God Knows Each of Us In each of our lives, we could fill lists of all the afflictions those near us have endured, waking up each day to put their feet onto the ground and begin walking that heartache again. We love them, we are there for them, we listen to them. But there is, always, that fundamental alone. This is why Psalm 139 offers a comfort that I would characterize as mystical. The mystical is that which brings you right into the heart of God, and brings God right into the heart of you. Psalm 139 is, and always will be, a gorgeous piece of writing expressing the truth that not only does God know each of us, God has actually been alongside us, in ways no human being ever could, because it's beyond what any person can ever do. It's too much to ask. It's impossible. —from the book What Was Lost: Seeking Refuge in the Psalms by Maureen O'Brien |  MorningOffering.com | †Saint Quote
"Prayer purifies us, reading instructs us. Both are good when both are possible. Otherwise, prayer is better than reading."
— St. Isidore of Seville †MEDITATION OF THE DAY
"This God of all goodness has made those things easy which are common and necessary in the order of nature, such as breathing, eating, and sleeping. No less necessary in the supernatural order are love and fidelity, therefore it must needs be that the difficulty of acquiring them is by no means so great as is generally represented. Review your life. Is it not composed of innumerable actions of very little importance? Well, God is quite satisfied with these. They are the share that the soul must take in the work of its perfection."
—Jean-Pierre de Caussade, p.7
AN EXCERPT FROM
Abandonment to Divine Providence †VERSE OF THE DAY
"But who can discern his errors? Clear thou me from hidden faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression."
Psalm 19: 12-13 |  click to read more | | ST. KATHARINE DREXEL St. Katharine Drexel (1858-1955) was a wealthy heiress from a prominent family in Philadelphia. From a young age she felt called to serve the spiritual and temporal needs of the underprivileged, particularly the African American and Native American communities. She learned the virtue of charity from her parents, who often opened their home to the poor. She began by donating money, but quickly realized this would not bring the lasting change these communities desperately needed. During an audience with Pope Leo XIII she requested that a religious order be sent to manage the insitutions she was funding. In response, the Pope suggested that she herself enter the religious life for this purpose. St. Katharine then founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People. From the age of 33 until her death in 1955, Katharine invested her personal fortune of 20 million dollars in this cause. She helped build the first missions school for Native Americans in Santa Fe, and founded Xavier University in New Orleans. At the time of her death, more than 500 sisters of her order taught in over 60 schools which had been founded throughout the country. Katharine Drexel was canonized by Pope St. John Paul II in the year 2000, making her the second American-born saint. Her feast day is March 3rd. | Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent Lectionary: 232
Reading I Jer 18:18-20 The people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem said,
"Come, let us contrive a plot against Jeremiah.
It will not mean the loss of instruction from the priests,
nor of counsel from the wise, nor of messages from the prophets.
And so, let us destroy him by his own tongue;
let us carefully note his every word." Heed me, O LORD, and listen to what my adversaries say.
Must good be repaid with evil that they should dig a pit to take my life?
Remember that I stood before you to speak in their behalf, to turn away your wrath from them. Responsorial Psalm 31:5-6, 14, 15-16 R. (17b) Save me, O Lord, in your kindness.
You will free me from the snare they set for me, for you are my refuge.
Into your hands I commend my spirit; you will redeem me, O LORD, O faithful God.
R. Save me, O Lord, in your kindness.
I hear the whispers of the crowd, that frighten me from every side, as they consult together against me, plotting to take my life.
R. Save me, O Lord, in your kindness.
But my trust is in you, O LORD; I say, "You are my God."
In your hands is my destiny; rescue me from the clutches of my enemies and my persecutors.
R. Save me, O Lord, in your kindness. Verse before the Gospel Jn 8:12 I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
whoever follows me will have the light of life. Gospel Mt 20:17-28 As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem,
he took the Twelve disciples aside by themselves,
and said to them on the way,
"Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem,
and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests
and the scribes,
and they will condemn him to death,
and hand him over to the Gentiles
to be mocked and scourged and crucified,
and he will be raised on the third day." Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus with her sons
and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something.
He said to her, "What do you wish?"
She answered him,
"Command that these two sons of mine sit,
one at your right and the other at your left, in your kingdom."
Jesus said in reply,
"You do not know what you are asking.
Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?"
They said to him, "We can."
He replied,
"My chalice you will indeed drink,
but to sit at my right and at my left,
this is not mine to give
but is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father."
When the ten heard this,
they became indignant at the two brothers.
But Jesus summoned them and said,
"You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,
and the great ones make their authority over them felt.
But it shall not be so among you.
Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.
Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve
and to give his life as a ransom for many." | Daily Meditation: Jeremiah 18:18-20 Let us contrive a plot against Jeremiah. (Jeremiah 18:18) The Jews in today's first reading are facing a challenging dilemma. They want to kill the prophet Jeremiah, but they don't want to admit to themselves that they are doing anything wrong. So they come up with excuses to rationalize their behavior. Killing him "will not mean the loss of instruction," they say, whether from the priests or the other prophets who opposed him (Jeremiah 18:18). He's just one person; there are still plenty of other people to give them advice (advice, that is, that won't challenge the way Jeremiah's did). This rationalizing of evil is just part of a bigger problem: the Jews' unwillingness to admit their own sin. Better to make a scapegoat out of this inconvenient prophet than to take seriously his call to repentance. Better to silence him than to have to hear his impassioned pleas to change their lives. A lot of the sins that plagued Judah are familiar to us today: idolatry, injustice, abuse, and exploitation. And like the people back then, many resort to excuses and redirection to try to rationalize their sin. But like the Jews, we too have prophetic voices calling us to repentance. Even more, we have the Holy Spirit within us pricking our conscience and urging us to repent. Usually we can tell when we are making excuses or trying to explain away our sin. Even if his voice is very faint, the Holy Spirit is always crying out to us, urging us to come back to our heavenly Father. When you hear him speaking to your conscience, when you feel him trying to soften your heart, don't turn away. Don't try to silence him. Instead, quiet yourself and listen. Let him convince you that it is far better to confess your sin than to live with it. Let him prove to you that God's love is far more satisfying than sin and that he is warm and merciful to everyone who comes to him for forgiveness. "Lord, heal the blindness that keeps me from recognizing my sins." Psalm 31:5-6, 14-16
Matthew 20:17-28 |  clickable | For Jesus then forgiveness is only an act of justice toward God, though it is an act of mercy toward an unjust perpetrator. We owe this mercy to one another because we have already received and will continue to receive the far greater mercy of God. If we deny others forgiveness, then God is justified in denying forgiveness to us, because we owe it to Him in justice.
— Fr. Robert Spitzer, S.J.
from his book Escape from Evil's Darkness | my2cents:
"Must good be repaid with evil that they should dig a pit to take my life?"
If you are involved in ministries, this is a good verse to recall. Because at times you will feel the animosity of the very people you are serving. Instead of love in return, they pay with hatred. So are they to become your enemies? LOL. Of course not. Our Lord never declared war. He never declared Himself an enemy. Enemies naturally happen. Enemies, really not of Him but who and what He stood for. They mocked His ideals, he was the scapegoat, and ultimately the sacrificial offering. They mocked and whipped Him as if to try to whip an animal into submission. They use force to enforce their rule. But remember the revelation, the key to overcome evil...always, is humility. And humility comes as a package deal with truth. Truth in humility. There is humility found in truth. So what do I do when I am ridiculed? I let the truth show. I say "I still love you" as our Lord did dying on the cross. | We pray: "But my trust is in you, O LORD; I say, "You are my God."
In your hands is my destiny; rescue me from the clutches of my enemies and my persecutors. Save me, O Lord, in your kindness".
The greatest of prophets have something in common. St. John the Baptist? Chased and murdered.
Elijah? Chased into the mountains to try to capture him.
Moses? Chased through the sea.
And so our Lord tastes the chase. He too is chased, tortured, and crucified. What does this prove? The prophets trusted the Lord with their very lives.
Can you trust like that? | Our Lord speaks: ""Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests
and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day." Wait a minute. There's a lot going on here. He is all like: "let's go, we're going to Jerusalem". And then He tells them what's going to happen. He knows full well He's going to be taken. So, in a nutshell, HE's surrendering Himself. Amen? Isn't' that the call of Lent? To self-surrender?
And there, the gentiles will torture Him and mock Him. Who are the gentiles? The faithless? The non-religious? The secular? The worldly? The "neutral"? Neutrality is brooding grounds for villains. It only takes an instigator to agitate the neutral waters into a deadly concoction. And so the world wants people to be "neutral" so it (evil) can do all it wants. That's why there's new laws being pushed called "equality" which in their writing says their laws trump all religions. It is clear as day what is at hand. Will you be neutral any longer my friend? There is no time to be permissive or neutral. In church dealings, I tell people not to pick sides, and if you are forced to choose a side, choose God's side...the one on the cross. Self surrender will gain the Kingdom. | The mother of 2 disciples says: ""Command that these two sons of mine sit, one at your right and the other at your left, in your kingdom."
Be careful what you ask for, they say. In this case, what was this lady asking for? Honor? Self preservation? Security? All these things went contrary to our Lord. This is why He answered to all in a loving manner: "...the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."
In ministries, if you care, there's a good rule to follow, be prepared to get out of the way. In other words, this is not your show. This is God's flock. All I see in people is pride. I'm sick and tired of it. How will I deflate people's egos? I must become the sharp straight edged flint of Christ, how? I must make my true worship of a humble God be true. When I am mocked, I have nothing to say. When I am slapped, I have no answer. When I am being chased, I go to them instead. What courage! And so, to be a true follower of Christ means true courage. All the worldly are weak. They have succumbed to sin, weakness, pleasures, all things that inflate self...pride. This is the call of Lent...to do away with what makes you comfortable, and prepare to meet discomfort. I'm fasting. Now I'm more hungry. Hungry for God. Hunger makes me pray. I'm praying. Now I'm closer to God our Father. I'm disinterested in self pleasure, now I can give. Now I'm giving. Now I can begin to feel the love of God. Lord, everything You do is amazing. Help us here, for we seek humility in places where most won't...in Your Most Precious and Sacred Heart! | from your brother in Christ our Lord,
adrian | Random online bible verse from a random verse generator: | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
