† Quote of the Day "We must faithfully keep what we have promised. If through human weakness we fail, we must always without delay arise again by means of holy penance, and give our attention to leading a good life and to dying a holy death. May the Father of all mercy, the Son by his holy passion, and the Holy Spirit, source of peace, sweetness and love, fill us with their consolation." — St. Colette Today's Meditation "Oh, how sweet and pleasant to that soul and to Me is holy prayer, made in the house of knowledge of self and of Me, opening the eye of the intellect to the light of faith, and the affections to the abundance of My charity, which was made visible to you, through My visible Only-begotten Son, who showed it to you with His blood! Which blood inebriates the soul and clothes her with the fire of divine charity, giving her the food of the Sacrament . . . that is to say, the food of the Body and Blood of My Son, wholly God and wholly man, administered to you by the hand of My vicar, who holds the key of the Blood." —St. Catherine of Siena, p. 92
An excerpt from Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena Daily Verse "[I pray that you] may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." — Ephesians 3:18-19 | St. Colette St. Colette (1381-1447) was born in Picardy, France, the daughter of a poor carpenter who served the local Benedictine abbey. Her parents conceived her in their old age after praying to St. Nicholas for a child, naming Colette after him. She became well known for her faith and spiritual wisdom from a young age. After the death of her parents she joined the Third Order of St. Francis and became a hermit. She led a life of asceticism and solitude until a dream revealed that God willed her to reform the Poor Clares. She obeyed and joined the Poor Clares in 1406. Her mission of reformation was sanctioned by Benedict XIII of Avignon (the anti-pope) who appointed her superior of each of the convents she reformed. Despite resistance from within the Poor Clares, she successfully reformed several existing convents and founded 17 new ones dedicated to a stricter observance of the Poor Clares, known as the Colettines. She experienced visions and ecstasies of Christ's Passion, and even prophesied her own death. Through her life's work, St. Colette's reformation breathed new life into the Poor Clares and created a lasting model of spirituality. St. Colette's feast day is March 6th. | Thursday after Ash Wednesday Reading 1 Deuteronomy 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 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 Matthew 4:17
Repent, says the Lord;
the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. Gospel Luke 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?" | Praise to You Oh Lord Jesus Christ! | Daily Meditation: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18 Your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you. (Matthew 6:18 "What are you giving up for Lent?" Isn't this the first question that typically comes to mind as we begin this holy season? Are we going to fast from a favorite food or from a meal once a week? Are we going to read a chapter from the Scriptures each day or try to make an extra donation to our favorite charity? There are countless choices and opportunities to take part in the traditional Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. But this year, instead of just asking what we are going to do, let's ask ourselves why we are doing it. What is our purpose and goal? In today's Gospel reading, Jesus warns his listeners not to pray, fast, or perform righteous deeds in a showy way, just to impress other people (Matthew 6:1). Instead, he tells us to do them "in secret"—out of love for our heavenly Father (6:4, 6). And what is the fruit of such practices? We grow closer to the Lord; that's our "reward" (6:5). Thinking about the "why" along with the "what" also helps us take the focus off our own efforts or performance. If our willpower gives out and we eat that piece of chocolate that we vowed to give up, it's just another opportunity to turn to the Lord and offer up our weaknesses to him. It's just another opportunity to realize how much we need his grace and power in our lives. So yes, go ahead and make those Lenten resolutions, and try your best to keep them. But remember why you are doing these things. It's so that God can soften your heart and fill you with all the love, mercy, and grace he wants to give you. That's how he will "repay" you (Matthew 6:4, 6)! "Lord, help me to draw closer to you through my Lenten practices!" Joel 2:12-18
Psalm 51:3-6, 12-14, 17
2 Corinthians 5:20–6:12 | Reflections with Brother Adrian: |  Hear AI Read it for u | From today's Holy Gospel: "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?"....." - Word of the Lord! | From Fernando Torres, cmf:
"Jesus' proposal for this beginning of Lent is precisely to "de-center" ourselves: to stop considering ourselves the center of the world, to stop thinking that our feeling good is the fundamental goal of our life. There is something much more important: the cause of Jesus, the Kingdom. For the sake of the Kingdom one must leave everything, one must deny oneself. My needs, my problems, my anxieties, take a back seat because the Kingdom is the most important thing. And the Kingdom is fraternity, it is love. It is thinking first of the well-being of the other. The Kingdom is precisely to place the other, and especially the poor and needy, at the center (and to consider oneself as a planet or satellite). Only those who lose their lives for the sake of the Kingdom will find the full and true life, that of the Kingdom. In other words: what good is it for you to seek your well-being so much if in the end you are more alone than one? To follow Jesus is to decenter and put the "other" at the center of my life and my concerns..." end quote.
