Wednesday of the Fifth Week of
Lent
Judges, Chapter 6, Verse 27
So Gideon took ten of
his servants and did as the LORD had commanded him. But he was too afraid of his family and of the
townspeople to do it by day; he did it at night.
Heed
the words of Saint John Paul the Great:
"Do not be
overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (12:21). Evil is never defeated by evil; once that road is taken, rather than defeating evil, one will
instead be defeated by evil.
Peace
is the outcome of a long and demanding battle which is only won when evil is
defeated by good. Flee what is evil
and hold fast to what is good (cf. Rom 12:9). Peace is a good to
be promoted with good: it is a good for individuals, for families, for
nations and for all humanity; yet it is one which needs to be maintained and
fostered by decisions and actions inspired by good. "Repay no one evil
for evil" (Rom 12:17). The one way out of the vicious circle of
requiting evil for evil is "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome
evil with good" (Rom 12:21). At its deepest level, evil is a
tragic rejection of the demands of love. Moral good, on the other hand, is
born of love, shows itself as love and is directed towards love. All this is
particularly evident to Christians, who know that their membership in the one
mystical Body of Christ sets them in a particular relationship not only with
the Lord but also with their brothers and sisters. The inner logic of Christian
love, which in the Gospel is the living source of moral goodness, leads even to
the love of one's enemies: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is
thirsty, give him something to drink" (Rom 12:20).[1]
Despite West Point Military Academy’s
rigorous selection process, one in five students drop out by graduation day. A
sizeable number leave the summer before freshman year, when cadets go through a
rigorous program called “Beast.” Beast consists of extreme physical, mental,
and social challenges that are designed to test candidates’ perseverance. University
of Pennsylvania psychologist Angela Duckworth conducted a study in which she
sought to determine which cadets would make it through the Beast program. The
rigorous interviews and testing that cadets went through to get into West Point
in the first place told Angela that IQ and talent weren’t the deciding factors.
So, Angela developed her own test to determine which cadets had the mental
strength to conquer the Beast. She called it the “Grit Scale,” and it was a
highly accurate predictor of cadet success. The Grit Scale measures mental
strength, which is that unique combination of passion, tenacity, and stamina
that enables you to stick with your goals until they become a reality. To
increase your mental strength, you simply need to change your outlook. When
hard times hit, people with mental strength suffer just as much as everyone
else. The difference is that they understand that life’s challenging moments
offer valuable lessons. In the end, it’s these tough lessons that build the
strength you need to succeed. Developing mental strength is all about
habitually doing the things that no one else is willing to do. If you aren’t
doing the following things on a regular basis, you should be, for these are the
habits that mentally strong people rely on.
1. You have to fight when you
already feel defeated.
A reporter once asked Muhammad Ali how many sit-ups he does every day. He
responded, “I don’t count my sit-ups, I only start counting when it starts
hurting, when I feel pain, cause that’s when it really matters.” The same
applies to success in the workplace. You always have two choices when things
begin to get tough: you can either overcome an obstacle and grow in the process
or let it beat you. Humans are creatures of habit. If you quit when things get
tough, it gets that much easier to quit the next time. On the other hand, if
you force yourself to push through a challenge, the strength begins to grow in
you.
2. You have to delay
gratification. There was a
famous Stanford experiment in which an administrator left a child in a room
with a marshmallow for 15 minutes. Before leaving, the experimenter told the
child that she was welcome to eat it, but if she waited until he returned
without eating it, she would get a second marshmallow. The children that were
able to wait until the experimenter returned experienced better outcomes in
life, including higher SAT scores, greater career success, and even lower body
mass indexes. The point is that delay of gratification and patience are
essential to success. People with mental strength know that results only
materialize when you put in the time and forego instant gratification.
3. You have to make mistakes,
look like an idiot, and try again — without even flinching. In a recent study at the College of William and Mary,
researchers interviewed over 800 entrepreneurs and found that the most
successful among them tend to have two critical things in common: they’re
terrible at imagining failure and they tend not to care what other people think
of them. In other words, the most successful entrepreneurs put no time or
energy into stressing about their failures as they see failure as a small and
necessary step in the process of reaching their goals.
4. You have to keep your
emotions in check. Negative emotions
challenge your mental strength every step of the way. While it’s impossible not
to feel your emotions, it’s completely under your power to manage them
effectively and to keep yourself in control of them. When you let your emotions
overtake your ability to think clearly, it’s easy to lose your resolve. A bad
mood can make you lash out or stray from your chosen direction just as easily
as a good mood can make you overconfident and impulsive.
5. You have to make the calls
you’re afraid to make. Sometimes we have
to do things we don’t want to do because we know they’re for the best in the
long-run: fire someone, cold-call a stranger, pull an all-nighter to get the
company server back up, or scrap a project and start over. It’s easy to let the
looming challenge paralyze you, but the most successful people know that in
these moments, the best thing they can do is to get started right away. Every
moment spent dreading the task subtracts time and energy from actually getting
it done. People that learn to habitually make the tough calls stand out like
flamingos in a flock of seagulls.
6. You have to trust your gut. There’s a fine line between trusting your gut and
being impulsive. Trusting your gut is a matter of looking at decisions from
every possible angle, and when the facts don’t present a clear alternative, you
believe in your ability to make the right decision; you go with what looks and
feels right.
7. You have to lead when no one
else follows. It’s easy to set
a direction and to believe in yourself when you have support, but the true test
of strength is how well you maintain your resolve when nobody else believes in
what you’re doing. People with mental strength believe in themselves no matter
what, and they stay the course until they win people over to their ways of
thinking.
8. You have to focus on the
details even when it makes your mind numb. Nothing tests
your mental strength like mind-numbing details, especially when you’re tired.
