Quote of the Day – 10 April – Wednesday of the Fifth week of Lent, Year C
“It is the greatest punishment to commit sin,
though we may remain unpunished –
it is the greatest honour and repose to live virtuously,
though we may be punished.”
(Homilies Concerning the Statues, 6)
Lenten Reflection – 10 April – Wednesday of the Fifth week of Lent, Year C
The Readings:
Deuteronomy 3:14-20, 91-92, 95; Daniel 3:52, 53, 54, 55, 56; John 8:31-42
Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do as Abraham did but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God, this is not what Abraham did....John 8:39-40
Looking wholly to God’s promise and setting aside all human ways of looking at things, knowing God to be capable of accomplishments beyond nature to achieve, Abraham put his trust in the words addressed to him, he let no shadow of doubt cross his mind and did not waver as to the meaning he should give God’s words. For, it is in the nature of faith to put its trust in the power of the one who promises… God had promised Abraham that a posterity without number would be born of him. This promise exceeded the possibilities of nature and all purely human forms of perception and that is why his faith towards God “was credited him as righteousness” (Gn 15:6; Gal 3:6).
Well then, if we are on the watch, yet more wonderful promises have been made to us and we will be satisfied to an even greater extent, than human thought can dream. And for this we have only to put our trust in the power of Him who has made these promises to us, so as to merit the righteousness, that comes from faith and obtain the promised reward. For all those good things we are hoping for, far exceed all human conception and thought, so exceedingly wonderful is what we have been promised!
Indeed, these promises do not concern only the present, the flourishing of our lives and the enjoyment of visible goods but they are even more, about the time, when we have left this earth, when our bodies have become subject to corruption, when our remains have been reduced to dust. God promises us, that He will then raise them up and establish them in glorious splendour, “for that which is corruptible must clothe itself with incorruptibility,” Saint Paul assures us (1Cor 15:53). More than this, after the resurrection of our bodies, we have received the promise, of enjoying the Kingdom and of obtaining, throughout endless ages, in the company of the saints, those ineffable goods that “eye has not seen and ear has not heard nor has it not entered the human heart” (1Cor 2:9). Do you grasp the superabundance of the promises? Do you grasp the greatness of these gifts?
Daily Meditation:
Enlighten our minds and sanctify our hearts.
In our reflection, Jesus is about to face a fiery furnace,
which represents the full rejection of all our sins,
and the crushing defeat of death itself.
Praying the Stations again,
might help us grow in a sense that this is all “for me,” for my freedom.
We grow in a sense of repentance and deep sorrow.
We grow in a desire to celebrate
the glorious Light in the midst of all darkness.
Rid yourself of all your sins
and make a new heart and a new spirit.
Gospel antiphon, based upon Ezekiel 18:31
Closing Prayer:
Loving Creator,
I know in Your great love for me,
You see the deep sorrow in my heart.
Hear my prayers which are offered with such trust in You.
Be with me in both mind and heart
as I renew my life in Your spirit.
May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen
Our Morning Offering – 10 April – Wednesday of the Fifth week of Lent, Year C
Jesus, the very thought of Thee!
By St Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)
Mellifluous Doctor
Jesus, the very thought of Thee
With sweetness fills the breast!
Yet sweeter far Thy face to see
And in Thy presence rest.
No voice can sing, no heart can frame,
Nor can the memory find,
A sweeter sound than Jesus’ name,
The Saviour of mankind.
O hope of every contrite heart!
0 joy of all the meek!
To those who fall, how kind Thou art!
How good to those who seek!
But what to those who find? Ah! this
Nor tongue nor pen can show
The love of Jesus, what it is,
None but His loved ones know.
Jesus! our only hope be Thou,
As Thou our prize shall be;
In Thee be all our glory now,
And through eternity.
Amen
Lenten Thoughts – 9 April – Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent, Year C
An excerpt from his On the Lord’s Passion
Sermon 8
Our understanding, which is enlightened by the Spirit of truth, should receive with purity and freedom of heart the glory of the Cross as it shines in heaven and on earth. It should see with inner vision the meaning of the Lord’s words when He spoke of the imminence of His passion – The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Afterwards, He said – Now my soul is troubled and what am I to say? Father, save me from this hour. But it was for this that I came to this hour. Father, glorify your Son. When the voice of the Father came from heaven, saying, I have glorified him and will glorify him again, Jesus said in reply to those around him: It was not for me that this voice spoke but for you. Now is the judgement of the world, now will the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself.
How marvellous the power of the Cross, how great beyond all telling the glory of the passion, here is the judgement-seat of the Lord, the condemnation of the world, the supremacy of Christ crucified.
Lord, you drew all things to Yourself so that the devotion of all peoples everywhere might celebrate, in a sacrament made perfect and visible, what was carried out in the one temple of Judea under obscure foreshadowings.
Now there is a more distinguished order of Levites, a greater dignity for the rank of elders, a more sacred anointing for the priesthood, because Your Cross is the source of all blessings, the cause of all graces. Through the Cross the faithful receive strength from weakness, glory from dishonour, life from death.
The different sacrifices of animals are no more – the one offering of Your body and blood is the fulfilment of all the different sacrificial offerings, for You are the true Lamb of God, You take away the sins of the world. In Yourself, You bring to perfection all mysteries, so that, as there is one sacrifice in place of all other sacrificial offerings, there is also one kingdom gathered from all peoples.
