[Salvation]

Catholic Culture

Daily Readings for: March 16, 2013
(Readings on USCCB website)

Collect: May the working of your mercy, O Lord, we pray, direct our hearts aright, for without your grace we cannot find favor in your sight. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

RECIPES

• Eggplant Gratin

ACTIVITIES

• La Falla de San Chusep—Saint Joseph's Day in Valencia

PRAYERS

• Prayer for the Fourth Week of Lent
• Novena to St. Joseph
• Lent Table Blessing 4

Lent: March 16th

Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent

While still more people gathered in the crowd, he 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 (Lk 11:29-32).

Today is an Ember Day in the Tridentine Rite. There are two principal objects for the Ember Days of this period of the year: the first is to offer to God the season of Spring, and, by fasting and prayer, to draw down His blessing upon it; the second is to ask Him to enrich with His choicest graces the priests and sacred ministers who are to receive their Ordination on Saturday.

Stational Church

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Meditation - The Faults of Our Neighbor
In disagreements between you and your neighbor, you must always remember that to be in the right is the consideration that influences a Christian the least. The philosopher may indulge such a satisfaction. But to be in the right and to act as if one were not, to allow one's opponent to triumph on the side of injustice,-this means to overcome evil by good, and to secure peace for one's soul. No more convincing argument for your own vindication is required than the silent exterior acknowledgment that you are in the wrong. He who edifies does more for the truth than he who is zealous for the combat. Instead of trying to refute those that are in the wrong, it is better to pray for them. A stream flows much more rapidly when nothing is done to hold it back. Pray for those who are prejudiced against you, never become embittered against them, pity them, await their return to better feelings, and help to free them from their prejudices. One would not be human if he does not feel how easy it is to stray, and how much it costs to acknowledge this. The spirit of meekness, of indulgence, of patience and humility in examining the behavior of others toward us, secures us that peace of mind which is not compatible with the jealous, suspicious sensibilities of self-love. — Fénelon

Things to Do:

• Read this thought-provoking article by George Rutler, Why We Need Lent, to understand why such a season of mortification is necessary for us to become saints.

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Today's Station is at St. Nicholas in Prison. It was constructed in the ruins of two temples and the ancient Forum Olitorium, and you can see fragments from them reused in the church. The most important of the temples was the Temple og Piety, built by Acilius Glabrius, consul in 191 B.C. The dedication to St. Nicholas was made by the Greek population in the area.

[Salvation]

The Word Among Us

Meditation: John 7:40-53

4th Week of Lent

The Messiah will not come from Galilee, will he? (John 7:41)

There was confusion amongst the crowd as they tried to reconcile the origins of the Messiah with the relative unimportance of a place like Galilee. This is not the only time that people have asked this kind of question. “A saint will not come from the slums of Calcutta, will she?” “A pope will not come from Communist Poland, will he?” “A Doctor of the Church will not be a girl from a remote French cloister, will she?”

Jesus’ critics were focused on the fact that he came from an area of no particular significance. While they speculated about Galilee versus Bethlehem, the home of the great King David, they missed the way that Jesus’ wisdom and authority pointed to his royal lineage. Fooled by his ordinary appearance, they could not discern the King of kings and Lord of lords, the messianic “Son of David,” who himself raised David from obscurity to nobility (1 Samuel 16).

Of course, they also were unaware that the Messiah’s ordinariness was foreshadowed in the Scriptures: “There was in him no stately bearing to make us look at him, nor appearance that would attract us to him… . We held him in no esteem” (Isaiah 53:2-3). Jesus was overlooked then as he is today, just as the shepherd David was overlooked before the Lord told Samuel, “Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance, but the Lord looks into the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). In the same way, many of the apostles would have been overlooked by anyone but God. Even the first pope, St. Peter, was just a fisherman!

God does not overlook anyone, including you! He doesn’t worry about where you came from. Rather, he looks at your heart. He looks at your desires and your dreams. He doesn’t look back but looks ahead. He wants to give you a future full of hope. Whether or not the world thinks you are important, you matter more than the world to him. So don’t keep him waiting any longer. Go to him with your cares and your fears. Go to him with your hopes and dreams. Let him turn your ordinary into his extraordinary!

“Jesus, to the world you may be just a carpenter from Galilee or even a prophet, but to me you are the eternal Son of God, my Redeemer and Lord.”

Jeremiah 11:18-20; Psalm 7:2-3, 9-12