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| Go Through Mary |  | | There is nothing that matters more to a mother’s heart than having her children get along! If you want a stronger connection to Jesus, go through Mary. She never gets tired of interceding, and he cannot deny her! | | |
Blessed Caesar de Bus
(1544-1607)
 For a time life was going rather smoothly for the engaging, well-to-do young Frenchman. He was confident he had made the right choice. That was until he saw firsthand the realities of battle, including the St. Bartholomew's Day massacres of French Protestants in 1572. He fell seriously ill and found himself reviewing his priorities, including his spiritual life. By the time he had recovered, Caesar had resolved to become a priest. Following his ordination in 1582, he undertook special pastoral work: teaching the catechism to ordinary people living in neglected, rural, out-of-the-way places. His efforts were badly needed and well received. Working with his cousin, Caesar developed a program of family catechesis. The goal—to ward off heresy among the people—met the approval of local bishops. Out of these efforts grew a new religious congregation: the Fathers of Christian Doctrine. One of Caesar's works, Instructions for the Family on the Four Parts of the Roman Catechism, was published 60 years after his death. He was beatified in 1975.
 Saint of the DayLives, Lessons and FeastBy Leonard Foley, O.F.M.; revised by Pat McCloskey, O.F.M.
Presence I pause for a moment and think of the love and the grace that God showers on me, creating me in his image and likeness, making me his temple.... Freedom Lord, may I never take the gift
of freedom for granted. You gave
me the great blessing of freedom of
spirit. Fill my spirit with Your peace and
Your joy. Consciousness In God's loving presence I unwind the past day, starting from now and looking back, moment by moment.
I gather in all the goodness and light, in gratitude.
I attend to the shadows and what they say to me, seeking healing, courage, forgiveness.
The Word of God Tuesday of Holy Week
Lectionary: 258 Hear me, O islands,
listen, O distant peoples.
The LORD called me from birth,
from my mother’s womb he gave me my name.
He made of me a sharp-edged sword
and concealed me in the shadow of his arm.
He made me a polished arrow,
in his quiver he hid me.
You are my servant, he said to me,
Israel, through whom I show my glory.
Though I thought I had toiled in vain,
and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength,
Yet my reward is with the LORD,
my recompense is with my God.
For now the LORD has spoken
who formed me as his servant from the womb,
That Jacob may be brought back to him
and Israel gathered to him;
And I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD,
and my God is now my strength!
It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant,
to raise up the tribes of Jacob,
and restore the survivors of Israel;
I will make you a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.
R. (see 15ab) I will sing of your salvation.
In you, O LORD, I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
In your justice rescue me, and deliver me;
incline your ear to me, and save me.
R. I will sing of your salvation.
Be my rock of refuge,
a stronghold to give me safety,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
O my God, rescue me from the hand of the wicked.
R. I will sing of your salvation.
For you are my hope, O Lord;
my trust, O God, from my youth.
On you I depend from birth;
from my mother’s womb you are my strength.
R. I will sing of your salvation.
My mouth shall declare your justice,
day by day your salvation.
O God, you have taught me from my youth,
and till the present I proclaim your wondrous deeds.
R. I will sing of your salvation.
Reclining at table with his disciples, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant.
One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved,
was reclining at Jesus’ side.
So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant.
He leaned back against Jesus’ chest and said to him,
“Master, who is it?”
Jesus answered,
“It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it.”
So he dipped the morsel and took it and handed it to Judas,
son of Simon the Iscariot.
After Judas took the morsel, Satan entered him.
So Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”
Now none of those reclining at table realized why he said this to him.
Some thought that since Judas kept the money bag, Jesus had told him,
“Buy what we need for the feast,”
or to give something to the poor.
So Judas took the morsel and left at once. And it was night.
When he had left, Jesus said,
“Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself,
and he will glorify him at once.
My children, I will be with you only a little while longer.
You will look for me, and as I told the Jews,
‘Where I go you cannot come,’ so now I say it to you.”
Simon Peter said to him, “Master, where are you going?”
Jesus answered him,
“Where I am going, you cannot follow me now,
though you will follow later.”
Peter said to him,
“Master, why can I not follow you now?
I will lay down my life for you.”
Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me?
Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow
before you deny me three times.” Conversation Sometimes I wonder what I might say if I were to meet you in person Lord. I think I might say "Thank You Lord" for always being there for me. I know with certainty there were times when you carried me, Lord. When it was through your strength I got through the dark times in my life. Conclusion Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end.
