wed, Matthew 6:1-6,16-18). When you give alms…. When you pray…. When you fast…. These are the three traditional and powerful lenten practices that help us focus on what is important.
Practice of Prayer: What voices do I listen to?
Practice of Fasting: What things fill my life? What is unhealthy? What needs change? Balance?
Practice of Almsgiving: What is my money spent on? Do I hear the cries of those in need and respond? Could I live more simply and be more generous?
download: 1st Sunday Lent of Year C
Reflection question 3: The book of Deuteronomy shares one of the most important statements of faith in the Old Testament. It was spoken every time a person gave their offering to the priest in the Temple. It reminded them of their identity and how God ‘saved’ them. Bringing the tithe (tenth) of the harvest to the temple acknowledged God’s care and provision. How could you express this religious practice of ‘tithing’? Dt 26: 12-15 invites giving to the levite (priest), the foreigner (refugee), the orphan and the widow (those without family and financial support). This is at the heart of the Lenten practice of ‘almsgiving’. How generous will you be in giving of your time, talent, money, compassion… this Lent as a way of ‘thanksgiving’ for what God has given you?