 From: MorningOffering Website | † Quote of the Day "To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible." -St. Thomas Aquinas Today's Meditation "The Passion is described as the mystery of Christ's suffering. It was a mystery at the time because people could not reconcile it with what they had expected. In the sense that we can never fully understand the idea of God suffering, the Passion is still a mystery. Now if our sufferings are somehow or other to fit into the Passion of Christ—and this is no fiction because this is where they belong—there will surely be an element of mystery about them. They will make demands on our faith." —Fr. Hubert van Zeller, OSB
An excerpt from The Mystery of Suffering Daily Verse Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show his works by a good life in the humility that comes from wisdom. -James 3:13 |  EWTN Daily Saint | | St Euphrasia St. Euphrasia (380-410 A.D.) was the only child of noble Christian parents serving the court of the Christian Emperor Theodosius I, their relative, in Constantinople. After her birth her parents vowed to remain celibate in order to commit their lives fully to prayer and penance. Her father died soon after, and Euphrasia moved with her mother to Egypt near a large monastery of nuns. At the age of seven Euphrasia vowed her virginity to Christ and desired to join the monastery. Her mother gladly presented her to the abbess, and then died soon after. When the Emperor heard of her mother's death, he sought out Euphrasia for an arranged marriage. Euphrasia denied the offer due to her vow, and requested that her large estate be sold with the money given to the poor, and all her slaves freed. The Emperor was greatly pleased with her chosen course in life, and did all that she asked. As a nun Euphrasia did great penances. In order to resist temptations to sin, she would perform difficult manual labor, often lifting heavy stones and moving them from one place to another for days on end, and other such drudgery. She was known to perform miracles both before and after her death at the age of thirty. Her feast day is March 13th. | Friday of the Third Week of Lent Lectionary: 241 Reading 1 Hosea 14:2-10 Thus says the LORD:
Return, O Israel, to the LORD, your God;
you have collapsed through your guilt.
Take with you words,
and return to the LORD;
Say to him, "Forgive all iniquity,
and receive what is good, that we may render
as offerings the bullocks from our stalls.
Assyria will not save us,
nor shall we have horses to mount;
We shall say no more, 'Our god,'
to the work of our hands;
for in you the orphan finds compassion." I will heal their defection, says the LORD,
I will love them freely;
for my wrath is turned away from them.
I will be like the dew for Israel:
he shall blossom like the lily;
He shall strike root like the Lebanon cedar,
and put forth his shoots.
His splendor shall be like the olive tree
and his fragrance like the Lebanon cedar.
Again they shall dwell in his shade
and raise grain;
They shall blossom like the vine,
and his fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon. Ephraim! What more has he to do with idols?
I have humbled him, but I will prosper him.
"I am like a verdant cypress tree"–
Because of me you bear fruit! Let him who is wise understand these things;
let him who is prudent know them.
Straight are the paths of the LORD,
in them the just walk,
but sinners stumble in them. Responsorial Psalm Psalm 81:6c-8a, 8bc-9, 10-11ab, 14 and 17 R. (see 11 and 9a) I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.
An unfamiliar speech I hear:
"I relieved his shoulder of the burden;
his hands were freed from the basket.
In distress you called, and I rescued you."
R. I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.
"Unseen, I answered you in thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
Hear, my people, and I will admonish you;
O Israel, will you not hear me?"
R. I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.
"There shall be no strange god among you
nor shall you worship any alien god.
I, the LORD, am your God
who led you forth from the land of Egypt."
R. I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.
"If only my people would hear me,
and Israel walk in my ways,
I would feed them with the best of wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would fill them."
R. I am the Lord your God: hear my voice. Verse Before the Gospel Matthew 4:17 Repent, says the Lord;
the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. Gospel Mark 12:28-34 One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him,
"Which is the first of all the commandments?"
Jesus replied, "The first is this:
Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your mind,
and with all your strength.
The second is this:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these."
The scribe said to him, "Well said, teacher.
You are right in saying,
He is One and there is no other than he.
And to love him with all your heart,
with all your understanding,
with all your strength,
and to love your neighbor as yourself
is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."
And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding,
he said to him,
"You are not far from the Kingdom of God."
