Lent is a special time, for a period of forty days, beginning on Ash Wednesday up until Easter. It is a time of preparation for new believers for their ‘baptism’. It is also a time for believers to draw closer to Jesus Christ, to become holy as He is Holy. This is done through daily prayer and fasting and ‘silence with God’—it is a ‘transformation in Christ’.For more details go to: www.aboutcatholics.com .
Just a few days prior to Ash Wednesday I discovered a wonderful book titled “In Silence With God.” By Benedict Baur, a Benedictine Archabbot. The purpose of the book is to help Christians who are seeking to follow Jesus Christ to obtain the ‘silence of the soul’ so necessary today to hear and understand what the will of God is for their life.
Benedict Baur’s book echoes Psalm 119:36-37: “Incline my heart, O Lord, unto Thy precepts, turn away my eyes that they may not behold vanity, and quicken me in Thy way.”
In today’s hectic and noisy world full of activity and very little prayer, there is an urgent need for ‘contemplatives in action’. In other words we drastically need many more Christians who will devote more time in prayer in silence before God, listen, hear His voice and then go out into the world as God’s Ambassadors for the Truthand accomplish what He asks of them. Then they will bear much fruit with the talents that God has entrusted them with. (cf: Parable of the Talents: Matthew 25: 14-30) To those Christians who bury their talents, Matthew 25:14-30 presents a very sobering message.
For even as a man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods;
15 And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to every one according to his proper ability: and immediately he took his journey.
16 And he that had received the five talents, went his way, and traded with the same, and gained other five.
17 And in like manner he that had received the two, gained other two.
18 But he that had received the one, going his way digged into the earth, and hid his lord’s money.
19 But after a long time the lord of those servants came, and reckoned with them.
20 And he that had received the five talents coming, brought other five talents, saying: Lord, thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above.
21 His lord said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
22 And he also that had received the two talents came and said: Lord, thou deliveredst two talents to me: behold I have gained other two.
23 His lord said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant: because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
24 But he that had received the one talent, came and said: Lord, I know that thou art a hard man; thou reapest where thou hast not sown, and gatherest where thou hast not strewed.
25 And being afraid I went and hid thy talent in the earth: behold here thou hast that which is thine.
26 And his lord answering, said to him: Wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed:
27 Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury.
28 Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents.
29 For to every one that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away.
30 And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 25:14-30)
To those Christians who have buried their talent, may the time of ‘Lent’ grant them the necessary ‘graces’ to discover what a tremendous joy it is to serve our Lord, Jesus Christ, to be bearers of Good News and heralds of the ‘Truth in Love’ within this world’s ‘Culture of Death’.
Placid Jordan, O.S.B., in the Introduction states: “The redemption of mankind always depends on the few who in the midst of the world’s turmoil know how to practice ‘silence with God’. Such silence entails a metanoia, a change of heart, a turning away from things ephemeral to things eternal, and the turn must be resolute.”
As my God-loving mother once said to me:
“Time is precious,
It gives us time to love,
Time to have God’s preciousness.”
(Leona Bruneau-Deschenes, Dec 26, 2005)
So, dear friends, during this precious time of Lent, use your time well, set time aside, and within the silence listen to God. He will speak to you and you will never be the same again. He will give you a mandate, a mission.
Strive for Heaven now!
Donald Andre Bruneau
