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Christ is in our midst!!

I just finished a book chosen for my Lenten reading that referenced C. S. Lewis' book, The Screwtape Letters. I was particularly taken by the reference to the fact that the Devil tells his apprentice that the plan he has for tempting people away from God revolves around the principle of noise. If enough noise is made in the world, people won't hear God speaking to them. "God speaks in the silence," the Devil tells his apprentice.

I think this is important for us this morning and for the rest of the Great Fast. There is so much noise going on with the political situations surrounding Ukraine and Russia, Syria and the Middle East, other areas of the Islamic world where our brethren are being persecuted. And it has affected us on this forum IMHO.

I'm suggesting today that we take a little more time today to pray and be silent so that the Lord can speak to us in the silence.

Bob

Please forgive me for the edit. I'm having trouble with my wireless keyboard this morning.

As sound a piece of advice as I have seen in some time. I have a little black Lenten prayer book of meditations and whatnot. At the end of most of them, it says "spend some quiet time with the LORD". I like that.

Oh, and one other thing--I have read that book (The Screwtape Letters) twice in the past few years and it gets better and better.

Christ is in our midst!!

The book I am re-reading is entitled "The Four Signs fo a Dynamic Catholic." It could be renamed to fit any one who is a disciple of Christ.

The first sign is "prayerfulness," which the author goes into great detail about. He talks about having regular times and places for prayer--a routine. He talks about "the classroom of silence," out of which he says "clarity emerges."

Noise prevents us from praying because it is a distraction that prevents mental prayer and even can drown out reciting prayer aloud. The greatest struggle we will have here, say the Desert Fathers, is to offer pure prayer because the Enemy is always out to distract and destroy it.

I think that another point to be made during Great Lent is that we are all, first and foremost, followers of Jesus Christ. I am not first an American or a member of an ethnic group. I belong to Christ, as St. Paul puts it in one of his Epistles. So as we post, let us remember who we are and whose we are. And that we are brethren, regardless of our divisions.

Bob