Lent - The DePorres Pages

Lenten Reflections 2021: Tuesday, March 2, 2021

Mar 2, 2021thefriarwebmasterPodcasts, LentDeuteronomy 6:4, Hear, O Israel!, sins like scarlet and crimson red, The LORD is our God the LORD alone!, They did not give any help to the poor and needy., they may become white as snow, Though they be crimson red they may become white as wool., Though your sins be like scarlet, you shall love the LORD your God with your whole heart and with your whole being and with your whole strength.

The first reading refers to sins like scarlet and crimson red. When these two colors are contrasted with white, like snow or wool, they stand out most dramatically. Most people have heard of Sodom and Gomorrah in Old Testament. While the book of Genesis describes the sins of the two cities to have been sexual in nature, Ezekiel suggests it was more than that. And if we read carefully the account in Genesis where Abraham is asking how few people it would take for God to save the city, and we learn that for the sake of ten righteous people God would save the cities, it had gotten pretty bad there indeed.

Lenten Reflections 2021: Monday, March 1, 2021

Mar 1, 2021thefriarwebmasterPodcasts, Lentbeen wicked and done evil, But yours O Lord our God are compassion and forgiveness!, departed from your commandments and your laws, great and awesome God, Lord, We have sinned, you who keep your merciful covenant toward those who love you and observe your commandments!

If you had a chance to describe our society in moral terms, how would you do it? What words would you choose? What behaviors would you identify? How is it you would relate the current state of society to the Lord God? And what pronoun would you use? Would you talk about they or we? Would you choose to identify with the sinful parts of society as things you yourself are also a part of, or would you point fingers at others?

Lenten Reflections 2021: Sunday, February 28, 2021

Feb 28, 2021thefriarwebmasterPodcasts, Lenta real relationship that itself challenges us to be more faithful, Book of Genesis, God cannot be separated from us, God has a plan, God loves us, Gospel of Mark, Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans, nothing is more powerful than the love of God, the Transfiguration of Jesus

I find the 8th chapter of Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans to be one of my favorites. So much of this chapter is a consoling reminder that in all of the chaos of our lives, God loves us, has a plan, and cannot be separated from us. During some difficult times in my life, I have found this chapter to have helped me through tough things a lot.

Homily for Sunday, February 28, 2021

Feb 27, 2021thefriarwebmasterPodcasts, LentAbraham spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket, Do not lay your hand on the boy, God put Abraham to the test, If God is for us who can be against us?, Take your son Isaac, you shall offer him up as a holocaust

The first reading today is a challenge. Why would God command Abraham to sacrifice his son? Is there a bigger message at stake here? What does this have to do with Lent? And what are we to make of all this? While the first reading certainly presents a challenge, understood in the proper context it can also help us to see how the wisdom of God can lead us to eternal life.

Lenten Reflections 2021: Saturday, February 27, 2021

Feb 27, 2021thefriarwebmasterPodcasts, LentDoes eating Lobster on Fridays during Lent count as eating meat?, How late can I arrive and still get to Mass, Is alligator meat, Lent, Lenten Reflection 2021, Lenten Reflections, What is the bare minimum

Sometimes I am tempted to do the bare minimum. I look to see just how little I can do and still be able to count something as having been done. As a child, there was the question about how late (or how early) one could leave Mass and still be able to say it counted that you had attended Mass. Was it by the opening prayer? The first reading? The gospel? (We always concluded the gospel was the absolute latest we could arrive.)

Lenten Reflections 2021: Friday, February 26, 2021

Feb 26, 2021thefriarwebmasterPodcasts, Lentconversion, metanoia, personal self-reflection, privation, Saint Thomas Aquinas, something that lacks what it is supposed to have., Summa Theologiae, The LORD’s way is not fair!, The problem of evil

That’s not fair! I am sure every parent has heard this cry coming from their son or daughter. Probably a lot more than once too. There is deep within most of us a desire for fairness. This is especially true I think when we focus on ways we might be treated unfairly. And yet treating people fairly and being treated fairly are not always easy things to do. Sometimes I find that when I think things are not fair, I am not always right.

Homily for Thursday, February 25, 2021

Feb 25, 2021thefriarwebmasterPodcasts, Lenta good outline for prayer, Ask. Seek. Knock., Do you know how to pray?, Lenten Reflection 2021, Lenten Reflections

Do you know how to pray? More and more over the last couple of years I have focused more on this notion of providing concrete ways to help with knowing how to pray. Today’s gospel provides a good outline for prayer. Ask. Seek. Knock.

Lenten Reflections 2021: Thursday, February 25, 2021

Feb 25, 2021thefriarwebmasterPodcasts, Lentand God of Jacob, Ask and you shall receive, blessed are you, for I am taking my life in my hand, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, Help me, knock and the door will be opened to you, Put in my mouth persuasive words in the presence of the lion, seek and you will find, who am alone and have no help but you

And so the prayer we read in today’s first reading is Esther’s deep cry for help from God in this difficult dilemma she finds herself. Her prayer teaches us so many important lessons about our prayer. Let’s take a look at these one at a time.

Lenten Reflections 2021: Wednesday, February 24, 2021

Feb 24, 2021thefriarwebmasterPodcasts, Lentabounding in kindness, because Jesus is the sign, I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, repenting of punishment, slow to anger, This is the sign you have been looking for, We do not need a sign

Seeing is believing. Missouri is the show me state. I will not believe until I put my hands in the nail marks. Prove it. How often are we skeptics? Of course, we live in a world where it can be easy to get taken, and sometimes our skepticism is well-placed. The world around us is filled with people who do not have our best interest at heart, but theirs, so they do not hesitate to defraud us. And this has been going on for a long time, well, since the serpent tricked Adam and Eve.

Homily for Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Feb 23, 2021thefriarwebmasterPodcasts, LentJesus is the Word, Lent, Lent 2021, Lenten Homilies, My word will not return to me empty, The Word of God, witness to the word of God, Words

Words. Words. Words. There are more way to read, speak and hear words than ever before. But there is really only one word that matters. He it The Word, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Category: Lent

Lenten Reflections 2021: Tuesday, March 2, 2021

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Lenten Reflections 2021: Monday, March 1, 2021

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Lenten Reflections 2021: Sunday, February 28, 2021

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Homily for Sunday, February 28, 2021

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Lenten Reflections 2021: Saturday, February 27, 2021

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Lenten Reflections 2021: Friday, February 26, 2021

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Homily for Thursday, February 25, 2021

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Lenten Reflections 2021: Thursday, February 25, 2021

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Lenten Reflections 2021: Wednesday, February 24, 2021

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Homily for Tuesday, February 23, 2021

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