Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 11-21-13, M, Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

November 21, 2013

Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The officers of the king in charge of enforcing the apostasy
came to the city of Modein to organize the sacrifices.
Many of Israel joined them,
but Mattathias and his sons gathered in a group apart.
Then the officers of the king addressed Mattathias:
“You are a leader, an honorable and great man in this city,
supported by sons and kin.
Come now, be the first to obey the king’s command,
as all the Gentiles and the men of Judah
and those who are left in Jerusalem have done.
Then you and your sons shall be numbered among the King’s Friends,
and shall be enriched with silver and gold and many gifts.”
But Mattathias answered in a loud voice:
“Although all the Gentiles in the king’s realm obey him,
so that each forsakes the religion of his fathers
and consents to the king’s orders,
yet I and my sons and my kin
will keep to the covenant of our fathers.
God forbid that we should forsake the law and the commandments.
We will not obey the words of the king
nor depart from our religion in the slightest degree.”

As he finished saying these words,
a certain Jew came forward in the sight of all
to offer sacrifice on the altar in Modein
according to the king’s order.
When Mattathias saw him, he was filled with zeal;
his heart was moved and his just fury was aroused;
he sprang forward and killed him upon the altar.
At the same time, he also killed the messenger of the king
who was forcing them to sacrifice,
and he tore down the altar.
Thus he showed his zeal for the law,
just as Phinehas did with Zimri, son of Salu.

Then Mattathias went through the city shouting,
“Let everyone who is zealous for the law
and who stands by the covenant follow after me!”
Thereupon he fled to the mountains with his sons,
leaving behind in the city all their possessions.
Many who sought to live according to righteousness and religious custom
went out into the desert to settle there.

Responsorial Psalm PS 50:1b-2, 5-6, 14-15

R. (23b) To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
God the LORD has spoken and summoned the earth,
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
From Zion, perfect in beauty,
God shines forth.
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
“Gather my faithful ones before me,
those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
And the heavens proclaim his justice;
for God himself is the judge.
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
“Offer to God praise as your sacrifice
and fulfill your vows to the Most High;
Then call upon me in time of distress;
I will rescue you, and you shall glorify me.”
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.

Gospel Lk 19:41-44

As Jesus drew near Jerusalem,
he saw the city and wept over it, saying,
“If this day you only knew what makes for peace–
but now it is hidden from your eyes.
For the days are coming upon you
when your enemies will raise a palisade against you;
they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides.
They will smash you to the ground and your children within you,
and they will not leave one stone upon another within you
because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

Interactive Saints for Kids

Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Feast Day: November 21

When she was only three years old, her parents, St. Joachim and St. Anne, took Mary to the Temple in Jerusalem.

There she would be educated in the service and the law of God so that she would be protected against the sins of the world.

Mary's whole life was to belong to God as He had chosen her to be the Mother of his Son, Jesus. And St. Joachim and St. Anne were pleased to offer their saintly little girl to God. They knew that God had sent her to them.

In the Temple, the high priest received the child Mary, where she was placed among the girls who were dedicated to prayer and Temple service. The high priest kissed and blessed the holy child. He realized that the Lord had great plans for her.

Mary was happy to begin serving God in the Temple. She did not weep or turn back to her parents but came so happily to the altar that everyone in the Temple loved her at once.

St. Joachim and St. Anne went back home. They praised God for their blessed daughter. And Mary remained in the Temple, where she grew in holiness.

She spent her days reading the Bible, praying and serving the Temple priests. She made beautiful linens and wonderful vestments (robes that the priests wear). All the other girls loved Mary because she was so kind.

Mary tried to do each of her duties well, to please God. She grew in grace and gave great glory to the Lord.

Note to Parents: "Parents, God does not simply want you to offer your children to Him in the temple, but requires you to take care to keep them pure and holy, as living temples which have been consecrated in Baptism."

