 From: MorningOffering Website | Quote of the Day ""In tribulation immediately draw near to God with confidence, and you will receive strength, enlightenment, and instruction."" -St. John of the Cross Today's Meditation "From the natural point of view we come to know God from the vestiges of Himself that He has left in the splendors of the visible universe: the blazing red sunset, the snow-covered mountain peaks, the graceful flight of a bird, the breathtakingly magnificent complexity of a single living cell. On a still more exalted level we know Him in the loveliness of the saints – but it remains a knowledge of the infinite through the finite." —Fr. Thomas Dubay, p. 188-89
An excerpt from Fire Within Daily Verse "Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, sensual lust, enticement for the eyes, and a pretentious life, is not from the Father but is from the world. Yet the world and its enticement are passing away. But whoever does the will of God remains forever." -1 John 2:15-17 |  EWTN Daily Saint | | Saint Macarius Of Jerusalem St. Macarius of Jerusalem (4th c.) was the Bishop of Jerusalem from 312-335 A.D. Little is known of his life before this time. He took part in the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. and vigorously opposed the Arian heresy, which greatly threatened the early Church. It is believed that he was one of the bishops who helped draft the Nicene Creed. St. Athanasius, his contemporary, refers to Macarius as an example of "the honest and simple style of apostolical men." After the council, St. Macarius accompanied St. Helen, the queen mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine, in her successful search for the True Cross that Jesus was crucified upon. It was he who suggested to St. Helen that she would identify the real Cross by touching all three of those she found to a seriously ill woman, and observe which one brought immediate healing. Following the discovery of the True Cross in this miraculous manner, Constantine wrote to Bishop Macarius requesting that he oversee the construction of a magnificent church in Jerusalem, the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, to commemorate the sites of the Crucifixion and Burial of Christ, which still exists today as one of the most important Christian pilgrimage sites in the world. His feast day is March 10th. | Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent Lectionary: 238 Reading 1 Daniel 3:25, 34-43 Azariah stood up in the fire and prayed aloud: "For your name's sake, O Lord, do not deliver us up forever,
or make void your covenant.
Do not take away your mercy from us,
for the sake of Abraham, your beloved,
Isaac your servant, and Israel your holy one,
To whom you promised to multiply their offspring
like the stars of heaven,
or the sand on the shore of the sea.
For we are reduced, O Lord, beyond any other nation,
brought low everywhere in the world this day
because of our sins.
We have in our day no prince, prophet, or leader,
no burnt offering, sacrifice, oblation, or incense,
no place to offer first fruits, to find favor with you.
But with contrite heart and humble spirit
let us be received;
As though it were burnt offerings of rams and bullocks,
or thousands of fat lambs,
So let our sacrifice be in your presence today
as we follow you unreservedly;
for those who trust in you cannot be put to shame.
And now we follow you with our whole heart,
we fear you and we pray to you.
Do not let us be put to shame,
but deal with us in your kindness and great mercy.
Deliver us by your wonders,
and bring glory to your name, O Lord." Responsorial Psalm Psalm 25:4-5ab, 6 and 7bc, 8-9 R. (6a) Remember your mercies, O Lord.
Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;
teach me your paths,
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my savior.
R. Remember your mercies, O Lord.
Remember that your compassion, O LORD,
and your kindness are from of old.
In your kindness remember me,
because of your goodness, O LORD.
R. Remember your mercies, O Lord.
Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice,
he teaches the humble his way.
R. Remember your mercies, O Lord. Verse Before the Gospel Joel 2:12-13 Even now, says the LORD,
return to me with your whole heart;
for I am gracious and merciful. Gospel Matthew 18:21-35 Peter approached Jesus and asked him,
"Lord, if my brother sins against me,
how often must I forgive him?
As many as seven times?"
Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.
That is why the Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king
who decided to settle accounts with his servants.
When he began the accounting,
a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount.
Since he had no way of paying it back,
his master ordered him to be sold,
along with his wife, his children, and all his property,
in payment of the debt.
At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said,
'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.'
Moved with compassion the master of that servant
let him go and forgave him the loan.
When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants
who owed him a much smaller amount.
He seized him and started to choke him, demanding,
'Pay back what you owe.'
Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him,
'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'
But he refused.
Instead, he had him put in prison
until he paid back the debt.
Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened,
they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master
and reported the whole affair.
His master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant!
I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to.
Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant,
as I had pity on you?'
Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers
until he should pay back the whole debt.
