We human beings can be categorized in various ways. Quite often, these categories are reached through what people do and how they act. Of the many categories that can be placed, we can point to two here. As we have those we may refer to as grateful people, so could we have those we refer to as ungrateful people. The distinctions are clear enough considering what people in these categories manifest in the attitudes. Grateful people usually see opportunities to be thankful even in the toughest moments, while ungrateful people do not often see the reason to express thankfulness. Rather, they are more self-focused and can become absorbed in negativity.
Hence, they lose the sight of the beauty around them, which can impact positively on them and for which they can be thankful. When we look around us, depending on the kind of background from which we emerge, it is possible to ample grace, Yet, as earlier affirmed, depending on the background from which we emerge, we may still see nothing in that light. In other words, perspective matters a lot. What someone sees as a blessing to be grateful for, another may not even perceive anything about. However, there are a lot of references in scripture and in real life to learn from.
These examples tell us and teach us why we should be grateful and the blessings attached to being grateful. Remember the one leper out of ten who came back to thank Jesus after being healed? Even Jesus expressed some surprise that he was the only one who saw the reason to come back. Remember. He was a Samaritan. How easy it is for us to take kindness for granted and not be grateful for it. Be grateful. Express it. It is good for your spiritual and even your mental health. Do it again in this season of Lent. Say, thank you to someone. Smile at your worker or a colleague. Share good words of encouragement with someone.
Hush! Don’t gossip
We should ask ourselves what we channel our inner and physical energies at. Our actions are results of the ideas that lie deep within us. As we may have formed ourselves to channel our energies at many positive actions, so we can be affected by the tendency to at times do things that are not wholesome, things that present us as less responsible. One of such is how we talk and what we talk about. This often happens when we get very casual, and either we forget or totally refuse to guard how we talk about others, especially when we say about them is largely unconfirmed and negative, not aimed at helping them to become better. Maybe if we put ourselves in the shoes of those we share such idle gist about, then we can see how hurtful it can be.
Idle talk, gossip is often a result of the lack of guard over one’s mind and mouth. It hurts those about whom it is shared and may even impinge on their dignity. We should grow in the discipline of having control over our mouths, so that what we say will be of benefit to others, and make us grow in the likeness of God, in whose image and likeness we are created. One of the stanzas of Psalm 141 has these words, “Lord place a guard over my mouth, a sentry at the door of my lips. Keep my heart from inclining to evil, save me from all wicked deeds and desires.” You and I may adopt these words as a helpful prayer to keep our minds, hearts, and mouths in the right place and with the right talk. As a bracelet for Lent, try it even if only for today. But it is an action point that is valid even beyond the season of Lent.
Participate in a Retreat
This period of Lent offers us the opportunity to go deep down our hearts and bring out the treasures in there for our benefit and growth towards heaven and in our relationship with our neighbours. The forty-day long call to self-restraint and sacrifice is a golden moment to listen over and over to how God speaks to us directly in his word, in nature, and through others around us. Anyone who truly goes through the season of Lent must know how important it is to spare some time for a precise retreat. While the whole season is like a moment of retreating from the noise of the world in order to listen more to God in us, it is still essential to participate in a retreat. At a retreat, we have the chance to listen to reflections that are inspired by God and guided by the retreat facilitator.
At the end of a retreat, we are expected to come out with personal resolutions aimed at our growth. Even the blessing at the conclusion of the retreat has the special purpose of helping us to keep the good decisions we might have taken in the course of the retreat. It is recommended that we join our parish retreats. There could also be retreats organized by devotional groups at pilgrimage sites or monasteries to mention a few. That period of re-filling our souls is very important. The benefits are immense. We are able to get more intimate with the Lord as he brings us to the mountain. Especially now as we travel on in the Jubilee Year of Hope, participating in a Lenten retreat is a veritable means of re-enkindling our hope and bringing that hope to others.