Luke
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	Luke 19
41.	And when he drew near, seeing the city, he wept over it, saying:	Et ut appropinquavit, videns civitatem flevit super illam, dicens :	και ως ηγγισεν ιδων την πολιν εκλαυσεν επ αυτη
42.	If thou also hadst known, and that in this thy day, the things that are to thy peace; but now they are hidden from thy eyes.	Quia si cognovisses et tu, et quidem in hac die tua, quæ ad pacem tibi : nunc autem abscondita sunt ab oculis tuis.	λεγων οτι ει εγνως και συ και γε εν τη ημερα σου ταυτη τα προς ειρηνην σου νυν δε εκρυβη απο οφθαλμων σου
43.	For the days shall come upon thee, and thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and straiten thee on every side,	Quia venient dies in te : et circumdabunt te inimici tui vallo, et circumdabunt te : et coangustabunt te undique :	οτι ηξουσιν ημεραι επι σε και περιβαλουσιν οι εχθροι σου χαρακα σοι και περικυκλωσουσιν σε και συνεξουσιν σε παντοθεν
44.	And beat thee flat to the ground, and thy children who are in thee: and they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone: because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation.	et ad terram prosternent te, et filios tuos, qui in te sunt, et non relinquent in te lapidem super lapidem : eo quod non cognoveris tempus visitationis tuæ.	και εδαφιουσιν σε και τα τεκνα σου εν σοι και ουκ αφησουσιν εν σοι λιθον επι λιθω ανθ ων ουκ εγνως τον καιρον της επισκοπης σου

41. And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
42. Saying, If you had known, even you, at least in this your day, the things which belong to your peace! but now they are hid from your eyes.
43. For the days shall come upon you, that your enemies shall cast a trench about you, and compass you round, and keep you in on every side,
44. And shall lay you even with the ground, and your children within you; and they shall not leave in you one stone upon another; because you knew not the time of your visitation.

ORIGEN; All the blessings which Jesus pronounced in His Gospel He confirms by His own example, as having declared, Blessed are the meek; He afterwards sanctions it by saying, Learn of me, for I am meek; and because He had said, Blessed are they that weep, He Himself also wept over the city.

CYRIL; For Christ had compassion upon the Jews, who wills that all men should be saved. Which had not been plain to us, were it not revealed by a certain mark of His humanity. For tears poured forth are the tokens of sorrow.

GREG. The merciful Redeemer wept then over the fall of the false city, which that city itself knew not was about to come upon it. As it is added, saying, If you had known, even you (we may here understand) would weep. You who now rejoice, for you know not what is at hand. It follows, at least in this your day. For when she gave herself up to carnal pleasures, she had the things which in her day might be her peace. But why she had present goods for her peace, is explained by what follows, But now they are hidden from your eyes. For if the eyes of her heart had not been hidden from the future evils which were hanging over her, she would not have been joyful in the prosperity of the present.

Therefore He shortly added the punishment which was near at hand, saying, For the days shall come upon you.

CYRIL; If you had known, even you. The Jews were not worthy to receive the divinely inspired Scriptures, which relate the mystery of Christ. For as often as Moses is read, a veil overshadow s their heart that they should not see what has been accomplished in Christ, who being the truth puts to flight the shadow. And because they regarded not the truth, they rendered themselves unworthy of the salvation which flows from Christ.

EUSEBIUS; He here declares that His coming was to bring peace to the whole world. For to this He came, that He should preach both to them that were near, and those that were afar off. But as they did not wish to receive the peace that was announced to them, it was hid from them. And therefore the siege which was shortly to come upon them He most expressly foretells, adding, For the days shall come upon you, &c.

GREG. By these words the Roman leaders are pointed out. For that overthrow of Jerusalem is described, which was made by the Roman emperors Vespasian and Titus.

EUSEBIUS; But how these things were fulfilled we may gather from what is delivered to us by Josephus, who though he was a Jew, related each event as it took place, in exact accordance with Christ's prophecies.

GREG. This too which is added, namely, They shall not leave in you one stone upon another, is now witnessed in the altered situation of the same city, which is now built in that place where Christ was crucified without the gate, whereas the former Jerusalem, as it is called, was rooted up from the very foundation. And the crime for which this punishment of overthrow was inflicted is added, Because you knew not the time of your visitation.

THEOPHYL. That is, of my coming. For I came to visit and to save you, which if you had known and believed on Me, you might have been reconciled to the Romans, and exempted from all danger as did those who believed on Christ.

ORIGEN; I do not deny then that the former Jerusalem was destroyed because of the wickedness of its inhabitants, but I ask whether the weeping might not perhaps concern this your spiritual Jerusalem. For if a man has sinned after receiving the mysteries of truth, he will be wept over. Moreover, no Gentile is wept over, but he only who was of Jerusalem, and has ceased to be.

