Introduction to Vespers (Lent: Sunday Evening Prayer I)

I prepared this reflections in the year 2003 for the seminary community. At that time I did not have a blog, so since I still find the message relevant even today, I have decided to publish it here. The reflection is based from the 2003 Lenten Message of the Holy Father .  
CHARITY...a mark of Christian Life.
 
"When believers respond to the inner impulse to give themselves to others without expecting anything in return, they experience a profound interior satisfaction. The efforts of Christians in giving themselves to others draw their strength from that sole and inexhaustible treasury of love which is the complete gift of Jesus to the Father...Believers are called to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, true God and true man, who, in perfect obedience to the will of the Father, emptied himself (cf. Phil 2:6ff), and humbly gave himself to us in selfless and total love, even unto death on a cross."

We are reminded of this when we pray the canticle today; God giving us His only Son.We can say we have given so many things, but true giving can mean much more. True giving is not only from our abundance, but sacrificing something more in order to give to the needy, it fosters that self-denial which is essential to authentic Christian living.

So we pray that we may imitate our Heavenly Father in his example of giving.

"The vocation to charity is the heart of all true evangelisation". As a people wanting to imitate the Heavenly Father, let us pray.