Bishop offers welcome, invitation to special form of Lenten prayer

In an address to those preparing to lead Lenten Word Working prayer sessions throughout the diocese, Bishop Ronald M. Gilmore said to "let the Word of God become your mirror."

Four training sessions were held for Word Working hosts in both Spanish and English via ITV.

"There’s a particular thing I would like you to do this Lent," he said. "It’s a very simple thing. What I really want you to do more than anything else, is to let the Word of God become your mirror

"Look at the Word as a mirror so that you can see yourself: what you think ... what you feel ... what you do, so you can see yourself in the way God sees you. ...

"Let the Word become your mirror this Lent and you will discovery things about yourself that you’ve never before known, never before seen. Let the Word be your mirror this Lent and you will be open to its invitation to change, open to its invitation to conversion."

Word Working, the bishop has said, is a "style of scripture reflection" that allows us to be "shaped by that Word for God’s work within and beyond our Church." The practice is highlighted in the color section of this issue.

Referring to the day’s reading in which Paul tells St. Timothy to "stir into flame the gift you’ve been given," Bishop Gilmore asked those gathered to "trust in the Word to allow you to see new things. If you allow the Word to become your mirror, if you trust in the Word to let you uncover things you perhaps didn’t know about yourself ..., if you trust in the Word to be a living, effective force in your personal life, your work life, your family life; if you do all these things, you will in fact be stirring into flame the gift you are given."