Lenten Reflection – 12 March – Tuesday of the First Week of Lent, C – Gospel Matthew 6:7–15
“Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors”
St Pope Leo the Great (400-461)
Father & Doctor of the Church
“Those who wish to receive the Paschal feast of the Lord in holiness of mind and body should strive, above all, to win that grace which contains the summit of virtues and “covers a multitude of sins” (1 Pt 4:8). So at the point of celebrating the greatest of all mysteries, that with which the blood of Jesus Christ wiped out our iniquities, let us first of all prepare the sacrifice of mercy.
Thus we shall return to those who have offended us what the goodness of God has granted us. May insults be cast into oblivion, wrongs ignore torture from now on and all offences be set free from fear of reprisal!… If someone should detain such prisoners… may he fully understand that he himself is a sinner and, so as to receive forgiveness, let him rejoice that he has found someone to forgive. In this way, when we say, according to the Lord’s teaching: “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” (Mt 6:12), we shall have no doubt that we receive God’s pardon as we formulate our prayer.”
Daily Meditation: Help us grow in our desire for you.
We are learning the intimate connection
between the “discipline” we choose these days,
and the growth of our desire.
If our desire for our Lord is weak,
if it has to compete with so many other desires that choke it out,
then we need to re-form our desiring.
We want to be disciples –
those who love Jesus, are with Jesus in our desires,
and choose to follow Jesus.
In today’s lesson we learn the Lord’s Prayer again.
As children, we turn to our Loving Father in prayer.
“I shall know You, You who know me. Virtue of my soul, go deep into it and make it fit for You, so that You may have it and possess it, without stain or wrinkle.”
St Augustine (354-430)
Father & Doctor of the Church
Closing Prayer:
Father of my soul,
Mother of my heart,
I know Your love for me is limitless beyond imagining.
You care for me as a loving parent.
Through my smallest Lenten sacrifices,
help me to become less selfish
and more aware of Your ways.
Fan the flame of my desire
to draw ever closer to You.
Guide me to seek Your love.
May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen
“Your faith will grow, only in the measure, that you give it away.”
One Minute Reflection – 12 March – Tuesday of the First Week of Lent, C – Gospel Matthew 6:7–15
“Pray then like this: Our Father who art in heaven…”…Matthew 6:9
REFLECTION – “It’s good for us to sometimes examine our own consciences on this point. For me, is God my Father? Do I feel that He is my Father? And if I don’t feel that, let me ask the Holy Spirit to teach me to feel that way. And am I able to forget offences, to forgive, to let go of it and if not, let us ask the Father: ‘these people too are your children, they did something horrible to me … can you help me to forgive them’? Let us carry out this examination of our consciences and it will do us a lot of good, good, good. ‘Father’ and ‘our’: give us our identity as His children and give us a family to journey with during our lives.”…Pope Francis – Santa Marta, 16 June 2016.
PRAYER – Heavenly Father, we are Your children and we beg You, make us know this with all our being. May we be as little children in total trust and dependence on You. May we glory in resembling You, as children resemble their fathers on earth. For You are all goodness, love and truth – may we become all of these things as perfect copies of You. May the prayers of St Luigi Orione, who lived his life as a true copy of Your Son, bring us strength and commitment especially on our Lenten journey to the Resurrection of Your Son. Through Jesus our Lord and Saviour, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 12 March – Tuesday of the First Week of Lent, C – Gospel Matthew 6:7–15
“Pray then like this:”…Matthew 6:9
Our Father,
Who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done
on earth as it is heaven.
Give us this day
our daily bread
and forgive us
our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us
and lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
Amen
Saint of the Day – 12 March – St Luigi Orione FDP (1872-1940) aged 68 – “The Advocate of the Poor and of Orphans” Priest, Preacher, Confessor, Writer, Apostle of Charity, Apostle of Eucharistic Adoration, Marian Devotee and Founder of Sons of Divine Providence Congregation, the Congregation of the Little Missionary Sisters of Charity, Blind Sisters, Adorers of the Blessed Sacrament, Contemplative Sisters of Jesus Crucified – born as Aloysius Giovanni Orione on 23 June 1872 at Pontecurone, Allessandria, Italy and died on 12 March 1940 at San Remo, Imperia, Italy from heart disease. Patronages – the Sons of Divine Providence, the Congregation of the Little Missionary Sisters of Charity, Blind Sisters, Adorers of the Blessed Sacrament, Contemplative Sisters of Jesus Crucified, the various related Lay apostolates, Tortona and Pontecurone. His body is Incorrupt.
Luigi Orione was born in Pontecurone, diocese of Tortona, on 23 June 1872. At thirteen years of age he entered the Franciscan Friary of Voghera (Pavia) but he left after one year owing to poor health. From 1886 to 1889 he was a pupil of Saint John Bosco at the Valdocco Oratory (Youth Centre) in Turin.
On 16 October 1889, he joined the diocesan seminary of Tortona. As a young seminarian he devoted himself to the care of others by becoming a member of both the San Marziano Society for Mutual Help and the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul. On 3 July 1892 he opened the first Oratory in Tortona to provide for the Christian training of boys. The following year, on 15 October 1893, Luigi Orione, then a seminarian of twenty-one, started a boarding school for poor boys, in the Saint Bernardine estate.
On 13 April 1895, Luigi Orione was ordained priest and, on that occasion, the Bishop gave the clerical habit to six pupils of the boarding school. Within a brief span of time, Don Orione opened new houses at Mornico Losana (Pavia), Noto – in Sicily, Sanremo and Rome.
Around the young Founder, there grew up seminarians and priests who made up the first core group of the Little Work of Divine Providence. In 1899, he founded the branch of the Hermits of Divine Providence. The Bishop of Tortona, Mgr Igino Bandi, by a Decree of 21 March 1903, issued the canonical approval of the Sons of Divine Providence (priests, lay brothers and hermits) – the male congregation of the Little Work of Divine Providence. It aims to “co-operate to bring the little ones, the poor and the people to the Church and to the Pope, by means of the works of charity” and professes a fourth vow of special “faithfulness to the Pope”. In the first Constitutions of 1904, among the aims of the new Congregation, there appears that of working to “achieve the union of the separated Churches”.
