Saturday, February 20, 2016 Ember Day

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Isaiah, Chapter 33, verse 6
That which makes her seasons certain, her wealth, salvation, wisdom, and knowledge, is the fear of the LORD, her treasure.

Wherever your treasure is that is where your heart is and our hearts are made for the Lord. Fear of the Lord means that we have a father/son relationship of care, respect and love. Our God does not want to be objectified as some obtainable good. Nor does our God want to be appeased with our prayers and obedience. God is not an insurance agent that guarantees us against losses if we pay our premiums in prayers. If God is our treasure, he is our star, our life, our everything.

In the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium of the Holy Father Francis, he states:

We have a treasure of life and love which cannot deceive, and a message which cannot mislead or disappoint. It penetrates to the depths of our hearts, sustaining and ennobling us. It is a truth which is never out of date because it reaches that part of us which nothing else can reach. Our infinite sadness can only be cured by an infinite love.

I am reminded of the love of Don Quixote in the play “Man from La Mancha”. If God is our treasure he should be our Impossible Dream because we are His.

Confession and Holy Communion[1]

One of the Precepts of the Church is to receive the sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion at least once a year, during Lent or Paschaltide. Catholics once dedicated the three days prior to Lent as a special time to go to confession. Shrovetide arose from the desire to prepare for the holy asceticism of the Great Fast. Once Lent begins, however, confession should still be sought out: since Lent is a time for frequent and frank examinations of conscience, confession is a sacrament that should be liberally taken advantage of during this time.


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