Dearly beloved, let us then acknowledge what Saint Paul, the teacher of the nations, acknowledged so exultantly. This is a saying worthy of trust, worthy of complete acceptance – Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. God’s compassion for us is all the more wonderful because Christ died, not for the righteous or the holy but for the wicked and the sinful and, though the divine nature could not be touched by the sting of death, He took to Himself, through His birth as one of us, something He could offer on our behalf.
The power of His death once confronted our death. In the words of Hosea the prophet, Death, I shall be your death; grave, I shall swallow you up. By dying He submitted to the laws of the underworld, by rising again, He destroyed them. He did away with the everlasting character of death, so as to make death a thing of time, not of eternity. As all die in Adam, so all, will be brought to life in Christ.
Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever.
Amen
Quote/s of the Day – 9 April – Tuesday of the Fifth week of Lent
“Jesus never sinned, yet He was crucified for you.
Will you refuse to be crucified for Him, who for your sake was nailed to the cross?
You are not the one who gives the favour, you have received one first.
For your sake He was crucified on Golgotha.
Now you are returning His favour, you are fulfilling your debt to Him.”
“By Baptism we are made flesh of the Crucified.”
“The cross of Christ is the true ground
and chief cause of Christian hope.”
“Let no one be ashamed of the cross
by which Christ has redeemed the world.
None of us must be afraid to suffer
for the sake of justice or doubt the
fulfilment of the promises,
for it is through toil that we come to rest
and through death that we pass to life.”
“O Blessed Cross,
You are venerated, preached
and honoured by the faith of the Patriarchs,
the predictions of the Prophets,
the senate that judges the Apostles,
the victorious army of Martyrs
and the throngs of all the Saints”
(Sermo XLVII, 14, p. 304)
“This is that enviable and blessed cross of Christ . . .
the cross in which alone we must make our boast,
as Paul, God’s chosen instrument, has told us.”
“And if He gave His life for us,
then it should not be difficult
to bear whatever hardships arise for His sake.
If you seek patience,
you will find no better example than the cross.
Christ endured much on the cross and did so patiently,
because “when he suffered he did not threaten,
he was led like a sheep to the slaughter
and he did not open his mouth.”
“The Cross is God’s chair in the world.”
One Minute Reflection – 8 April – Monday of the Fifth week of Lent, Year C, Gospel: John 8:12–20
“I am the light of the world, he who follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”...John 8:12
REFLECTION – “It would seem to me that the Lord’s words: “I am the light of the world” are clear enough for those with eyes that enable them to have a share in that light. But those who only have bodily eyes are astonished to hear it said by our Lord Jesus Christ – “I am the light of the world.” There may even be those who say: “Would Christ be the sun that determines the day by its rising and setting?”… No, Christ is not that. The Lord is not the created sun but Him by whom the sun was created. For “all things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be” (Jn 1:3). Therefore, He is the light who created the light we see. Let us love this light, understand it, desire it, that led by it we may in due course attain it and may live in it so as never to die…
So you see, my brethren, you see, if you have eyes that see spiritual things, what kind of light this is of which the Lord says: “Whoever follows me does not walk in darkness.” Follow that sun and let us see whether or not you walk in darkness. Behold how He arises and comes towards you. Following His course He makes His way westwards but you on your part, must walk towards the rising sun, the Christ.”…St Augustine (354-430) Father & Doctor of the Church
PRAYER – Lord God, Your abounding grace has enriched us with every blessing. Transform us from our sinful condition to newness of life and prepare us for the glory of Your kingdom. Open our eyes to see by the light of Your Son, who always walks with us. Let us lift our eyes to Him, for even now He is preparing for us a place, in His Father’s house .Listen, we pray, to the prayers of all the angels and saints, who petition on our behalf and may our Mother Mary, keep ever close to our path. Through Christ, our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for always and forever, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 8 April – Monday of the Fifth week of Lent
‘I Am’ Your Salvaton
By St Augustine (354-430) Father & Doctor
For Your mercies’ sake,
O Lord my God,
tell me what You are to me.
Say to my soul:
“I Am your salvation.”
So speak, that I may hear, O Lord;
my heart is listening;
open it, that it may hear You,
and say to my soul:
“I Am your salvation.”
After hearing this word,
may I come in haste
to take hold of You.
Hide not Your face from me.
Let me see Your face even if I die,
lest I die with longing to see it.
The house of my soul
is too small to receive You,
let it be enlarged by You.
It is all in ruins;
do You repair it.
There are things in it,
I confess and I know,
that must offend Your sight.
But who shall cleanse it?
Or to what others
besides You shall I cry out?
From my secret sins
cleanse me, O Lord,
and from those of others,
spare Your servant.
Amen
Lenten Thoughts – 7 April – The Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year C
“Great thing is the knowledge of the crucified Christ. How many things are enclosed inside this treasure! Christ crucified! Such is the hidden treasure of wisdom and science. Do not be deceived, then, under the pretext of wisdom. Gather before the covering and pray that it may be uncovered. Foolish philosopher of this world, what you are looking for is worthless… What is the advantage of being thirsty, if you despise the source? … And what is His precept but that we believe in Him and love each other? In whom? In Christ crucified. This is His commandment – that we believe in Christ crucified … But where humility is, there is also majesty, where weakness is, there shall one find power, where death is, there shall be life as well. If you wish to arrive at the second part, do not despise the first”
Our Morning Offering – 6 April – Saturday of the Fourth week of Lent, Year C
‘Marian Saturdays’
Prayer to the Sorrowful Mother
By St Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787)
Doctor of the Church
My sorrowful Mother,
by the merit of that grief
which you felt at seeing your beloved Jesus
led to death,
obtain for me the grace to bear with patience,
those crosses which God sends me.
