Short Reflection for the 1st Sunday in Lent (C)

The Dhikr for the 1st Sunday in Lent (C)

Text: (4) "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone.” (8) "It is written: 'You shall worship the Lord, your God, and him alone shall you serve.'" (12) "It also says, 'You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.'" (Luke 4: verses 4, 8, and 12)

Reflection: Each one is invited to reflect on Jesus’ responses (the above verses) to the three temptations confronting him as he began his public ministry - Bread, Wealth and Power! Do we easily succumb to the temptations…?

DHIKR PRAYER SIMPLE METHOD...

Dhikr is an Arabic word for remembrance. In the “tariqa” (the way) movement, Dhikr developed into a form of prayer… It is a prayer of the heart… following three simple steps:

1. Write in one’s heart a certain passage of the Holy Writ…
2. Make the same passage ever present in one’s lips.
3. Then wait for God’s disclosure on the meaning of the passage…that interprets one’s life NOW…!

It takes a week of remembering (dhikr)…or even more days to relish the beauty of this method…

The NOW...

Where and when is transformation possible?

How different Jesus’ Kingdom of God is from our later notion of salvation, which pushed the entire issue into the future and largely became a reward and punishment system. How different from Jesus’ “the Kingdom of Heaven is in your midst” (Luke 17:21) or Paul’s “now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).

Healthy religion is always about seeing and knowing something now, which demands a transformation of consciousness on my part today, not moral gymnastics or heroic willpower to earn a prize later.

(Richard Rohr, OFM)