From Roberto Juarez:
"Jesus' question invites us to reflect on our priorities. Many times, we seek success, wealth, or recognition, but we neglect the most important thing: the spiritual life and our relationship with God.
• What things should I give up in order to follow Jesus more freely? Am I willing to let go of my selfishness, my comforts, or my attachments?
• Do I accept my daily cross with love and trust? Or do I rebel in the face of difficulties and seek only what is easy and comfortable?
• What is most important to me? Do I seek only material success, or do I put my soul and my relationship with God above all else?
Lord Jesus,
teach me to carry my cross with love and generosity,
to renounce myself to follow you every day.
Help me discover that just losing my life for you
I can find true fulfillment.
May my heart always be directed towards your will,
and may my actions reflect your love and sacrifice.
Amen." end quote.
Bishop Robert Barron said today: "Jesus is telling us actively to take up our crosses, to seek them out, to carry them as he willingly carried his. What Jesus did on the cross was to bear the burden of the world's sin. He bore others' burdens in love. And this is what we must do: actively, proactively seek out ways to lighten other people's loads.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer commented that when the Lord summons a person to discipleship, he calls him to come and die. When the blind Bartimaeus received his sight, at the midpoint of the Gospel of Mark, he followed Jesus up the road that would lead to Calvary. The way of the Christian life begins and ends with the man who is God dying on a cross." end quote.
Yesterday at one of the Ash Wednesday Masses I made an announcement from the pulpit, to invite men to the Men's Conference, and I said "come to the men's conference, what better interest could we have that day".
It makes for an eye opening revelation, doesn't it? What could be more important than an effort to unify yourself to our Lord in a unique way. That is what lent is to do with us and Him. That we would seek to unify with Him more intimately. It is why our Lord our Christ, our Savior went to the desert for 40 days. And there, in the purity of the seeking, of the being set apart, that is holiness, He was tempted to see things another way by the dark side. And why do we say the "dark side"? Because, there, in darkness, is where things try to hide from God. Like when our Lord said to Adam and Eve after disobeying "where are you guys?" For they had went to hiding behind the trees, instead of enjoying Him in the sun and the breeze of the wind of His presence.
Where am I? Where have I been? Where have I gone in my interests lately? Where have I been hanging out mostly? What have I been doing with my time? What have I been doing with my money? Where is it invested? In what interests?
These are the questions that Lent is asking us to consider...for the Kingdom of God. Our Lord left us with these words in the Holy Gospel today:
"What profit is there for one to gain the whole world
yet lose or forfeit himself?" In other translations it says "And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?" What if you got everything you wanted, and lost life...everlasting?
Sounds abnormal, but sadly, we are tempted to think that way.
The way darkness thinks is like this: "I want things to work out my way, how I want, when I want, I want total control".
But things out of control are hurled at us daily. This is where letting go, and letting God matters.
Let go during lent. Let God during lent. Let go of what you love, and let yourself love God all the more.
Trusting is loving, is it not?
"Lord, I want what you want, real love between me and You, and in each person You decide to hide in every day of my life". |  audio | Random Bible Verse 1
Colossians 3:16 "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God." Word of the Lord. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
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