 clickable | | Pope Francis: A Model of Mercy One of the phrases most likely to be associated with Pope Francis is "Who am I to judge?" It's a phrase that he has taken to heart. It is an openness to the mercy of God not only for oneself but for everyone. If God doesn't judge us for our many failings, who are we to judge others harshly? Blaming others, especially for something we've done, is an attitude that we ought to outgrow sometime in our toddler years. But like many of the other remnants of original sin, we cling to this finger-pointing. Pope Francis has been an extraordinary role model in the art of being perfectly human and perfectly Christian. He makes it look and sound so easy, perhaps because he comes to us with the wisdom of decades learning to do this himself. —from the book The Hope of Lent: Daily Reflections from Pope Francis by Diane M. Houdek |  clickable: The Following is from MorningOffering | †Saint Quote
"Pray with great confidence, with confidence based on the goodness and infinite generosity of God and upon the promises of Jesus Christ. God is a spring of living water which flows unceasingly into the hearts of those who pray."
— St. Louis De Montfort † MEDITATION OF THE DAY
"Many try to fly away from temptations only to fall more deeply into them; for you cannot win a battle by mere flight. It is only by patience and humility that you will be strengthened against the enemy. Those who shun them outwardly and do not pull them out by the roots will make no progress; for temptations will soon return to harass them and they will be in a worse state. It is only gradually—with patience and endurance and with God's grace—that you will overcome temptations sooner than by your own efforts and anxieties . . . Gold is tried by fire and the upright person by temptation. Often we do not know what we can do until temptation shows us what we are . . . This is how temptation is: first we have a thought, followed by strong imaginings, then the pleasure and evil emotions, and finally consent. This is how the enemy gains full admittance, because he was not resisted at the outset. The slower we are to resist, the weaker we daily become and the stronger the enemy is against us."
— Thomas à Kempis, p. 32-33
AN EXCERPT FROM
Imitation of Christ † VERSE OF THE DAY
"If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
1 John 1:9 |  click to read more | | ST. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM St. Cyril of Jerusalem (315-386 A.D.) was a well-educated man from Jerusalem and a scholar of Sacred Scripture. He was ordained a priest by the bishop of Jerusalem shortly after the legalization of Christianity in the Roman Empire. He was given the task of catechizing new Christians leading up to and immediately following their baptism. Later he himself became bishop of Jerusalem, and soon after his ordination a miraculous apparition of a cross appeared in the sky, visible to the whole city. Because St. Cyril defended Christ's full humanity and divinity against the Arian heresy, he was exiled from his bishopric three times in twenty years due to misunderstandings, intrigue, and politics. Saint Cyril of Jerusalem is one of the early Church Fathers and one of the most important sources for how the early Church celebrated the liturgy and sacraments during the first few decades after Christianity was legalized. For St. Cyril's work in catechesis he was named a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII in 1883. His feast day is March 18th. | Monday of the Second Week in Lent Reading 1 Dn 9:4b-10 "Lord, great and awesome God,
you who keep your merciful covenant toward those who love you
and observe your commandments!
We have sinned, been wicked and done evil;
we have rebelled and departed from your commandments and your laws.
We have not obeyed your servants the prophets,
who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes,
our fathers, and all the people of the land.
Justice, O Lord, is on your side;
we are shamefaced even to this day:
we, the men of Judah, the residents of Jerusalem,
and all Israel, near and far,
in all the countries to which you have scattered them
because of their treachery toward you.
O LORD, we are shamefaced, like our kings, our princes, and our fathers,
for having sinned against you.
But yours, O Lord, our God, are compassion and forgiveness!
Yet we rebelled against you
and paid no heed to your command, O LORD, our God,
to live by the law you gave us through your servants the prophets." Responsorial Psalm Ps 79:8, 9, 11 and 13 R. (see 103:10a) Lord, do not deal with us according to our sins.
Remember not against us the iniquities of the past;
may your compassion quickly come to us,
for we are brought very low.
R. Lord, do not deal with us according to our sins.
Help us, O God our savior,
because of the glory of your name;
Deliver us and pardon our sins
for your name's sake.
R. Lord, do not deal with us according to our sins.
Let the prisoners' sighing come before you;
with your great power free those doomed to death.
Then we, your people and the sheep of your pasture,
will give thanks to you forever;
through all generations we will declare your praise.