I will be fortunate if I also shall know
hot to accompany you with my cross until death.
You and Jesus,
both innocent,
have borne a heavy cross
and shall I,
a sinner who has merited hell,
refuse mine?
Immaculate Virgin,
I hope you will help me
to bear my crosses with patience.
Amen
Lenten Thoughts – 5 April – Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent, Year C
And now, my heavy laden soul,
what will you do?
You call with your lips and voice to
God most high,
God, who cares only for deeds and
is not taken in by words.
You, my soul, with a heart always turned toward Egypt,
how can I describe you?
Am I
a Sodom, to be punished likewise with destruction,
or the prosecutor of Ninevah, who was struck dumb?
Am I
more cowardly and barbarous than the
queen of the south,
lower than Canaan,
more stubborn than Amalek,
incurable as the city of idols,
a relic left behind from the rebellion of Israel,
a reminder of the broken covenant of Judah,
more reproachable than Tyre,
more shunned than Zidon,
more immoral than Galilee,
more unpardonable than faithless Capernaum,
maligned like Korazin,
slandered like Bethsaida?
Or am I
immodest as Ephraim as he prayed,
or a dove, whose gentleness seems due to
feeblemindedness and not to inner calm,
or an evil serpent born of lion’s cubs,
or the serpent’s egg filled with decay,
or like the last blow against Jerusalem?
Or am I
in the words of our Lord
and the sayings of the prophets,
an abandoned tabernacle about to collapse,
the unlatched doors of the stronghold,
my speaking edifice stained again,
having given up my rightful inheritance,
my home built by God,
as Moses, David and Jeremiah prophesied?
My thinking body now consumed by disease,
afflicted with carping counsel, rehabilitated by the law,
anointed with the clay of mildness,
incapable of finding my own salvation,
torn away from the maker’s hand,
expelled as just punishment
by order of the Almighty, to an unholy place,
rejected, exiled, greatly shunned, nothing spared,
having buried my gift in the ground,
like the one chastised in the Gospel by
losing his inheritance.
But You, God,
Lord of souls and all flesh,
in the words of one divinely graced,
You are long-suffering and abounding in mercy.
In the voice of blessed Jonah,
grant that I finish to Your delight
this book of prayers, now begun.
And having sown these words with tears
and set forth on this journey toward the dwellings You have prepared,
may I return joyfully in the time of harvest
with the bounty of atonement,
with sheaves of goodness and the fruits of delight.
“If you elevate yourself,
God distances Himself from you.
If you humble yourself,
He leans towards you.”
Thought for the Day – 4 April – Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent, Year C and the Memorial of St Isidore of Seville (560-636) Father & Doctor of the Church
St Isidore, the Patron of the Internet?
Isidore may seem like a strange choice but his academic works make him a perfect fit.
It may seem strange that a 7th-century saint was chosen as the patron saint of the internet but after a careful examination of his life, St Isidore of Seville turns out to be the perfect choice.
Isidore was a great scholar whose encyclopedic knowledge was far reaching.
Before his death, Isidore wrote a collection of books called Etymologiae, which, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, was “a vast storehouse in which is gathered, systematised and condensed, all the learning possessed by his time. Throughout the greater part of the Middle Ages it was the textbook most in use in educational institutions.”
Interestingly enough, Isidore did not contain himself to only theological topics but successfully collected information on all subjects, both secular and religious. Pope Benedict XVI explained in a General Audience, “The wealth of cultural knowledge that Isidore had assimilated enabled him to constantly compare the Christian newness with the Greco-Roman cultural heritage, however, rather than the precious gift of synthesis it would seem that he possessed the gift of collatio, that is, of collecting.”
For this reason, Isidore has been regarded as the patron saint of the internet. He was, in a certain sense, a human “Wikipedia,” possessing a vast storehouse of information on every topic available.
St Isidore is a great intercessor for all those logging on to the internet, a saint who can help us find what we need as well as protect us from the darker side of the World Wide Web.
Quote/s of the Day – 4 April – Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent, Year C and the Memorial of St Isidore of Seville (560-636) Father & Doctor of the Church
“The suffering of adversity
does not degrade you but exalts you.
Human tribulation teaches you,
it does not destroy you.
The more we are afflicted in this world,
the greater is our assurance for the next.
The more we sorrow in the present,
..the greater will be our joy in the future.”
“Confession heals,
Confession justifies,
Confession grants pardon of sin,
all hope consists in Confession;
in Confession there is
a chance for mercy.”
Lenten Reflection – 3 April – Wednesday of the Fourth week of Lent, Year C
The Readings:
Isaiah 49:8-15; Psalms 145:8-9, 13CD-14, 17-18; John 5:17-30
Do not marvel at this for the hour is coming, when all who are in the tombs, will hear his voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgement.…John 5:28-29
Daily Meditation:
Grant us Your forgiveness.
We know that this whole journey is about our reconciliation.
We know that God wants to forgive us.
We know we are preparing to renew our Baptismal promises,
and “refuse to be mastered by sin.”
Today we hear the invitation and ask more earnestly.
In the marvellous discourse that follows His sign of healing,
Jesus says, “I am not seeking my own will but the will of him who sent me.”
I am filled with a sense of sorrow and gratitude,
as I see what He did for me.
