March 2022
Reflections of God's Goodness
We are just a day away from the beginning of Lent, 2022. I hope your practices and reflections from the readings in February have helped you to prepare. Lent is an opportunity to open your life in new ways to God’s grace.
The best place to begin your plans for Lent is in God’s Word. Here we can find all we need to follow Jesus in deeper ways.
“I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Paul instructs us to “. . . conquer evil with good.” (Romans 12:21b)
The world needs to know the truth, now more than ever. We are the truth tellers, through the witness of our lives, our love, and our service to others. Let God’s love and mercy and goodness shine through your life.
We might ask ourselves, what makes me different from my neighbor because I am a follower of Jesus? Are my words different? Are the TV shows I watch different? Are my actions and choices different?
We know in the depths of our hearts, that to follow Jesus means to be different than the world. Pope Francis says that the “choices we make reveal our hearts.” I believe that our hearts direct our paths. Let Lent be a time of action.
Read the Word of God daily, take time to pray with and for others, especially pray for places of war where people just like you and I am in danger. Look for ways to serve and give to friends, neighbors, church and family. Reach out to people, especially those who you may not care for, or who keep you at a distance. People are lonely and often isolated. They need your smiles and your kind words.
Bring God’s goodness into the lives of the people you meet. Be a light. Be a friend. Be a servant. Be a disciple and by your life. Show the world God’s love, mercy, and blessing.
“Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and over- flowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”
May your perseverance this Lent bear great fruit in the Church and in the world.
Blessings,
Sister Mary Ann Barnhorn, SNDdeN
Let the Word of God, dwell in you richly. Remember,
“The seed is the word of God. But as for the seed that fell on rich soil, they are the ones who, when they have heard the word, embrace it with a generous and good heart, and bear fruit through perseverance.
