Lent - Day Two - The Master Provides

Gospel

Luke 9:22-25

Whoever loses his life for my sake will save it

Jesus said to his disciples:

  ‘The Son of Man is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death, and to be raised up on the third day.’

  Then to all he said:

  ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, that man will save it. What gain, then, is it for a man to have won the whole world and to have lost or ruined his very self?’

OUR LENTEN JOURNEY – DAY TWO

  Once again, we were up before the sun.  But unlike yesterday, the master was in no hurry to break camp this morning.  He lit a small fire and asked us to sit around it with Him.  He brought out some desert bread, unleavened cakes that seemed to form the basis of every meal.  He tore the bread apart and handed it to those on His right and on His left.  He did not speak a word. We each got a small sample of the bread and waited for the Master to give some indication as to what we were to do with it.  After looking at each of us in the eye, He smiled and bid us consume the bread.  It was most amazing.  All of us were hungry, our meal the night before was very light as it was Ash Wednesday. But the plain bread turned sweet in our mouths and once swallowed the pangs of hunger dissipated and our energy level was much higher than when we sat down.  The Master told us we had better get moving and so we put the fire out, packed up the camels and just as the sun broke over the horizon we made our first step into the desert and it was not long before the sun focused its full power on us and we were sweating but not being cooled by the sweat because the sun evaporated it before any of the winds could cool us.  We drank water, as much as we could and yet we are still thirsty.   Because of the heat, some of us started to experience cramps of the legs as our salt was robbed from our body.  Our Master never once complained of the heat or took more than a little sip of water. One of us faltered while he was drinking from his canteen and it tipped over and the life-giving water was sacrificed to the desert sands.  He would have cried but he was too dehydrated to form tears.  The Master came and helped him to his feet and He opened His canteen and poured the water from it into the man’s mouth until the vessel was empty.  The Master said, “With this drink, you will now be able to carry the cross that has been given to you.  To be my companion you must carry it yourself but call me if it is too heavy for you and I will help you.

We walked and walked and would have continued but the camels were getting tired.  They needed to be fed and rested. We set up camp did the needful and together sat around the fire, exhausted, but still not hungry. The bread He gave us filled all our needs.  Now to bed.