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A daily Lenten e-mail with lessons of hope and courage, inspired by a variety of resources to encourage us in these confusing and turbulent times from St. Luke’s Church, Lebanon.

Friday - Third Week in Lent

At the start of Rite I of the Holy Eucharist (which we often use in Lent) we hear:

"Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to us that as we begin the central act of worship for Christians, we hear a command to love: to love God and our neighbor. Perhaps this command has become a little hollow for us. After all, haven't we bee taught to do these things from our youth - even if our upbringing wasn't particularly religious? Maybe we need once more to step back from something so familiar to reflect upon it a little more deeply.

Just what does this command to love mean exactly ?

First, this commandment to love identifies aspects of who we are to emphasize that all parts of our being must be given over to the love of God. Philosophically speaking, we can identify these aspects of our being as: intellect, will, passions, feelings, emotions and desires.

How do we love God in all these ways?

Let's start with our minds. The first step in loving God is to "know" Him. This means we must seek to understand, comprehend and believe in who and what God is for us in all that has been revealed to us about Him. It means we need actively to penetrate the mystery of God’s life, especially through Scripture and through the revelations given through the history of God's people - Old and New Testaments and the history of the Church.

As we come to a deeper understanding of God and all that He has revealed, we must make a free and personal choice to believe in God and follow the way of life set out before us. This free choice follows from our knowledge of God and becomes leads us into faith.

Then when we have begun to penetrate the mystery of God's and chosen to believe, there will be a perceptible change in us. The first manifestation of that change may be in our desire to deepen our knowledge of God in our lives; we will want to seek God in more and more ways. This path of discovery may lead to a spirit of joy as we discover that our human soul is increasingly consumed with a desire of God and God's ways.

Reflect, today, especially upon this first aspect of loving God. Reflect upon how diligently you seek to know and to understand God and all that has been revealed. Such knowledge forms the foundation for love: we cannot love that which we do not know. Start with this aspect and allow all else to follow.

Scripture Lessons appointed for the day
(Click on the lesson for the text)
Hosea 14:1–9
Mark 12:28–34
Psalm 81:8–14

“I had struggled so hard and so long that I had simply exhausted myself, only to find that God had all the time in the world to wait for me to allow Him to free me.”
― Michelle McKinney Hammond

Does God have my whole heart . . .

Where do I find my worth, identity, and purpose?
What do I turn to when life gets hard?
What do I seek for relief and peace of mind?
Where do I invest my resources the most (i.e time, money, talents, etc...)
What Drives My Decision Making?

As you listen to this calming music,

lift your mind and heart to God in prayer:

Lord, I realize that in order to love You above all else I must come to know You. Help me to be diligent in my commitment to know You more deeply. help me to seek to discover all the truth of Your life. I thank You for all that You have revealed to me already. I dedicate myself, this day, to a more thorough discovery of Your life and self-revealing love. Amen.

“Real joy comes when we get the right desire met - the desire for God himself, for a life led by the Spirit, fulfilling not our material desires but our deepest need, which is to be in a close relationship with our Creator. That is the source of true blessing. The only source.”
― Michael W. Smith