Inspired by a profound love for the Church and for the salvation of Souls, he was actively interested in the new problems of his time, such as the freedom and unity of the Church, the Roman question, modernism, socialism and the Christian evangelisation of industrial workers.
He rushed to assist the victims of the earthquakes of Reggio and Messina (1908) and the Marsica region (1915). By appointment of Saint Pius X, he was made Vicar General of the diocese of Messina for three years.
On 29 June 1915, twenty years after the foundation of the Sons of Divine Providence, he added to the “single tree of many branches” the Congregation of the Little Missionary Sisters of Charity who are inspired by the same founding charism. Alongside them, he placed the Blind Sisters, Adorers of the Blessed Sacrament. Later, the Contemplative Sisters of Jesus Crucified were also founded.
For lay people he set up the associations of the “Ladies of Divine Providence”, the “Former Pupils”, and the “Friends”. More recently, the Don Orione Secular Institute and the Don Orione Lay People’s Movement have come into being.
Following the First World War (1914-1918), the number of schools, boarding houses, agricultural schools, charitable and welfare works increased. Among his most enterprising and original works, he set up the “Little Cottolengos”, for the care of the suffering and abandoned, which were usually built in the outskirts of large cities to act as “new pulpits” from which to speak of Christ and of the Church – “true beacons of faith and of civilisation”.
Don Orione’s missionary zeal, which had already manifested itself in 1913 when he sent his first religious to Brazil, expanded subsequently to Argentina and Uruguay (1921), Palestine (1921), Poland (1923), Rhodes (1925), the USA (1934), England (1935), Albania (1936). From 1921-1922 and from 1934-1937, he himself made two missionary journeys to Latin America – to Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, going as far as Chile.
He enjoyed the personal respect of the Popes and the Holy See’s Authorities, who entrusted him with confidential tasks of sorting out problems and healing wounds both inside the Church as well as in the relations with society. He was a preacher, a confessor and a tireless organiser of pilgrimages, missions, processions, live cribs and other popular manifestations and celebrations of the faith. He loved Our Lady deeply and fostered devotion to her by every means possible and, through the manual labour of his seminarians, built the shrines of Our Lady of Safe Keeping in Tortona and Our Lady of Caravaggio at Fumo. In the winter of 1940, with the intention of easing the heart and lung complaints that were troubling him, he went to the Sanremo house, even though, as he said, “it is not among the palm trees that I would like to die,but among the poor who are Jesus Christ”.Only three days later, on 12 March 1940, surrounded by the love of his confreres, Don Orione died, while sighing “Jesus, Jesus! I am going”.
His body was found to be intact at its first exhumation in 1965. It has been exposed to the veneration of the faithful in the shrine of Our Lady of Safe Keeping in Tortona ever since 26 October 1980 – the day in which St Pope John Paul II inscribed Don Luigi Orione in the Book of the Blessed…. Vatican.va
St Luigi was Canonised on 16 May 2004 by St Pope John Paul II.
Saint Luigi Orione’s body in Sanctuary of Nostra Signora della Guardia, in Tortona, Italy.Don Orione was buried in the Santuario di Nostra Signora della Guardia in Tortona, the church that he himself built in 1931, with the help of priests and acolytes. It was built in gratitude to the Madonna for ending the hostilities of World War I. It is the most important pilgrimage site in the world for Orione’s followers
St Almut of Wetter
St Alphege the Bald
Bl Angela Salawa
St Basilissa of Asia
Bl Beatrix of Engelport
St Bernard of Carinola
Bl Claudius the Minor
St Egdunus
St Fechno
St Girolamo da Recanati
St Heiu of Hartlepool
St Indrecht of Iona
St Pope Innocent I
St Joseph Zhang Dapeng St Luigi Orione FDP (1872-1940)
St Maximilian of Thebeste
St Mura McFeredach
St Paul Aurelian
St Peter the Deacon
St Seraphina
St Theophanes the Chronographer
—
Martyrs of Nicomedia – 8 saints: Eleven Christians who were martyred in succession in a single incident during the persecutions of Diocletian. First there were the eight imprisoned Christians, Domna, Esmaragdus, Eugene, Hilary, Mardonius, Maximus, Mígdonus and Peter, about whom we know little more than their names. Each day for eight days one of them would be strangled to death in view of the others so that they would spend the night in dread, not knowing if they were next.
Peter was the chamberlain or butler in the palace of Diocletian. When he was overheard complaining about this cruelty, he was exposed as a Christian, arrested, tortured and executed by having the flesh torn from his bones, salt and vinegar poured on the wounds and then being roasted to death over a slow fire.
Gorgonio was an army officer and member of the staff in the house of emperor Diocletian, Doroteo was a staff clerk. They were each exposed as Christians when they were overhead objecting to the torture and murder of Peter. This led to their own arrest, torture and executions.
Died
in 303 in Nicomedia, Bithynia (in modern Turkey)
Additional Memorial – 28 December as part of the 20,000 Martyrs of Nicomedia.
After Mary, you’re the most powerful intercessor before God. In a sense, Jesus remains obedient to you and will listen to you as you bring my intentions to Him. Because of this, I especially want to entrust myself to your fatherly care, just as Jesus Himself did. And while in the past, I may have brought to you one of my intentions here or there, this time I want to do something new. This time, I want to give you all. In other words, St Joseph, I’m not here to offer you a regular “novena” for just one of my intentions. Rather, I want to forever entrust to you, all of my needs and cares, trusting that you will bring them, with Mary, to your Son, Jesus.
Dear St Joseph, as the best of fathers, as the one God chose to be the virginal father of Jesus, I believe that you know what I need better than I do myself. So go ahead, St Joseph. I give you permission to care for me as your child. In doing so, I trust that you will do everything in your power to make my life into something beautiful for God. I trust that you will watch over me and that your prayers will guide me, bless me and protect me. I trust that you will now care for me with the same love and tenderness with which you cared for Jesus. I’ll confirm this special relationship with you in nine days, when I make my prayer of consecration.
