 franciscanmedia.org | The Wondrous Loop There are two moments that matter. One is when you know that your one and only life is absolutely valuable and alive. The other is when you know your life, as presently lived, is entirely pointless and empty. You need both of them to keep you going in the right direction. Lent is about both. The first such moment gives you energy and joy by connecting you with your ultimate Source and Ground. The second gives you limits and boundaries, and a proper humility, so you keep seeking the Source and Ground and not just your small self. The paradox, of course, is that you find yourself anyway: your Big Self in God and your little self in you. God loves them both. Saint Teresa of Avila summed it up when she said, "We find God in ourselves, and we find ourselves in God." With such a maxim, she did not likely need a therapist. Yet, I would add, that it is always much more like being found than actually finding anything! As Paul put it, "then I shall know as fully as I am known" (1 Corinthians 13:12). So during these forty days of Lent, let's allow ourselves to be known! All the way through. Nothing to hide from, in ourselves, from ourselves, or from God. Allow yourself to be fully known, and you will know what you need to know. This is my desire in writing these meditations. It is in this wondrous loop of divine disclosure, our own now safe self-disclosure, and a healing mutual acceptance—that we grow "in wisdom, maturity, and grace" (Luke 2:40). In fact, that is the way that all love happens, and the only way we grow at all. —from the book Wondrous Encounters: Scriptures for Lent
by Richard Rohr, OFM |  MorningOffering.com | †Saint Quote
"I will go anywhere and do anything in order to communicate the love of Jesus to those who do not know Him or have forgotten Him."
— St. Frances Xavier Cabrini † MEDITATION OF THE DAY
"Christianity asserts that every individual human being is going to live for ever, and this must be either true or false. Now there are a good many things which would not be worth bothering about if I were going to live only seventy years, but which I had better bother about very seriously if I am going to live for ever."
— C.S. Lewis, p. 74
AN EXCERPT FROM
Mere Christianity † VERSE OF THE DAY
"For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every foul practice. But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without inconstancy or insincerity. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who cultivate peace." James 3:16-18 |  click to read more | | BLESSED FRA ANGELICO Bl. Fra Angelico (1387-1455) was born Guido di Pietro in Tuscany, Italy. Little is known of his early life, but he became a famous early Italian Renaissance master painter. Fra Angelico would pray earnestly before he painted, being convinced that in order to paint Christ perfectly, one must also be Christlike. His paintings then became tools for contemplating the theological mysteries hidden in the biblical events he depicted. He joined the Dominican Order in 1407 and was given the name Brother John, often called "Angelic Brother John", or Fra Angelico (Angelic Friar) because of his holiness. He lived and worked in several friaries until moving to the Friary of San Marco in Florence. While in Florence he was surrounded by an artistic community, and, due to his great talent, gained the patronage of the famous Medici family. In 1445 he was summoned to Rome to work on St. Peter's Basilica in various chapels. From 1449 until shortly before his death, Fra Angelico was also prior of the convent in Fiesole. He passed away while working again in Rome and is buried in the Dominican church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. Fra Angelico was beatified by Pope St. John Paul II and is the patron saint of Catholic artists. His feast day is February 18. | Thursday after Ash Wednesday Lectionary: 220
Reading I Dt 30:15-20 Moses said to the people:
"Today I have set before you
life and prosperity, death and doom.
If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God,
which I enjoin on you today,
loving him, and walking in his ways,
and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees,
you will live and grow numerous,
and the LORD, your God,
will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy.
If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen,
but are led astray and adore and serve other gods,
I tell you now that you will certainly perish;
you will not have a long life
on the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and occupy.
I call heaven and earth today to witness against you:
I have set before you life and death,
the blessing and the curse.
Choose life, then,
that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God,
heeding his voice, and holding fast to him.
