† Quote of the Day "Force yourself, if necessary, always to forgive those who offend you, from the very first moment. For the greatest injury or offense you can suffer from them is nothing compared to what God has forgiven you." — St. Josemaria Escriva Today's Meditation "Like an hourglass with a certain number of grains of sand within it, God has appointed your life to last only a certain number of days, and you have absolutely no idea how many there are. ... In God's presence, consider: I have no idea when my life will end. All I know is that death will come for me eventually. Am I doing anything to prepare for the real possibility that God may call me, sooner rather than later? If he called me into eternity today, would I be ready?" —Patrick Madrid, p. 190
An excerpt from A Year with the Bible Daily Verse "For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion, devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love. If these are yours and increase in abundance, they will keep you from being idle or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." — 2 Peter 1:5-8 | St. Luigi Orione St. Luigi Orione (1872-1940) was born in northern Italy and entered a Franciscan friary at the age of 13, but had to leave due to poor health. He became a pupil of St. John Bosco at his Turin oratory for boys, and later entered the diocesan seminary. While still a seminarian he opened his own oratory and boarding school to provide for the Christian training and education of boys. This institution became a well-spring for new vocations to the priesthood. He also traveled and founded many other pious congregations for clergy and lay people alike, including two religious orders. The ideal of St. Luigi's life was to provide for the spiritual welfare of others and to serve Jesus Christ and his Church. Many people were attracted to him and his work, and he cared in a special way for the sick, the disabled, and the poor. He was a preacher and confessor, as well as an organizer of pilgrimages, missions, processions, and other public celebrations of the faith. He loved Our Lady deeply and fostered devotion to her among his seminarians. Today his apostolate encompasses about 300 foundations, including schools, hospitals, assisted living facilities, and learning centers on nearly every continent. His body is incorrupt, and he was canonized in 2004. St. Luigi Orione's feast day is March 12th. | Wednesday of the First Week in Lent Reading 1 Jonah 3:1-10
The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:
"Set out for the great city of Nineveh,
and announce to it the message that I will tell you."
So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh,
according to the LORD's bidding.
Now Nineveh was an enormously large city;
it took three days to go through it.
Jonah began his journey through the city,
and had gone but a single day's walk announcing,
"Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,"
when the people of Nineveh believed God;
they proclaimed a fast
and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth. When the news reached the king of Nineveh,
he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe,
covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes.
Then he had this proclaimed throughout Nineveh,
by decree of the king and his nobles:
"Neither man nor beast, neither cattle nor sheep,
shall taste anything;
they shall not eat, nor shall they drink water.
Man and beast shall be covered with sackcloth and call loudly to God;
every man shall turn from his evil way
and from the violence he has in hand.
Who knows, God may relent and forgive, and withhold his blazing wrath,
so that we shall not perish."
When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way,
he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them;
he did not carry it out. Responsorial Psalm Psalm 51:3-4, 12-13, 18-19 R. (19b) A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me. R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me. R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
For you are not pleased with sacrifices;
should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn. Verse Before the Gospel Joel 2:12-13 Even now, says the LORD,
return to me with your whole heart
for I am gracious and merciful. Gospel Luke 11:29-32 While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them,
"This generation is an evil generation;
it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it,
except the sign of Jonah.
Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites,
so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
At the judgment
the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation
and she will condemn them,
because she came from the ends of the earth
to hear the wisdom of Solomon,
and there is something greater than Solomon here.
At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation
and condemn it,
because at the preaching of Jonah they repented,
and there is something greater than Jonah here."
