Ash Wednesday: A Day of Suprises There's something about Ash Wednesday that draws us in, calls us to return to sanity, to a change of heart and mind. Lent doesn't take us away from our ordinary lives, but rather it invites us to bring a new and holy attention to those activities. This should be the way with all of our spiritual practices. We take time apart in order to return to our daily activities with new inspiration. God will always surprise us with possibilities when we least expect them. Let this Lent be one of those surprises. —from the book The Hope of Lent: Daily Reflections from Pope Francis by Diane M. Houdek
franciscan media | ✞
"A man who governs his passions is master of his world. We must either command them or be enslaved by them. It is better to be a hammer than an anvil."
— St. Dominic ✞ MEDITATION OF THE DAY
"Each of us must come to the evening of life. Each of us must enter on eternity. Each of us must come to that quiet, awful time, when we will appear before the Lord of the vineyard, and answer for the deeds done in the body, whether they be good or bad. That, my dear brethren, you will have to undergo. ... It will be the dread moment of expectation when your fate for eternity is in the balance, and when you are about to be sent forth as the companion of either saints or devils, without possibility of change. There can be no change; there can be no reversal. As that judgment decides it, so it will be for ever and ever. Such is the particular judgment. ... when we find ourselves by ourselves, one by one, in his presence, and have brought before us most vividly all the thoughts, words, and deeds of this past life. Who will be able to bear the sight of himself? And yet we shall be obliged steadily to confront ourselves and to see ourselves. In this life we shrink from knowing our real selves. We do not like to know how sinful we are. We love those who prophecy smooth things to us, and we are angry with those who tell us of our faults. But on that day, not one fault only, but all the secret, as well as evident, defects of our character will be clearly brought out. We shall see what we feared to see here, and much more. And then, when the full sight of ourselves comes to us, who will not wish that he had known more of himself here, rather than leaving it for the inevitable day to reveal it all to him!"
— Blessed John Henry Newman, p.101
AN EXCERPT FROM
A Year with the Saints † ASH WEDNESDAY In biblical times it was common to sprinkle ashes on the head as a sign of repentance and humility. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, which is the time we contemplate our relationship with God and identify the areas in our spiritual life that need work. The ashes are a physical reminder of our Lenten journey; by receiving the ashes on our heads and keeping them on through the day, we are recognizing that life passes away on earth. Therefore we strive during Lent to turn away from sin, refocus our lives on following God's commandments, and look towards the Kingdom of Heaven. ✞VERSE OF THE DAY
"Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom."
James 3:13 SAINT OF THE DAY ❤ ST. VALENTINE
St. Valentine of Rome (c. 270) was a priest who lived in Rome during the reign of Emperor Claudius II. Little is known of his life with certainty, except that he ministered to Christians who were persecuted and imprisoned for their faith, and died a martyr. One account has it that the emperor banned all marriages and engagements in Rome, believing this was the reason Roman men were unwilling to serve in the army. Valentine defied this unjust decree and continued to perform marriages for lovers in secret. He was arrested, and while in prison he restored sight to his jailer's blind daughter, causing the jailer and his entire extended household, forty-six people in total, to immediately convert to Christianity. Upon hearing this, Claudius ordered Valentine's execution. St. Valentine left a farewell note for the jailer's daughter, whom he had befriended, and signed it "From Your Valentine." He was beheaded on February 14th. St. Valentine is the patron of many causes including bee keepers, betrothed and engaged couples, lovers, love, happy marriages, and young people. His feast day is February 14th. |  click to read more | | ST. VALENTINE St. Valentine of Rome (c. 270) was a priest who lived in Rome during the reign of Emperor Claudius II. Little is known of his life with certainty, except that he ministered to Christians who were persecuted and imprisoned for their faith, and died a martyr. One account has it that the emperor banned all marriages and engagements in Rome, believing this was the reason Roman men were unwilling to serve in the army. Valentine defied this unjust decree and continued to perform marriages for lovers in secret. He was arrested, and while in prison he restored sight to his jailer's blind daughter, causing the jailer and his entire extended household, forty-six people in total, to immediately convert to Christianity. Upon hearing this, Claudius ordered Valentine's execution. St. Valentine left a farewell note for the jailer's daughter, whom he had befriended, and signed it "From Your Valentine." He was beheaded on February 14th. St. Valentine is the patron of many causes including bee keepers, betrothed and engaged couples, lovers, love, happy marriages, and young people. His feast day is February 14th. | Ash Wednesday Lectionary: 219 Reading 1 JL 2:12-18 Even now, says the LORD,
return to me with your whole heart,
with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;
Rend your hearts, not your garments,
and return to the LORD, your God.
