Lent, Day Twenty-Three, Third Thursday of Lent

Lent, Day Twenty-Three,  Third Thursday of Lent 
Jesus challenges us to move in a totally new direction. He asks for a conversion--that is to say, a complete interior turn-around, a transformation... Everything within us seems set against this way. And yet--everytime we take a few steps along it we become aware that something new is happening within us and experience a desire to try another step forward. And so step by step, we come closer to the heart of God, which is the heart of an undiscriminating, always-forgiving, inexhaustible love.

Henri J.M. Nouwen
Letters to Marc About Jesus, pg 46

Scripture:
Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, ² and he began to teach them.
¹³ “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴ But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Matthew 5:1-2; 7:13-14, 21-23

PRAYER
God of the Narrow Gate, I am often a creature of convenience: convenience foods, convenient access to roads, convenient TV remote controls, convenient drive-up windows, and convenience stores. I know that these and many other aspects of modern life make it easier for me. Even still,I want things and people to change and adapt for my benefit. Help me to remember that the hard and steep way is the path to your house and that I must practice "give and take" rather than the "take and take" of a world revolving around my needs, and wants, my pleasures, my way.Amen.

LENTEN ACTION
Make a list of life's conveniences and "fast" from one or several of them for a day (watching TV without using the remote control or walking up the steps instead of taking the elevator).