I Want to Be Holy and Act with Justice. Image Currier and Ives from Library of Congress CC0 Images

I Want to Be Holy and Act with Justice

"I Want to Be Holy and Act with Justice" – Join us in our 4th Lenten reflection for Liturgical Year I
I Want to Be Holy and Act with Justice. Image Currier and Ives from Library of Congress CC0 Images

I Want to Be Holy and Act with Justice

"I Want to Be Holy and Act with Justice" – Join us in our 4th Lenten reflection for Liturgical Year I

I Want to Be Holy and Act with Justice. If you are new to mental prayer, we invite you to visit our page on the ways of mental prayer, Don’t know how to Pray to God, to learn more.

We begin Day 4 of this Lenten prayer journey with this opening prayer :

Trust and Believe…

Lord,

I know you love me intimately and you want me to understand, love, and obey your precepts because you are a good Father. Help me prepare my heart as I enter into this time of prayer with you. Please let me be present to you and aware of the movements of the Holy Spirit in my heart so that I am able to receive your grace during these next 15 minutes with humility and contrition. Lord, help my mind recognize you are in my presence right now.

Eternal Father, give me the grace I need as I strive to complete these 40 days of daily Lenten reflections. Let me fully contemplate your holiness and my need to be sanctified in body, mind, and soul as I contemplate what it means to want to be holy and act with justiceI want to follow Jesus all the way to Calvary with holy obedience, a love for justice, and with my whole heart.

AMEN.

Monday of the First week of Lent (Liturgical Year I)

I Want to Be Holy and Act with Justice

A Reflection for Prayerful Meditation

Let’s begin Day 4 of our Lenten journey as we continue traveling with Jesus in our hearts and minds toward Calvary by meditating on the daily Mass readings for today: the First Reading, the Psalms, and the Gospel Reading. As you make your self-reflection, feel free to journal your responses to the Lord. This meditation is suited for prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, but you can also pray this meditation while looking at a Crucifix or an image of Jesus that you have.

I Want to Be Holy and Act with Justice

Prayer to the Holy Spirit

Start with Love…

Holy Spirit, 

I believe you are truly here and present to me right now. I desire to be present to you. Guide my heart and mind and show me how I might pick up my cross and follow Jesus all the way to Calvary. Help me turn my heart more fully to God so that I might better understand God’s love for me.

Breathe on me as I spend these next 15 minutes fixated on today’s Mass readings. Holy Spirit, help me pray with humility, honesty, love and affection. I want to grow in virtue and holiness

Thank you, Holy Spirit, for every consolation, desolation, time of silence, difficult trial, and temptation of the evil one. I understand that you love me and that everything in my life happens by God’s holy will, whether it be divine providence or God’s permissive will due to my sin and negligence. 

Please humble me as I walk with Jesus toward Calvary.  

AMEN.

Say Nothing Just Take Him In

Spend 1-3 minutes in silence gazing at Jesus with love and gratitude, in a prayer of silent contemplation.

I Am the Bread of Life what are the seven I Am statements of Jesus. Jesus says: I Am the Bread of Life (6:35), I Am the Light of the World (8:12), I Am the Gate (10:7), I Am the Good Shepherd (10:11, 14), I Am the Resurrection and the Life (11:25), I Am the Way the Truth and the Life (14:6) and I Am the True Vine (15:1). What is Jesus in the Eucharist and how do I adore Jesus, learn how to pray to God Jesus says “I Am the Bread of Life.” But what does it mean? What is Jesus in the Eucharist? Learn how to adore Him with prayers and meditations.

Make a Movie in Your Mind…

Now we will contemplate the First Reading. Slowly imagine this scene in your mind as you read. Take your time. Pause over a moment that really tugs your heart. Reread the passage again, this time imagine yourself physically there in the scene with Moses. What do you hear? See? Feel? Sense?

I Want to Be Holy and Act with Justice

Let Me be Holy because God is Holy and I love Him

Leviticus 19,1-2.11-18

The LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the whole Israelite community and tell them: Be holy, for I, the LORD your God, am holy.