I tell you for certain that everyone who hears my message
and has faith in the one who sent me has eternal life
and will never be condemned.
They have already gone from death to life.
John 5:24
Our Lord had raised Jairus’s daughter but while the body was still warm and death was only halfway through its work (Mt 9:18f.)… He also raised the widow’s only son but by halting the stretcher and forestalling the tomb… before the dead man had fallen completely under the law of death (Lk 7:11f.). But the whole event that takes place with regard to Lazarus is unique.. Lazarus, in whom all death’s power had been completed and in whom, equally, a complete image of the resurrection shone out… Christ, indeed, returned as Lord on the third day; Lazarus, as servant, was called back to life on the fourth day…
The Lord said and repeated to His disciples: “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes and they will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified” (Mt 20:18f.). And when He said this, He saw them growing uncertain, sad, comfortless. He knew they had to be crushed by the weight of His Passion until nothing of their own life, their own faith, their own light would remain within them but, to the contrary, their hearts would be darkened with the almost total darkness of their lack of faith. That is the reason why He let Lazarus’s death continue for four days… From this follows what our Lord said to His disciples: “Lazarus has died. And I am glad for you that I was not there, that you may believe” (vv.14-15). Therefore Lazarus’s death was necessary so that the disciples’ faith might rise from the tomb along with Lazarus.
“That I was not there.” Now was there anywhere where Christ was not?… My brethren, Christ as God was there but Christ the man was not. Christ God was there when Lazarus was dying but now Christ man was going to the dead man because Christ our Lord was going enter into death: “It is there, in death, in the tomb, in hell, that all the power of death is to be crushed through me and my death.”
Closing Prayer:
Loving and merciful God,
I am so aware of my sins and weaknesses.
But as painfully aware of my faults as I am,
Let me also remember Your tender love,
Your gentle and limitless forgiveness.
I come before You filled with pain and guilt
but look into Your eyes and see the forgiving love of my Father,
I so long for in my life.
Help me to forgive the same way.
Teach me to love as You love.
May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.
Our Morning Offering – 1 April – Monday of the Fourth week of Lent, Year C
“I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and be glad in my people…”
Isaiah 65:19
Grant that I may love You
and be loved by You
By St Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787)
O God of love,
You are
and shall be forever,
the only delight of my heart
and the sole object of my affections.
Since Jesus said,
‘Ask and you shall receive,’
I do not hesitate to say,
‘Give me Your love
and Your grace.’
Grant that I may love You
and be loved by You.
I want nothing else.
Amen
Lenten Thoughts – 31 March – “Laetare” Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year C
An excerpt from his Treatise on John
The Lord tells us – I am the light of the world, he who follows Me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life. In these few words He gives a command and makes a promise. Let us do what He commands so that we may not blush to covet what He promises and to hear Him say on the day of judgement: “I laid down certain conditions for obtaining my promises. Have you fulfilled them?” If you say: “What did you command, Lord our God?” He will tell you: “I commanded you to follow Me. You asked for advice on how to enter into life. What life, if not the life about which it is written: With you is the fountain of life?”
Let us do now what He commands. Let us follow in the footsteps of the Lord. Let us throw off the chains that prevent us from following Him. Who can throw off these shackles without the aid of the one addressed in these words – You have broken my chains? Another psalm says of Him: -The Lord frees those in chains, the Lord raises up the downcast.
Those who have been freed and raised up follow the light. The light they follow speaks to them – I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness. The Lord gives light to the blind. Brethren, that light shines on us now, for we have had our eyes anointed with the eye-salve of faith. His saliva was mixed with earth to anoint the man born blind. We are of Adam’s stock, blind from our birth, we need Him to give us light. He mixed saliva with earth and so it was prophesied: Truth has sprung up from the earth . He himself has said: I am the way, the truth and the life.
We shall be in possession of the truth when we see Him face to face. This is His promise to us. Who would dare to hope for something that God in His goodness did not choose to promise or bestow?
We shall see face to face. The Apostle says: Now I know in part, now obscurely through a mirror, but then face to face. John the apostle says in one of his letters -Dearly beloved, we are now children of God and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. We know that when He is revealed we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. This is a great promise.
If you love me, follow me. “I do love you,” you protest, “but how do I follow you?” If the Lord your God said to you: “I am the truth and the life,” in your desire for truth, in your love for life, you would certainly ask Him to show you the way to reach them. You would say to yourself: “Truth is a great reality, life is a great reality; if only it were possible for my soul to find them!”
Quote/s of the Day – 31 March – “Laetare” Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year C
“There is more joy in heaven over a converted sinner
than over a righteous person standing firm.
A leader in battle has more love for a soldier
who returns after fleeing and who valiantly pursues the enemy,
than for one who never turned back
but who never acted valiantly either.
A farmer has greater love for land which bears fruitfully,
after he has cleared it of thorns, than for land
which never had thorns but which never yielded a fruitful harvest.”
“The sun of our lives is the Eucharist.”
“The earth is filled with tabernacles – Praise Him!”
“Real joy
seems to me,
almost as unlike
security or prosperity,
as it is unlike
agony.”
“You can’t go back
and change the beginning
but you can start where you are
and change the ending.”
“He died for us.
Why not live for Him?”
