Septuagesima 2010
“Rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God.”
A Bible memory verse: I Corinthians ix, “So run, that ye may obtain.”
Wednesday: Please note that there will be no services this Wednesday Feb 3rd. Your Vicar will be meeting with the +Archbishop at St. Thomas’ in San Francisco that day. Everyone is invited to join the folks at St. Thomas’ for Mass and Bible study starting at 5:45 p.m.
Next Sunday February 7th, Sexagesima, Morning Prayer at 9:30am; Choral Mass at 11am.
Thank you so much to everyone who has responded with your pledges.
Reflections: Welcome to Shrovetide, everyone. In I Corinthians, St. Paul uses the analogy of preparing for and competing in the Isthmian Games (very like the Olympian Games) to describe what should be our model for Lenten life. “And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.” “I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air”. “I beat my body and make it my slave.” The competitors in the Games gave their all to win a wreath of parsley … the corruptible crown that withers away. This means performing the disciplines of the necessary physical training, which nobody really wants to do, because it hurts, although you may feel great afterwards. We’ve got to do more than we’re inclined to do. Our human nature fights against our following Christ and obeying His Father. If Our Lord has allowed Himself to be tortured and beaten and crucified for our sake, then for His sake we can do our training and discipline ourselves to His honor and glory. We can make every act of our bodies, every act of our lives, a sacrifice to the glory of the True God we worship. If pagans could do this for false gods, then we can do it for the True. Each one of us has some way or means we can use to practice a Lenten discipline. The point is to focus on God and not be obsessed with fasting or observance. Some of us will be able to follow a strict dietary fast and most of us will find some lesser way that we can accomplish that is in balance with the rest of our responsibilities. Whatever we give up or add, it should draw us closer to God. Perhaps we could start out with reading a Psalm a day and the Lord’s Prayer. 5-10 minutes? We can do that. God will be pleased.