The more people with mental strength are challenged, the more they dig in and
welcome that challenge, and numbers and details are no exception to this.
9. You have to be kind to
people who are rude to you. When people treat
you poorly, it’s tempting to stoop to their level and return the favor. People
with mental strength don’t allow others to walk all over them, but that doesn’t
mean they’re rude to them, either. Instead, they treat rude and cruel people
with the same kindness they extend to everyone else, because they don’t allow
another person’s negativity to bring them down.
10. You have to be accountable
for your actions, no matter what. People are far
more likely to remember how you dealt with a problem than they are to recall
how you created it in the first place. By holding yourself accountable, even
when making excuses is an option, you show that you care about results more
than your image or ego.
Wednesday
of the Fifth Week of Lent
Prayer. SANCTIFY this fast, O God, and mercifully enlighten the hearts of Thy faithful;
and to those whom Thou grantest the grace of devotion mercifully grant, when
they pray to Thee, a favorable hearing.
EPISTLE. Leviticus xix. 1, 2, 11-19.
In those days: The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to
them: I am the Lord your God. You shall not steal. You shall not lie, neither
shall any man deceive his neighbor. Thou shalt not swear falsely by My name,
nor profane the name of thy God. I am the Lord. Thou shalt not calumniate thy
neighbor, nor oppress him by violence. The wages of him that has been hired by
thee shall not abide with thee until the morning. Thou shalt not speak evil of
the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind: but thou shalt fear the
Lord thy God, because I am the Lord. Thou shalt not do that which is unjust,
nor judge unjustly. Respect not the person of the poor, nor honor the countenance
of the mighty. But judge thy neighbor according to justice. Thou shalt not be a
detractor nor a whisperer among the people. Thou shalt not stand against the
blood of thy neighbor. I am the Lord. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy
heart, but reprove him openly, lest thou incur sin through him. Seek not
revenge, nor be mindful of the injury of thy citizens. Thou shalt love thy friend
as thyself. I am the Lord. Keep ye My laws, for I am the Lord your God.
GOSPEL. John x. 22-38.
Jesus answered them: I speak to you, and you believe not: the works that I do in the name of My Father, they give testimony of Me. But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice: and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them life everlasting, and they shall not perish forever, and no man shall pluck them out of My hand. That which My Father hath given Me, is greater than all: and no man can snatch them out of the hand of My Father. I and the Father are one. The Jews then took up stones to stone Him. Jesus answered them: Many good works I have showed you from My Father; for which of those works do you stone Me?
The Jews answered Him: For a good work we stone Thee not, but for blasphemy; and because that Thou being a man, makest Thyself God. Jesus answered them: Is it not written in your law: I said, you are gods?
If He called them gods, to whom the word of God was spoken, and the Scripture cannot be broken: do you say of Him, Whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world: Thou blasphemest, because I said, I am the Son of God?
If I do not the works of My Father, believe Me not. But if I do, though you will not believe Me, believe the works: that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.
Lenten Calendar[3]
The Servant Songs, Day Three: (Within the Book of the Prophet Isaiah we encounter four poetic sections known as the Songs of the Suffering Servant. The specific identity of this Servant of the Lord remains the topic of scholarly debate. Perhaps it refers to the prophet Isaiah himself, perhaps the entire nation of Israel, or possibly the promised Messiah. Christian faith sees these prophetic utterances fulfilled in the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Lord.
Because of the Christian identification of the Suffering Servant with Jesus, the four Servant Songs become a way of encountering the Lord during this Lenten Season. Not only do they give us a sense of the commitment and endurance that characterized his messianic ministry, but they become a way of touching the bruised face of the Messiah, of hearing the resolute determination that sustained him in the midst of trial, and of rejoicing with him in God’s ultimate vindication of his calling and service.)
In the third song, we learn of the abuse and derision the Servant endured at the hands of his enemies.
Reflect: Today we reflect on the third of the four Servant Songs.
Pray: Take time with the third servant song today. Read Isaiah 50:4-11.
Act: Here, the servant knows and declares that his help is with the Lord. He does not allow suffering to cause him to stop trusting in the Lord. Instead, with strength of spirit, the servant declares his faith in God. “The Lord GOD is my help . . . I shall not be put to shame.” Amidst darkness and adversity, because he fears the LORD, the servant walks not by his own light but by the light of God.
My dear brothers and sisters, not
only is prayer very powerful; even more, it’s of the utmost necessity for
overcoming the enemies of our salvation. Look at all the saints: They weren’t
content with watching and fighting to overcome the enemies of their salvation
and with keeping
well away from all that could offer them temptation. They
passed their whole lives in prayer, not only the day, but very often the whole
night as well. Yes, my dear children, we watch over ourselves and all the
motions of our hearts in vain, and in vain we avoid temptation, if we don’t
pray. If we don’t continually resort to prayer, all our other ways will be of
no use at all to us, and we’ll be overcome. We won’t find any sinner converted
without turning to prayer. We won’t find one persevering without depending
heavily on prayer. Nor will we ever find a Christian who ends up damned whose
downfall didn’t begin with a lack of prayer. We can see, too, how much the
Devil fears those who pray, since there’s not a moment of the day when he
tempts us more than when we’re at prayer. He does everything he possibly can to
prevent us from praying. When the Devil wants to make someone lose his soul, he
starts out by inspiring in him a profound distaste for prayer. However good a
Christian he may be, if the Devil succeeds in making him either say his prayers
badly or neglect them altogether, he’s certain to have that person for himself.
Yes, my dear brothers and sisters, from the moment that we neglect to pray, we
move with big steps towards hell. We’ll never return to
God if we don’t resort to prayer.
ST. JOHN VIANNEY
Daily Devotions
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