Day 6 Monday of 1st Week of Lent, the purpose of the liturgical season of Lent is to grow in closeness to the Lord through truth, repentance, and the word of God moving into fullness within your heart. Truth of the Spirit with Patti Brunner presents Daily Meditations for Lent. These Lenten Logos includes personal revelation for your discernment to grow in your relationship with the Lord during this liturgical season of Lent.
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Welcome to Truth of the Spirit. I am your host, Patti Brunner. This is day 6 of our series “Daily Meditations for Lent – Lenten Logos, it’s the Monday of first week of Lent. Each day during Lent we will share personal revelation and meditation from those logos, those words from the Lord.
One time on the First Sunday during Lent I was serving as an Extraordinary Eucharistic Minister. At the altar, as I received Holy Communion, I experienced the placing of Jesus, crucified, into my hands like Mary received Jesus taken down from the cross. This is the Jesus I receive—the sacrifice. I taste his blood of the scourging and piercing – this is the Blood given up for me. May the world come to know how much Jesus loves us and how much He trusted the Father. May we, too, trust.
Often when we gather together to open our hearts and minds to God with praise and petition, the Lord will give his people words and visions to share with each other. One night during Lent our prayer group received several visions to discern. As we share them today we invite you to allow God to speak to your heart as you visualize them in your mind’s eye: Visualize agolden cross with the Holy Spirit flying out from its center; a vision of the crucified Jesus with the river of grace lapping at the feet of Jesus; a vision of a whirlpool and the cross that sends waves out; a vision of the river of grace like molten lava- melting everything in its path; a vision of the Lord Jesus passing by embracing each person; a vision of a cross, and then the cross opened like a door, beckoning us to enter; a vision of a brook that has grown large, going in a big hurry, over rocks, catching glimmers of sunlight. Then the Lord inspired us to share two Psalms. Psalm 42 which states, “1 As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” [NRSV] The second Psalm was Psalm 115[i] which tells us to rely on Yahweh, not idols of gold and silver, and God will bless you and your children.
I heard the Lord say this, “My child, the comfort zone you seek does not exist for those who are called to speak the Good News to the people. You must constantly be ready to stretch and grow—to give a piece of yourself to others. Sincerity, truth, and the Word of God open hearts to my grace.”
I heard the Lord say this, “My Child, My Will for you is happiness and healing. You will find yourself growing as the small spots in your own soul is healed. You will also experience healing and growth in others. My plan includes the Spirit working through you, helping my people overcome the barriers which limit my grace flowing in them – yes like the tourniquet. The barriers are not mortal sin however but are a barrier caused by the effect of sin: Barriers of fear, disgust and barriers of suspicion and pain. The good news is that these are easily overcome through prayer, witness of my love for them, and grace flowing by the love you have for the people. Faith is an added blessing but even if their faith is stunted they can receive my graces that have been stopped due to the listed barriers. As you will see, the barriers of addictions and hatred are much more difficult to penetrate. But with prayer and fasting even these can be melted by the fire of the Holy Spirit. Dearest child continue to prepare yourself for the journey that fast approaches. You have been tempted and have stayed the course. You have been offered material things and wealth and you have chosen spiritual wealth above it. There may be a few more tests but know that they are given to strengthen you to love others, and to be able to reach into the darkness and pull them out by the hair on their heads.
I heard the Lord say, “My child, each man chooses of his own freewill. My child, each man must travel the road to the salvation of the ages to embrace it. However, those who accept the role as servant are expected to do more, to endure more but they also receive more.
I heard the Lord say this, “My Child, as the forgetfulness of time sends you forth, do not regret the past. The enemy attacks you in this weakness. The continuing needs of the people call you to action. Those frozen by past mistakes are unable to accept my grace to do my will for the people in need. Continue, dear child, to reach beyond the pain of certain memories and look for the joy of grace—when grace has overcome and when the Lord your God has remedied.
One Lent I heard speak Abbot Marcel Rooney[ii], a Benedictine abbot from Tulsa. As I listened he called the Holy Spirit the “Blood of God” and the “Breath of God.” I read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church that the Holy Spirit is the sap of the vine—where we are the branches—but I didn’t think about it at all this way. Abbot Rooney explained it is imagery because “the Spirit is the “life force”. Will you ask the Holy Spirit, the Divine Life Force, to now come into your heart, your veins and arteries, your nervous system, your lungs, your lymphatic system—everywhere your body needs life sustaining! The Lord has made you a wonderful body; ask the Lord to maintain it for you. The heavenly choirs of angels sing “Glory to the Lord, God of Hosts!” Join now with them to give glory to your King, the Christ who saves his people from their own error.
Please subscribe and join us each day for Daily Meditations for Lent – Lenten Logos with Patti Brunner. “The event of the Cross and Resurrection abides and draws everything toward life.”[iii] “Prepare for it, ready your heart.” The transcript of this episode is available at PatriarchMinistries.com. Come back tomorrow for more. With the Holy Spirit there’s always more. Amen
[i] Psalm 115 “3 Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases.
4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
5 They have mouths, but they do not speak; they have eyes, but they do not see.
6 They have ears, but they do not hear; they have noses, but they do not smell.
7 They have hands, but they do not feel; they have feet, but they do not walk; they make no sound in their throats.
8 Those who make them are like them; so are all who trust in them.
9 O Israel, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield.
10 O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield.
11 You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield.
12 The Lord has been mindful of us; he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron;
13 he will bless those who fear the Lord, both small and great.
14 May the Lord give you increase, both you and your children.
15 May you be blessed by the Lord, who made heaven and earth. [NRSV]
[ii] 2/11/2008 Abbot Marcel Rooney Benedictine Abbey in Tulsa
[iii] Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraph 1085