R. Lord, do not deal with us according to our sins. Verse Before the Gospel See Jn 6:63c, 68c Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life;
you have the words of everlasting life. Gospel Lk 6:36-38 Jesus said to his disciples:
"Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. "Stop judging and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you." | Catholic Meditations
Meditation: Luke 6:36-38 Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Optional Memorial) Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. (Luke 6:36) A young veterinarian was visiting a farm out in the country. He tried out a new treatment on a cow, and to his horror, the cow died a few days later. The farmer could have sued him and ruined his reputation in the farming community, but he didn't. He never even brought it up again. The young vet was so struck by his behavior that throughout his life, whenever someone wronged him, he thought back to his experience with the farmer and tried to follow his example of forgiveness. In a way, today's Gospel is like this story. Of all the words Jesus could have chosen to describe his heavenly Father, he chose "merciful" (Luke 6:36). More than his justice, more than his power, more than his wisdom, Jesus made clear that he is a God of forgiveness and compassion—and he tells us to have that same attitude toward one another. The disciples may have known this mercy historically, from their Scriptures, but Jesus didn't want them to stop there, just as he doesn't want us to stop. He wants us to experience his Father's mercy personally and, even more, to allow this mercy to move us to share that mercy with the people around us. Instead of finding faults in the people around us, he wants us to love and honor them. Rather than holding onto offenses, he encourages us to forgive. Jesus knows that merely telling us about God's mercy wouldn't be enough. He had to model it as well. So he tells his disciples, "Stop judging and you will not be judged" (Luke 6:37), and then demonstrates it by eating dinner at the home of the "unclean" tax collector Levi (5:27-32). "Stop condemning and you will not be condemned," he says (6:37). Then he tells a woman caught in adultery, "Neither do I condemn you" (John 8:11). Finally, in his greatest object lesson, Jesus fulfilled his call to mercy in the most dramatic way possible. Hanging on the cross in agony, he humbly prayed, "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). What a merciful God we have! Just like that farmer, he forgives, he forgets, and he blesses. Every time. "Father, show me your mercy today that I might show it to everyone around me." Daniel 9:4-10
Psalm 79:8-9, 11, 13 |  clickable | Most of our contemporaries know nothing about acedia. Few people are aware that this is what tradition identified as the famous 'noonday devil' feared by those who are going through the well-known 'mid-life crisis'.… The very expression 'noonday devil' ought to catch our attention. Usually, indeed, the demon is associated with the night and not with broad daylight! Could it be precisely this unexpected character of a demon who comes to attach in the middle of the day that makes acedia a particularly terrible evil? Although the midday sun comes to bathe everything in its dazzling light, acedia, like an obscure malady, plunges the heart of the person that it afflicts into the gray fog of weariness and the night of despair.
—Dom Jean-Charles Nault, O.S.B.
from The Noonday Devil: Acedia, the Unnamed Evil of Our Times | "Lord, great and awesome God,
you who keep your merciful covenant toward those who love you and observe your commandments!"
What if I said "you will see God if you love Him and follow His commands?" The little hard road leads to the most beautiful and un-imagined scene. | Let us pray: "Lord, do not deal with us according to our sins. Remember not against us the iniquities of the past; may your compassion quickly come to us, for we are brought very low." If our Lord counted our sins, there would be no mercy. But the Lord proves mercy in His passion. The Lord proves He is true. Can we sacrifice like that? Can we be mercy? | In the Holy Gospel, our Lord speaks ""Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."
Be full of mercy. Be over abounding in mercy. Give more than you receive. That is how our Lord gives. Can we ? Yes. Will we? That is the one question that we have to live with daily. | Why is our Lord so merciful? He gives to the one who asks. Just go to confession, and you will be given mercy. Your sins to be forgotten. They say we will still have to deal with God's justice though after mercy. Protestant do not believe this as a whole. They say you can do whatever and you'll be forgiven no matter what. No. There is justice to be had. So why do I bring it up? Because, God knows what we will face. For that He says "Forgive them, for they know not what they are doing". Yet the line continues in the heart..."to themselves". We don't know how severely we are punishing ourselves by doing what we do blindly. How many people hurt themselves in their passions? How many are enslaved to the point that they see no way out, nor do they seek a way out? We need God's mercy and to obtain it, we must be merciful. STARTER PRAYER "Humble God, make us like you. You do not lord it over us, but wait patiently for us to change. May we do the same with our brothers and sisters on the journey." |  click to hear the bible verse | adrian Random Bible Verse1
Ephesians 4:29 (Listen)
29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Thank You Jesus | |