And no one dared to ask him any more questions. | Praise to You Oh Lord Jesus Christ! |  From Word Among Us WAU.org | Daily Meditation: Jeremiah 7:23-28 I have sent you untiringly all my servants the prophets. (Jeremiah 7:25) Speaking through the prophet Jeremiah, God reminded his people of something that had happened centuries earlier. He wanted them to think about how he had used Moses to lead his people out of Egyptian bondage so that they would remember his mercy and turn away from their own sin. But he also reminded them that the story of the Exodus wasn't simply a one-time event. It became a recurring cycle. Israel repeatedly found themselves trapped in crises, often as a result of their transgressions. And just as reliably, God intervened to rescue them. Now, what's true of God's people as a whole is also true of us as individuals. You can probably pinpoint moments in your life when God intervened to forgive and rescue you. Those events usually followed the same pattern God outlines in today's reading. You needed to be rescue from the consequences of your own sins, and God led you out of your predicament. On the surface, this might sound like a comforting assurance of God's faithfulness. But it can also be deflating to acknowledge the repetitive nature of your problems. Instead of delighting in God's mercy for you, you might feel ashamed that you keep sinning and needing God to step in. But pause and consider that word "untiringly" (Jeremiah 7:25). God never grows impatient or exasperated. Whether it's over centuries of his people's wavering faithfulness or over the course of a day as you stumble in and out of sin, he is always ready to rescue you. Even better? You can overcome this cycle—and not by achieving some impossible level of perfection! In Jesus, God himself has entered our world and broken the age-old pattern of sin and liberation followed again by sin. Like Moses bringing the people through the Red Sea, Jesus has carried you through the waters of Baptism. He washed you clean from sin and rescued you from the power of death. And most wonderful, he filled you with his own Spirit, who can transform you over time so that sin doesn't have the same hold on you. So rejoice today! You have become a new creation. The old futile cycle of sin has been broken. Forever. Thank you, Jesus, for revealing the Father's untiring love and for rescuing me once and for all! Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9
Luke 11:14-23 | Reflections with Brother Adrian: |  Audio of 2 Cents | From today's Holy Gospel: "...
The scribe said to him, "Well said, teacher.
You are right in saying,
He is One and there is no other than he.
And to love him with all your heart,
with all your understanding,
with all your strength,
and to love your neighbor as yourself
is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."
And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding,
he said to him,
"You are not far from the Kingdom of God."
And no one dared to ask him any more questions. ..." | From Bishop Barron:
"...All of religion is finally about awakening the deepest desire of the heart and directing it toward God; it is about the ordering of love toward that which is most worthy of love. But this love of God carries, Jesus says, as a necessary implication, compassion for one's fellow human beings. Why are the two commandments so tightly linked? Because of who Jesus is. Christ is not simply a human being, and he is not simply God; rather, he is the God-man, the one in whose person divinity and humanity meet. Therefore, it is impossible to love him as God without loving the humanity that he has embraced. The greatest commandment is, therefore, an indirect Christology." end quote.
From Roberto Juarez:
"...The Gospel of today reminds us that the whole of Christian life can be summed up in one word: love. Love God with all your heart. Love of neighbor with concrete works. When we live like this, the Kingdom of God is already beginning to be present in our midst. Let us ask the Lord to purify our hearts so that our faith is not only external, but a true life of love. May we learn to love God in prayer, in trust, in fidelity. And that we know how to love our brothers in the daily, in the small gestures of each day. Because that is what it is, in short, to follow Christ." end quote.
We heard our Lord say, and a scribe repeat what He said "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your mind,
and with all your strength.
The second is this:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself. " But...how?
We have a few hints. Want 3 hints? 1. Saint Joseph, foster father of Jesus. 2. Even greater...The Blessed Virgin Mother of Jesus. 3. The greatest demonstration to the Way..OurLord Jesus Christ. Simply follow any one of these 3 hints and you will love God, with all your heart, mind, and strength, which enable your physical body to love...your neighbor...those you encounter every day of your life. You see, God is here.
Yes. You see darkness? But God sees light.
Even in the storm...God is there.
In the old Testament, God would appear as a dark cloud and fill the temple with such a thickness that you cannot hardly see. But He is there in the midst.
Do you believe? The world throws temptations to separate you from Him...from a belief.
Yet, He is here.
Yet...He loves your love. The only reason I visit weekly elderly in nursing homes...is to come see Jesus locked up, sick, lonely, and the mind is not there, but His heart is there. The same for the prisoners, really no different, except, they have a more able body...to love with, not physically disabled.
You see, perhaps God created this world for you to find Him. To be sought. To be found. To be loved. To be cared for.
If we do not care for His Sacred Heart...then we cast ourselves out from Eden, lured by wordly temptations that are wordly because they are temporal.
If only we would develop a spiritual hunger, to desire God, to seek Him, to know Him, to love Him, care for Him day and night ,even if He seems agitated. Soften Him, like a true lover does, the one that truly cares. The Heavens are filled with helpers...but on earth...it is so special.
Treat others with the true love of God.
Perhaps He will relent and help us repent.
If you fast...they say those in love stop eating.
If you pray, they say those that love each other always call each other.
If you give, they say the greatest love story is those who not only give their shirt off their back for you...but Christ...gives His entire body, blood, soul and divinity for you. Can we do the same? | Random Bible Verse: "For the Lord your God is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn his face from you if you return to him." 2 Chronicles 30:9b . . . Word of the Lord! | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