Saint Joseph, Powerful Intercessor, please pray for me and all my intentions.
Lenten Thoughts – 11 March – Monday of the First Week of Lent, Gospel: Matthew 25:31–46
Let us show each other God’s generosity
Saint Gregory Nazianzen (330-390) Bishop. Father, Doctor of the Church
An excerpt from his Oration 14: On Love of the Poor
Recognise to whom you owe the fact that you exist, that you breathe, that you understand, that you are wise and, above all, that you know God and hope for the kingdom of heaven and the vision of glory, now darkly as in a mirror but then with greater fullness and purity. You have been made a son of God, co-heir with Christ. Where did you get all this and from whom?
Let me turn to what is of less importance – the visible world around us. What benefactor has enabled you to look out upon the beauty of the sky, the sun in its course, the circle of the moon, the countless number of stars, with the harmony and order that are theirs, like the music of a harp? Who has blessed you with rain, with the art of husbandry, with different kinds of food, with the arts, with houses, with laws, with states, with a life of humanity and culture, with friendship and the easy familiarity of kinship?
Who has given you dominion over animals, those that are tame and those that provide you with food? Who has made you lord and master of everything on earth? In short, who has endowed you with all that makes man superior to all other living creatures?
Is it not God who asks you now in your turn to show yourself generous above all other creatures and for the sake of all other creatures? Because we have received from Him so many wonderful gifts, will we not be ashamed to refuse Him this one thing only, our generosity? Though He is God and Lord, He is not afraid to be known as our Father. Shall we for our part repudiate those who are our kith and kin?
Brethren and friends, let us never allow ourselves to misuse what has been given us by God’s gift. If we do, we shall hear Saint Peter say – Be ashamed of yourselves for holding onto what belongs to someone else. Resolve to imitate God’s justice and no-one will be poor. Let us not labour to heap up and hoard riches while others remain in need. If we do, the prophet Amos will speak out against us with sharp and threatening words -Come now, you that say: When will the new moon be over, so that we may start selling? When will the sabbath be over, so that we may start opening our treasures?
Let us put into practice the supreme and primary law of God. He sends down rain on just and sinful alike and causes the sun to rise on all without distinction. To all earth’s creatures He has given the broad earth, the springs, the rivers and the forests. He has given the air to the birds and the waters to those who live in the water. He has given abundantly to all the basic needs of life, not as a private possession, not restricted by law, not divided by boundaries but as common to all, amply and in rich measure. His gifts are not deficient in any way, because He wanted to give equality of blessing to equality of worth and to show the abundance of His generosity.
Lenten Reflection – 11 March – Monday of the First Week of Lent, Gospel: Matthew 25:31–46
“Come, you who are blessed by my Father” Homily attributed to Saint Hippolytus of Rome (c 170-c 235) Priest and Martyr
“Come, my Father’s blessed ones, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Come, you lovers of poor people and strangers. Come, you who fostered My love, for I am love… Look, My kingdom is ready, paradise stands open, My immortality is displayed in all its beauty. Come now, all of you, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Then, astounded at so great a wonder – at being addressed as friends by Him whom the angelic hosts are unable clearly to behold – the righteous will reply, exclaiming: “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you? Master, when did we see You thirsty and give You a drink? When did we see You, whom we hold in awe, naked and clothe You? When did we see You, the immortal One, a stranger and welcome You? When did we see You, lover of our race, sick or in prison and come to visit You? You are the Eternal, without beginning like the Father, and co-eternal with the Spirit. You are the One who created all things from nothing, You are the King of angels, You make the depths tremble, You are clothed in light as in a robe (Ps 104[103]:2), You are our maker who fashioned us from the earth (Gn 2:7), You are the creator of the world invisible. The whole earth flies from Your presence (Rv 20:11). How could we possibly have received Your lordship, Your royal majesty, as our guest?”
Then will the King of Kings say to them in reply: “Inasmuch as you did this to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did it to me. Inasmuch as you received, clothed, fed and gave a drink to those members of mine (1Cor 12:12) about whom I have just spoken to you, that is, to the poor, you did it to me. So come, enter the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, enjoy forever the gifts of my heavenly Father and of the most holy and life-giving Spirit.” What tongue can describe those blessings? “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor human heart conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” (1Cor 2:9).
Daily Meditation: Bring us back to you.
We repeat our desire that God bring us home from our wandering.
We know that in the confusion that surrounds us and can fill us,
we need the gift of Wisdom.
It is fitting that our very first “lesson” in our faith,
is the last judgement scene that Jesus paints for us.
We will be judged on whether we:
fed the hungry
welcomed the stranger
clothed the naked
comforted the sick
visited the imprisoned.
It is powerful to re-learn this wisdom –
Jesus identifies with each of these “least” cared for.
Who might we feed, welcome, clothe, comfort or visit this week?
As my heart might “resist” this mission,
I might beg to be brought back, with all my heart.
Praise to Jesus, our Saviour, by his death He has opened for us the way of salvation.
Let us ask Him:
Lord, guide Your people to walk in Your ways.
God of mercy, You gave us new life through baptism,
– make us grow day by day in Your likeness.
May our generosity today bring joy to those in need,
– in helping them may we find You.
Help us to do what is good, right and true in Your sight,
– and to seek You always with undivided hearts.
Forgive our sins against the unity of Your family,
– make us one in heart and spirit.
Closing Prayer:
Loving God,
You call us back to You with all of our hearts.
I feel Your call for me deep in my heart
and I know You want me back
as much as I want to return.
Please, Lord,
give me the wisdom to know how to return.
Make my journey back to You this Lent
one of grace, forgiveness and gentle love.
May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.
