Each day, it's important to take your bearings. Where are you today? In this Lenten exercise, in the scriptures, in your daily life, and in your very self? Spend just a minute or two getting your bearings for the day.
Let's briefly examine where we are in this Lenten exercise and then begin each day with a prayer for transformation--for ourselves, our fraternity brothers, and all Exodus Men.
You are in Jerusalem. This week, we will focus on the greatest transformation: to love with Christ’s love. Let us be transformed!
Pray the Lord blesses you and your fraternity with a foundation for real personal change during this season of Lent.
Pray for the grace of perseverance for all Exodus Men, just as they are praying for you.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.
On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it. And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons; and he would not allow any one to carry anything through the temple. And he taught, and said to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and sought a way to destroy him; for they feared him, because all the multitude was astonished at his teaching. And when evening came they went out of the city.
After triumphantly entering into Jerusalem, Jesus returns to Bethany to stay with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. On the next morning he returns to Jerusalem, and on the way he curses the barren fig tree. Adam and Eve had clothed themselves in the leaves of the fig tree, but Jesus declares it is no longer the time for the fallen dispensation. He has come to replace the fig tree with the tree of life, the tree of the Cross which he will plant in the heart of every man.
The fig-tree was a sign of hiding from God, a sign of a mode of seeing the world that no longer was in loving communion with the Creator. Now, Christ comes to reveal the fullness of divine love, to restore a loving marital union to his people. Whereas the fig tree hides, Christ reveals. The fig tree represents a rebellion against God’s commandments, but Christ inscribes them in our hearts.
Benedict XVI sums up this vision of Christ’s love in Deus Caritas Est (#17):
In the gradual unfolding of this encounter, it is clearly revealed that love is not merely a sentiment. Sentiments come and go.… It is characteristic of mature love that it calls into play all man's potentialities; it engages the whole man. Contact with the visible manifestations of God's love can awaken within us a feeling of joy born of the experience of being loved. But this encounter also engages our will and our intellect. Acknowledgment of the living God is the one path towards love, and the “yes” of our will to his will unites our intellect, will and sentiments in the all- embracing act of love. But this process is always open-ended; love is never ‘finished’ and complete; throughout life, it changes and matures, and thus remains faithful to itself.… The love-story between God and man consists in the very fact that this communion of will increases in a communion of thought and sentiment, and thus our will and God's will increasingly coincide: God's will is no longer for me an alien will, something imposed on me from without by the commandments, but it is now my own will, based on the realization that God is in fact more deeply present to me than I am to myself. Then self- abandonment to God increases and God becomes our joy.
During Holy Week, rejoice in the love that Christ has for you. Invite him into your heart to purify it from all other attachments, that you may abandon yourself completely to a loving worship of the Bridegroom. May we be transformed.
Now place yourself before God, and converse with him. If making a holy hour is a new practice for you, consider using the Holy Hour Guide.
1. Enter into Holy Week fully. Don’t let this be just another week. Our prayer discipline calls for a daily holy hour. In these final days, set your alarm, get up early, go to the chapel or light a candle beside a crucifix at home, and let the Lord change your life as you sit before him in your holy hour.
2. Consider increasing your fasting. Sprint to the finish line! Push yourself in fasting. Decrease your food intake or your sleep. Now is the time to put it all on the line.
3. Don't give in to distractions this week. Silence your phone, turn off notifications, deactivate badge icons. Do whatever it takes to stay close to Christ, to finish this exercise strongly, to be present to your family, and to live as a free man.
4. Keep moving forward this Easter. If you go back to the way you lived before Lent, you’re likely to slide back and return to the vices you struggled with then. We need to learn to celebrate well, in a way that expresses our joy in God without losing the discipline that we have achieved. If you make a plan to celebrate Easter in a disciplined way, you’re more likely to avoid falling back and instead will keep moving forward. Exodus’s Easter exercise will focus on building a sustainable rule of life, balancing celebration and discipline.
5. Stick with your brothers. You may not know how important your brothers have been to you along this journey. Keep investing in one another and building your friendship. Talk with your fraternity about keeping things going during Easter. Talk about how you plan to feast, reflect, and keep moving forward.