Heavenly Father, I thank you for the gift of life and for every heartbeat that you give me. You know my needs, Lord, and the struggles of my life. I surrender each one of them to you today, and in the name of your Son, Jesus, I ask you to break their influence and power over my thoughts, emotions, and life. Thank you, Lord, for taking these from me. I trust that you will work these needs out perfectly in my life, and I ask for the grace not to pick up the weight and worry of these needs again. I thank you in Jesus’ name.
needs. Expressing these needs to the Lord isn’t for his benefit; it’s for yours! As you bring your needs before God, surrender them to him. When we ask God for help with problems, issues, or needs in our life, he wants to lift their burden from our back and carry them himself. That is something he cannot do if we don’t actually release those burdens from our own heart. Each day as you bring your petitions before the Lord, end your prayer with an act of surrender. You might find it helpful to picture yourself next to Jesus during this prayer. As you name your petitions, imagine yourself taking each one and handing it to Jesus. At the end of your prayer, thank the Lord for his goodness, and intentionally release your needs to him. Here is a simple prayer of surrender you can use:
Peaceful_Pamphlet.indd 1
Meditate on Good Things
Instead, use that time to meditate and reflect on positive, godly things. Spending some time each day with the Bible would be ideal for this. Take a few minutes each day to read a short passage from Scripture, and meditate on it. Although this may seem counterintuitive, don’t read to learn or understand. Simply sit with the passage, no more than a few sentences at a time. Read it prayerfully and slowly several times, and notice what words or phrases stand out for you. Then, ask the Lord to show you why those words stood out for you. Do this every day, and you’ll soon find that your very thought process—your mental “climate”—is being transformed.
It is so easy to be overwhelmed by stress and negativity. Whether we watch the news, surf the web, or just seek out entertainment—we are bombarded by a stream of anxiety-producing content. That kind of toxic environment can take its toll. If you have The God of peace desires your peace. In fact, he ever been in a meeting with an individual who is mad but silent about it, you’ve experienced this. created you for this experience of kingdom life. No When anger overshadows somematter the circumstance you find one, it changes the emotional yourself in, no matter the path As you name your and spiritual climate of a room. that has led you to this point, no The same is true of our spirit. matter the history of your failpetitions, imagine If we live on a steady diet of ures and faults—you are loved by yourself taking a Father who cherishes you simstressful, violent, or negative each one and content, it can make it difficult ply because you are his. This gift for us to cooperate with the of peace has been given to you in handing it to Jesus. peace we have received in Jesus. Jesus. It may not flourish or “blosThis Lent, unplug from some som” all at once, but the seed of of that. Deliberately choose to limit your time on kingdom life you received at Baptism will grow as social media or watching your favorite shows. you walk intentionally with the Lord.
Take Heart
So this Lent, spend time with the Lord . . . • cultivating gratefulness, • sharing your needs and giving the Lord your burdens, • reading Scripture, and • remembering that you are loved and cherished by God.
Take the Next Step What’s the one thing that can change the world? The answer is always the same: God’s love for us. Invite him into your life each day with this inspiring devotional, available at bookstore.wau.org. Copyright © 2021 The Word Among Us. All rights reserved. Published by The Word Among Us Press 7115 Guilford Drive, Suite 100 Frederick, Maryland 21704 wau.org 25 24 23 22 21 1 2 3 4 5 ISBN: 978-1-59325-549-7
Praying for (and Living) a
Peaceful Lent ss
re P s U g nting n o Pri m A for d r o ot W N The ple Sam
Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner. Design by Suzanne Earl No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the author and publisher. Made and printed in the United States of America.
®
12/21/20 3:44 PM
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.
ow often do we find ourselves longing for an experience of peace in the midst of the chaos, stress, and turmoil of our lives, our nation, and our world? How often are we overwhelmed at the hectic pace of our jobs or our responsibilities? Maybe we find ourselves wrestling with anxiety over our future or the future of our children? So we strive to rearrange our lives—reorganizing our schedules, cutting back on activities, and focusing on finding some “me” time. Perhaps that works for a short time, but soon enough, we lose that peaceful feeling and find ourselves right back on a seemingly frantic and neverending search for it again. Yet as we read in the Gospel of John above, Jesus has already given us the very thing for which we so desperately yearn—his peace.
Peaceful_Pamphlet.indd 2
Finding Peace
s s e
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Philippians 4:4-8)
r P s U g n g i t n n o i r m P A r o d f r t o o W N e h e l T p m a S
(John 14:27)
H
More Than a Feeling
The peace Jesus speaks of is more than simply the absence of conflict, stress, or fear. It’s more than simply a fleeting feeling that comes and goes depending on our circumstances. Jesus himself says that the peace he gives is not natural, worldly peace. Rather, it is rooted in the supernatural reality of his Father’s kingdom. We see this reflected in St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, as he describes the reign of God: “The kingdom of God,” he writes, “is not a matter of food and drink, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the holy Spirit” (14:17). Righteousness is the experience of being in right relationship to God and the whole human community. It is about union and integrity, healing and wholeness. Thus, the reality of God’s kingdom is the reality of our resting secure in a loving relationship with God. Living in the heart of that relationship means acknowledging and experiencing the goodness of the Father’s love for us—trusting that he is for us and that he desires our deepest freedom and joy. It also means accepting our deepest identity as beloved— as the ones who are loved by God. Once we live intentionally in this way, God’s peace begins to take root within us. Our trust in him deepens, our desire or need for control over every aspect of our life wanes, we are set free from more and more of the insecurities and brokenness that have marked our journey in this life, and we are transformed by this experience of love.
