†Saint Quote
"Lord, help me to make time today to serve you in those who are most in need of encouragement or assistance."
–St. Vincent de Paul †Today's Meditation
"At times, you may become discouraged when you pray because your sins seem to jump out at you. You may actually feel worse than ever. But don't let that get you down. It's actually a sign of progress because the closer you draw to the perfect holiness of God, the more your own imperfections will stand out against the pure light of His holiness…This explains why really holy people are often the last ones to admit it, because the holier they get, the less holy they feel."
–J. Augustine Wetta, O.S.B, p.91 An Excerpt From
Humility Rules: Saint Benedict's 12-Step Guide to Genuine Self-Esteem †Daily Verse†
"'Ah Lord God! It is thou who hast made the heavens and the earth by thy great power and by thy outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for thee, who showest steadfast love to thousands, but dost requite the guilt of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God whose name is the Lord of hosts, great in counsel and mighty in deed; whose eyes are open to all the ways of men, rewarding every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings."
–Jeremiah 32:17-19 |  click to read more | | St. Richard of Chichester St. Richard of Chichester (1197-1253), also known as St. Richard de Wyche, was born in Worcestershire, England to a land-owning squire. His father died when he was young, causing the family to suffer hardship for many years. The situation became dire enough for Richard to suspend his studies to take over the family estates and make them profitable again. He went on to Oxford to study for the priesthood, and was so poor that he and two companions shared a set of clothes which they took turns wearing to class. He obtained degrees at the universities in Paris and Bologna before being appointed as the Chancellor of Oxford University. Richard became well-known for his learning and sanctity. As a result he next became Chancellor for the Archbishop of Canterbury, St. Edmund Rich, to whom he was a faithful companion and advisor. Years later St. Richard was ordained the Bishop of Chichester. In this position he entered into power struggles with King Henry III, who withheld his diocesan revenues and blocked his access to the cathedral. St. Richard had many accomplishments as bishop, including establishing greater order and reverence to the liturgy, vigorously defending the rights of the Church, assisting the poor and the oppressed, and preaching a crusade against the Saracens at the request of the Pope. He died of fever surrounded by his closest friends at about 56 years of age. He was buried in the Chichester Cathedral and his shrine became a popular place of pilgrimage before being destroyed by King Henry VIII. St. Richard's feast day is April 3rd. | Monday of Holy Week Reading 1 Is 42:1-7 Here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one with whom I am pleased,
Upon whom I have put my Spirit;
he shall bring forth justice to the nations,
Not crying out, not shouting,
not making his voice heard in the street.
A bruised reed he shall not break,
and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,
Until he establishes justice on the earth;
the coastlands will wait for his teaching. Thus says God, the LORD,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spreads out the earth with its crops,
Who gives breath to its people
and spirit to those who walk on it:
I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice,
I have grasped you by the hand;
I formed you, and set you
as a covenant of the people,
a light for the nations,
To open the eyes of the blind,
to bring out prisoners from confinement,
and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness. Responsorial Psalm Ps 27:1, 2, 3, 13-14 R. (1a) The Lord is my light and my salvation.
The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom should I fear?
The LORD is my life's refuge;
of whom should I be afraid?
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
When evildoers come at me
to devour my flesh,
My foes and my enemies
themselves stumble and fall.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
Though an army encamp against me,
my heart will not fear;
Though war be waged upon me,
even then will I trust.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD with courage;
be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Verse Before the Gospel Hail to you, our King;
you alone are compassionate with our faults. Gospel Jn 12:1-11 Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany,
where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served,
while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him.
Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil
made from genuine aromatic nard
and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair;
the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.
Then Judas the Iscariot, one of his disciples,
and the one who would betray him, said,
"Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days' wages
and given to the poor?"
He said this not because he cared about the poor
but because he was a thief and held the money bag
and used to steal the contributions.
So Jesus said, "Leave her alone.
Let her keep this for the day of my burial.
You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me." The large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came,
not only because of him, but also to see Lazarus,
whom he had raised from the dead.