GREG. For our Redeemer does not cease to weep through His elect whenever he perceives any to have departed from a good life to follow evil ways. Who if they had known their own damnation, hanging over them, would together with the elect shed tears over themselves. But the corrupt soul here has its day, rejoicing in the passing time; to whom things present are its peace, seeing that it takes delight in that which is temporal. It shuns the foresight of the future which may disturb its present mirth; and hence it follows, But now are they hid from your eyes.

ORIGEN; But our Jerusalem is also wept over, because after sin enemies surround it, (that is, wicked spirits,) and cast a trench round it to besiege it, and leave not a stone behind; especially when a man after long continence, after years of chastity, is overcome, and enticed by the blandishments of the flesh, has lost his fortitude and his modesty, and has committed fornication, they will not leave on him one stone upon another, according to Ezekiel, His formed righteousness I will not remember.

GREG. Or else; The evil spirits lay siege to the soul, as it goes forth from the body, for being seized with the love of the flesh, they caress it with delusive pleasures. They surround it with a trench, because bringing all its wickedness which it has committed before the eyes of its mind, they close confine it to the company of its own damnation, that being caught in the very extremity of life, it may see by what enemies it is blockaded, yet be unable to find any way of escape, because it can no longer do good works, since those which it might once have done it despised. On every side also they enclose the soul when its iniquities rise up before it, not only in deed but also in word and thought, that she who before in many ways greatly enlarged herself in wickedness, should now at the end be straitened every way in judgment. Then indeed the soul by the very condition of its guilt is laid prostrate on the ground, while its flesh which it believed to be its life is bid to return to dust. Then its children fall in death, when all unlawful thoughts which only proceed from it, are in the last punishment of life scattered abroad. These may also be signified by the stones. For the corrupt mind when to a corrupt thought it adds one more corrupt, places one stone upon another. But when the soul is led to its doom, the whole structure of its thoughts is rent asunder. But the wicked soul God ceases not to visit with His teaching, sometimes with the scourge and sometimes with a miracle; that the truth which it knew not it may hear, and though still despising it, may return pricked to the heart in sorrow, or overcome with mercies may be ashamed at the evil which it has done. But because it knows not the time of its visitation, at the end of life it is given over to its enemies, that with them it may be joined together in the bond of everlasting damnation.

Catena Aurea Luke 19

Catholic Culture

Daily Readings for:November 21, 2013
(Readings on USCCB website)

Collect: As we venerate the glorious memory of the most holy Virgin Mary, grant, we pray, O Lord, through her intercession, that we, too, may merit to receive from the fullness of your grace. 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

o St. Mary's Mocha Surprise

o Vuccidrato -- Mary's Palms

ACTIVITIES

o ’Tis Said of Our Dear Lady

o Ave Maria Dear

o Beautiful, Glorious

o Celebrating the Feasts of the Blessed Virgin

o Feasts of Mary in the Family

o Feasts of Our Lady in the Home

o Mary Garden

o Salve Regina

o Stella Matutina

o Virgin Blessed, Thou Star the Fairest

PRAYERS

o November Devotion: The Holy Souls in Purgatory

o Little Litany of the Holy Souls

o Prayers for the Presentation

o Prayer for a Happy Death

o Daily Acceptance of Death

o Table Blessing for the Feasts of the Mother of God

LIBRARY

o Presentation Prefigures the Cross | Pope John Paul II

· Ordinary Time: November 21st

· Memorial of the Presentation of Mary

Old Calendar: The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Today the Church celebrates the memorial of the Presentation of Mary. The three feasts of the birthday of Our Lady, the holy Name of Mary and her Presentation in the Temple correspond in the Marian cycle with the first three feasts of the cycle of feasts of our Lord: namely, Christmas, the Holy Name of Jesus, and His Presentation in the Temple (February 2).

Presentation of Mary
"Sacred Scripture contains no text concerning the event commemorated in today's liturgy. For something of a historical background one may consult the apocryphal works, particularly the Protoevangel of St. James (ch. 4:1ff). After an angel had revealed her pregnancy, Anna is said to have vowed her future child Mary to the Lord. Soon after birth the infant was brought to the sacred precincts at which only the best of Israel's daughters were admitted. At the age of three she was transferred to the temple proper (7:2). According to legend, here she was reared like a dove and received her nourishment from the hand of an angel (8:1).