You might be asking, “Well, how do I find this peace? What do I have to do to secure this kind of peace in my life? Like God’s love, the peace of God is a free gift that he has already given us in Jesus. We can’t earn it, nor can we “crack the safe” where God keeps his peace by doing good and holy things, as if we can somehow convince God that we deserve his peace.
Living the Way of Peace
Lent isn’t simply a time of sacrifice and penance; it is a time of preparation. The mortifications of Lent are intended to prepare us to live out the Easter mysteries of resurrection, freedom, and new life. There really is no better time to intentionally cooperate with the Lord’s gift of peace! If we look at one of the most beautiful passages of the New Testament, we find some clear and practical suggestions on living the way of God’s peace:
Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Let’s break that down in some manageable bites:
Rejoice in the Lord
Make Your Requests Known
Rejoicing in God is more than saying prayers of praise. It is an attitude of gratefulness to God for Bringing our needs before the Lord means who he is and all that he has given to us. Somespending time with him. This Lent, commit times we can get so caught up in the issues and to spending at least fifteen minutes each day problems of our daily life that we miss the signs in prayer. Find a quiet place in your house of God’s presence, favor, and gifts that are all (or your car, if your house is anything like around us. mine). There is no need to start with more In order to cultivate this attitude of gratefultime unless you already have a habit of at ness, take some time at the end of each day to least fifteen minutes a day. make a list of things for which you are thankful. As you pray, tell the Lord everything that Spend some time in prayer with the Lord, and be is causing you to worry or to feel tense or intentional about thanking God anxious. Recount to him specifically for those things that the situations and experiLike God’s love, occured during the day. ences that you need help In the final time of your prayer with, and tell him all the the peace of God each night, reflect on two qualneeds that you have in is a free gift that ities of God, and simply thank your life. Don’t skip over he has already God for having those qualities. anything or omit requests For example, you might reflect because you think they given us in Jesus. on God’s goodness and faithfularen’t holy enough needs ness and say, “Thank you, Lord, or they aren’t very pious for your faithfulness; I know you will never abanrequests. God is truth, and he values hondon me because of who you are.” esty. On top of that, he already knows your
12/21/20 3:44 PM
Heavenly Father, I thank you for the gift of life and for every heartbeat that you give me. You know my needs, Lord, and the struggles of my life. I surrender each one of them to you today, and in the name of your Son, Jesus, I ask you to break their influence and power over my thoughts, emotions, and life. Thank you, Lord, for taking these from me. I trust that you will work these needs out perfectly in my life, and I ask for the grace not to pick up the weight and worry of these needs again. I thank you in Jesus’ name.
Instead, use that time to meditate and reflect on positive, godly things. Spending some time each day with the Bible would be ideal for this. Take a few minutes each day to read a short passage from Scripture, and meditate on it. Although this may seem counterintuitive, don’t read to learn or understand. Simply sit with the passage, no more than a few sentences at a time. Read it prayerfully and slowly several times, and notice what words or phrases stand out for you. Then, ask the Lord to show you why those words stood out for you. Do this every day, and you’ll soon find that your very thought process—your mental “climate”—is being transformed.
s s e
So this Lent, spend time with the Lord . . .
r P s U g n g i t n n o i r m P A r o d f r t o o W N e h e l T p m a S needs. Expressing these needs to the Lord isn’t for his benefit; it’s for yours! As you bring your needs before God, surrender them to him. When we ask God for help with problems, issues, or needs in our life, he wants to lift their burden from our back and carry them himself. That is something he cannot do if we don’t actually release those burdens from our own heart. Each day as you bring your petitions before the Lord, end your prayer with an act of surrender. You might find it helpful to picture yourself next to Jesus during this prayer. As you name your petitions, imagine yourself taking each one and handing it to Jesus. At the end of your prayer, thank the Lord for his goodness, and intentionally release your needs to him. Here is a simple prayer of surrender you can use:
Peaceful_Pamphlet.indd 1
Meditate on Good Things
It is so easy to be overwhelmed by stress and negativity. Whether we watch the news, surf the web, or just seek out entertainment—we are bombarded by a stream of anxiety-producing content. That kind of toxic environment can take its toll. If you have The God of peace desires your peace. In fact, he ever been in a meeting with an individual who is mad but silent about it, you’ve experienced this. created you for this experience of kingdom life. No When anger overshadows somematter the circumstance you find one, it changes the emotional yourself in, no matter the path As you name your and spiritual climate of a room. that has led you to this point, no The same is true of our spirit. matter the history of your failpetitions, imagine If we live on a steady diet of ures and faults—you are loved by yourself taking a Father who cherishes you simstressful, violent, or negative each one and content, it can make it difficult ply because you are his. This gift for us to cooperate with the of peace has been given to you in handing it to Jesus. peace we have received in Jesus. Jesus. It may not flourish or “blosThis Lent, unplug from some som” all at once, but the seed of of that. Deliberately choose to limit your time on kingdom life you received at Baptism will grow as social media or watching your favorite shows. you walk intentionally with the Lord.
Take Heart
• cultivating gratefulness, • sharing your needs and giving the Lord your burdens, • reading Scripture, and • remembering that you are loved and cherished by God.
Take the Next Step What’s the one thing that can change the world? The answer is always the same: God’s love for us. Invite him into your life each day with this inspiring devotional, available at bookstore.wau.org.
Praying for (and Living) a
Peaceful Lent
Copyright © 2021 The Word Among Us. All rights reserved.
Published by The Word Among Us Press 7115 Guilford Drive, Suite 100 Frederick, Maryland 21704 wau.org 25 24 23 22 21 1 2 3 4 5 ISBN: 978-1-59325-549-7
Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner. Design by Suzanne Earl
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the author and publisher. Made and printed in the United States of America.
®
12/21/20 3:44 PM