Getting ready for LENT 2010. Thinking about what to do this year as a sacrifice to bring me closer to Jesus. Been praying about it for a while now. This year I'll be getting myself in bed with lights off by midnight and going to 9 am Mass Monday through Friday. Midnight bedtime is a stretch for me. And, considering our Spring Retreat is smack in the middle of Lent, should make for an interesting retreat week.
Ok, so to get us started, I'm breaking out the big guns - Dom Hubert Van Zeller. Every year for the last 8 or so years, I've read Holiness: A guide for beginners.
And, here's an excerpt:
The strange thing is that worldly people, quite sinful people, read these words of our Lord and do not deny them. They know in their hearts that what He said was perfectly true. They admit the uselessness of luxury when it comes to the question of happiness, and they know that hardship cannot on its own make people miserable. But they cannot bring themselves to put the gospel teaching into practice. They are afraid to let go of their pleasures, and they are afraid of the Cross. Sanctity would be their one solution, but they do not want to think about what might be expected of them if they went all out for it.