“You shall not steal. You shall not lie or speak falsely to one another. You shall not swear falsely by my name, thus profaning the name of your God. I am the LORD.

“You shall not defraud or rob your neighbor. You shall not withhold overnight the wages of your day laborer. You shall not curse the deaf, or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but you shall fear your God. I am the LORD.

“You shall not act dishonestly in rendering judgment. Show neither partiality to the weak nor deference to the mighty, but judge your fellow men justly. You shall not go about spreading slander among your kinsmen; nor shall you stand by idly when your neighbor’s life is at stake. I am the LORD.

“You shall not bear hatred for your brother in your heart. Though you may have to reprove your fellow man, do not incur sin because of him. Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against your fellow countrymen. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.”

Reflection:

Let us take a moment to reflect on the message in the First Reading. 

Did you envision yourself listening to the voice of God as you knelt prostrate in prayer with Moses atop Mount Sinai? Did you see how Moses reverenced God by kneeling with his face toward the ground? Did Moses show you how holy the Lord your God is and how he should be worshipped and honored in prayer? What emotion does it create in your heart? Could you feel our Heavenly Father searching the depths of your heart as you re-read this passage? 

Now let’s personalize this passage from our First Reading…

Be Completely Real…

Maybe you want to ask God the Father how you can grow in holiness by reverencing him better so that you have a healthy fear of offending him. Ask the Lord what idea or attitude you hold about worshipping him that may not please him. 

Give the Holy Spirit time to respond. 

Be honest with the Lord. Self-reflect on how you have worshipped God previously during Lent. Maybe you ignored attending Mass, the Stations of the Cross, avoided Confession, and skipped your fasting. Or maybe you did these things out of obligation and not from your whole heart with love for him. Where was your heart last year? Where is it now? 

Are you guilty of sins that the voice of God warns Moses about in this passage from Leviticus?  If the Holy Spirit pricks your conscience, thank him for showing you how to be holy and act with justice. In the next part we will read a passage from Psalms. While meditating on the law of the Lord, ask God to give you a desire to love and obey his precepts. Say to the Lord, “I want to be holy and act with justice.” 

Let us continue our mental prayer with today’s Responsorial Psalm: 

I Want to Be Holy and Act with Justice

the Law of the Lord is Right and Just

Psalms 19:8-10,15

The law of the LORD is perfect,
refreshing the soul;
The decree of the LORD is trustworthy,
giving wisdom to the simple.

The precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
The command of the LORD is clear,
enlightening the eye.

The fear of the LORD is pure,
enduring forever;
The ordinances of the LORD are true,
all of them just.

Let the words of my mouth and the thought of my heart
find favor before you,
O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

Visualize Christ…

Next, try to put yourself in the presence of Christ by visualizing Jesus in an intimate way. Take a moment to close your eyes and picture him looking at you. You may want to imagine a favorite image of him coming alive and speaking to you. In this way you will be able to visualize Jesus in a personal way and this will help you understand how much he loves you.

Now we are ready to take our image of Jesus and visualize today’s Gospel Reading. Put yourself in this scene much like you did in the First Reading. Read this passage twice, the second time more slowly, pausing on a word or phrase that speaks to your heart. Then prayerfully speak to Jesus about what stirred your heart. What do you want to tell him?

I Want to Be Holy and Act with Justice

Let Me Deny Myself and Take up My Cross

Matthew 25:31-46

Jesus said to his disciples: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’

Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’

And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’

Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’

Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’

He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’

And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Are You Listening?

Let Jesus probe your heart and mind. Let him gaze at your soul right now. You know he wants you to grow in holiness. You know you need to be holy and act with justice. You cannot stand by and do nothing when someone comes to you in need of love. 

He speaks to you, “When you love them you do it for me.” 

Speak from your heart to the Lord about becoming more holy. Be specific about your situation, your convictions, and what the Holy Spirit might be saying right now. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you fear of offending God and a desire to act with justice as Christian, not seeking revenge for the wrongs committed against you, but seeking to love, forgive, and pray for others. Then ask for the grace to do this.

Pray the next Lenten Meditation

Day 5 Lenten Meditation

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