"In the East, where the feast, celebrated since the eighth century, is kept as a public holiday, it bears the name, 'The Entrance of the Mother of God into the Temple'. It was introduced at Rome by a Cypriotic legate to the papal court of Avignon in 1371. In 1472, Sixtus IV extended its observance to the whole Church. Abolished by Pius V, it was reintroduced some years later (1585)."

Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch.

Things to Do:

Meditate on the mystery of Mary's temporary dwelling in the sanctuary of the Old Covenant as a preparation for the approaching season of Advent.
Locate the order of contemplative nuns closest to you and visit their monastery (you may want to request their prayers and you might consider supporting them financially), they are the privileged souls who, by the grace of their vocation, are even here below dwellers in the house of the Lord.
Spend 30 minutes reading the Bible.
Learn more about Mary in the Byzantine Liturgy and say one of the beautiful prayers of the Eastern liturgy in honor of Mary.

The Word Among Us

Meditation: 1 Maccabees 2:15-29

The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Mattathias and his sons gathered in a group apart. (1 Maccabees 2:16)

Not many of us have ever been threatened with a “your faith or your life” scenario. But most of us do feel pressured at times to compromise our faith. Mattathias knew the pressure and stood firm against it. We can too. There is hope, there is power we can draw on, and there is the promise of a final resolution. His name is Jesus!

When you feel weak, look to Jesus. He was born in weakness, but he overcame the greatest of all enemies. He knows that we run the risk of scattering—maybe not because our lives are at risk but because temptation is so strong that we lose our clarity and courage. In this way, we are no different from the disciples who scattered after Jesus was arrested. And so he tells us the same thing he told them: “Take courage, I have conquered the world” (John 16:33).

Jesus came into the world so that we might live the truth joyfully, freely, and boldly, just as he did. That’s what drew people to him. That’s what discouraged his opponents, who eventually learned that they would never convince him to turn or compromise. This is how he wants us to live too. He has promised to help us live in his victory every day. So look to him, to his light shining before you! The more joyfully and freely you live your faith, the less pressure you will feel to compromise it.

Jesus has conquered. Look to him who is slain and who has triumphed. Though you face opposition now, though you are tempted to abandon the truths you believe in, you can still remain faithful as Mattathias and his family did. Yes, it’s hard some days. But don’t give in. Talk to the Lord. Ask for his help and encouragement. Believe that in Christ you have an advocate who sits at the right hand of the Father and intercedes for you. You have a redeemer who has sent his Spirit to empower you and to give you the wisdom and self-control, the joy and peace necessary to carry on, faithful, to the end.

“Jesus, fill my heart with your power and boldness. Give me your joy and peace. Lord, I need your wisdom and self-control so that I can stand firm today.”

Psalm 50:1-2, 5-6, 14-15; Luke 19:41-44

Vultus Christi

Enter Into the Veiled Places and Learn the Mysteries of God

Thursday, 21 November 2013 11:35

Go to Be an Offering and a Fragrant Incense
Today’s feast is Eastern in origin, Eastern in sensibility. To taste its mystery one has to hear and meditate the poetry with which the Byzantine tradition celebrates it. In one of the texts prescribed for Great Vespers, the Church sings:

When Anne, which means grace, was graced with the pure and ever-virgin Mary, she presented her into the temple of God. She called maidens to carry candles and walk before her as she said: ‘O child, go to be an offering and a fragrant incense for the One who sent you to me. Enter into the veiled places and learn the mysteries of God. Prepare yourself to be a delightful dwelling-place for Jesus who will give great mercy to the world.

The First Presentation
The presentation of Mary in the Temple prefigures the presentation of Mary in the Temple of the heavenly Jerusalem, the mystery of her Assumption. In the first presentation, the child Mary, fulfilling the psalmist’s prophecy, is “led to the king with her maiden companions” (Ps 44:15). Sacred legend recounts that the child Mary entered the courtyard of the Temple dancing for joy, continued into the Holy Place, climbed the fifteen steps of the staircase leading to the Holy of Holies and, to the amazement of Zechariah and the other priests, penetrated beyond the veil. No one dared to stop her. All were overcome with a holy fear. Even the Angels looked on with astonishment.

