However, take care and be earnestly on your guard not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live…
Deuteronomy 4:9
Day 22: Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent – Deuteronomy 4:9
However, take care and be earnestly on your guard not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live…
Additional Readings today: Matthew 5:17-19
Today’s Lenten Reflection
Our memory is a fascinating thing. We can push down, for better or for worse, memories of the past — especially those which have caused us great pain. Similarly, we can conjure up happy memories at the holidays, or when we smell certain smells or hear a certain song. We can find ourselves, seemingly out of nowhere, back on the playground in first grade and wonder where that memory came from. In today’s Gospel message, the apostles remembering what they had heard and witnessed while traveling with Jesus was crucial. It is also crucial for us to reflect often upon the knowledge the apostles left for us. We are told to never forget, to be on guard, and to spread the Gospel message farther. Ask yourself: Are there any of God’s Laws that you have conveniently chosen to forget about? What do we need to remember today in order to make a course correction in our life so that our trajectory stays on God’s path rather than the world’s and our own? Nothing will pass away until the Law is fulfilled, Jesus tells us. What do we need to do to fulfill what God is asking of us today?
Day 22 Lenten Meditation
For most of us, the Ten Commandments are a challenging lesson we learn as children. Trying to look at the words of the official Commandments in light of our own lives will still challenge us today. If we are honest, we oftentimes rush past them and think, “Well, I haven’t killed anyone and I don’t steal so..,” and we carry on as if we’re good to go. But how might those Commandments apply to our modern lives in less literal ways? We may not have killed someone, but have we raged with anger towards someone which “killed” their spirit? Have we “stolen” someone’s peace and joy by the words we have spoken to or about them? Have we paid back the amount we borrowed from a family member or friend? Buried within each Commandment is a valuable lesson that’s applicable to our lives today. Yes, the Ten Commandments are here for our benefit. They are here so we can walk in the ways of the Lord and work on our virtues in the way of holiness. Sit with your memories today. Sift through the things you have chosen to forget or glaze over in order to make life a little easier for yourself … but may not be what God desires most. In what areas can you do better? Prayerfully read over the Ten Commandments and find one or two that speaks to your soul. Commit to fulfilling it in a more deeper and fuller way through Lent.
Lenten Prayer
God of all faithfulness, we know we don’t always live the Law You set down for us. Today we recommit ourselves to living our lives according to the template You have provided. Heavenly Father, let us also be reminded of how much You care for us. How You have so lovingly numbered every hair on our head. Let us never stray far from the conviction of Your Word and the sense of Your Fatherly embrace. Amen.
Today’s suggested Penance
*Clean up someone else’s mess. Don’t say anything about it, just do it. God knows.
“The Christian is like the ripening corn; the riper he grows the more lowly he bends his head” – Thomas Guthrie.
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