For gracious and merciful is he,
slow to anger, rich in kindness,
and relenting in punishment.
Perhaps he will again relent
and leave behind him a blessing,
Offerings and libations
for the LORD, your God. Blow the trumpet in Zion!
proclaim a fast,
call an assembly;
Gather the people,
notify the congregation;
Assemble the elders,
gather the children
and the infants at the breast;
Let the bridegroom quit his room
and the bride her chamber.
Between the porch and the altar
let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep,
And say, "Spare, O LORD, your people,
and make not your heritage a reproach,
with the nations ruling over them!
Why should they say among the peoples,
'Where is their God?'" Then the LORD was stirred to concern for his land
and took pity on his people. Responsorial Psalm PS 51:3-4, 5-6AB, 12-13, 14 AND 17
R. (see 3a) Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
For I acknowledge my offense,
and my sin is before me always:
"Against you only have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight."
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Give me back the joy of your salvation,
and a willing spirit sustain in me.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned. Reading 2 2 COR 5:20—6:2 Brothers and sisters:
We are ambassadors for Christ,
as if God were appealing through us.
We implore you on behalf of Christ,
be reconciled to God.
For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin,
so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Working together, then,
we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.
For he says: In an acceptable time I heard you,
and on the day of salvation I helped you. Behold, now is a very acceptable time;
behold, now is the day of salvation. Verse Before The Gospel SEE PS 95:8 If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts. Gospel MT 6:1-6, 16-18 Jesus said to his disciples:
"Take care not to perform righteous deeds
in order that people may see them;
otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.
When you give alms,
do not blow a trumpet before you,
as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets
to win the praise of others.
Amen, I say to you,
they have received their reward.
But when you give alms,
do not let your left hand know what your right is doing,
so that your almsgiving may be secret.
And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. "When you pray,
do not be like the hypocrites,
who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners
so that others may see them.
Amen, I say to you,
they have received their reward.
But when you pray, go to your inner room,
close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.
And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. "When you fast,
do not look gloomy like the hypocrites.
They neglect their appearance,
so that they may appear to others to be fasting.
Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.
But when you fast,
anoint your head and wash your face,
so that you may not appear to be fasting,
except to your Father who is hidden.
And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you." | Meditation: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18 Ash Wednesday Your Father who sees . . .(Matthew 6:4) Welcome to another season of Lent! Beginning today, we will be encouraged to take up the traditional practices of fasting, praying, and giving alms. Today, in fact, is set aside as a special day of fasting, along with a Mass where we will be marked with ashes and reminded that we are dust. We'll wonder what we should "give up" for Lent, and we'll hear readings at Mass calling us to repent and follow Jesus more closely. In other words, this can be an intense season as we prepare for Easter. But there's another side to Lent. It's almost hidden in plain sight, tucked away three times in today's Gospel reading: "Your Father who sees" (Matthew 6:4, 6, 18). It tells us that God is always looking on us in love, so we don't have to work hard to get his attention. If anything, our Lenten observances are there to help us begin looking at him. Open to the first page of Genesis, and you'll find similar words. God saw his creation and announced it to be "very good" (Genesis 1:31). He was pleased, especially when he looked upon men and women—the crown of his creation. Even when sin darkened his masterpiece, God never stopped seeing us with his eyes of love. In fact, he intensified his gaze, giving us the Law, the prophets, and, ultimately, Jesus himself. Even on the cross, Jesus was seeing us, looking on us with mercy and forgiveness. This is the good news of Lent: God sees you. He knows you. He is committed to you. He loves you. No amount of work on your part can increase his love for you. It's already complete, perfect. By all means, do fast and pray and give alms! Just remember that these practices aren't meant to grab hold of God's attention. They're meant to help you fix your eyes on your Father, who sees. And your Father, who sees, promises to reward you. "Thank you, Father, that you see me with love. Help me gaze at you this Lent." Joel 2:12-18
Psalm 51:3-6, 12-14, 17
2 Corinthians 5:20–6:2 | my2cents: The Word of God said to you today (and to me too): "...return to me with your whole heart..."
