Hi good friends, strangers, brothers and sisters
The best way to read this blog is to start at the beginning, and read it in sequential order. The links to the readings for each day offered in daily mass should still work fine, though I suspect a lot of the video and audio files will no longer work as the links expire. Oh well... like I said - check the readings link one by one, and go to the USCCB.org web site to follow the readings. These links go straight to the St. Joseph's bible at USCCB, and as far as I know - the links should work just fine. The story comes with pictures, songs, and a wide open honesty.
To fully explore the Lenten Journey - you really need to read the readings before you read the text from the Lenten Journey blog. Otherwise, I suspect - it will make absolutely no sense. I am not being obtuse about all this - but for the most part, the daily writing is inspired by what the readings were for each day.
Once you start to the beginning - to go to the next day, all you need to do is click the NEWER POST link at the bottom of the blog entry to follow the story in chronological order. The story is best read this way, as you will be able to see how things changed over the course of time, and I hope - see how all I did during the course of my trip - is to try and be obedient to what I felt I was being asked by God to do each day. Toward the end of the story - some of the reflections relate to sharing very personal experiences of how God has touched my life, and how I knew - by faith - that God is with me. This was probably the hardest part, as like most people - I like to keep private things private. But in all honesty, I felt that God was asking me to share some things that are hard to share. The reason they are hard to share - is all too often, the listener I shared them with, would think think I was insane, or that I had lost my mind. In truth... it did happen in the way I described, and I did my best to honestly share these experiences - which of course would be colored by how I see the world, but I assure you, I am just as sane as the next man. Another very difficult part of my Lenten Journey was that some of my closest friends, came to the conclusion that I had lost my mind. And this conclusion was shared with others, who whispered these things in secret, to other friends who in turn felt compelled to keep me at a safe distance. How sad - I was ostracized by many of my dearest friends, and perhaps even some family members for sharing how wonderful God has been to me. So wonderful it makes my joy complete, it makes want to sing, it fills my heart with boundless love. I know, Jesus tells me to rejoice and be glad when this happens, because my reward in heaven will be great. And I tried to remember this. And tried to be like Peter in Acts of the Apostles, who was thrilled and thankful to have been beaten and whipped for his love of Jesus. I regret my Lord I was not a very worthy servant in this regard. It hurt me to the core to be forsaken by those I loved most, and my response was not to rejoice, but instead to cry. It hurt. And it hurt worse, because it created a feeling of justification for some, to treat me very badly. Forgive them Lord, and forgive me. Please grant me the grace to increase my faith, that I might respond in the way you ask me too. To be thankful and rejoice when I suffer insult for love of You. Obviously, I still have a long way to go.
But enough of my wimpy ways.. ahhaha - please read the story of a foolish man's walk in faith, and How God changes our lives each and every day. But please - start at the beginning, just as you would any story, and read it it order. And if you wish to read the blog - you have to read the readings at the top of the page, if you might ever hope to understand how God was with me on my journey, and I hope, you will have your eyes opened and see how God is with you too. He's there for you, I am not special, but for some reason I do not understand, nor have I done anything to earn it - but for some reason, God has allowed my eyes and heart to see things others are blind to. Which is kind of ironic, since in the worldy measure, I am legally blind. Now ... bypass the blog post below, and start at the beginning on February 17, 2009. Read the scripture first, and at the bottom of the post... click the NEWER POST link to turn the page. Yes, I repeated this instruction because I am aware how people read things online.
