Today I begin my Lenten journey. I have chosen to walk with the life and example of St. Anthony of Egypt (The Great) this season. I am inspired by his absolute fidelity to and communion with God. Like Moses, he found solice and the Presence of God in the deserts of Egypt. My prayer is that I may know but a small portion of that level of relationship with God. For more information, I recommend two sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_the_Great for general information on his life; and

www.newadvent.org/fathers/2811.htm for the classic text "The Life of St. Anthony" by St. Athanasius. (This is the text I have chosen to work with this Lent.)

One caution I would give about Lent is to be careful not to be so introspective as to be self-referential and narcisistic--which is always a danger in our overly individualized culture. Lent is not about self-reference, but about self-denial. Spiritual growth is not an end in itself; rather, we grow to be useful to the purposes of God and to the larger purpose of the whole Body of Christ--and that often comes at the expense of our own comfort and desires. Spiritual practice which serves the end of exalting the self and galvinizing rank individualism bears no real or lasing fruit. It springs up quickly, but having no roots, it quickly withers away beneath the scorching sun of life. This gets to the heart of Jesus' warnings against self-serving spiritual practice in Matthew 6 and Isaiah's call (Isaiah 58: 6-7), "Is not this the fast that I choose; to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin." Which we know from Matthew 25 is the highest manner in which we can personally and authentically serve Christ himself, as "inasmuch as we have done [these things] to the least of our brothers and sisters, we have done them unto [Christ]."
May God grant you a fruitful, revealing, and authentic season of Lent as we journey toward the Cross and the power of the resurrection.

Grace and Peace,

Mike+

Mistakes

It has been said that the greatest tragedy in the human experience is not so much sin but the failure to learn from sin. One author put it this way:

Mistakes+Intelligent Review (learning from them/reflection)=Success.

If we are human we will fail. St. Paul gets at this aspect of the human condition in Romans 7: 15, "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." The good news, as St. Paul goes on to assert in Romans Chapter 8, is that we can-- empowered by God--journey out from beneath the tyranny of the "flesh"--as St. Paul calls it--to the freedom of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. But, in the interim, what do we do when we stumble? We, with God's grace and help, pick ourselves up, confess our brokenness, reflect and learn, and grow through it. Here's a song that may help in the reflection:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU1UkZq55fI "What if I Stumble?" by D C Talk

Grace and Peace,

Mike+