SPIRITUAL LIVING
Prayer and Devotions
Imitators of Christ
by Father Todd Arsenault, LC
Resolution: Today look for the good qualities in someone you find difficult to accept.
February 18, 2008
Monday of the second week of Lent
Luke 6: 36-38
Jesus said to his disciples: "Be merciful, just as also your Father is merciful. Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you."
Introductory Prayer: I come before you, Lord, a sinner in awe of your great love and mercy. I believe in you, and I put you at the center of my life. I humbly put all that I am before you and, like the apostles, recognize my littleness before your grandeur. With the help of the Blessed Mother’s intercession, I place this meditation into your hands, trusting that you will give me the graces that I need most.
Petition: Lord, help me to recognize my complete dependence on you for grace to live according to your will. Help me to detach myself more each day from the enslaving clutches of sin and vice in my life.
1. Advice from Christ During this season of Lent, Christ is calling us to leave behind the old and worldly ways that are not of him. Often the attitudes and criteria of this world can work their way into our lives with little warning. God is calling us to grow in our love for him in union with his will. At times, overcoming our defects will be a struggle, but Our Lord is calling us to imitate him in all ways. Christ is offering us the sure way to holiness. We need to listen to him because he is doing this for our own good, so that we can be strengthened to live exclusively for him.
2. Constant Effort The spiritual life is a journey of constant struggles and trials. We will experience moments of great labor as we overcome our areas of difficulty, such as judging others or losing our patience with loved ones. If we fall, we get back up and keep fighting in order to live the virtue we seek. We need to do this with a humble heart. In the end, our constant effort is what will enable us to persevere and come out on top. Christ is counting on us to choose him above all else. He wants to give us all that is good, but he wants us to cooperate with his grace.
3. The Giver of Many Graces As we see from this Gospel, Christ is calling us to a higher standard of living. He calls us to imitate him. He tells us that we will reap what we sow. God is truly just with us, and he wants more than anything to give us what is good. His heart’s desire is to shower us with his graces and blessings, but he needs our cooperation to do so. He honors our freedom, and if we choose to do the opposite of what he wants, we shall receive our due. It is up to us to respond to God generously and with a humble heart.
Conversation with Christ: Lord, I want more than anything to love you above all and to have this reflected in all I say and do. I realize my responsibility is to form myself by imitating you with greater effort and love. At times it is tough to see the good in my brothers and sisters, but you call me to do just that and to see you in them. I trust that you will help me to continue growing in this virtue.
Resolution: Today I will look for the good qualities in someone I find it difficult to accept.
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