Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Lenten Resolution Suggestions


Here is a numbered list of recommended Lenten resolutions from the Saint Escriva excerpt of my blog entry below (what is best is to commit to just one thing and to fulfill it) http://plinthos.blogspot.com/2010/02/lenten-penances-for-holiness.html.

1. Resolve to fulfill exactly the timetable you have fixed for yourself, even though your body resists or your mind tries to avoid it by dreaming up useless fantasies.

2. To get up on time and also not leave for later, without any real reason, that particular job that you find harder or most difficult to do.

3. To learn how to reconcile your duties to God, to others and to yourself, by making demands on yourself so that you find enough time for each of your tasks.

4. To lovingly keep to your schedule of prayer, despite feeling worn out, listless or cold.

5. To be very charitable at all times towards those around you, starting with the members of your own family.

6. To be full of tenderness and kindness towards the suffering, the sick and the infirm.

7. To give patient answers to people who are boring and annoying.

8. To interrupt your work or change your plans, when circumstances make this necessary, above all when the just and rightful needs of others are involved.

9. To put up good-humouredly with the thousand and one little pinpricks of each day.

10. To not abandon your job, although you have momentarily lost the enthusiasm with which you started it.

11. To eat gladly whatever is served, without being fussy.

12. For parents and, in general, for those whose work involves supervision or teaching, to correct whenever it is necessary. This should be done bearing in mind the type of fault committed and the situation of the person who needs to be so helped, not letting oneself be swayed by subjective viewpoints, which are often cowardly and sentimental.

13. To keep yourself from becoming too attached to the vast imaginative blueprints you have made for your future projects, where you have already foreseen your master strokes and brilliant successes. What joy you give to God when you are happy to lay aside your third-rate painting efforts and let him put in the features and colours of his choice!

[14. To give at least one (real) smile a day, (i.e. God's way), to someone who needs it.]

No comments:

Post a Comment