Tuesday • March 2, 2021
LENTEN WEEKDAY
Celebrate humble history
Women’s History Month celebrates well-known women but also unsung heroines. How appropriate, then, that today is the feast of Agnes of Bohemia, a lesser-known saint. First cousin of Elizabeth of Hungary—and descendent of Good King Wenceslaus—Agnes came upon her vocation naturally. She built a hospital for the poor, a Franciscan friary, and a monastery for Poor Clare nuns. When she also became a nun and was urged to become abbess, she referred to herself only as “senior sister.” She continued to cook for her sisters and mend the clothing of lepers rather than live a royal life. Celebrate the unsung heroines in your life.
Today's readings: Isaiah 1:10, 16-20; Matthew 23:1-12. "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
🎨 St Agnes and the sick, detail from the Stories of St Agnes, 15th century, by an unknown Bohemian artist.
#takefiveforfaith
Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes;
cease doing evil; learn to do good.
Make justice your aim: redress the wronged,
hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow.
Come now, let us set things right,
says the LORD:
Though your sins be like scarlet,
they may become white as snow;
Though they be crimson red,
they may become white as wool.
Isaiah 1:16 #dailyingodsword
Even in desperate times, loving service to others is a source of hope and an expression of courage. To serve is to allow God’s grace to flow through us, as it were, and to experience the life that comes from bringing hope to others.
In my prayer, I continue to ask God to show me the ways that I may serve, even in difficult times.
—Excerpted from “Lessons in Hope and Courage:
Las Hermanas Dominicas of Puerto Rico” by Tim Muldoon
Jesus at the Center
If you were to ask me point-blank: “What does it mean to you to live spiritually?” I would have to reply: “Living with Jesus at the center.” . . . When I look back over the last thirty years of my life, I can say that, for me, the person of Jesus has come to be more and more important. Specifically, this means that what matters increasingly is getting to know Jesus and living in solidarity with him. - Henri Nouwen
Monday, Mar 01, 2021
LENTEN WEEKDAY
Mercy me!
Pope Francis called mercy the "beating heart of the gospel." Mercy is forbearance, divine favor, compassionate treatment of the distressed and undeserving. It’s another word for God’s love. Consider showing devotion to it by reciting the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, a rosary-based prayer that was received by Saint Faustina, a Polish nun in the 1930s, through visions of Jesus. Divine Mercy Sunday is celebrated the week after Easter, but many make the Chaplet part of their regular Lenten practice by reciting it every day at 3 p.m. (the traditional hour of Christ’s death). You can find the Chaplet on the USCCB website.
TODAY'S READINGS: Daniel 9:4b-10 Luke 6:36-38. “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” #takefiveforfaith
Gospel • Luke 6:36-38
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
“Stop judging and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you.”
#dailyingodsword
Holy Mass
February 28 2021
2nd Sunday of Lent
A LENTEN PRAYER FOR SPIRITUAL COMMUNION
My Jesus,
As I journey through these 40 days
and meditate on Your sacrificial love for us all
I entrust my ways to Your mercy,
a mercy that seeks the healing of my heart,
and is loving me to the hidden wholeness
found only in You.
I love You, and want to grow ever closer to you.
I want to receive You into my soul.
I long to receive you at the table of the Eucharist,
where I believe you are truly present in the most holy sacrament.
But since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally,
come spiritually into my heart, where
I embrace You and I unite myself wholly to You.
Never let me to be separated from You.
Keep me close in your Sacred Heart.
Jesus, I trust in you.
Amen
You Belong to God
You are not what you do, although you do a lot. You are not what you have collected in terms of friendships and connections, although you might have many. You are not the popularity that you have received. You are not the success of your work. You are not what people say about you, whether they speak well or whether they speak poorly about you. All these things that keep you quite busy, quite occupied, and often quite preoccupied are not telling the truth about who you are. I am here to remind you in the name of God that you are the Beloved Daughters and Sons of God, and that God says to you, “I have called you from all eternity and you are engraved from all eternity in the palms of my hands. You are mine. You belong to me, and I love you with an everlasting love.”
-Henri Nouwen
“The Church has entered once again into the penitential season of Lent. The word “lent” comes from the Old English word for “Spring”. I used to consider that Lent got that name because it always comes around in the springtime, but now I realize that Lent is a springtime for our souls, a time of hope and new growth. That is why it is exciting and joyful.
In his Rule for Monks our father St. Benedict describes Lent in the terms of joy:
“During these days, therefore, let us increase somewhat the usual measure of our service,
as by private prayers and by abstinence in food and drink.
Thus everyone of his own will may offer God "with the joy of the Holy Spirit" (1 Thess. 1:6)
something above the measure required of him.
(RB 49)”
St. Benedict wants us to understand the disciplines we eagerly undertake are meant to be a road to the fulfillment of our holy desire: a deeper communion and love of God in Jesus and Resurrection with Him. We will always have encouragement and not go astray on our Lenten observance if we keep our “eyes on the prize”: our upward calling in Christ. From this point of view it is truly a joyful work!”
• Reflection from Brother Christopher, a Trappist monk at New Clairvaux Abbey in Vina, CA
Christ Jesus it is who died—
or, rather, was raised—
who also is at the right hand of God,
who indeed intercedes for us.
-Romans 8:34
#dailyingodsword