One Minute Reflection – 11 March – Monday of the First Week of Lent, Gospel: Matthew 25:31–46
“‘Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’”... Matthew 25:34-36
REFLECTION – “Jesus will come at the end of time to judge all nations but He comes to us each day, in many ways and asks us to welcome Him. May the Virgin Mary help us to encounter Him and receive Him in His Word and in the Eucharist and at the same time in brothers and sisters who suffer from hunger, disease, oppression, injustice. May our hearts welcome Him in the present of our life, so that we may be welcomed by Him into the eternity of His Kingdom of light and peace.”…Pope Francis-Angelus, 26 November 2017
PRAYER – Turn our hearts back to You, God our Saviour, form us by Your heavenly teaching. Let Your Face shine in all we meet and our hearts and hands give to all. May we truly grow and profit by our Lenten observance and become of the blessed, who will inherit the kingdom prepared for us. Mary Virgin most pure and merciful, Mother pray for us. We make our prayer through Jesus our Lord with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
Saint of the Day – 11 March – St Eulogius (Died 857) Priest and Martyr, Writer, Poet, Theologian, Teacher – It is not certain on what date or in what year of the 9th century he was born. It must have been before 819, because in 848 he was a highly esteemed priest among the Christians of Catalonia and Navarre and priesthood was conferred only on men thirty years of age. Patronages – carpenters, coppersmiths.
St Eulogius was of a senatorian family of Cordoba, at that time the capital of the Moors in Spain. Our Saint was educated among the clergy of the Church of St Zoilus, a martyr who suffered with nineteen others under Diocletian. Here he distinguished himself, by his virtue and learning and, being made priest, was placed at the head of the chief ecclesiastical school at Cordoba. He joined assiduous watching, fasting and prayer to his studies and his humility, mildness and charity gained him the affection and respect of every one.
During the persecution raised against the Christians in the year 850, St Eulogius was thrown into prison and there wrote his Exhortation to Martyrdom, addressed to the virgins Flora and Mary, who were beheaded on 24 November, 851. Six days after their death Eulogius was set at liberty. In the year 852 several others suffered the like martyrdom. St Eulogius encouraged all these martyrs to their triumphs and was the support of that distressed flock.
The Archbishop of Toledo dying in 858. St Eulogius was elected to succeed him but there was some obstacle that hindered him from being consecrated, though he did not outlive his election two months.
A virgin, by name Leocritia, of a noble family among the Moors, had been instructed from her infancy in the Christian religion by one of her relatives and privately baptised. Her father and mother scourged her day and night to compel her to renounce the Faith. Having made her condition known to St Eulogius and his sister Anulona, intimating that she desired to go where she might freely exercise her religion, they secretly procured her the means of getting away and concealed her for some time among faithful friends.
But the matter was at length discovered and they were all brought before the cadi, who threatened to have Eulogius scourged to death. The Saint told him that his torments would be of no avail, for he would never change his religion. Whereupon the cadi gave orders that he should be carried to the palace and be presented before the king’s council. Eulogius began boldly to propose the truths of the Gospel to them. But, to prevent their hearing him, the council condemned him immediately to lose his head. As they were leading him to execution, one of the guards gave him a blow on the face, for having spoken against Mohamed he turned the other cheek and patiently received a second.
He received the stroke of death with great cheerfulness, on 11March, 859. St Leocritia was beheaded four days after him and her body thrown into the river Guadalquivir but taken out by the Christians.
St Eulogius’s friend and biographer Paulus Alvarus affectionately described him as gentle, reverent, well-educated, steeped in Scripture and so humble, that he freely submitted to opinions of others less informed than he. He said that Eulogius had a pleasant demeanour and conducted his relationships with such kindness that everyone regarded him as a friend. A gifted leader, the most prominent among his charisma was the ability to give encouragement. As a priest serving in an occupied country, he used this gift to strengthen his friends in the face of danger.
This humility shone particularly on two occasions. In his youth he had decided to make a foot pilgrimage to Rome, notwithstanding his great fervour and his devotion to the sepulchre of the Prince of the Apostles (a notable proof of the union of the Mozarabic rite Church with Rome), he gave up his project, yielding to the advice of prudent friends. Again, during the Muslim persecution, in 850, after reading a passage of the works of St Epiphanius he decided to refrain for a time from saying Mass that he might better defend the cause of the martyrs, however, at the request of his bishop, Saul of Córdoba, he put aside his scruples. His extant writings (Apologia, Exhortation to Martyrdom, Memorial of the Saints) are proof that Alvarus did not exaggerate.
Saint Eulogius demonstrated courageous love for the Lord, accepting martyrdom even when his position within society would have allowed him to avoid such a fate. He recorded a detailed history of the martyrs of Cordoba, illuminating the widespread heroic faith which occurred in that region.
His life reminds us that all we have is given to us by the Lord—that without Him, we are nothing. The message of Lent resonates with the lives of these “voluntary” martyrs of Cordova who gave their lives for their faith, recognising that those lives belonged to He who created them.
St Aengus the Culdee
St Alberta of Agen
St Alexius U Se-Yong
St Amunia
St Aurea of San Millán
St Benedict Crispus of Milan
St Candidus the Martyr
St Constantine II
St Constantine of Carthage
St Ðaminh Cam St Eulogius (Died 857) Martyr
St Firmian the Abbot
St Firmus the Martyr
St Gorgonius the Martyr
St Heraclius of Carthage
Bl John Kearney
Bl John Righi of Fabriano
St Marcus Chong Ui-Bae
St Peter the Spaniard
St Pionius
St Piperion the Martyr
St Rosina of Wenglingen
St Sophronius of Jerusalem
St Thalus the Martyr
Bl Thomas Atkinson
St Trophimus the Martyr
St Vigilius of Auxerre
St Vincent of Leon
St Vindician of Cambrai
St Zosimus of Carthage
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Martyrs of Antioch: A group of Christians martyred together by Emperor Maximian Galerius. Martyred in c 300 in Antioch, Syria.
“Would that I could persuade all men to be devoted to this glorious Saint [St. Joseph], for I know by long experience what blessings he can obtain for us from God. I have never known anyone who was truly devoted to him and honoured him by particular services who did not advance greatly in virtue, for he helps in a special way those souls who commend themselves to him. It is now very many years since I began asking him for something on his feast and I have always received it. I f the petition was in any way amiss, he rectified it for my greater good . . .
” I ask for the love of God that he who does not believe me will make the trial for himself—then he will find out by experience the great good that results from commending oneself to this glorious Patriarch and in being devoted to him.”
