 clickable | | Pray for Grace Most of us aren't likely to betray anyone to a death squad. But as we meditate on the events of the Passion, we might reflect on the times we've betrayed a trust, the times we've talked about someone behind their back, the times we've stayed silent when a friend has been ridiculed. Resolve to keep silent when tempted to gossip and to speak out when others are gossiping. That sounds like a challenge, doesn't it? It is. Pray for the grace to meet it. —from the book The Hope of Lent: Daily Reflections from Pope Francis by Diane M. Houdek |  clickable: The Following is from MorningOffering | †Saint Quote
"The spirit of humility is sweeter than honey, and those who nourish themselves with this honey produce sweet fruit."
— St. Anthony of Padua † MEDITATION OF THE DAY
"Let anger be guarded against. But if it cannot be averted, let it be kept within bounds. For indignation is a terrible incentive to sin. It disorders the mind to such an extent as to leave no room for reason. The first thing, therefore, to aim at, if possible, is to make tranquility of character our natural disposition by constant practice, by desire for better things, by fixed determination."
— St. Ambrose, p.279
AN EXCERPT FROM
A Year with the Church Fathers | TODAY'S FEAST DAY HOLY FACE OF JESUS
Veneration of the Holy Face of Jesus has its beginning during Christ's Passion, making it one of the oldest devotions in the Christian tradition. St. Veronica, as a sign of her love and compassion, offered Our Savior a veil to wipe the blood and sweat from his face as he carried his cross on the way to his crucifixion. In reward for her charity and compassion, Jesus left an impression of his Holy Face upon the veil. This meeting of Jesus and St. Veronica is forever memorialized in the Stations of the Cross. According to tradition, St. Veronica later entrusted the veil to St. Clement, a disciple of St. Peter who became the third Bishop of Rome. For the next three centuries the Holy Veil was kept in the Roman catacombs during the early persecutions of the Church. Veronica's Veil was later moved to the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome where it remains today. It is displayed annually from the relic niche above her statue in St. Peter's Basilica on the fifth Sunday of Lent. Shrove Tuesday is the traditional feast day of the Holy Face of Jesus. VERSE OF THE DAY
"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."
Job 1:21 |  click to read more | | Saint Bernadette Soubirous Bernadette Soubirous was born in 1844, the first child of an extremely poor miller in the town of Lourdes in southern France. The family was living in the basement of a dilapidated building when on February 11, 1858, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette in a cave above the banks of the Gave River near Lourdes. Bernadette, 14 years old, was known as a virtuous girl though a dull student who had not even made her first Holy Communion. In poor health, she had suffered from asthma from an early age. There were 18 appearances in all, the final one occurring on the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, July 16. Although Bernadette's initial reports provoked skepticism, her daily visions of "the Lady" brought great crowds of the curious. The Lady, Bernadette explained, had instructed her to have a chapel built on the spot of the visions. There, the people were to come to wash in and drink of the water of the spring that had welled up from the very spot where Bernadette had been instructed to dig. According to Bernadette, the Lady of her visions was a girl of 16 or 17 who wore a white robe with a blue sash. Yellow roses covered her feet, a large rosary was on her right arm. In the vision on March 25 she told Bernadette, "I am the Immaculate Conception." It was only when the words were explained to her that Bernadette came to realize who the Lady was. Few visions have ever undergone the scrutiny that these appearances of the Immaculate Virgin were subject to. Lourdes became one of the most popular Marian shrines in the world, attracting millions of visitors. Miracles were reported at the shrine and in the waters of the spring. After thorough investigation, Church authorities confirmed the authenticity of the apparitions in 1862. During her life, Bernadette suffered much. She was hounded by the public as well as by civic officials until at last she was protected in a convent of nuns. Five years later, she petitioned to enter the Sisters of Notre Dame of Nevers. After a period of illness she was able to make the journey from Lourdes and enter the novitiate. But within four months of her arrival she was given the last rites of the Church and allowed to profess her vows. She recovered enough to become infirmarian and then sacristan, but chronic health problems persisted. She died on April 16, 1879, at the age of 35. Bernadette Soubirous was canonized in 1933.
Reflection Millions of people have come to the spring Bernadette uncovered for healing of body and spirit, but she found no relief from ill health there. Bernadette moved through life, guided only by blind faith in things she did not understand—as we all must do from time to time. | Tuesday of Holy Week Reading 1 Is 49:1-6 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. Responsorial Psalm Ps 71:1-2, 3-4a, 5ab-6ab, 15 and 17
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. Verse Before the Gospel Hail to you, our King, obedient to the Father;
you were led to your crucifixion like a gentle lamb to the slaughter. Gospel Jn 13:21-33, 36-38 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."
