LJ2021 – Day 40 – Blessed

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Lenten Journey 2021:
Faith in a Post Pandemic World
by Fr. Vazken Movsesian

 

Day 40: Blessed
Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it. – Jesus (Matthew 13)

 
At the end of the Lenten Journey we receive a blessing that may be unexpected. We have found something which we never lost. We began this journey 40 days ago with a challenge. Amidst the twists and turns of this 40 day venture, we have walked along side and through the Kingdom, and today we find it within us. The road ahead is brightened with this reality.
Graphic: Fantastic Landscape with a Road publicdomainpictures.net

LJ2021 – Day 39 – Abide

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Lenten Journey 2021:
Faith in a Post Pandemic World
by Fr. Vazken Movsesian

Day 39: Abide
If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. – Jesus (John 14:15-17

 
The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are revealed in this statement of Christ. To abide in God means to know God. Knowing does not necessarily mean understanding, but it does mean accepting and acting in accordance with His commandment to love. The Lenten Journey has as its goal abiding in Christ and therefore, to love.
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LJ2021 – Day 38 – Christ

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Lenten Journey 2021:
Faith in a Post Pandemic World
by Fr. Vazken Movsesian

 

Day 38: Christ

Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me. – Jesus (Matthew 25:31-46)

 

The transitive property (of equality) says that if a=b and b=c then a=c. In Christ we find transitive property of life, namely that to serve God means to serve people. To love God means to love people, your brother, sister, and neighbor.

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LJ2021 – Day 37 – Living

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Lenten Journey 2021:
Faith in a Post Pandemic World
by Fr. Vazken Movsesian

Day 37: Living
God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. – Jesus (Matthew 22:32)

 
In the final days of this year’s Lenten Journey, the lessons come together to set a path for our movement forward. The lessons point to life because Jesus is life. There is no death in the presence of life.
 
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LJ2021 – Day 36 – Freedom

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Lenten Journey 2021:
Faith in a Post Pandemic World
by Fr. Vazken Movsesian

Day 36: Freedom
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor;He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” … Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. – Jesus (Luke 4:17-21)

 
Jesus’ message was one of freedom. The release from bondage that comes with and from Christ is complete, and not limited to a spiritual understanding. He frees the poor as well as the brokenhearted, the oppressed as well as the blind. The Lenten Journey is to walk away from all that ties you down and prevents you from experiencing that freedom.
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LJ2021 – Day 35 – Basics

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Lenten Journey 2021:
Faith in a Post Pandemic World
by Fr. Vazken Movsesian

Day 35: Basics
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.   This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. – Jesus (Matthew 22)

 
We enter the final week of this year’s Lenten Journey. A life touched by a pandemic has complicated our lives in many ways. Finding the basics, the simple “bottom line,” is part of the Lenten Journey. Jesus cuts through the law and the prophets and profoundly proclaims the message of love – toward God and toward neighbor. See and find the basics of life today, they are not too different from what has been basic to life from the beginning.
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ԼՃ2021 – Day 34 – Alone

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Lenten Journey 2021:
Faith in a Post Pandemic World
by Fr. Vazken Movsesian

Day 34: Alone
Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. – Jesus (Mark 14)

 

In our lifetime, we take actions that are in line with our principles and our understanding of the world. We refer to the “voice within” as our conscience and we respond in a manner for which we must be responsible. How others perceive our actions don’t seem to matter when we are truly committed to our ideals and dreams, causing us to often land in a lonely place. Jesus gives the criterion, “service for me” as a celebration for your loneliness.

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LJ2021 – Day 33 – Outward Appearance

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Lenten Journey 2021:
Faith in a Post Pandemic World
by Fr. Vazken Movsesian

Day 33: Outward Appearance
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth. So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. – Jesus (Matthew 23)

Our outward appearance is important, in deed. It sets the stage for our work, our social activities, our friendships and relationships. Jesus reminds us that equally as important, and perhaps even more, is the appearance of our soul. Imagine how much more intense, genuine and engaging would be our work, social activities, friendships and relationships, if we toned our inner soul.

Graphic: Old Graveyard, publicdomainpictures.net

LJ2021 – Day 32 – Courage

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Lenten Journey 2021:
Faith in a Post Pandemic World
by Fr. Vazken Movsesian

Day 32: Courage
Get up and do not be afraid. – Jesus (Matthew 17:7)

There are two parts of courage, as understood from Jesus’ command. Absence of fear is an obvious attribute of courage. Not so obvious is the necessity to act about that loss of fear, that is, to “get up” and live. The Lenten Journey is about finding this courage that leads to a productive life.
 
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LJ2021 – Day 31 – God’s choice

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Lenten Journey 2021:
Faith in a Post Pandemic World
by Fr. Vazken Movsesian

 

Day 31: God’s choice
I do choose. Be made clean! – Jesus (Mark 1)

 
A man approaches Jesus and ask for a spiritual healing, with the condition, “If you (Jesus) so choose?” The question is, why wouldn’t he choose to do so? Why wouldn’t he want you to be walking in the Grace of God? Once you know Jesus is on-board for the salvation of your soul, you merely have to listen for the words that follow, “Be made clean!”

Graphic Lifewire fanjianhua / Getty Images