Gaze at the skies
There is beauty incomparable in God’s creation. If we make just a little effort to take a thorough look at nature, we shall accept and proclaim that the Master Artist has done what neither our human thoughts nor words can totally capture. It is true that man possesses tremendous power of creativity. But we must remember that the intelligence through which man is able to do marvellous things is itself part of God’s creation. The Christian account of creation tells us how God created all things carefully and how he takes care of his creation. St. Thomas Aquinas says that the beauty we see in creation is a reflection of God himself, who is wisdom, goodness, and dwells in light. Check Psalm 8:3 and hear the psalmist say, “When I see the heavens the work of your hands, the moon and the stars which you arranged, what is man that you should keep him in mind, mortal man that you care for him.”
Here, the psalmist does not in any way denigrate man. He was only expressing that the dignity of God’s creation is overwhelming. Find time today to gaze at the skies. You may even do it over and over. You will definitely see God’s power at work. The hymn has a message that says, “How great is your name, for rhose who can see where it’s written all over the skies. Where the stars sing your praise, spell your name many ways, or the eagles that fly, with the clouds on high.” This is all true. The skies, like the whole of creation, have a message. The message is this, God exists, and he made all things. Gaze at the skies. If you pay attention, you will see that wonder.
Pray the Rosary
The rosary is a meditative prayer. In the rosary, we are presented with the opportunity of reflecting on very important points in the life of Jesus Christ and in what he came to do to save us. The twenty decades of the joyful, luminous, sorrowful and glorious mysteries, invite us to reflect on the joys of the coming to earth of the Lord, the light which his existence gave to the world, the sorrow attached to his salvific death and the glory of the resurrection which came as a result of his self-giving. Of course, in the mysteries of the rosary, we also see how and why we can choose to follow the examples of the active participants in what Jesus came to do. One of those active disciples who followed the Lord at every step and to whom the mysteries of the rosary make direct reference is the Blessed Virgin Mary. The role that she played can not be denigrated no matter what.
So, the prayer of the rosary makes reference to her. For those who know, it is clear that the rosary prayer neither deifies nor places the Blessed Virgin Mary above Jesu Christ. But it helps us to reach Christ through the example of Mary’s devotion, that just like her, we also may see the need for a humble response to God as she did when she was told that she will bear the Son of God. More so, it is a prayer that helps to raise up our hearts in meditation. We concentrate on the Lord through the mysteries of his life. By that, we become attached to him as he holds our hands to journey with him. The rosary is a prayer that does not take forever. We do not even need to shout while praying it. It is powerful enough to endear us to the Lord. If well prayed, it does not take more than thirty minutes for each set of mysteries. It is a prayer we ought to say daily. Indeed, for the season of Lent, it should be a sine-quanon.
Choose, learn and memorize a Bible verse
One of the actions points we are expected to engage with more in this season of Advent is prayer. The communication between us and the Lord ought to get better in this season. Praying better should help us deepen our union with the Lord, whose example of love speaks to us and assures us of his compassion and forgiveness. Of course, we can pray in various ways. One of the means of prayer we may choose to use is the Word of God. It is veritable and reveals God to us. It is the same word that is said to “alive and active.” As such, those who make us of the word to pray and do it effectively will definitely come in contact with God himself. The joy is that every part of the Word of God speaks of God and helps us to communicate with him. Maybe you have read the bible in this season.
Perhaps you have listened to the word being proclaimed. But have you read the word in order to come in contact with it and to hold on to something from it? In other words, have you tried to make the word of God you have read your own? Back in the day, children were given memory verse at Sunday School. Even adults used to take memory passages at Know Your Faith sessions. Among the Israelites, this was a sine-qua-non (see Deuteronomy 6:3-9). We should do that today with the word of God. It will surely inspire a beautiful relationship between our mind and the word. Try that today. Choose a bible verse(s). Learn it. Say it to yourself over and over and make the words your own. Keep it in your heart.
• Rev. Fr. Martin Badejo is a Priest of the Catholic Diocese of Oyo, Nigeria.
