Necessities: Story 2

By Ross Parrish, Mobile, Ala. - St. Ignatius

My fiancée and I were talking the other day and once again our Lenten sacrifices came up.  Another one of my Lenten sacrifices I am doing is only allowing fruits and vegetables in between my normal three meals of the day.  It’s not as if I am starving myself.  I am still eating snacks in between three meals a day.  If I were in a third world country, I would be royalty.  And I, sinning as if trying to make the devil proud, started to complain that I am already tired of eating so many dang apples and bananas.  Back to that in a minute…

Noah had forty days of rain, the Israelites had 40 years in the desert, and Jesus fasted for 40 days in the desert.  So too do we observe our 40 days of sacrifice.  It is important to note that after 40 days of rain, God established the Covenant with Noah.  Then again after 40 years in the desert the God fulfills his Covenant with Abraham as the Israelites reached the Promised Land.  And after Jesus fasted for 40 days he was able to withstand the temptations of the devil and go on to perform his ministry.  So too should we expect such great results from our Lenten sacrifices; I think our salvation through the passion and Resurrection of Jesus qualifies as a great result.

  Yet, I could not go two weeks without complaining about my fruit (Mt 6:16-18) just as the Israelites complained about their manna (Numbers 11:4-6). So once again I illustrated my need to purge myself of MY necessities and realize GOD’S necessities for me.  Learn a lesson from the Israelites and me.  Or better yet learn a lesson from the “Our Father”.  Jesus taught us a perfect prayer to our Father asking for “our daily bread", not our daily steak and lobster.  Lent is a time for breaking down our lives to the bare necessities
( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ogQ0uge06o ).    Just as the fig tree is in need of pruning and tilling of the soil, this Lent is my time to examine my life and prune MY necessities.  So cultivate away this Lent so we are not to cut down by OUR necessities.