After these 40 days, we should appear before the Lord, torn down to pieces, inside, shredded up. Interesting how opening today's Word, it speaks about the heart, when the world is celebrating Valentine's Day. Our Lover in Heaven says "return to me...with your whole heart". Let us pray "Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned. A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me. " Clean up time, please help me Lord, help me be steadfast, these are Virtues. Remember the virtues? These are powerful striving gifts that we can acquire with our effort and His. Fortitude. Temperance. Prudence. Justice.
"Cast me not out from your presence, and your Holy Spirit take not from me." I saw a family member suffering and his daughter was on the couch. She seemed depressed, tired, and would blurt out things as if she knew all. Later I learned she's turned into an atheist after leaving home. She left...home.
A thought hit me this morning, "once we leave God, we believe other things, mainly, that we are the replacement". Whence we return, joy is awaiting.
I told the prisoners "once you get out, a great party is waiting, lots of women, and drinking, and so called "friends". The devil awaits with the sweetest of temptations, and why? Because it hates you to death. And sin brings you to death.
And so, we must tear ourselves apart, render our hearts to our Love in Heaven. Our Lord Jesus enters our lives today "... your Father who sees in secret will repay you." Perhaps this lent, you should give up sins, these hidden sins He sees: Sloth- Sloth is fundamentally a sadness in the presence of eternal or spiritual goods, and ultimately God Himself. Sloth is often disguised by "workaholism," or by a "busy-ness" about temporal things that is actually a means of avoiding eternal and spiritual things, and ultimately God. Sloth is often manifested by "boredom" about attending Mass or praying, for example Envy- Envy is a sadness in the presence of the goodness of others. Rather than move us to emulate the goodness of others, envy leads us to find a way to justify the fact that we lack the goodness that others possess. Covetousness- is a disordered and excessive desire to control persons, places, or things. Contrary to generosity, covetousness manifests itself today especially in the contraceptive mentality. Vainglory- Vainglory or pride is respecting oneself or others for the wrong reasons. Gluttony- Gluttony is the excessive preoccupation with our bodies at the cost of becoming forgetful of our souls, not only in terms of excessive eating and drinking, but also in terms of excessive preoccupation with physical fitness and physical beauty. Lust- Lust is the vehement disorder of sexual desires, as in the case of the so-called "homosexual lifestyle" or the widespread phenomenon of "living together." Lust reduces human sexuality to genitality. As a result, lust tends to distort human sexual genital activity into a form of recreation. Ironically and tragically, lust leads to a fear of fertility and to an animosity for children, as expressed in practices such as rape, sterilization, contraception, abortion, pornography, child molestation, adultery, and divorce. Anger- Finally, anger is a mixture of sadness and hatred in the presence of what is true. (Don't be confused by the fact that "anger" is the name of a spirited emotion as well as the name of the distortion of that emotion.) Common denominator in these 7 sins? Sadness. A departure from our Heavenly Home. "It is important to notice that five of the seven deadly sins latch onto a "part" or dimension of the soul called desire or eros, the home of the central emotion of love and the dimension of soul where we are usually "located" on a daily basis. In light of this fact, it is extremely easy to drift into sloth, envy, covetousness, gluttony, or lust."-Fr.Stephen F. Torraco The catechism says "A virtue is an habitual and firm disposition to do the good. It allows the person not only to perform good acts, but to give the best of himself. The virtuous person tends toward the good with all his sensory and spiritual powers; he pursues the good and chooses it in concrete actions. The goal of a virtuous life is to become like God. 1804... The virtuous man is he who freely practices the good. The moral virtues are acquired by human effort. They are the fruit and seed of morally good acts; they dispose all the powers of the human being for communion with divine love.