And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too,
because many of the Jews were turning away
and believing in Jesus because of him. | Daily Meditation: John 12:1-11 Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil . . . and anointed the feet of Jesus. (John 12:3) If you want to talk about different personalities, this passage is a perfect example. On the one hand, there is Mary, the sister of Martha. She is completely focused on Jesus. We've already seen her sitting at Jesus' feet, listening to him, while Martha does all the serving (Luke 10:38-42). In today's Gospel, Mary breaks out a very expensive jar of oil and anoints Jesus with it. She loves him so much that she will spare no expense for him. On the other hand, there's Judas. An apostle, handpicked by Jesus, he had started out well enough, but something happened. He is still following Jesus, but his devotion isn't what it used to be. He doesn't seem to see Jesus as worth everything, as Mary did. Instead, he focuses on the cost of the oil and what could be done with the money it might bring in. He is with Jesus but is holding back. And so he can't seem to embrace the sacrifice involved in worshipping Jesus. Where do we fit in this picture? How much do we value Jesus? Of course, we want to be like Mary. We want to be completely unselfish. We want to give everything we have so that we can follow the Lord. And yet, like Judas, we are tempted at times to go our own way or to keep something back for ourselves. It's Holy Week. And that makes it a good time to look for ways to imitate Mary's devotion. Especially this week, don't hold back. You can't anoint Jesus with expensive oil like Mary did, but you can still worship him. You can still invite him into areas of your life that you might have kept sealed off in the past. You can still commit yourself to love and follow him. You'll find that the closer you get to Jesus and the more of your heart you give to him, the less important other things will seem. Like Mary, you'll want to give him everything. "Lord, I want to worship you with my whole heart. I give myself to you completely!" Isaiah 42:1-7
Psalm 27:1-3, 13-14 |  click to hear 2cents | Listen to my2cents audio. Share the link if you like:
Click to hear it | From today's 1st Holy Scripture:
"I formed you, and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations, To open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement,
and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness." So, have you opened the eyes of the blind? Have you brought our prisoners from confinement and dungeons and those in darkness? Things are different in the light, and our Lord wants us to come to the light and live there. And we aren't speaking about Heaven, but on earth with Him, that His light may shine inside of us. There is a reason why you are where you are right now. That the light of God might shine in your corner of the world. | We pray today:
"The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom should I fear?
The LORD is my life's refuge; of whom should I be afraid? The Lord is my light and my salvation." | In the Gospel today we heard: ""Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days' wages and given to the poor?"
He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions.
So Jesus said, "Leave her alone.
Let her keep this for the day of my burial.
You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me." Guilty dogs bark, they say. Judas was calling out what many call out still to this day. "People are so greedy", or they say "why doesn't the church sell all its riches and give it all away to the poor?". LOL, even if they sold the few things that have been passed on for generations, they'd only but a drop in the bucket compared to the poverty in the world.
It'd be like me asking you to sell your car or family portraits to give to the poor, and you'd be left on foot, and never see your loved ones pictures ever again! Would you? Is that the message we are to listen to...the guilty dogs? | From Bishop Barron Today:
"Friends, in today's Gospel, Mary of Bethany anoints Jesus' feet with perfumed oil, preparing him for burial.
This gesture—wasting something as expensive as an entire jar of perfume—is sniffed at by Judas, who complains that, at the very least, the nard could have been sold and the money given to the poor.
Why does John use this tale to preface his telling of the Passion? Why does he allow the odor of this woman's perfume to waft, as it were, over the whole of the story? It is because, I believe, this extravagant gesture shows forth the meaning of what Jesus is about to do: the absolutely radical giving away of self.
There is nothing calculating, careful, or conservative about the woman's action. Flowing from the deepest place in the heart, religion resists the strictures set for it by a fussily moralizing reason (on full display in those who complain about the woman's extravagance). At the climax of his life, Jesus will give himself away totally, lavishly, unreasonably—and this is why Mary's beautiful gesture is a sort of overture to the opera that will follow." end quote.
. . . . The message then, becomes the inverse, the opposite of the guilty dog. The message is from Mary. Look to see how lavishly she gives everything to God from her heart. The riches of the church are gifts to God, lavishly given, some gave it their all, built and painted everything as a gift to God's Kingdom. The message is culminating to the fact that Jesus said Himself something very important: "Let her keep this for the day of my burial." said our Lord.
He was about to give even more lavishly than her. He was about to pour out His heart, literally on the cross. And His heart pours out something that can never be valued, because there is nothing to compare His grace, mercy, and love to. One sin costs much pain and anguish, and who knows how many lives it can affect or even devastate. And yet, you can be forgiven for it? How in the world can you repay that? It'd be better never to sin, if we knew the cost! But we don't know, don't care. Do we?
If we really cared about Jesus our Lord we would be deathly afraid of sin. I believe we will see this more perfect in the next life, where you can see the extreme devastation of sins, of countering God's will, of not...trusting Him.
This is Holy Week, and our Lord is already speaking about His coming death. And He is already opening our eyes to the human condition and what it will take to be saved. Let's pray:
...†...
Lord, if we only knew...how to Love You. If we only knew how to be grateful! If we only knew how to be One with You! Help us make this a truly Holy Week, Thy will be done...whatever Thy Will desires, let it be in me for Thee...and let it be pure love of You My Lord and My God! |  Hear it click | WOW Random Bible Verse 1
1 Corinthians 13:7–8 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