St Alphonsus Liguori on St Joseph,
Patron of a Happy Death
“Since we all must die, we should cherish a special devotion to St. Joseph, that he may obtain for us a happy death. All Christians regard him as the advocate of the dying who had honoured him during their life and they do so for three reasons:
“First, because Jesus Christ loved him not only as a friend but as a father and on this account his mediation is far more efficacious than that of any other Saint.
“Second, because St Joseph has obtained special power against the evil spirits, who tempt us with redoubled vigour at the hour of death.
“Third, the assistance given St Joseph at his death by Jesus and Mary obtained for him the right to secure a holy and peaceful death for his servants. Hence, if they invoke him at the hour of death he will not only help them but he will also obtain for them the assistance of Jesus and Mary.”
St Joseph we ask for your assistance in all our needs starting tomorrow, pray for us!
Lenten Thoughts – 10 March – The First Sunday of Lent
In Christ we suffered temptation and in Him we overcame the devil
Saint Augustine (354-430) Bishop and Great Western Father and Doctor of the Church
An excerpt from his Commentary on the Psalms, Psalm 60.
Hear, O God, my petition, listen to my prayer. Who is speaking? An individual, it seems. See if it is an individual – I cried to you from the ends of the earth while my heart was in anguish. Now it is no longer one person, rather, it is one in the sense, that Christ is one and we are all His members. What single individual can cry from the ends of the earth? The one who cries from the ends of the earth is none other than the Son’s inheritance. It was said to him: Ask of me, and I shall give you the nations as your inheritance and the ends of the earth as your possession. This possession of Christ, this inheritance of Christ, this body of Christ, this one Church of Christ, this unity that we are, cries from the ends of the earth. What does it cry? What I said before – Hear, O God, my petition, listen to my prayer, I cried out to you from the ends of the earth. That is, I made this cry to you from the ends of the earth, that is, on all sides.
Why did I make this cry? While my heart was in anguish. The speaker shows that he is present among all the nations of the earth in a condition, not of exalted glory but of severe trial.
Our pilgrimage on earth cannot be exempt from trial. We progress by means of trial. No one knows himself except through trial, or receives a crown except after victory, or strives except against an enemy or temptations.
The one who cries from the ends of the earth is in anguish but is not left on his own. Christ chose to foreshadow us, who are His body, by means of His body, in which He has died, risen and ascended into heaven, so that the members of His body may hope to follow where their head has gone before.
He made us one with Him when He chose to be tempted by Satan. We have heard in the gospel how the Lord Jesus Christ was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. Certainly Christ was tempted by the devil. In Christ you were tempted, for Christ received His flesh from your nature but by His own power gained life for you, He suffered insults in your nature but by His own power gained glory for you, therefore, He suffered temptation in your nature but by His own power gained victory for you.
If in Christ we have been tempted, in Him we overcame the devil. Do you think only of Christ’s temptations and fail to think of His victory? See yourself as tempted in Him and see yourself as victorious in Him. He could have kept the devil from Himself but if He were not tempted, He could not teach you how to triumph over temptation.
Thought for the Day – 10 March – The Memorial of St Marie Eugénie de Jésus (1817-1898)
Marie Eugenie led the Assumption for fifty-five years. Her life was full. Her first priority was for her sisters: their happiness, their formation, their work. She was concerned for their health – more than two hundred sisters were to die before she did, often young and of tuberculosis.
She was constantly travelling from community to community, encouraging, consoling and challenging. As the Congregation became known, she was invited to start more and more communities. She saw her work as being always in and for the Church and her loyalty to it was absolute.
The last few years of her life were spent in increasing retirement. Gradually her health failed. Her legs refused to carry her and her speech also slowed, so that at the end she could only occasionally say a few words. Those around her were struck by her gentleness and patience. One day she managed to say –
“I am looking at my Lord.
It is in looking at Him, that we learn how to love.”
She died, surrounded by her sisters, on the 10th March 1898.
Credo of St Marie Eugenie of Jesus
I believe that our earth is a place of glory for God. I believe that the destiny of the world is the Reign of Jesus Christ. I believe that each of us has a mission on earth. I believe that the aim of our religion, is not just our own eternal happiness but to let God use us, to make the Gospel known and loved. I believe that each one enters into God’s plan by prayer, by action and by the cross And that to refuse His call, is to refuse our own happiness. I believe the aim of Christian education, is to make Jesus Christ known As the liberator and ruler of the world..
Sunday Reflection – 10 March – The First Sunday of Lent
“What does Jesus Christ do in the Eucharist?
It is God, who, as our Saviour, offers Himself each day for us to His Father’s justice.
If you are in difficulties and sorrows, He will comfort and relieve you.
If you are sick, He will either cure you or give you strength to suffer, so as to merit Heaven.
If the devil, the world and the flesh are making war upon you, He will give you the weapons with which to fight, to resist and to win the victory.
If you are poor, he will enrich you with all sorts of riches for time and for eternity.
Let us open the door of His Sacred and Adorable Heart and be wrapped about for an instant, by the flames of His love and we shall see, what a God who loves us, can do. O my God, who shall be able to comprehend?”
Lenten Reflection – The First Sunday of Lent – 10 March ‘Come back to Me with All your Heart’
And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit for forty days in the wilderness, tempted by the devil....Luke 4:1-2
“During the 40 days of Lent, as Christians we are invited to follow in Jesus’ footsteps and face the spiritual battle with the Evil One with the strength of the Word of God. Not with our words, they are worthless. The Word of God – this has the strength to defeat Satan.
For this reason, it is important to be familiar with the Bible, read it often, meditate on it, assimilate it. The Bible contains the Word of God, which is always timely and effective. Someone has asked, what would happen were we to treat the Bible as we treat our mobile phone? were we to read God’s messages contained in the Bible as we read telephone messages, what would happen? Clearly the comparison is paradoxical but it calls for reflection.
Indeed, if we had God’s Word always in our heart, no temptation could separate us from God and no obstacle could divert us from the path of good.”
Pope Francis – Angelus, First Sunday of Lent, 5 March 2017
Daily Meditation: Bring us back to you.
