Daily Thought For March 10, 2019

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Our Father's Kingdom

     We have an old family photo of my brother pouting from behind a garbage can at the old Palisades Amusement Park. It was time to go home, but he wanted to stay. An amusement park, after all, is heaven for a little boy. 
     Now imagine if, when he peered out from his hiding place, my five-year-old brother had not seen our parents? Would he have gone alone on any rides or played any games or bought any cotton candy? Or would he have desperately sought his mommy and daddy? When a child finds himself lost in an amusement park, what had been heaven immediately becomes hell. Don't our hearts ache and even fear when we hear the PA announcement that a child is separated from his parents? 
     When the devil offers Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, his one condition is that Jesus not worship the Father. Jesus, the Eternal Beloved Son, knows that any·aspect of reality loses all of its consistency, all of its worth, all of its goodness, if it is perceived and grasped outside of the Loving Origin of the Father. 
     As we begin Lent, let us pray to see every aspect of our lives through the cross of Christ, that most revelatory, sacrificial, and salvific expression of Fatherly love at the very foundation of our existence. 

 Reflection based on Luke 4:1-13 Fr. Richard Veras (from The Magnificat Lenten Companion p.17)

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