Week Four: "HEAL"
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At this point in your Lenten journey, you might be feeling more accustomed to whatever practice of fasting you have undertaken. You might be connecting your sacrifice to Christ’s own sacrifice and preparing your heart to receive him more fully through the celebration of Easter. But perhaps your intentional resting from whatever it is that you’ve given up is causing a deeper stirring within you.
This week, we take a look at how fasting prepares us to HEAL. We all seek healing — we all, on some level, desire wholeness in our lives. Every single one of us is at least the tiniest bit broken, and much of this journey of life is about putting the pieces together. Here’s the good news: God wants this healing for you, too!
Fasting is a way to take a step toward this healing. Intentionally making the choice to clear a space for God to work in our lives and deep within our heart is a way to open the door for the Holy Spirit to come and fill us. By steadily turning away from ourselves and toward God, we can participate in this healing and, little by little, begin to be restored in the image the God who loves us more than we could ever even fathom.
So, how can you deepen your fast in order to allow God to HEAL you this week?
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2 Chronicles 36:14–16, 19–23In those days, all the princes of Judah, the priests, and the people added infidelity to infidelity, practicing all the abominations of the nations and polluting the LORD’s temple
which he had consecrated in Jerusalem. Early and often did the LORD, the God of their fathers, send his messengers to them, for he had compassion on his people and his dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, despised his warnings, and scoffed at his prophets, until the anger of the LORD against his people was so inflamed that there was no remedy. Their enemies burnt the house of God, tore down the walls of Jerusalem, set all its palaces afire, and destroyed all its precious objects. Those who escaped the sword were carried captive to Babylon, where they became servants of the king of the Chaldeans and his sons until the kingdom of the Persians came to power. All this was to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah: “Until the land has retrieved its lost sabbaths, during all the time it lies waste it shall have rest while seventy years are fulfilled.” In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD inspired King Cyrus of Persia to issue this proclamation throughout his kingdom, both by word of mouth and in writing: “Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD, the God of heaven, has given to me, and he has also charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever, therefore, among you belongs to any part of his people, let him go up, and may his God be with him!”
The Book of Chronicles looks back on Israel’s history in an attempt to make sense of it, most especially attempting to make sense of the Babylonian Exile. Are there moments of your life that you suffered through that only made sense after the fact? Are you experiencing any of those moments right now?
This reading offers a reason for the Exile: so that the land could retrieve its lost sabbath and find rest. How has your idea of “rest” grown, after considering it last week? How does rest — and solitude, sacrifice, and fasting — connect to God’s plan?
It seems that God attempted to allow the Israelites to freely return to Him, but they would not listen to the prophets and messengers sent by God. Why do you think God desires us to freely respond? Why doesn’t God intervene in our suffering all the time?
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Psalm 137:1–2, 3, 4–5, 6
R. (6ab) Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
By the streams of Babylon
we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.
On the aspens of that land
we hung up our harps.
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
For there our captors asked of us
the lyrics of our songs,
And our despoilers urged us to be joyous:
“Sing for us the songs of Zion!”
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
How could we sing a song of the LORD
in a foreign land?
If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand be forgotten!
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
May my tongue cleave to my palate
if I remember you not,
If I place not Jerusalem
ahead of my joy.
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
1. READ the psalm, making sure to recite at least the refrain (in bold) aloud. Read it once or twice, simply allowing the words to sink in.
2. REFLECT on what words or phrases seem to capture your attention. Return to them and ask God to reveal why these words or phrases might be resonating with you.
3. RESPOND to God, sharing openly and vulnerably what might be on your heart.
4. REST in silence and listen for God to respond to you.
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Ephesians 2:4–10
Brothers and sisters: God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ — by grace you have been saved —, raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast. For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them.
Paul points out that God brought us to life with Christ even when we were still dead in our own sin. How do you feel when thinking about the idea that God loves you even before you have it all together?
Paul continues that, because of this, we cannot boast in any of our own works. On the contrary, God’s grace is freely given. Why do you think we have a tendency to try and “earn” God’s love for ourselves?
In a brilliant turn, Paul concludes that we are not saved by good works, but that we are saved for good works. What good works do you feel God might be calling you to do, especially as your Lenten journey continues to deepen?
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John 3:14–21
Jesus said to Nicodemus: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.
Jesus refers to the story of Moses’s lifting up the bronze serpent in the desert, which brought healing to the Israelites after serpents were sent to punish them for their complaints in the desert (“Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”). How do you feel knowing that God desires to forgive and restore us, rather than brood on our own sinfulness?
Jesus compares the Cross to this bronze serpent and tells Nicodemus that the Son of God was sent not to condemn the world but to save it and reveal God’s love for it. Do you wrestle with the idea that God wants to love you and not condemn you? Can you give God permission to love you as you are — right now?
What other connections do you see between all the readings for this week?
How do they connect to the idea of fasting in any way?
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"Do you want to be healed?"
by Bob Schuchts7 MIN READ
. . . Healing is a process, which will be completely fulfilled in heaven. But the process must begin now in each of our lives, as we face our various physical ailments, psychological difficulties, and spiritual afflictions. So the question Jesus asked of the man of Bethesda is directed to each one of us, “Do you want to be healed?” . . .
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Bob Schuchts defines healing in terms of a restoration with our three primary relationships: with God, with ourselves, and with others. How would you define healing? What other words or ideas come to mind when you think of healing?
Schuchts describes the story of the healing of the lame man by the pools of Bethesda, especially focusing on Jesus’ question to him: “Do you want to be healed?” Why do you think we sometimes resist what’s good for us, i.e. our own healing? Do you want to be healed?
Schuchts concludes that healing is a process that will ultimately be complete in the fullness of the presence of God in Heaven, but that it’s a process that can begin even now. What are the next steps on your own journey of being healed by God? How can you connect your practice of fasting to these next steps?
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St. Teresa of Ávila
6 MIN READ
. . . In 1562, with thirteen other nuns, she established such a convent in Ávila, under the patronage of St. Joseph, and in the same year composed the first draft of her Life, which included a treatise on mystical prayer using the imagery of water. Thereafter, she always signed herself Teresa de Jesus. The first reformed convent would become the prototype for sixteen others she would found in her lifetime. Their mode of life would be marked by personal poverty, signified by the coarse brown wool habit, leather sandals, and beds of straw, manual work, abstinence from meat, and solitude. . . .
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St. Teresa of Ávila,
who lived a life marked by the steadfastness
of fasting, penitence, and sacrifice,
pray for us.
St. Teresa of Ávila,
who suffered ridicule and persecution
for your openness to the work of God in your life,
pray for us.
St. Teresa of Ávila,
who opened yourself to the mystical healing touch of Christ,
pray for us.
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