For that will mean life for you,
a long life for you to live on the land that the LORD swore
he would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." Responsorial Psalm 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6 R. (40:5a) Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Blessed the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners, nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD and meditates on his law day and night.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
He is like a tree planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season, and whose leaves never fade. Whatever he does, prospers.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Not so the wicked, not so; they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked vanishes.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord. Verse before the Gospel Mt 4:17 Repent, says the Lord;
the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. Gospel Lk 9:22-25 Jesus said to his disciples:
"The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected
by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised." Then he said to all, "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world
yet lose or forfeit himself?" | Daily Meditation: Luke 9:22-25 Whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. (Luke 9:24) When we think about how to "save" something, we think about keeping it in a safe place. We put our money in a bank and our good china in a cabinet. But when it comes to our lives, Jesus seems to be telling us the opposite: lose it, and you'll get it back again. How can that be? Actually, Jesus is exaggerating just a bit so that we will remember this teaching. By asking us to "lose" our lives, Jesus is asking us not to hold on too tightly to our desires and plans so that we are free to embrace his desires and plans for us. Often, this means having to sacrifice something to serve God and his people, but look what we gain: his divine life flowing through us. And that is infinitely greater than anything we may have to give up. Of course, it isn't always easy to lose our lives in this way, especially when it comes to the day-to-day choices we face. For example, at the end of a long workday, Netflix may sound more appealing than reading our child a bedtime story. Or maybe we wish that we didn't have to attend Mass one Sunday so that we could sleep in and have some extra free time. Or how about failing to listen to someone in distress because we are preoccupied with something that seems more important or attractive at the time? When you find yourself yet again trying to "save" your life by preferring your will over God's will, reach out to Jesus. You could pray, "Lord, I have committed my life to you, and I give it to you now once again. I trust you to fill me with your own strength and grace so that I can do what you call me to do, not what I'd rather do." We are all tempted at times to "save" our lives by tucking ourselves safely away from the demands of loving and serving God and other people. When that happens, remember that the life God promises to give you is so much richer and more joyful than the life you are trying to save. Nothing else can ever compare to it. "Jesus, I want to lose my life for you so that your life may be in me." Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Psalm 1:1-4, 6 |  clickable | …Let the Holy Spirit blow through the world so that it might be converted and that you might bring back to the Father His redeemed creation in its fulfillment. Amen.
— Adrienne von Speyr
from a prayer collected in her book With God and With Men | my2cents:
"I have set before you life and death,
the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then,
that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him."
Have you ever experienced this: you got an idea, that you've been working on, or thinking about, and then you get with 2 or 3 others on it, and suddenly the idea is brought to reality, or at least is developed better? I have. With more, it is better, more of us involved together. I can try to grow alone in spirituality, like a hermit, but I won't develop well without the input of others. I have a deep concern for some people that don't need others, don't need church, the abortion mentality. It can be an atheist, a cold Christian, a Lukewarm person, or even a priest! What am I saying? Well, what is our Lord saying through Moses the prophet "Choose Life!". What does this mean? Hindsight is 20/20. Our Lord Jesus said "I AM the LIFE" and not only that but He declared His trinitarian self as The Way, The Truth, The Life. For us now, we know what choosing life means...it means choosing God, it means choosing CHRIST! | We prayed: "Blessed the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners, nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD and meditates on his law day and night. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord."
What is the wicked counsel? Ever heard of witches? They call it the Wicca, it is a pagan religion. They have ambiguous gods with horns. They won't tell you they are a religion, but they are, with traditions and rituals and priestesses. Paganism is a religion that is secretly gaining traction. What do they teach? They are heavily into the occult. In tabloids and magazines, they call on people to do forms of sorcery against public figures, like a president. And the same tabloids and magazines/media push gossip and sex on to the young people, and then push abortion and contraception on to them. It is a heavy weight of death. So what is the council of the wicked? It is everything contrary to the teachings of Christ, the Life, our Lord.
Remember we prayed: "Not so the wicked, not so; they are like chaff which the wind drives away. For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord." | Our Lord said: "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."
The world will never teach you to deny yourself. The wicked will teach you to indulge yourself, to give into your pleasures, to give into yourself always. But in Lent, Holy Mother Church teaches us Christ, to deny ourselves. Deny yourself, yourself. The reason there are very few saints today, is because very few will follow Christ our Lord all the way: | "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it." Lose your life for Him? How can we? I mean, comon Lord! Right? We got jobs, we got families, we got a home, a car to pay, some have two cars, or more! We got lots of stuff! How can this rich young man give his possessions, wait, sell his possessions and give to the poor as our Lord asked and then follow HIM!? Right?
Boy what an ego. Here, I lay things flat out with the pen of the Holy Spirit. What's keeping you from being a real and totally devoted Saint, my child? And the scary part of it all, is that in my studies of our faith, all signs point to this truth: only saints are in Heaven.
But the world chants "I ain't no saint" and "I ain't perfect" all in the same breath. That has a negative connotation, doesn't it? As if to be "religious" is bad, or as if to say "I'm never going to be a saint or perfect". That is to say, there is no hope.
Thank our Lord for coming in today and saying "I am the Way, The Truth, and the Life". He is showing us there is a way. And the way is the cross. A cross the world will gladly hand any faithful person.
"The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised."
If you are embarking on self denial this lent, you are on your way to a great Easter. Lord, I want to deny myself everything that keeps me from loving you more and more. Send us the grace to do so, please....what a gift of life! | from your brother in Christ our Lord,
adrian | Random online bible verse from a random verse generator: Ephesians 2:4-7 But1 God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
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