Portion - Preparing for Lent

Daily Scripture Readings

Monday          Matthew 18:1-9
Tuesday          Matthew 15:1-20
Wednesday    Mark 10:35-45
Thursday        Matthew 5:1-12
Friday             Matthew 5:13-16
Saturday        Matthew 6:25-34

Opening Prayer

Almighty God, you have chosen to speak to us through prophets and wise leaders and most clearly through your son, Jesus Christ. Grant unto us now the ability to hear, understand, and obey him whom you have sent. Amen.

READING:

Awe is a way of being in rapport with the mystery of all reality. The awe that we sense or ought to sense when standing in the presence of a human being is a moment of intuition for the likeness of God which is concealed in his essence. Not only man; even inanimate things stand in a relation to the Creator. The secret of every being is the divine care and concern that are invested in it. Something sacred is at stake in every event.

Awe is an intuition for the creaturely dignity of all things and their preciousness to God; a realization that things not only are what they are but also stand, however remotely, for something absolute. Awe is a sense for the transcendence, for the reference everywhere to him who is beyond all things. It is an insight better conveyed in attitudes than in words. The more eager we are to express it, the less remains of it.

From God in Search of Man by Abraham Joshua Heschel