THE THIRD THURSDAY OF LENT:Martyr Agapios and his 7 companions, 304
LITURGICAL THEME OF THE DAY: : The holy Martyrs contested for piety’s sake during the reign of Diocletian (284-305), when Urban was Governor of Caesarea of Palestine. Urbanus, the governor of the region, observed a pagan festival by having some Christians publicly tortured and executed: some by fire, others on the gallows, and some by being thrown to wild beasts in the arena.
When Urban commanded that together with the heathen festival, certain condemned Christians be publicly cast to wild beasts, Timolaus, Dionysius of Tripolis in Phoenicia, Romulus of Diospolis, Plesius (or Paisius) and Alexander from Egypt, and another Alexander from Gaza, seeing the patience and serenity with which the Christians endured their torments, were reached by the Holy Spirit, tied their own hands and presented themselves to Urban when the exhibition was about to begin, professing their faith in Christ; they were immediately cast into prison. A few days later Agapius (the only baptized Christian amongst these youths) and Dionysius also presented themselves. All were beheaded together at Caesarea. Their martyrdom is recorded by Eusebius (Eccl. Hist.,Book VIII, ch.3, called The Martyrs of Palestine).
MEDITATION OF THE DAY: In the Psalm for the morning, 42 , it seems King David is longing for God’s presence a new in verses 1-2. Some people in contemporary spirituality believe that this type of inner longing occurs at the moment of conversion. Some spiritual masters like Thomas Merton and Richard Foster have made the case that the longing increases as we grow and mature. The more we come to know the Lord, the more we realize how little we know him and how much we desire Jesus in his fullness. Some of the great mystics have made the compelling case that the desire to find God and to see him and to love him is the one thing that matters.
Perhaps at this point in Lent it would be well with our souls to ask “Just how often in life do our souls really long and pine for the Lord the way a deer might pant for streams of water in a dry and arid land? For some of us the answer is when we have known pain and discouragement, while for other that drives them even further away. Sadly for many of us, the realization that we really do need God in order to live life to the fullest, doesn’t occur until we are hurting. The witness here may be that others who are watching us who are not deep in the faith, will determine whether that can take God at his word by how well they see us witnessing the very words and truth that we claim is part of who and what we are. They want to see within us that we refuse to let the tears of life have the last word. That even in these difficult days, we can remember back to times of God’s presence (42:4) and we were singing songs of praise to God. That remembrance is not empty longing but a recovery of the promises of God’s love and mercy that can get lost in the mire of this world.
PRAYER OF THE DAY: Oh my God, teach me to seek you, and reveal yourself to me when I seek you. For I cannot seek you unless, you first teach me, nor find you unless you first reveal yourself to me. Let me seek you in longing, and long for you in seeking. Let me find you in love, and love you in finding. Amen (St. Ambrose)
ANCIENT WISDOM/PRESENT GRACE: “A soul that longs for something is a soul that is growing — one way or another, smaller or larger. What have your longings done to your life and its horizons — broadened them or crippled them? — Sr. Joan Chittister
LENTEN DISCIPLINE– Spend time considering the Seven Paths of Christian Devotion by Richard Foster. Using the list of these paths, write a brief inventory on each of the paths and ascertain what stage of the journey you may be at this point. Evaluate you spiritual life according to each descriptor below on a grade of 1 through 5 with 5 the highest.
1. The spiritual life as the right ordering of our love for God. _____
2. The spiritual life as journey. _______
3. The spiritual life as the recovery of knowledge of God lost in the Fall. _______
4. The spiritual life as intimacy with Jesus Christ. ________
5. The spiritual life as the right ordering of our experiences of God. ______
6. The spiritual life as action and contemplation. _______
7. The spiritual life as divine ascent. _______