| Praise to You Oh Lord Jesus Christ! | Daily Meditation: Jonah 3:1-10 Man and beast shall be covered with sackcloth and call loudly to God. (Jonah 3:8) Many people have childhood memories of being made to wear uncomfortable outfits for special occasions. Shirts that chafed at the collar, dresses that never fit quite right. That's a bit like the way the Ninevites must have felt when they heard Jonah proclaim that their city was risking ruin because of their sin. They saw the contrast between God's goodness and their wickedness, and that contrast chafed at their consciences. So as a sign of their repentance, they dressed themselves in scratchy sackcloth outfits and cried out to the Lord. And God immediately responded by forgiving them and removing the threat against them. But why sackcloth? Well, think about how you feel when you examine your conscience. You become uncomfortable. You realize that you are restless and burdened with guilt. Sackcloth, with its rough texture and bad fit, is a powerful expression of this inner reality. It's a sign that your thoughts and actions have woven the wrong kind of "garment" for your soul. God doesn't want you to live in sackcloth your whole life! He wants you to come to him in repentance so that he can clothe you with his holiness. In fact, he wants to give you "a glorious mantle" in place of the "faint spirit" that sin produces (Isaiah 61:3). And he loves you so much that he is prepared to forgive you every time you repent. So imagine stepping out of an uncomfortable outfit and into something tailor-made for you. It fits you perfectly. It feels luxurious. And it looks beautiful! This is what it is like to experience God's mercy. We are one week into our Lenten journey. If you haven't done it yet, think about setting aside some time each evening to examine your conscience. It doesn't have to take long, and you don't have to do a deep dive into your soul every time. Just sit in God's presence, review your day, and identify those times when you felt the coarse chafing of sin. Then turn it over to the Lord and ask for his mercy. Let him clothe you in his righteousness! "Jesus, thank you for your promise of mercy!" Psalm 51:3-4, 12-13, 18-19
Luke 11:29-32 | Reflections with Brother Adrian: |  Hear AI Read it for u | From today's Holy Gospel: "While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them,
"This generation is an evil generation;
it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it,
except the sign of Jonah.
Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites,
so will the Son of Man be to this generation......." - Word of the Lord! | Bishop Robert Barron said today: "Friends, today in our Gospel, some Pharisees ask Jesus for a sign. And Jesus replies, "No sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah," who was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights, foreshadowing Jesus' death and Resurrection. Jonah was called by God to preach conversion to Nineveh, which is described as an enormously large city. It took, they said, three days to walk through it. I can't help but think of Nineveh as one of our large, modern cities, a center of all sorts of worldly activity and preoccupation. What would its conversion look like? A turning back to God as the only enduring good. After hearing the word of Jonah, the Ninevites "proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth." What is the purpose of these ascetic practices? To wean people away from an attachment to worldly pleasures. Go beyond the mind that you have. Repent. Live as though nothing in this world finally matters. And you will be living in the kingdom of God!....." end quote from Bishop Barron.
I have been trying to do something different this lent. I know we are not supposed to divulge things we give up or are doing very much, but, because it stands to make a point, it's not all I am doing, but one of the things I am trying to do, and this is it: to repent.
Lent is a time for us to repent of our evil ways, and to turn to the Lord, the more, the better.
But like so many others, I just don't know what to repent from! Right? A drug addict always says "I don't have a problem", right? The same thing with us sinners, most of us don't want to see our problem...of sin, the root cause of our restlessness and despondence in our faith, the laziness in our prayer life, the weak attitude towards God's calling.
The first step in healing, is realizing we have a problem. My problem is to acknowledge I have a spiritual problem, and the spiritual affects the physical, more than we would like to admit.
After going to the doctor for my first ever annual checkup, I went in thinking I may have a particular thing to work on, but, turns out it was a couple of other issues. And it turns out that most issues, most of us all face, is our diet and exercise. What we eat matters. What we do matters. And this is the same in Spiritual life. What we take in matters. What we put out matters. I immediately started to watch sugars and breads and increased exercise. I lost 20 pounds and now I realize I can feel better, just like the doctor said when he lost 40 pounds he felt better. I didn't think I could feel better, but it is possible.
It is the same in the Spiritual life. Little sins daily accumulate into a spiritual blockage, something that blocks us from a life of Grace with God. We need to cut that out of our daily dosage. And, we need to increase our charity, our prayer life. We need to work, and exercise our faith. Use it or lose it.
The message of Nineveh was just that. Repent. Get on your knees and turn to the Lord. Pray with me "Lord, help me see my failings, so that I may make things right, with You and one another on earth...." |  audio | Random Bible Verse 1
1 John 2:15–17 [1 John 2]
Do Not Love the World " Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life1—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." Word of the Lord. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
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