Jesus' Path of Love: A 40-Day Reflection into Lent

Jesus' Path of Love

"I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." - Ephesians 3:17-19

In the first century, Jesus of Nazareth inspired a movement. A community of people whose lives were centered on Jesus Christ and committed to living the way of God's unconditional, unselfish, sacrificial, and redemptive love. Before they were called "church" or "Christian," this Jesus Movement was simply called "the way."

Today, our vocation is to live as the Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement. But how can we together grow more deeply with Jesus Christ at the center of our lives, so we can bear witness to his way of love in and for the world?

The deep roots of our Christian tradition may offer just such a path. For centuries, monastic communities have shaped their lives around rhythms and disciplines for following Jesus together. Such a pattern is known as a "Rule of Life." The framework - Jesus' Path of Love: Practices for Jesus-Centered Life - outlines a Rule for the Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement.

The season of Lent is a period of sustained focus on the journey of Jesus toward the cross. The mood of Lent is subdued, a time for sober reflection on the cost Jesus paid for setting us free from our sins. Like the season of Advent, Lent points beyond itself, this time to the joys of Easter, where we celebrate the fact that the darkness of sin and death gave way once and for all to the glorious life of Jesus raised from the dead.

Tradition tells us that Lent has three distinguishing marks: prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

This three-part series will examine those practices. Prayer is surely the best place to begin, because it's the one that unites them all. Fasting and almsgiving are themselves just forms of prayer.

"A 40-day reflection into Lent" invites you to spend time with our Lord Jesus, accompanies with Him in the wilderness of Lent, suffers with Him the extreme condition of the desert such as temptation, solitude, danger from scorching heat by day and cold by night, danger from wild animals and scorpions, plus the scarcity of food and water. Beginning from Ash Wednesday and ending on Easter Sunday, we share with Jesus' Passion in 40 days and then rejoice with Him on His Resurrection from death, and hope to be raised with him on our last day.

A "Jesus' Path of Love" invites you to follow Him on his journey to the Cross and practice the way of love.

Contents:

Gospel passage

Reflections

Saint's story and example

Meditation for the day

Prayer for the day