So will my heavenly Father do to you,
unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart." | Praise to You Oh Lord Jesus Christ! |  From Word Among Us WAU.org | Daily Meditation: Daniel 3:25, 34-43 Azariah stood up in the fire and prayed aloud. (Daniel 3:25) Today we hear the prayer of Azariah, who, with his companions, Hananiah and Mishael, is thrown into a furnace as punishment for refusing to bow before a pagan idol. In this dangerous situation, Azariah does what he has always done, in good times and bad: he turns to the Lord and prays. His habit of praying in every situation has become so ingrained in him that he naturally turns to prayer even in the most dire circumstances. So let's use this prayer as a model for ourselves. Azariah begins by praising the Lord and recalling his promises (Daniel 3:26-28). He prays with an adult's realism about the danger facing him, but he also exhibits a childlike trust in God's goodness. He proclaims that even now God can save him and his people. Like Azariah, we should always start our prayer with God himself. Next, Azariah admits that God's people, himself included, have sinned. And so he repents on behalf of all the Israelites. He prays in the plural: "We are reduced . . . because of our sins. . . . With contrite heart and humble spirit let us be received" (Daniel 3:37, 39, emphasis added). In the same way, examining our consciences and admitting our sins frees us up to keep our focus on the Lord. Like Azariah, we should confess our wrongdoing and repent for ourselves and on behalf of God's people. Third, Azariah promises that Israel will "follow [God] unreservedly." They will "fear" him and "pray" to him (Daniel 3:40, 41). Azariah recommits himself and his people to obeying the Lord and keeping his commands. He promises that they will reveal their love for him by their actions. When we pray, we can rededicate our hearts and our actions to God and "produce good fruit as evidence of [our] repentance" (Matthew 3:8). Finally, Azariah asks God to bless his people. "Do not let us be put to shame," he prays. "Deliver us by your wonders, and bring glory to your name" (Daniel 3:41, 43). We can bring our needs to the Lord with confidence. It is not selfish to ask for what we need. We can submit our needs to God, trusting that he will do what is best. May we all follow Azariah's example as we come to the Lord in prayer in good times and in bad! "Lord, teach me to pray, especially when it is difficult." Psalm 25:4-9
Matthew 18:21-35 | Reflections with Brother Adrian: |  Audio of 2 Cents | From today's Holy Gospel: "... I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to.
Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant,
as I had pity on you?'
Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers
until he should pay back the whole debt.
So will my heavenly Father do to you,
unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart...." | From Bishop Barron: "Friends, in today's Gospel, Jesus tells a parable that illustrates God's mercy. The Latin word for mercy is misericordia, which designates the suffering of the heart, or compassion—cum patior ("I suffer with"). Mercy is identical to what the Old Testament authors refer to as God's hesed, or tender mercy. It is the characteristic of God, for God is love. The love that obtains among the Trinitarian persons spills over into God's love for the world that he has made. Think of a mother's love for her children. Could you ever imagine a mother becoming indifferent to one of her offspring? But even should she forget, we read in the prophet Isaiah, God will never forget his own. Consider the fact that nothing would exist were it not willed into being by God. But God has no need of anything; hence, his sustaining of the universe is an act of disinterested love and tender mercy. There is no greater manifestation of the divine mercy than the forgiveness of sins. When G. K. Chesterton was asked why he became a Catholic, he answered, "To have my sins forgiven." This is the greatest grace the Church can offer: reconciliation, the restoration of the divine friendship, the forgiveness of our sins. " end quote.
From Roberto Juarez: "Today's Gospel invites us to remember something fundamental: we all live by God's forgiveness. If God applied the strict logic of justice to us, none of us could stand. But He chooses mercy. And he asks us to do the same. Let us ask the Lord for a heart capable of forgiving. A heart that always remembers how much it has been forgiven. May we never forget that we are indebted to grace. And when someone offends us, may we know how to respond not harshly, but with the same mercy that God has for us." end quote.
How hard is it to forgive, really?
For some, it is harder than others.
Can you forgive repeatedly? 70 multiplied by 7 times?
They say it takes someone to repeat something 21 times for it to become a habit.
Then, perhaps we should start making forgiveness...a habit.
I hope to be merciful...to be perfect in mercy. As of now...I am a work in progress.
I want to be merciful so God is merciful.
We pray in the Lord's prayer "forgive us our trespasses...AS WE FORGIVE those trespass against us".
If not, then we are that wicked servant, who accuses others for our failures.
Lord, you know I am a work in progress...please help us be like You, merciful, and full of grace.
That we might avail ourselves truly and fully to Your Holy will.
Lent is a good time to learn to repent, to appreciate the mercy of God as we endure hardships...together. |  Click for Audio | Random Bible Verse 1
Exodus 20:16 "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
. . . Word of the Lord! | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
