DIVINE LENTEN 2015 WEEKLY VIDEO REFLECTION NO.1:"BE SENSITIVE TO THE MOVEMENTS OF YOUR HEART" by Rev. Fr. Augustine Vallooran V.C.

The Holy Season of Lent begins this year on 18 February 2015 - ASH WEDNESDAY. Every year, as Catholics, each of us try to look into our hearts and lives to fast, pray, give alms and do good works during the Lenten season. It is not enough. Our lives must be attuned to God's Will and Desire for our personal mission on earth. We must never forget that it is not how we live and prosper according to worldly standards but how we strive to live fully God's Plan for our life that truly matters! 

As of today, a weekly spiritual video talk will be posted every Sunday on this Friends of Divine blog until Palm Sunday - the 7-part DIVINE LENTEN 2015 WEEKLY VIDEO REFLECTION SERIES - to help us truly prepare our heart and our life to be one with Jesus - not just during the Holy Season of Lent but for every day of our life on earth. 

Let us rise to the call of Pope Francis' LENTEN 2015 Message:

"As a way of overcoming indifference and our pretensions to self-sufficiency, I would invite everyone to live this Lent as an opportunity for engaging in what Benedict XVI called a formation of the heart (cf. Deus Caritas Est, 31). A merciful heart does not mean a weak heart. Anyone who wishes to be merciful must have a strong and steadfast heart, closed to the tempter but open to God. A heart which lets itself be pierced by the Spirit so as to bring love along the roads that lead to our brothers and sisters. And, ultimately, a poor heart, one which realizes its own poverty and gives itself freely for others."

The first video of the 7-part DIVINE LENTEN 2015 WEEKLY VIDEO REFLECTION SERIES at the top of this post is "BE SENSITIVE TO THE MOVEMENTS OF YOUR HEART" by Rev. Fr. Augustine Vallooran V.C. - Director of Divine Retreat Centre, Muringoor Kerala, India.  

Fr. Augustine exhorts the great need for each of us to be watchful for "from the outside world, all sorts of desires, wrong attitudes of life and false ways of thinking will creep into our hearts and the Word of God is warning us to guard the mind and guard the heart."

We are reminded that we need to have "openness and sensitivity to the promptings of the Holy Spirit so that the Holy Spirit can convict us of our sins". There are 3 areas o deceptions of our heart that we need to  be watchful: "Firstly, I can deny my sin - my heart will find reasons to say my sin is not a sin." Secondly, "I can deny my need for Confession. The more I postpone my Confession - my turning to God, the deeper  the roots of evil go into my heart." Thirdly, "Sin will close my mind and heart and say there is no forgiveness..And that is the most tragic death of man - to deny the forgiveness of God."  

This sharing of God's Word by Fr. Augustine encourages us to stay rooted in Christ and to always be sensitive to the gentle promptings of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives.  

Nest Sunday, Rev. Fr. Michael Payyapilly V.C., Director of Divine Retreat Centre Somersby, Australia, will be sharing the Word of God on the "IMPORTANCE OF TRUE REPENTANCE".

Please do share this Divine Lenten 2015 Weekly Video Reflection series with your loved ones, prayer groups and friends to make this sacred season of Lent a truly meaningful one.