The Second Presentation
In the second presentation, that of her Assumption, Mary enters heaven itself escorted by angels. She penetrates beyond the veil to take her place with Christ “in the sanctuary and the true tent which is set up not by man but by the Lord” (Heb 8:2). Mary’s second presentation in the Temple fulfills what was foreshadowed in the first. Mary is the mother of “the hope set before us” (Heb 6:18). She is given us as “a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters in even within the veil, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchisedech” (Heb 6:19-20).

Joys and Sorrows
Between these two presentations Mary grew up; she was betrothed to Joseph, said her “Yes” to the Angel and was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit. She conceived her Son and carried Him for ninth months in her womb. She nursed Him at her breast, “brought Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord” (Lk 2:22), carried Him into exile in Egypt, and returned with Him to the silence of Nazareth. She suffered anguish when at the age of twelve Jesus disappeared for three days, only to be found in the Temple. He called it “His Father’s house” (Lk 2:49).

At Cana she spoke boldly to Jesus on behalf of a couple in need; then, turning to the servants, she uttered a prophetic word intended by the Holy Spirit for all of us: “Do whatever He tells you” (Jn 2:5). One day when He was teaching, she appeared outside wishing to speak to Him, only to hear that her own motherhood had become the model of another, a mystical motherhood extended to the disciples of her Son, those who do the will of His heavenly Father (cf. Mt 12:50).

On Calvary the prophecy of Simeon in the Temple was fulfilled: the long-awaited sword of sorrow pierced her soul (cf. Lk 2:35). “Standing at the cross of Jesus” (Jn 19:25) her unique motherhood was painfully and wondrously enlarged to embrace a multitude of sons and daughters. Saturday’s immense and terrible silence followed and since that time Saturday has been her day. He rose as He said He would — sicut dixit — filling her soul with indescribable jubilation. Then there was the “unutterable and exalted joy” (1 P 1:8) of the Ascension. In the upper room she poured herself out in prayer with the others (cf. Ac 1:14). And finally, without a doubt Mary was among those whom Saint Luke, in the last line of his gospel, describes as “continually in the Temple blessing God” (Lk 24:53).

Enter Into the Veiled Places
In some way, today’s feast provides us with a paradigm for our own lives. We all live between two presentations: the consecration of baptism and the hour of our death. Today the Byzantine liturgy puts strange and wonderful words in the mouth of Saint Anne. She is speaking to the Child Mary. In some way, Saint Anne’s words are addressed to each of us: “Go to be an offering and a fragrant incense. . . . Enter into the veiled places and learn the mysteries of God. Prepare yourself to be a delightful dwelling-place for Jesus who will give great mercy to the world.”

Vultus Christi

Into the House of the Lord

Thursday, 21 November 2013 11:40

Our Lady in the Temple

The solemn dedication of the Church of the Mother of God near the Temple in Jerusalem took place on November 21, 543; this felicitous association of the Mother of God with the Temple supports the ancient tradition of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s presentation in the Temple as a child. Saint John Damascene — interpreting the Holy Name of Mary as “Lady” — tells us that the “Lady of every creature and the Mother of the Creator . . . first saw the light in Joachim’s house, hard by the Pool of Bethesda, at Jerusalem, and was carried to the Temple.”

Secundum Verbum Tuum
In the hidden recesses of the old Temple, the Holy Spirit prepares the new Temple, the all-holy Virgin, to become the Mother of God . She who is destined to be the living Temple of the Word dwells in the Temple of the Old Dispensation. She hears the chanting of the psalms, the prophets, and the Law. Was it there that she learned Psalm 118, the long litany of loving surrender to the Word? And was it from Psalm 118, held in her heart from so tender an age, that she drew her response to the message of the Angel, “Be it done unto me according to Thy Word” (Lk 1:38)?

There planted in the Lord, the dew of His Spirit made her flourish in the courts of her God, and like a green olive she became a tree, so that all the doves of grace came and lodged in her branches. (Saint John Damscene, Upon the Orthodox Faith, Book IV, ch. 15)

Virgin Mother of the Lamb
There she smells the fragrance of incense and burnt offerings. There she observes the faithful of Israel streaming towards Zion, filling the Temple, seeking the Face of the Lord. Priest, altar, and oblation are not unfamiliar to the Virgin who, gazing upon her Son, will recognize in Him the Eternal priest, the Altar of the New Covenant, the pure Victim, the holy Victim, the spotless Victim offered in unending sacrifice.