| Meditation: John 13:21-33, 36-38 Tuesday of Holy Week One of you will betray me. (John 13:21) If you've ever been betrayed, you know how painful it is. You placed your love and trust in someone very close to you. Now that person has irreparably damaged your relationship. How could they have done such a thing? Jesus too experienced the pain of betrayal. Scripture tells us that as he thought about what Judas was about to do, Jesus became "deeply troubled" (John 13:21). Judas had stuck with him for so long, through thick and thin, and now, at the very end, he turns on Jesus. No wonder Jesus was upset! But Jesus was also troubled because he knew that Judas would end up deeply regretting his decision—to the point of taking his own life because his guilt felt so intense. It didn't have to end that way. Peter also betrayed Jesus by denying him, and all the disciples fled when Jesus was arrested. But their betrayals didn't destroy their relationship with Jesus because they embraced his mercy. Betrayal is so damaging because we instinctively want to protect ourselves from being hurt a second time. But Jesus shows us how powerful forgiveness can be. It can restore even the most damaged relationship. If you are hurting from a betrayal, you may have no desire to forgive that person. Ask for this grace anyway. Even if you think it's impossible to forgive or that the relationship can be restored, remember: nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37). Maybe the person who betrayed you is someone from your past whom you will never see again. Maybe it's someone who has never asked you for forgiveness. Sometimes because of circumstances, it's not wise to renew the relationship. Even if that's the case, God doesn't want you to be weighed down by hurt and resentment. He wants you to forgive that person from the heart so that he can free you. It's all too common for people to turn against one another as Judas and Peter turned against Jesus—and for many reasons as well. But we don't have to live under the shadow of betrayal. Jesus died for our forgiveness so that he could heal even our deepest hurts. "Jesus, give me the grace to forgive those who have hurt me." |  clickable | For me, prayer is an aspiration of the heart, it is a simple glance directed to heaven, it is a cry of gratitude and love in the midst of trial as well as joy; finally it is something great, supernatural, which expands my soul and unites me to Jesus.
—RALPH MARTIN
from Surrendered to Love |  clickable go see food for poor | | 2cents:
"You are my servant, he said to me, Israel, through whom I show my glory."
The servant gives glory to the creator, Father. This whole of lent has geared us, prepared us for this climaxing week. On this sorrowful Tuesday, we recall the greatest act of Love that is about to transpire...and once again, begins with betrayal, like Adam and Eve. God walked with His beloved, and the beloved betrayed Him. | Let us pray: "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." And from that day forth, the cry of the traitor has been either Have Mercy, or a cry for self...torture. | In the Holy Gospel, we have are reminded of what a traitor looks like. They look like you and me. But there are two very different outcomes. But let's stop for a moment and realize what is happening. God gives Himself, in the Eucharist, the first breaking of the bread. What happens in the Eucharist? It is a catalyst for what is inside. Long before Judas betrayed Christ this night, he had already begun to betray Christ. Christ did not instigate this on Judas, Judas instigated this atrocious night he'd disappear into the darkness. | What does this have to do now with you and your Father? Everything. Where does mercy enter? Peter would deny Christ. Judas would deny Christ, but in very different ways. How different? Peter denies Christ. Jesus had said to Peter "get behind me Satan". And with Judas we heard that Satan entered him and he walked out into darkness. Satan was all around apparently ready to pounce on the Holiness. But holiness would not be attacked. You see, evil works with permissions. You allow it to be. The atrocities of abortions in our time occur with permission. But permission started long ago with perversion. Pornography, free sex, liberalism, to the point where you want everything ok, laws to protect perversion with all kinds of matrimonies being introduced and the worst one I've heard is marriage to self. Inward implosions, casting out light, and darkness enters in. You see, Judas left Christ. Peter denied Christ but didn't leave Christ. Peter was at the charcoal fires trying to be with Christ even though he was afraid.
What does this mean?
I'll tell you what I just old my 9th graders "never give up on Christ, and He will never give up on you". The look on Christ after the 3rd denial was absolute torture to Peter's heart. But the kind of affliction that gives one's life to Christ...for reals. The call to sanctity. The call to give up on living just for yourself. The call now, to live and die for Christ. Judas died for self. A suicide is to give up on hope, on Christ. Modern day thought on this is to have mercy on those who commit such an atrocious act. It is worse than denying Christ, it is to say "not even God can save me". And so, abortion now is bringing on suicide. Assisted suicide they say. Who assists people in killing themselves? Those who do not believe in hope themselves. Those who take their daughters for abortions. Those who secretly commit sins. Those who don't dare face the truth and talk about people behind their backs. Backstabbing hope. This email is not designed to be pretty. The crucifixion was riddled with pain. Nothing about it was pretty. Sins are not pretty. Sins are pretty gross. Why? Because, they are darkness. And off a soul goes into darkness, never to be with Christ again.
Me and you are in the line of Peter. Catholic. Our first pope Peter shows us the way to return to Christ. He never becomes perfect, but he becomes perfectly His. What does this mean? He died trying to be perfect. Holy. Totally His. This has been the call for a true lent...to the cross we go... |  click to hear the bible verse | adrian
WOW Random Bible Verse
Philippians 1:21 (Listen) 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Thank You Jesus | |