This week we pray for a renewal of our lives.
We are beginning to be more attentive and alert.
We are trying new patterns.
The difficulties we encounter keep us humble.
Our desire is clear.
We want the “self-sacrificing love of Christ” –
which brings us mercy and healing – to be “reproduced in our lives.”
In our journey, we seek to savour the meaning of Jesus’ selfless love,
that we might reflect that love to others.
At the end of our journey, we will renew our baptismal promises.
Dying with Jesus in baptism, we have a new life in Him.
Today, we desire nothing less than God’s re-creating us –
breathing new life into us.
Closing Prayer:
Lord God,
You who breathed the spirit of life within me.
Draw out of me the light and life You created.
Help me to find my way back to You.
Help me to use my life to reflect Your glory
and to serve others
as Your son Jesus did.
Help me to grow in love and understanding
of Your Word.
May the Holy Scriptures be my fortress and guide.
May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen
One Minute Reflection – 10 March – The First Sunday of Lent
And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit for forty days in the wilderness, tempted by the devil….Luke 4:1-2
REFLECTION – “The devil does not have only one weapon. He uses many different means to defeat human beings – now with bribery, now with boredom, now with greed he attacks, inflicting mental and physical wounds equally.
The kind of temptation varies with the different kinds of victim. Avarice is the test of the rich, loss of children that of parents and everyone is exposed to pain of mind or body. What a wealth of weapons is at the devil’s disposal!
It was for this reason that the Lord chose to have nothing to lose. He came to us in poverty so that the devil could find nothing to take away from Him. You see the truth of this when you hear the Lord himself saying:
“The prince of this world is come and has found nothing in me” [John 14:30]. The devil could only test Him with bodily pain but this too was useless because Christ despised bodily suffering.
Job was tested by his own goods, whereas Christ was tempted, during the experience of the wilderness, by the goods of all. In fact, the devil robbed Job of his riches and offered Christ the kingdom of the whole world. Job was tested by vexations, Christ by prizes. Job the faithful servant replied: “The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away” [Job 1:21] Christ, being conscious of His own divine nature, scorned the devil’s offering of what already belonged to Him.
So let us not be afraid of temptations. Rather, let us glory in them saying: “When I am weak, then am I strong.” [2 Cor. 12:10]….St Ambrose (339-397 AD) – Doctor of the Church
PRAYER – Through our annual Lenten observance, Lord, deepen our understanding of the mystery of Christ and make it a reality in the conduct of our lives. May the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Lord’s Mother and ours, be ever our prayerful help. We make our prayer through our Lord, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 10 March – The First Sunday of Lent
Prayer Before Holy Communion By St Anselm (1033-1109) Doctor of the Church
O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, Who according to the Will of the Father and with the co-operation of the Holy Ghost, has, by Thy Death. given life to the world, I adore and revere thi, Thy Holy Body and this, Thy Holy Blood which was given up and poured forth, for the many, unto remission of sins. O merciful Lord, I beg of Thee mercy, that through the power of this Sacrament, Thou will make me one of that many. Through faith and love, make me feel the power of these Sacraments, so I may experience their saving power. Absolve and free from all sin and punishment of sin, Thy servants, Thy handmaidens, myself, all who confessed their sins to me, those whom I have promised, or am obliged, to pray for and so too, those who themselves hope or beg, to be helped, by my prayers to Thee. Make our Church rejoice in Thy constant protection and consolation. Amen
Saint of the Day – 10 March – St Marie Eugénie de Jésus (1817-1898) aged 80 – Foundress of the Religious of the Assumption – Religious, – born 26 August 1817 at Metz, Moselle, France as Eugenie Milleret de Brou (de Bron) and died on 10 March 1898 at Auteuil, Hauts-de-Seine, France of natural causes. Patronages – the Religious of the Assumption and Students. St Marie Eugénie is also known as Anne-Eugénie Milleret de Brou, Eugénie Milleret de Brou, Eugénie Milleret de Bron, Marie Eugénie Milleret de Brou, Mere Marie Eugénie. She was Beatified on 9 February 1975 by St Pope Paul VI and Canonised by Pope Benedict XVI on 3 June 2007.
Anne Marie Eugenie was born in 1817 in Metz after Napoleon’s complete defeat and the restoration of the Monarchy. She belonged to a non-believing and financially comfortable family and it seemed unlikely that she would trace a new spiritual path across the Church of France.
Her father, follower of Voltaire and a liberal, was making his fortune in the banking world and in politics. Eugenie’s mother provided the sensitive Eugenie with an education, which strengthened her character and gave her a strong sense of duty. Family life developed her intellectual curiosity and a romantic spirit, an interest in social questions and a broad world view.
Like her contemporary, George Sand, Anne Eugenie went to Mass on feast days and received the Sacraments of initiation, as was the custom but without any real commitment. However, her First Communion was a great mystical experience that foretold the secret of her future. She did not grasp its prophetic meaning until much later when she recognised it as her path towards total belonging to Jesus Christ and the Church.
Her youth was happy but not without suffering. She was affected when still a child by the death of an elder brother and a baby sister. Her health was delicate and a fall from a horse left serious consequences. Eugenie was mature for her age and learnt how to hide her feelings and to face up to events. Later, after a prosperous period for her father, she experienced the failure of his banks, the misunderstanding and eventual separation of her parents and the loss of all security. She had to leave her family home and go to Paris while Louis, closest to her in age and faithful companion went to live with their father. Eugenie went to Paris with the mother she adored, only to see her die from cholera after a few hours of illness, leaving her alone at the age of fifteen in a society that was worldly and superficial. Searching in anguish and almost desperate for the truth, she arrived at her conversion thirsty for the Absolute and open to the Transcendent.
When she was nineteen, Anne Eugenie attended the Lenten Conferences at Notre Dame in Paris, preached by the young Abbe Lacordaire (1802–1861), already well-known for his talent as orator. Lacordaire was a former disciple of Lamennais – haunted by the vision of a renewed Church with a special place in the world. He understood his time and wanted to change it. He understood young people, their questions and their desires, their idealism and their ignorance of both Christ and the Church. His words touched Eugenie’s heart, answered her many questions and aroused her generosity.