Lenten Reflection – 31 March – “Laetare” Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year C
The Readings:
Joshua 5:9A, 10-12; Psalms 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him...Luke 15:20
If we do not care for this young man’s conduct, his departure horrifies us. Don’t let us ever abandon such a father! Simply the sight of the father causes sin to flee, banishes our faults, does away with all bad behaviour and temptation. Yet, if we have gone away, if we have wasted all our father’s inheritance in a life of debauchery, if we should happen to have committed some fault or misdeed or fallen into the mire of irreligiousness and complete dissipation, let us rise up for good and all and return to this best of Fathers, summoned by such a beautiful example.
“When the father saw him he ran to embrace him and covered him with kisses.” I ask you, where is there room for despair here? What pretext for excuse? What false reason for fear? Only, perhaps, if we dread meeting the father, if we are afraid of his kisses and embrace, only if we think that the father, when he takes his child by the hand, draws him to his breast and folds his arms around him, wants to seize the opportunity to make good his loss instead of welcoming in order to forgive. Such a thought, however, that destroys life and is contrary to our salvation, is fully overcome, wholly destroyed by what follows: “The father said to his servants: ‘Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead and has come to life again, he was lost and has been found.’”
When we have heard that, can we delay any longer? What more could we ask for to return to the Father?
Daily Meditation:
Laetare Sunday: Be joyful!
This Sunday has a joy-filled tone.
We enter into the second part of Lent with a spirit of eagerness.
Our celebration of the mercy and life given to us in Jesus is near.
All the readings are profound.
The letter to the Ephesians can be a meditation for the week.
We have been saved by our Lord, Jesus, the Christ.
That is consoling at this part of Lent. It is not the work we do that saves us.
It is God’s love – in the midst of our darkness.
We can ask to be “lifted up” with Jesus in His surrender with the Father,
lifted up on the cross and therefore, lifted up in Glory.
And, we can express our desire to be an instrument of His consoling love,
in the hearts of those to whom He sends us.
Look to him and be radiant,
so your faces shall never be ashamed.
Psalm 34:5
Closing Prayer:
Loving Father of mine,
I feel the pace quicken, the time draw near.
I am filled with joy as I move toward Easter
and the promised reconciliation with You.
Teach me to follow the example of Your Son,
to be worthy of being called one His people – a Christ-ian.
Help me to live each day as He did
turning hatred to love and conflict to peace.
I await the new life with eagerness, faith
and a deep gratitude.
May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen
Our Morning Offering – 31 March – “Laetare” Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year C
I Thank You!
Prayer after Holy Communion
By St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
LORD, Father all-powerful,
and ever-living God,
I thank You,
for even though I am a sinner,
Your unprofitable servant,
not because of my worth,
but in the kindness of Your mercy,
You have fed me with the precious Body
and Blood of Your Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ.
I pray that this holy communion
may not bring me condemnation
and punishment
but forgiveness and salvation.
May it be a helmet of faith
and a shield of goodwill.
May it purify me from evil ways
and put an end to my evil passions.
May it bring me charity and patience,
humility and obedience,
and growth in power to do good.
May it be my strong defense
against all my enemies,
visible and invisible,
and the perfect calming
of all my evil impulses,
bodily and spiritual.
May it unite me more closely to You,
the one true God
and lead me safely through death
to everlasting happiness with You.
And I pray that You will lead me,
a sinner to the banquet
where You with Your Son and Holy Spirit,
are true and perfect light,
total fulfillment,
everlasting joy,
gladness without end,
and perfect happiness to Your saints.
Grant this through Christ our Lord.
Amen
Lenten Reflection – 29 March – Friday of the Third week of Lent, Year C, Gospel: Mark 12:28–34
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment” (vv. 37-38). And he could have stopped there. Yet, Jesus adds something that was not asked by the doctor of the law. He says, in fact: “And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbour as yourself” (v. 39). And in this case too, Jesus does not invent the second commandment but takes it from the Book of Leviticus. The novelty is in His placing these two commandments together — love for God and love for neighbour — revealing that they are in fact inseparable and complementary, two sides of the same coin.”…Pope Francis – Angelus, 26 October 2014
“Stand fast, therefore,
in this conduct
and follow the example of the Lord,
firm and unchangeable in faith,
lovers of the brotherhood,
loving each other,
united in truth,
helping each other
with the mildness of the Lord,
despising no man.”
Daily Meditation:
Fill our hearts with your love.
Our lesson today reminds us again
of God’s love and Jesus’ desire
that we love one another as we are loved.
On this journey, we are learning why this is a challenge for us.
We are experiencing our human weaknesses
and practising ways to be freer,
to open our hearts more fully to God’s love
and to give ourselves in fidelity, every day.
You ask us to express our thanks by self-denial.
We are to master our sinfulness
and conquer our pride.
We are to show to those in need
Your goodness to ourselves.
Preface for Lent III
Closing Prayer:
God of Mercy,
I feel my heart overflowing with Your tenderness.
I sense Your loving touch deep within my soul.
I ask for Your help in my weakness
that I might be faithful to Your word
and I am so grateful
that Your mercy for my failings
is as strong as Your unbounded love for me.
May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.
“At the end of your life,
you will be judged by your love.”
Our Morning Offering – 29 March – Friday of the Third week of Lent, Year C
I Beg You, O Lord
By St Peter Canisius SJ (1521-1597) Doctor of the Church
I beg You, O Lord
to remove anything
which separates me from You,
or You from me
Remove anything
that makes me unworthy
of Your sight,
Your control,
Your reprehension,
of Your speech and conversation,
of Your benevolence and love.