Human virtues acquired by education, by deliberate acts and by a perseverance ever-renewed in repeated efforts are purified and elevated by divine grace. With God's help, they forge character and give facility in the practice of the good. The virtuous man is happy to practice them. 1811 It is not easy for man, wounded by sin, to maintain moral balance. Christ's gift of salvation offers us the grace necessary to persevere in the pursuit of the virtues. Everyone should always ask for this grace of light and strength, frequent the sacraments, cooperate with the Holy Spirit, and follow his calls to love what is good and shun evil.
For more detail and prayer into Virtues please read the catechism of our Catholic Church. Finally, let me you in on another happening. The last day of the prison retreat, they put on the Divine Mercy Chaplet on a huge wall. It depicted the Passion of Christ during the song and lyrics displayed below. Some men kneeled. Some sat. A couple were moved to tears. Many were not. One young blondish man, with tattoos all over his neck and head and face and body stood the whole time. At the end, I sat close to him and I would relay many things about God to the men during the final meal. Then it was time to go, final words were allowed, the microphone was passed around to a few that would give testimony. One younger hispanic said he could actually feel God's presence "as if someone was really there" and was amazed and he was not even Catholic, and he was speaking of the Blessed Sacrament in exposition. Then, it was time to go, but Justin wanted the microphone. He spoke and what ensued was a testimony that had most men in tears. But I will spare you the gory details that revolve around ugly sex and drugs and debauchery. He said that the first day they were in retreat, he wanted to leave because he saw the men putting on a skit of the stations of the cross, "I don't believe you should even be playing like that" striking the Lord. Now I understood why he stood during the Divine Mercy Chaplet, as if in honor. That same day he had received news that his daughter was possibly raped. The next day he was in torment and agony as in all night locked for 20 hours in an elevated state of punishment. He was going absolutely crazy. Another retreat attendee yelled "are you coming to the retreat?" He kept saying no, but he wound up going. By the next day, the rosary and exposition and Mass had occurred. Now it was the last day. By now, he had found out finally that his daughter was indeed raped and by his own best friend, his blood brother, whom he'd been in jail with and fought others with and got beat up by others with and ran from cops with. Devastation enters. Torment enters. Temptations entered. Suicidal thoughts run rampant in jails. These tear apart hearts.
When he was finally done speaking about 20 inmates went to huddle him with hugs, loud cries, lamentations, and prayers "Sacred heart of Jesus! HAVE MERCY ON US" they cried out.
I sat there flabbergasted, and I tell the men around me at table as the others were huddled crying and praying, "you see how evil is? it hates you, it hates you so much, it is having a hayday with you playing with you".
Lent is a time to repent.
Repent from your pornographic mentality.
Repent from your party mode.
Repent from giving into the worldly mode.
These inmates don't know how to refrain from doing the same thing over...and over....and over. Sound familiar? We are all like that.
If you study the catechism, you will find a guide to knowing what the bible is about.
I absolutely loved this lil black guy sitting at my table, Kevyn, boy, he knew the bible good! Forget google, I wish he was with my as St. Paul's Timothy, son and brother. He not only would find things for me I wanted in the bible, he would already be saying it and then after reading it he would go on emphasizing what I said with great fervor.
Why do I say this? Because, faithful and good Catholic's know the bible. It is not memorized, it is known. Before bibles existed, Mass existed. Holy Sacraments Existed. Grace. Stations of the Cross existed. Because it is a way of life.
Lent grants us an opportunity to develop good habits. Life habits. Eternal habits.
Take it on with full force.
And Join Jesus to what is to come | |
No comments:
Post a Comment