To Belong to God
In the seventeenth century — the age of France’s “mystical invasion” — the mystery of the Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple captivated the hearts of Monsieur Olier and of others on fire with zeal for the holiness of the priesthood, for the beauty of the consecrated life, and for the worthy praise of God. The so-called French School of spirituality, marked above all by the imperative of adoration and the virtue of religion, gravitated to the feast of November 21st as to the pure expression of the desire to be offered to God, to belong to God, and to abide in God’s house.

Virgo Sacerdos
When, in 1641, Jean-Jacques Olier (1608 – 1657) established the seminary of Saint-Sulpice, he placed it under the patronage of the Virgin Mary in the mystery of her Presentation in the Temple. The Child Mary, hidden in the Temple, learns the meaning of sacrifice and oblation; she is the sacerdotal Virgin, prepared by the Holy Spirit to stand at the altar of the Cross united to her Son, High Priest and immolated Lamb. Under the influence of the French Sulpicians, many religious congregations, established after the horrors of the French revolution, chose the feast of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary as their foundation day, the day of religious profession, and of the renewal of vows.

In Domum Regis
Today’s proper liturgical texts lead us after the Holy Child Mary into the mystery of the Temple. “The daughter of the King is clothed with splendour; she is led to the king with her maiden companions” (Ps 44:14-15). Holy Mary fills her eyes with the splendours of the Temple and there discovers the beauty of belonging to God alone in the splendour of holiness. Even today, she draws others after her. “Listen, O daughter, give ear to my words. . . . So will the King desire your beauty” (Ps 44:11-12).

Lovely and Pure in the Sight of God
In all her beauty and innocence the Child Mary stands before us to tell us that we, like her, are called to be lovely and pure in the sight of God. We are the object of His desire. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ: As he chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in his sight in charity” (Eph 1:3-4). The Father would have us abide in the Temple of the Mystical Body of His Son, listening to His Word, and singing His praises in the sweetness of the Holy Spirit.

Regnum Christi

Build Your Life on the Rock That Is Christ

| SPIRITUAL LIFE | SPIRITUALITY

Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Luke 19:41-44

As Jesus drew near Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, "If this day you only knew what makes for peace-- but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides. They will smash you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation."

Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus, many times I have overlooked your love in the circumstances of my life. I know you are always present, even if I don’t feel your love. This time of prayer is an opportunity to show you my love, and I truly desire to bring you consolation as you so often bring consolation to me.

Petition: Heavenly Father, help me to stand firm amidst the vicissitudes of life.

1. “As for Me and My Household, We Will Serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).

The beauty of this life is that it offers us so many options. We have all been given the grace of free will, and we can choose to do many things. We can choose where we would like to work, where we want to vacation, who our friends are, what we are going to do this very moment. But the most important choice we make in life is to decide whether to love and serve God or to deny him. God’s greatest, natural gift to us is free will, and with it we direct our own destiny. What a truly beautiful soul who chooses to spend his life serving God! Clearly opting for God and his ways gives direction to a person’s life and provides clarity in moments of darkness and trial.

2. The Time to Prepare for a Storm Is Now: The worst time to clean out the gutters is in the middle of a thunder storm. And that roof would have worked a lot better had it been fixed before a week of rain. The concept of being prepared is so hard for us human beings. Christ told his disciples, “Watch and pray, that you may not undergo the test” (Matthew 26:41). He was saying, “Be prepared. You never know when temptations or tough times are going to strike.”

3. Holding the Fort: The spiritual life is a lot like a castle. A castle has its strong points and its not-so-strong points. It has a moat, high stone walls and turrets, but it also has a gate made only of wood. Each of us has one or two things that can be likened to that wooden gate. We all have our weaknesses, but do we know what those weaknesses are? One of the keys to being able to resist sin is self-knowledge. If we know ourselves, we can avoid putting ourselves in compromising situations. We can use our strong points to fight the enemy and fortify those areas that are the weakest. In the end, the strongest weapon we have both to resist and to fight is our dependence on the Lord – our prayer and fidelity to his will!

Conversation with Christ: Jesus, I don’t want to base my life just on feelings and on what makes me happy. I want to live for you, to take a risk for you.

Resolution: I will start a constant prayer life by praying the Rosary every day this week.

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Meditation: 1 Maccabees 2:15-29

Marriage=One Man and One Woman 'Til Death Do Us Part

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