Cast from me,
every evil that stands in the way
of my seeing You,
hearing,
tasting,
savouring
and touching You,
fearing and being mindful of You,
knowing, trusting, loving
and possessing You,
being conscious of Your Presence
and as far as maybe,
enjoying You.
This is what I ask for myself
and earnestly desire from You.
Amen
Lenten Thoughts – 28 March – Thursday of the Third Week of Lent, Year C
Saint Ambrose (340-397)
Bishop and Great Latin Father and Doctor of the Church
An excerpt from his Flight from the World
Where a man’s heart is, there is his treasure also. God is not accustomed to refusing a good gift to those who ask for one. Since He is good and especially to those who are faithful to Him, let us hold fast to Him with all our soul, our heart, our strength and so enjoy His light and see His glory and possess the grace of supernatural joy. Let us reach out with our hearts to possess that good, let us exist in it and live in it, let us hold fast to it, that good which is beyond all we can know or see and is marked by perpetual peace and tranquillity, a peace which is beyond all we can know or understand.
This is the good that permeates creation. In it we all live, on it we all depend. It has nothing above it, it is divine. No-one is good but God alone. What is good, is therefore, divine, what is divine is therefore good. Scripture says: When you open your hand all things will be filled with goodness. It is through God’s goodness that all that is truly good is given us and in it, there is no admixture of evil.
These good things are promised by Scripture to those who are faithful – The good things of the land will be your food.
We have died with Christ. We carry about in our bodies the sign of His death, so that the living Christ may also be revealed in us. The life we live is not now our ordinary life but the life of Christ, a life of sinlessness, of chastity, of simplicity and every other virtue. We have risen with Christ. Let us live in Christ, let us ascend in Christ, so that the serpent may not have the power here below, to wound us in the heel.
Let us take refuge from this world. You can do this in spirit, even if you are kept here in the body. You can at the same time be here and present to the Lord. Your soul must hold fast to Him, you must follow after Him in your thoughts, you must tread His ways by faith, not in outward show. You must take refuge in Him. He is your refuge and your strength. David addresses Him in these words: I fled to you for refuge and I was not disappointed.
Since God is our refuge, God who is in heaven and above the heavens, we must take refuge from this world in that place where there is peace, where there is rest from toil, where we can celebrate the great sabbath, as Moses said – The sabbaths of the land will provide you with food. To rest in the Lord and to see His joy, is like a banquet and full of gladness and tranquillity.
Let us take refuge like deer beside the fountain of waters. Let our soul thirst, as David thirsted, for the fountain. What is that fountain? Listen to David – With you is the fountain of life. Let my soul say to this fountain, When shall I come and see You face to face? For the fountain is God Himself.
Our Morning Offering – 28 March – Thursday of the Third Week of Lent, Year C
As, today, we celebrate Blessed Venturino of Bergamo OP, we pray a prayer, from one of the greatest of all Dominicans:
O Jesus, Mary’s Son!
By St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
Doctor Angelicus, Doctor communis
Hail to Thee! True body sprung
From the Virgin Mary’s womb!
The same that on the cross was hung
And bore for man the bitter doom.
Thou Whose side was pierced and flowed
Both with water and with blood.
Suffer us to taste of Thee
In our life’s last agony.
O kind, O loving One!
O Jesus, Mary’s Son!
Amen
Lenten Thoughts – 27 March – Wednesday of the Third week of Lent, Year C
“We too often forget that maxim of the Saints which warns us to consider ourselves as each day recommencing our progress towards perfection. If we consider it frequently, we shall not be surprised at the poverty of our spirit, nor how much we have to refuse ourselves.
The work is never finished, we have continually to begin again and that courageously. What we have done so far is good but what we are going to commence, will be better and when we have finished that, we shall begin something else that will be better still and then another – until we leave this world to begin a new life that will have no end because it is the best that can happen to us.
It is not then a case for tears, that we have so much work to do for our souls, for we need great courage to go ever onwards (since we must never stop) and much resolution to restrain our desires. Observe carefully this precept that all the Saints have given to those who would emulate them – to speak little, or not at all, of yourself and your own interests.”
One Minute Reflection – 27 March – Wednesday of the Third week of Lent, Year C, Gospel: Matthew 5:17–19
“Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them.”…Matthew 5:17
REFLECTION – “Grace, which was formerly veiled, so to speak, in the Old Testament, has been fully revealed in the Gospel of Christ by a harmonious disposition of the times, just as God usually disposes of everything with harmony… But within this wonderful harmony we notice a great difference between the two ages. On Sinai the people did not dare draw near the place where the Lord was giving His Law; in the Upper Room, the Holy Spirit comes down on all those assembled there, while waiting for the fulfilment of the promise (Ex 19:23; Acts 2:1). In the first instance, the finger of God inscribed the laws on tablets of stone but now, it is in human hearts, that He writes it (Ex 31:18; 2 Cor 3:3). Formerly the Law was written without and brought fear to sinners but now, it has been given to them within, to make them righteous…
Indeed, as the apostle Paul says, everything written on the stone tablets, “you shall not commit adultery, you shall not kill…, you shall not covet” and whatever other commandments there may be, are summed up in this saying: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself. Love does no evil to the neighbour, hence, love is the fulfilment of the Law” (Rm 13:9f.; Lv 19:18)… This charity has been “poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Rm 5:5)….St Augustine (354-430) Father & Doctor On the spirit and the letter, 28-30
PRAYER – Protect Your family, Lord and strengthen us with Your consoling presence. Help us in our way to follow Your commandments and live as disciples of love. Look now on Your chosen people, grant us the light of Your Spirit and bring us forever to eternal life. May the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Your Son and our Mother, be ever our protective shield. Through Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
Lenten Thoughts – 26 March – Tuesday of the Third week of Lent, Year C – Gospel: Matthew 18:21–35
An excerpt from his Sermon 43
There are three things, my brethren, by which faith stands firm, devotion remains constant and virtue endures. They are prayer, fasting and mercy. Prayer knocks at the door, fasting obtains, mercy receives. Prayer, mercy and fasting: – these three are one and they give life to each other.
Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. Let no one try to separate them, they cannot be separated. If you have only one of them or not all together, you have nothing. So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to others, you open God’s ear to yourself.
When you fast, see the fasting of others. If you want God to know that you are hungry, know that another is hungry. If you hope for mercy, show mercy. If you look for kindness, show kindness. If you want to receive, give. If you ask for yourself what you deny to others, your asking is a mockery.
Let this be the pattern for all men when they practice mercy – show mercy to others in the same way, with the same generosity, with the same promptness, as you want others to show mercy to you.
Therefore, let prayer, mercy and fasting be one single plea to God on our behalf, one speech in our defence, a threefold united prayer in our favour.
Let us use fasting to make up for what we have lost by despising others. Let us offer our souls in sacrifice by means of fasting. There is nothing more pleasing that we can offer to God, as the psalmist said in prophecy – A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit, God does not despise a bruised and humbled heart.
Offer your soul to God, make Him an oblation of your fasting, so that your soul may be a pure offering, a holy sacrifice, a living victim, remaining your own and at the same time made over to God. Whoever fails to give this to God will not be excused, for if you are to give Him yourself, you are never without the means of giving.
To make these acceptable, mercy must be added. Fasting bears no fruit unless it is watered by mercy. Fasting dries up when mercy dries up. Mercy is to fasting as rain is to the earth. However much you may cultivate your heart, clear the soil of your nature, root out vices, sow virtues, if you do not release the springs of mercy, your fasting will bear no fruit.
When you fast, if your mercy is thin your harvest will be thin, when you fast, what you pour out in mercy overflows into your barn. Therefore, do not lose by saving but gather in by scattering. Give to the poor and you give to yourself. You will not be allowed to keep what you have refused to give to others.
Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever.
Amen
Quote/s of the Day – 26 March – Tuesday of the Third week of Lent, Year C – Gospel: Matthew 18:21–35
“The bread which you use
is the bread of the hungry;
the garment hanging in your wardrobe
is the garment of him who is naked;
the shoes you do NOT wear,
are the shoes of the one who is barefoot;
the acts of charity that you do NOT perform,
are so many INJUSTICES that you commit.”
“Give something, however small,
to the one in need.
For it is not small to one who has nothing.
Neither is it small to God,
if we have given what we could.”
“Charity may be
a very short word
but with its tremendous
meaning of pure love,
it sums up man’s
entire relation to God
and to his neighbour.”
“If we look forward to receiving God’s mercy,
we can never fail to do good,
so long as we have the strength.
For if we share with the poor,
out of love for God,
whatever He has given to us,
we shall receive according to His promise,
a hundredfold in eternal happiness.
What a fine profit, what a blessed reward!
With outstretched arms He begs us
to turn toward Him, to weep for our sins
and to become the servants of love,
first for ourselves, then for our neighbours.
Just as water extinguishes a fire,
so love wipes away sin.”
“Nothing makes us
so prosperous
in this world,
as to give alms.”
“Help me, O Lord, …
that my eyes may be merciful,
so that I will never be suspicious
or judge by appearances
but always look for what is beautiful
in my neighbours’ souls
and be of help to them…
That my ears may be merciful,
so that I will be attentive to my neighbours’ needs
and not indifferent to their pains and complaints.…
That my tongue may be merciful,
so that I will never speak badly of others
but have a word of comfort and forgiveness for all.…
That my hands may be merciful and full of good deeds.…
That my feet may be merciful,
so that I will hasten to help my neighbour,
despite my own fatigue and weariness.…
That my heart may be merciful,
so that I myself will share
in all the sufferings of my neighbour.”
(Extract from Divine Mercy in My Soul, Diary of St Maria Faustina Kowalska, 163)
This prayer was used by Pope Francis for the Year of Mercy 2015 to be universally prayed by the Church.
Our Morning Offering – 26 March – Tuesday of the Third week of Lent, Year C
Lord I am Yours
By St Francis de Sales (1567-1622) Doctor of the Church
Lord, I am Yours,
and I must belong to no one but You.
My soul is Yours,
and must live only by You.
My will is Yours,
and must love only for You.
I must love You as my first cause,
since I am from You.
I must love You as my end and rest,
since I am for You.
I must love You more than my own being,
since my being subsists by You.
I must love You more than myself,
since I am all Yours and all in You.
Amen
Quote/s of the Day – 25 March – The Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord
“And so when God’s birth is proclaimed to you, keep silent.
Let Gabriel’s word be held in your mind
for nothing is impossible to this glorious Majesty,
who humbled Himself for us
and was born of our humanity.”
“God assumed smallness in her –
yet without diminishing His nature –
to make us great!”
“In her, God spun a garment with which to save us.”
“Him, whom the heavens cannot contain,
the womb of one woman bore.
She ruled our Ruler,
she carried Him, in whom we are,
she gave milk to our Bread.”
