are you hardly praying this lent?
"O, that today you would hear His voice: 'Harden not your heart.' " —Psalm 95:7-8
There's a lot of attention these days on hardening of the arteries, arteriosclerosis. The arteries clog and harden to the point where the flow of blood can be almost completely blocked. This can lead to sudden death. In a similar way, a hard heart, stiff neck, and turned back lead to spiritual death.
That's why we bend our knees in worship and bow our heads in prayer. That's one side effect of the various patterns of standing, sitting, kneeling, processing up to Communion and back, and so on during each Mass. We are constantly moving, which is an aid to preventing a stiff posture before the Lord. Yes, our hearts can still be hard, twisted, tortuous, and self-deceived even at Mass (see Jer 17:9). Yet at Mass we are in the Real Presence of the beating heart of Jesus in His eucharistic glory.
I challenge you during the rest of this Lent to try your best to attend Mass daily or as often as possible. If this is not possible, then increase your daily prayer time and try to pray on your knees or bowed down before the Lord. This is a way of humbling ourselves in the sight of the Lord (see Lk 18:9-14; 1 Pt 5:6).
Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make our hearts like Yours.
Prayer: "Change my heart, O God. Make it ever true."
Promise: "He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters." —Lk 11:23
Praise: Jan received a healing when praying: "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us."
Reference: (This teaching was submitted by a member of our editorial team.)
(Pray about ordering any or all of these audio or video tapes: Ignorance of Scriptures is Ignorance of Christ, AV 82-1, V-82, How to Pray the Bible on audio AV 82-3 or on video V-82, How to Read the Bible on audio AV 46-3 or on video V-46, Principles of Bible Interpretation, audio AV 79-1, video V-79, Biblical Counseling, audio AV 13A-1, AV 13A-3, AV 13B-3 or on video starting with V-13A.)
Rescript: †Most Reverend Joseph R. Binzer, Auxiliary Bishop, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, August 25, 2014
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