Helping Latter-day Saints learn about Lent through daily devotionals to help elevate their Easter celebrations in a higher and holier way.
[Latter-day Lent] Suffer in Silence | Week 2 Monday
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Why does God want us to suffer in silence? In the sermon on the mount, Christ teaches about many things. This is the part of the bible where He gives the higher law. The law that tells us to turn the other cheek, give to others freely, and to suffer in silence. Suffer in silence? Where does it say that? He's talking specifically about fasting in verses 16-18 of Matthew 6: Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
Any sacrifice is difficult. If it is a deeply spiritual sacrifice, then it is even more challenging and difficult. But Christ tells us to do that suffering in silence. Don't boast or complain about your sacrifice this Lent. If it will lift people up, or help you to have accountability, then please do share it with others. But don't complain about a self-inflicted sacrifice that you are taking on to help you grow closer to Christ. In fact, verses 17 and 18 say to make it look like you're not sacrificing at all. Make it so that other people don't even know you are fasting. Make it so that if you told people they would be surprised. Suffering in silence is a noble act that shows you are doing it for "thy Father, which seeth in secret" and not for the glory of men. Scriptures/ReadingsAlma 17:3-4, Matthew 6:16-18 Words of the ProphetsElder Brook P. Hales, Mortality Works, October 2024 For several years I was assigned to home teach an older sister in my ward. She did not have an easy life. She had various health problems and experienced a lifetime of pain due to a childhood accident on the playground. Divorced at age 32 with four young children to raise and provide for, she remarried at age 50. Her second husband passed away when she was 66, and this sister lived an additional 26 years as a widow.
Despite her lifelong challenges, she was faithful to her covenants to the end. This sister was an avid genealogist, a temple attender, and a collector and writer of family histories. Though she had many difficult trials, and without question she felt at times sadness and loneliness, she had a cheerful countenance and a gracious and pleasant personality.
Nine months after her passing, one of her sons had a remarkable experience in the temple. He learned by the power of the Holy Ghost that his mother had a message for him. She communicated with him, but not by vision or audible words. The following unmistakable message came into the son’s mind from his mother: “I want you to know that mortality works, and I want you to know that I now understand why everything happened [in my life] the way it did—and it is all OK.”
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Latter-day Lent
Helping Latter-day Saints learn about Lent through daily devotionals to help elevate their Easter celebrations in a higher and holier way.