“The scene of the Annunciation
merits consideration for another reason, too,
it is not only wholly Christological;,
it is wholly trinitarian as well…
The angel’s initial salutation…
brings her the greeting of the ‘Lord’, the Father…
she will give birth to the ‘Son of the Most High’…
the Holy Spirit will overshadow her…”
“The Annunciation, recounted at the beginning
of St Luke’s Gospel, is a humble, hidden event –
no-one saw it, no one except Mary knew of it –
but, at the same time,
it was crucial to the history of humanity.
When the Virgin said her “yes”
to the Angel’s announcement,
Jesus was conceived and with Him began
the new era of history that was to be ratified
in Easter as the “new and eternal Covenant”.
Angelus
St Peter’s Square, Fifth Sunday of Lent, 25 March 2007
Lenten Reflection – 25 March – The Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord
Daily Meditation:
Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word.”
Today we step out of Lent, in one way.
We are nine months away from Christmas.
This is the feast of the Incarnation – the enfleshment of our God for us.
In Jesus, God entered this world, our world.
This day thereby offers wonderful Lenten graces.
Ahaz has his own plans.
He refuses to ask God for help, because he doesn’t want God’s help.
And, of course, he makes it sound pious.
There’s fruit in that for all of us, whenever we refuse to ask for God’s help.
Mary, on the other hand, is God’s servant.
She is humble and she says “yes.”
And God, for whom “nothing is impossible, does the rest.
I delight to do thy will, O my God,
thy law is within my heart.
Psalm 40:8
“The Mighty One has done great things for me” (Lk 1:49)
Saint Ephrem (306-373)
Doctor of the Church
Sermons on the Mother of God, 2, 93-145Contemplate Mary, my beloved, see how Gabriel went into her house and her questioning: “How can this be?” The Holy Spirit’s servant gave her this answer: “Nothing is impossible for God, for him, all is easy.” Consider how she believed the word she had heard and said: “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord.” From that moment the Lord descended in a way known to Him alone, He bestirred Himself and came according to His good pleasure, He entered her without her feeling it and she opened herself to Him without experiencing any suffering. She bore within herself, as a child, Him by whom the world was filled. He descended to become the model that would renew Adam’s ancient image.
And so when God’s birth is proclaimed to you, keep silent. Let Gabriel’s word be held in your mind for nothing is impossible to this glorious Majesty, who humbled Himself for us and was born of our humanity. Today, Mary became God’s heaven for us, in that the sublime Divinity came down and placed His dwelling within her. God assumed smallness in her – yet without diminishing His nature – to make us great. In her, God spun a garment with which to save us. All the words of the prophets and just ones were fulfilled in her. From her, arose the light that drove away the shadows of paganism.
Mary’s titles are numberless… she is the palace in which the mighty King of kings abode, yet He did not cast her out when He came, because it was from her that He took flesh and was born. She is the new heaven in which dwelt the King of kings, in her Christ arose and from her rose up to enlighten creation, formed and fashioned in His image. She is the stock of the vine that bore the grape, she yielded a fruit greater than nature, and He, although other than her in His nature, ripened in colour on being born of her. She is the spring from which living waters sprang up for the thirsty and all those who drank them yielded fruit a hundredfold.
Closing Prayer:
God of infinite love,
I thank You for this feast of our salvation,
right here in the middle of Lent.
I turn to You to beg for Your help.
I need the inspiration and help of Mary on this journey.
Please grant me the grace to be humbly faithful
to what You are calling me to do.
Please give me what I need to be free and to be Your servant.
Please let Mary guide us in the path to peace in our world.
I ask You this, through Jesus our Lord.
May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen
Lenten Reflection – 23 March – Saturday of the Second Week of Lent, Year C
The Readings
Micah 7:14-15, 18-20; Psalms 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12; Luke 15:1-3,11-32
“Who is a God like you, who removes guilt and pardons sin for the remnant of his inheritance; Who does not persist in anger forever, but instead delights in mercy …” …Micah 7:18
“For what was it Jesus’ detractors said? “No man can forgive sins but God alone.” Inasmuch then, as they themselves laid down this definition, they themselves introduced the rule, they themselves declared the law. He then proceeded to entangle them by means of their own words. “You have confessed,” he says in effect, “that forgiveness of sins is an attribute of God alone; my equality therefore is unquestionable.” And it is not these men only who declare this but also the prophet Micah, who said, “Who is a God like you?” and then indicating his special attribute he adds, “pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression.”
Daily Meditation:
We must celebrate and rejoice.
The Saturdays of Lent have a wonderful spirit.
Our lesson today takes us to the parable of the two sons:
– one who is ungrateful and leaves but returns, and
– one who will not accept the forgiveness
the father lavishes on the other.
Let us too think of this Father, Our God, who is so taken for granted by all of us! and let us say, Our Father, who art in Heaven…………
And he said, “There was a man who had two sons”...Luke 15:11
“In the parable there is another son, the older one, he too needs to discover the mercy of the father. The poor father! One son went away and the other was never close to him!”
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me, bless his holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul
and forget not all his benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the Pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy…
Psalm 103:1–4
Closing Prayer:
God of infinite love,
You shower me with limitless gifts in my life.
In my every thought and action today
guide me to the bright and loving light of Your kingdom.
Help me to be aware of
the many ways You allow me
to share in Your life so intimately today.
Thank You for the gifts You have placed in my life.
Let me be grateful every moment of this day.
May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen
AnaStpaul 
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