Fr Lacordaire preaching his Lenten Conferences from the elevated pulpit at Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris, 1845.
Fr Henri-Dominique Lacordaire OP, at the convent of Sainte-Sabine in Rome, by Théodore Chassériau (1840)
Eugenie envisaged Christ as the universal liberator and His kingdom on earth established as a peaceful and just society. “I was truly converted, she wrote, and I was seized by a longing to devote all my strength or rather all my weakness to the Church which, from that moment, I saw as alone holding the key to the knowledge and achievement of all that is good.”
Just at this time, another preacher, also a former disciple of Lamennais, appeared on the scene. In the confessional, Father Combalot recognised that he had encountered a chosen soul who was designated to be the foundress of the Congregation he had dreamt of for a long time. He persuaded Eugenie to undertake his work by insisting that this Congregation was willed by God who had chosen her to establish it. He convinced her that only by education could she evangelise minds, make families truly Christian and thus transform the society of her time. Anne Eugenie accepted the project as God’s will for her and allowed herself to be guided by the Abbe Combalot.
At twenty-two, Marie Eugenie became foundress of the Religious of the Assumption, dedicated to consecrate their whole life and strength to extending the Kingdom of Christ in themselves and in the world. In 1839, Mademoiselle Eugenie Milleret, with two other young women, began a life of prayer and study in a flat at rue Ferou near the church of St Sulpice in Paris. In 1841, under the patronage of Madame de Chateaubriand, Lacordaire, Montalembert and their friends, the sisters opened their first school. In a relatively short time there were sixteen sisters of four nationalities in the community.
Marie Eugenie and the first sisters wanted to link the ancient and the new – to unite the past treasures of the Church’s spirituality and wisdom with a type of religious life and education able to satisfy the demands of modern minds. It was a matter of respecting the values of the period and at the same time, making the Gospel values penetrate the rising culture of a new industrial and scientific era. The spirituality of the Congregation, centred on Christ and the Incarnation, was both deeply contemplative and dedicated to apostolic action. It was a life given to the search for God and the love and service of others.
Marie Eugenie’s long life covered almost the whole of the 19th century. She loved her times passionately and took an active part in their history. Progressively, she channelled all her energy and gifts in tending and extending the Congregation, which became her life work. God gave her sisters and many friends. One of the first sisters was Irish, a mystic and her intimate friend whom she called at the end of her life, “half of myself.”Kate O’Neill, called Mother Therese Emmanuel in religion, is considered as a co-foundress. Father Emmanuel d’Alzon, became Marie Eugenie’s spiritual director soon after the foundation, was a father, brother or friend according to the seasons. In 1845, he founded the Augustinians of the Assumption and the two founders helped each other in a multitude of ways over a period of forty years. Both had a gift for friendship and they inspired many lay people to work with them and the Church. Together, as they followed Christ and laboured with Him, the religious and laity traced the path of the Assumption and took their place in the great cloud of witnesses.
In the last years of her life, Mother Marie Eugenie experienced a progressive physical weakening, which she lived in silence and humility – a life totally centred on Christ. She received the Eucharist for the last time on 9 March 1898 and on the 10th, she gently passed to the Lord. She was beatified by Pope Paul VI on 9 February 1975 in Rome.
Today, the Religious of the Assumption are present in 34 countries – 8 in Europe, 5 in Asia, 10 in America and 11 in Africa. Almost 1,200 sisters form 170 communities throughout the world.
The Lay Assumption – Assumption Together – made up of Friends of the Assumption and Communities or Fraternities of the Assumption, are numerous – thousands of Friends and hundreds of Lay Assumption committed to live according to the Way of Life….Vatican.va
Bl John of Vallombrosa
St Kessog
St Macarius of Jerusalem St Marie Eugénie de Jésus (1817-1898) aged 80
St Peter of Veroli
St Rufinus of Nicomedië
St Sannudius of Bagensena
St Saturninus of Nicomedië
St Sedna of Ossory
St Silvester of Ireland
St Simplicius, Pope
St Victor of North Africa
Bl Wirnto of Formbach
—
Anonymous Martyrs of Persia – A group of 42 Christians martyred in Persia in the 4th century.
Forty Martyrs of Armenia – Forty Christian soldiers of the Thunderstruck Legion of the Imperial Roman army who were tortured and murdered for their faith during the persecutions of Emperor Licinius. They were exposed naked on a frozen pond to freeze to death at Sebaste, Armenia in 320 and their bodies afterward were burned.
“But thanks be to God,who always leads us in triumph in Christ..”
2 Corinthians 2:14
Holy Mass will be offered on Thursday 14 March for:
Marna Fisher
Sherry Potenziano
Patrick Orlando
Anne Marie Hennigan
“Get used to lifting your heart to God,
in acts of thanksgiving, many times a day.
Because He gives you this and that.
Because you have been despised.
Because you haven’t what you need
or because you have.
Because He made His Mother so beautiful,
His Mother who is also your Mother.
Because He created the sun and the moon
and this animal and that plant.
Because He made that man eloquent
and you He left tongue-tied …
Thank Him for everything,
because everything is good.”
Lenten Thoughts – 9 March – Saturday after Ash Wednesday
“The enormity of the fact that Christ has, on our behalf, already taken the most extreme punishment upon Himself, should move us, not to leave Him isolated.
It should also inspire us to rejoice that another has taken our place in representing sin before God – for not to rejoice at that, would be a further enormity.
Instead of leaving Him alone, we should be moved to enter into His suffering for us, doing together with Him, what little we can do, to atone for the world’s sin!”
Thought for the Day – 9 March – the Memorial of St Catherine of Bologna OSC (1413-1463)
When Margarita, Catherine’s greatest friend in the Court, became engaged, she invited Catherine to stay with her but Catherine felt called to the religious life and at the age of 14, she joined a Franciscan community. During this time she suffered a spiritual crisis but she had a vision of the Real Presence in the Eucharist that brought her consolation. Spiritual visions consoled and disturbed her at various times in her life, which we know from her work, The Seven Spiritual Weapons.
