March 28 Lenten Devotional "Walk on Two Legs"

OPENING PRAYER. . .Loving God, Creator of all that is, here I am--today in this place that you have given me, with all the senses you have given me. Help me to use them to experience you on a deeper level. May I experience you all around me, open me to know more of your ways and know that your goodness surrounds me. Thank you for this time to be with you and to just listen. Amen

LISTEN. . . One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.  The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.

CONSIDER. . . .Catherine of Siena wanted to live a contemplative life devoted to prayer, but she heard God calling her to an apostolic life. She resisted this call because she worried that her intimacy with God would diminish if she reached out to her neighbor. As God spoke to her heart, she came to understand that her care for others would be an avenue for a greater expressions of her love for him.

How could she walk with only the "one leg" of love for God if she also didn't walk with the "second leg" of love for God's people? She could not truly love the unseen God without giving herself in service to her brothers and sisters in need. Catherine traveled the streets of Siena alone, ministering to the sick and poor whom no one else would touch.

SO WHAT. . . This scripture calls us to walk on "two legs"--love of God and love of neighbor. The commitment to help our poorest sisters and brothers IS NOT AN OPTION, but an expression of our love of God. Lent is a time that invites us to turn away from sin and turn toward God with a singe-hearted devotion. But it's more than that. . . it's also a turning toward our neighbor with generous hearts and an empathetic spirit.

• Are you "crippled" in your spiritual life by walking only on "one leg"?
• Are you reluctant to walk on "two legs" because you refuse to see the need around you?
• How might you do a random act of kindness today as an expression of your love for God?

PRAYER. . . Loving God, help me to imitate the way of St. Catherine of Siena, walking as a disciple on "two legs" with a heart for you and a generous love for my neighbor. Lead me to see the needs around me and stand on my "two legs" and offer myself as Jesus would. Amen

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