We so often condemn the Pharisees that we totally miss a sneaky way that we are often like them. The hard saying of Jesus "if you hand causes you to sin, cut it off" is a kind of shock therapy to wake us up...
In this brief video by Sherwood Fellows the key themes of Lent are explored - the mystery of sin, temptation, and transformation through a journey into the desert, the way of repentance and prayer....
Why Lent has forty days, the meaning of the number 40 in the Old and New Testaments, and the meaning of the the fasting and three temptations of Jesus Christ in the Desert....
Augustine here notes that we wayfarers should sing alleluia as we make our journey through constant temptation, trial and danger toward our heavenly homeland where we our song will be sung without anxiety, temptation or toil....
Here Augustine explains the necessary and important role of trials in the Christian life. Without the discipline of trials and chastisements, there would be no true spiritual growth. Chastisement means that God has truly adopted us as sons....