Catherine artistic heart led her into many pursuits, playing the viola, painting religious pictures (including one of St Ursula that hangs today in a gallery in Venice), copying out and illuminating her breviary (now on display at Oxford), and writing spiritual guides and poetry. She is now the Patron of artists.
Many today might think that her life was a wasted one, when she could’ve been a ‘celebrity’ artist. Appreciating Catherine’s life in a Poor Clare monastery may be hard for us. “It seems like such a waste,” we may be tempted to say.
But Catherine, through prayer, penance and charity to her sisters, drew close to God and He consoled that creative heart in so many ways, for He is the goal of all hearts. Our goal is the same as hers, even if our paths are different.
Quote of the Day – 9 March – Saturday after Ash Wednesday and the Memorial of St Catherine of Bologna OSC (1413-1463)
“Whoever wishes to carry the cross for His sake, must take up the proper weapons for the contest, especially those mentioned here. First, diligence; second, distrust of self; third, confidence in God; fourth, remembrance of His Passion; fifth, mindfulness of one’s own death; sixth, remembrance of God’s glory; seventh, the injunctions of Sacred Scripture following the example of Jesus Christ in the desert.”
Lenten Reflection – 9 March – Saturday after Ash Wednesday “Come back to Me, with All your Heart” – Today’s Gospel : Luke 5:27-32 – The Calling of Matthew
“Leaving everything behind, the man got up and followed him” …Luke 5:28
Above the monastery some planes are cutting through the sky at tremendous speed. The noise of the engines frightens the birds, who take shelter in the cypresses of our cemetery. In front of the convent and crossing the land, is a tarred road along which lorries and carloads of tourists, for whom the sight of the monastery has no interest, run at all hours. One of the principal Spanish railways also runs through the fields of the monastery… People tell you that all this is freedom… But the man who reflects a little will see how deluded the world is in the midst of what he calls freedom…
Where, then, is true freedom? It is in the heart of one who loves nothing more than God. It is in the heart of one who is attached neither to spirit nor to matter but only to God. It is in that soul which is not subject to the “I” of egoism, which soars above its own thoughts, feelings, suffering and enjoyment. Freedom resides in the soul whose one reason for existence is God, whose life is God and nothing else but God.
The human spirit is small, impoverished, subject to a thousand changes of mood, ups and downs, depressions, disillusionments, etc and the body, to so much weakness. Freedom, then, is in God and the soul which truly, in soaring above everything, makes her abode in Him, can say that she enjoys freedom, to the extent that is possible for one still in the world to do so.”
Saint Raphael Arnaiz Baron (1911-1938) Spanish Trappist monk
(Spiritual writings, 15/12/1936 (trans. ‘To know how to wait’, Mairin Mitchell)
Daily Meditation: A Saturday of Lent
and more on “True Fasting.”
Each of the Saturdays of Lent are more upbeat and “lighter” in tone.
We are preparing for Sunday.
Our reading from Isaiah 58 continues,
as does our self-examination
regarding what true fasting is for us this Lent.
What patterns will I change?
Closing Prayer:
God, heavenly Father,
look upon me and hear my prayer
during this holy Season of Lent.
Help me to discipline my body
and be renewed in spirit.
Without You, I can do nothing.
By Your Holy Spirit, help me to know what is right
and to be eager to do Your will.
Teach me to find new life through penance.
Keep me from sin and help me to live by Your commandments.
God of love, bring me back to You.
Father, our source of life,
I reach out with joy to grasp Your hand,
guide and lead me in Your gentle mercy.
Let me be aware of
the many ways you reach out to help me today
and let me stand in awe of the power
that You use in such loving ways.
May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen
“Christ is the artist, tenderly wiping away all the grime of sin that disfigures the human face and restoring God’s image to its full beauty.”
St Gregory of Nyssa (c 335–C 395) Father of the Church
One Minute Reflection – 9 March – Saturday after Ash Wednesday
Today’s Gospel : Luke 5:27-32 – The Calling of Matthew
“Leaving everything behind, the man got up and followed him”...Luke 5:28
REFLECTION – “Th exploiter Levi, changes his ways and becomes Matthew, the Apostle and Evangelist, the bearer of the Good News. His entire life-story proclaims that God is for the wrongdoer, inviting him to change. Paul changed his ways, so did Augustine, so did Jerome. So can you! Ignatius the soldier, becomes Ignatius the saint, the founder of the Jesuits. What will you be? What will you do? For YOU are called too!”…Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil SDB
“Because the healing power of God, knows no infirmity that cannot be healed and this, must give us confidence and open our heart to the Lord, that He may come and heal us.”…Pope Francis – General Audience, 13 April 2016
PRAYER – Come my all-powerful, ever-living God, look with compassion on our frailty and for our protection, stretch out to us Your strong right hand. Grant that by the prayers of Mary, our Mother and all your angels and saints we may change our ways, leave everything behind, proclaim the glory of Your kingdom and come safely home to You. St Catherine of Bologna and St Frances of Rome, pray for us. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 9 March – Saturday after Ash Wednesday and always a Marian Saturday
Traditional Lenten Prayer to Our Lady of Sorrows
O most holy Virgin,
Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ
by the overwhelming grief you experienced
when you witnessed the martyrdom,
the crucifixion
and death of your divine Son,
look upon me with eyes of compassion
and awaken in my heart,
a tender commiseration for those sufferings,
as well as a sincere detestation of my sins,
in order that being disengaged from all
undue affection for the passing joys of this earth,
I may sigh after the eternal Jerusalem
and that henceforward,
all my thoughts and all my actions,
may be directed towards
this one most desirable goal –
the honour, glory and love
of our divine Lord Jesus
and to you, the holy
and immaculate Mother of God.
Amen
In this prayer to Our Lady of Sorrows, we call to mind the pain endured both by Christ on the Cross and by Mary as she watched her Son being crucified. In reciting the prayer, we ask for the grace to join in that sorrow, so that we may awaken to what is truly important—not the passing joys of this life but the lasting joy of eternal life in Heaven.
AnaStpaul 
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