 Tuesday of Holy Week It is too little … (Isaiah 49:6) “It’s just not enough. It’s not big enough, not awesome enough.” That must be what God thinks when he looks at us and our expectations. Your vision is too narrow! Your dreams are too small! I want to do so much more! When God sent the Messiah, it wasn’t enough for him to restore the Jews as his chosen people. He didn’t want just to reestablish a monarchy in Israel, no matter how godly it might be. No, he wanted his Messiah to be a light to all nations and to bring every person back to God! The events we commemorate during Holy Week are not just historical events that took place in some small part of the world ages ago. They have a huge impact on the world—and on each one of us. Jesus died to transform us, not just to fix us up or make us slightly better versions of ourselves. He died so that the very foundations of our lives could be altered. It can be hard to believe sometimes, but it’s true: God has a massive, exciting, glorious plan for your life! To borrow a technological image, he doesn’t want to come up with a “software patch” to solve your problems. He wants to update you to “version 2.0.” He wants to take your entire nature and fill it to overflowing with his grace so that people will see something different in you. He wants to make you a light to the nations! As the events of Holy Week are set in motion, allow God to broaden your vision. Let him show you how big his plan is, how wide and broad is his desire to save everyone—and save them completely! And then let him make that transformation a reality in your own life. As you prepare to celebrate the Lord’s resurrection, let him bury the old “you” and raise a brand new “you” to life. “Lord, I believe that you can do something big in my life this Easter! I don’t want to settle for a little bit of change or a small victory. Broaden my vision so that I can perceive how you want to use me to build your kingdom!” Psalm 71:1-6, 15, 17; John 13:21-33, 36-38
my2cents:
My God is my strength. We read that today in today's 1st Holy Scripture. The Psalm said "...from my mother's womb, you are my strength." And in the Holy Gospel, we read about the strength of God in Jesus. Troubled, knowing his "friend" was about to betray Him, He let everyone know how things were going to go down. We read about Peter saying "I would lay my life down for you", and would deny Jesus several times before actually doing it. It reminds me of a worker after bible study last week saying to me "I'll see you at Palm Sunday Mass", and I hadn't even asked him about it. And when I looked for him at Mass, I didn't see him. And oddly enough, I saw my uncle Hector sitting alone in a white shirt fiddling with a palm during the homily, only to find out he was in Mexico the whole weekend. Could it have been his spirit? Was I dilusional? I remember exactly what I saw and how he looked, I will leave that bilocation theory alone. What do I think about those liars that say they will do something and don't seem to be honest about it? Well, what did Jesus do? Jesus obeyed God. That's all that matters, for the rest is in His hands. Our job in trusting is doing His will, what God wants, not what I want, because what I want tends to be tied to earth and temporal things, the very essence of concupiscence, the tendency of sin. So what was worse, the lie, or the actual betrayal of God? It would have been better had Judas of Iscariot not been born than to do what he actually did, because his denial was merciless to Divine Mercy. Although St. Peter denied knowing God, don't we all play dumb? Haven't we been ashamed to pray in public? Haven't we been scared to speak to someone about Christ even though you felt you should? It is the same, no different. Does God look down on you for that? Only from the Cross. And that is enough to convert the roughest of sinners, to set your eyes upon Him and realize, a truth that I desire to live...
HE DIED FOR ME,
I'll LIVE FOR HIM.
This is courage, facing the truth. I know who is reading this, a priest devoting his heart to God. A priest that rejected God. A man desiring to be a deacon, an authentic one. A man that entered the deaconate program and left. A woman who decided to have an abortion, and then later gave birth to another. A man who desires much for God's Kingdom, and a man who is falling to disgrace. I know who you are. You are that person that has had so much trouble getting your family to believe in God, for you hardly can believe for yourself. I know, but what's more important is that God knows the heart and where it will go if the day He invites you to Him you choose another. The beauty of living on earth is living Heaven, the grace of God. And the beauty is realized in His glance and His word, and what He did. What He did was an eternal act of mercy, and love.
If you dare to ask God if He loves you, He will show you the cross, where He stretched out His arms for you, and said I Love you this much...and as if He couldn't stretch His arms out more by Himself, the rough roman soldiers stretched them out even further and out of socket, to the extreme...I LOVE YOU THIS MUCH my child
 adrian
FOOD FOR THE POOR
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