Our Rebuilding God’s Church themes are: Rediscovering God, Healing Relationships with God and Others, Listening to God, and Following God. We are in the process of organizing our resources around these themes. God calls us to rediscover the truth of his love for us in each season of life. As we lean into the first few days of Lent, let us reflect honestly on how we think about God. Do we really believe God loves us? If we do not, this season gives us a great opportunity to reflect on the things that keep us from believing in God’s profound love for us and seek the grace we need to overcome these obstacles.
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With profound gratitude,
Deacon Matthew Halbach, PhD President & Publisher,
Mary Ann grew close to God and his people during her short life.
The youngest of eight, Mary Ann was born in Quito, Ecuador, which had been brought under Spanish control in 1534. She joined the Secular Franciscans and led a life of prayer and penance at home, leaving her parents’ house only to go to church and to perform some work of charity. She established in Quito a clinic and a school for Africans and indigenous Americans. When a plague broke out, she nursed the sick and died shortly thereafter.
She was canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1950. The liturgical feast of Saint Mary Ann of Jesus of Paredes is celebrated on May 28.
Reflection
Francis of Assisi overcame himself and his upbringing when he kissed the man afflicted with leprosy. If our self-denial does not lead to charity, the penance is being practiced for the wrong reason. The penances of Mary Ann made her more sensitive to the needs of others and more courageous in trying to serve those needs.
Incarnation is what all of creation is about because it is the Word of God made flesh. We who claim to be Christian are caught up in the mystery of Christ in an explicit way. To be caught up in this mystery is to be caught up in a God of “reckless love”—reckless enough to remain faithful in love in suffering and death. We are called to find this God in fragile human flesh, encounter him and let ourselves be fully embraced by him. To encounter this God of humble love, however, does not demand that we first look inside ourselves in some type of “detached” introspection. On the contrary we are asked to look long and hard at the person of Jesus Christ, especially in the concrete details of the cross. It is here that we can begin to know God and ourselves in God. Gazing in this way will ultimately lead us to our true identity in God.
Who doesn’t feel like their wounds cannot heal? Emotional, spiritual, and physical injury can create a chasm between us and God. Have you ever been in that place?
Pray
God of hope, I come to you covered in wounds the world cannot see. But I know that you can. Gather the pieces of me that are scattered and put me together again. Make me whole and healed and hopeful again so that I may offer the same grace to other broken people. Amen.
Act
Know somebody who’s wounded? Share this prayer and let that person know that no wound is beyond God’s ability to heal.
Today’s Pause+Pray was written by Christopher Heffron. Learn more here!
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