"Our comfort is not in this world. God afflicts us because he loves us; and it is very pleasing to Him, when in our afflictions he sees us abandon ourselves to his paternal care."
Saint Benedict Joseph Labre (1748-1783)
During this first week of Lent we hear of two themes: first, Our Savior is led into the dessert for 40 days to fast and pray, where towards the end he would be tempted by the Devil. Secondly, we hear about God's plan to lead his people to the promise land by the hand of Moses. God promises to be with us when we are in trouble; St. Paul reminds us that we are asked to have faith and trust in Jesus.
Personally, each on of us, when we are baptised, are aligned with God promise. Lent gives us an opportunity to look at our lives to see if we are living a life that brings us closer to God. We are all challenged by our concupiscense of the flesh (Gal 16) but we are called to live a life in the Spirit and be holy. Our patron did this to perfection and left us quite an example. He was healed and had the faith to know God never left him.
St. Benedict Joseph Labre was called in a very unsual way to live a very uncomfortable life. He embraced the sufferings and misery of his life and became "Holiness Itself" (Pope Leo XIII words at the saint's cannonization) St. Benedict Joseph Labre reminded us that "Our comfort is not in this world. God afflicts us because he loves us; and it is very pleasing to Him, when in our afflictions he sees us abandon ourselves to his paternal care." Let's make abandoning ourselves to God's Holy Will the goal our Lenten meditation.
Timothy Duff, STM BCC Guardian/Co-Founder
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