Thursday of the Third week of Lent

Commentary of the day
Origen (c.185-253), priest and theologian
Homilies on Joshua, 15,1-4

The Spiritual Battle

If the wars of the Old Testament were not symbols of spiritual battles, I think the historical books of the Jews would never have been transmitted to Christ's disciples, he who came to teach us peace. The Apostles would never have transmitted them as readings to be carried out in the assemblies. What use would such descriptions of wars have to those who listen to Jesus telling them: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you” (Jn 14,27), or for those whom Paul commands: “Do not look for revenge” (Rom 12,19) and “Why not rather put up with injustice? Why not rather let yourselves be cheated?” (1 Cor 6,7).

Paul knows well enough that we are not supposed to go to war anymore – not in a physical way – but that we are supposed to fight a great battle in our soul, against our spiritual enemies. As a commander in chief, he gives his orders to Christ's soldiers: “Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil” (Eph 6,11). And so that we may find in the acts of our ancestors the models of spiritual wars, he wished us to read in the assembly the story of their achievements. Since we are spiritual - we who learn that “the law is spiritual” (Rom 7,14) - we may then approach this reading by “describing spiritual realities in spiritual terms” (1 Cor 2,13). In this way we may consider, through these nations that have visibly attacked Israel, what is the power of these nations of spiritual enemies, of these “evil spirits in the heavens” (Eph 6,12), who start wars against the Church of the Lord, the new Israel.

'Ah! who can realize the sadness of Mary when she returned to Bethany after the burial of her Son?'

St. Paul of the Cross

The Angelus

The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary:
And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of
our death. Amen.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy word.

Hail Mary . . .

And the Word was made Flesh: And dwelt among us.

Hail Mary . . .

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray:

Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, through the same Christ Our Lord.

Amen.

"Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you" (Lk 1:28)

"Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb"
(Lk 1:42).

I’m very interested in St. Katherine Drexel, but I don’t see the tie-in with this thread.

Ah, I see there was an earlier thread about St. Katherine Drexel.

Luke
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	Luke 11
14.	And he was casting out a devil, and the same was dumb: and when he had cast out the devil, the dumb spoke: and the multitudes were in admiration at it:	Et erat ejiciens dæmonium, et illud erat mutum. Et cum ejecisset dæmonium, locutus est mutus, et admiratæ sunt turbæ.	και ην εκβαλλων δαιμονιον και αυτο ην κωφον εγενετο δε του δαιμονιου εξελθοντος ελαλησεν ο κωφος και εθαυμασαν οι οχλοι
15.	But some of them said: He casteth out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of devils.	Quidam autem ex eis dixerunt : In Beelzebub principe dæmoniorum ejicit dæmonia.	τινες δε εξ αυτων ειπον εν βεελζεβουλ αρχοντι των δαιμονιων εκβαλλει τα δαιμονια
16.	And others tempting, asked of him a sign from heaven.	Et alii tentantes, signum de cælo quærebant ab eo.	ετεροι δε πειραζοντες σημειον παρ αυτου εζητουν εξ ουρανου
17.	But he seeing their thoughts, said to them: Every kingdom divided against itself, shall be brought to desolation, and house upon house shall fall.	Ipse autem ut vidit cogitationes eorum, dixit eis : Omne regnum in seipsum divisum desolabitur, et domus supra domum cadet.	αυτος δε ειδως αυτων τα διανοηματα ειπεν αυτοις πασα βασιλεια εφ εαυτην διαμερισθεισα ερημουται και οικος επι οικον πιπτει
18.	And if Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because you say, that through Beelzebub I cast out devils.	Si autem et Satanas in seipsum divisus est, quomodo stabit regnum ejus ? quia dicitis in Beelzebub me ejicere dæmonia.	ει δε και ο σατανας εφ εαυτον διεμερισθη πως σταθησεται η βασιλεια αυτου οτι λεγετε εν βεελζεβουλ εκβαλλειν με τα δαιμονια
19.	Now if I cast out devils by Beelzebub; by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.	Si autem ego in Beelzebub ejicio dæmonia : filii vestri in quo ejiciunt ? ideo ipsi judices vestri erunt.	ει δε εγω εν βεελζεβουλ εκβαλλω τα δαιμονια οι υιοι υμων εν τινι εκβαλλουσιν δια τουτο κριται υμων αυτοι εσονται
20.	But if I by the finger of God cast out devils; doubtless the kingdom of God is come upon you.	Porro si in digito Dei ejicio dæmonia : profecto pervenit in vos regnum Dei.	ει δε εν δακτυλω θεου εκβαλλω τα δαιμονια αρα εφθασεν εφ υμας η βασιλεια του θεου
21.	When a strong man armed keepeth his court, those things are in peace which he possesseth.	Cum fortis armatus custodit atrium suum, in pace sunt ea quæ possidet.	οταν ο ισχυρος καθωπλισμενος φυλασση την εαυτου αυλην εν ειρηνη εστιν τα υπαρχοντα αυτου
22.	But if a stronger than he come upon him, and overcome him; he will take away all his armour wherein he trusted, and will distribute his spoils.	Si autem fortior eo superveniens vicerit eum, universa arma ejus auferet, in quibus confidebat, et spolia ejus distribuet.	επαν δε ο ισχυροτερος αυτου επελθων νικηση αυτον την πανοπλιαν αυτου αιρει εφ η επεποιθει και τα σκυλα αυτου διαδιδωσιν
23.	He that is not with me, is against me; and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth.	Qui non est mecum, contra me est : et qui non colligit mecum, dispergit.	ο μη ων μετ εμου κατ εμου εστιν και ο μη συναγων μετ εμου σκορπιζει

14. And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spoke; and the people wondered.
15. But some of them said, He casts out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devils.
16. And others, tempting him, sought of him a sign from heaven.

GLOSS. The Lord had promised that the Holy Spirit should be given to those that asked for it; the blessed effects whereof He indeed clearly shows in the following miracle. Hence it follows, And Jesus was casting out a devil, and it was dumb.

THEOPHYL. Now he is called as commonly meaning one who does not speak. It is also used for one who does not hear, but more properly who neither hears nor speaks. But he who has not heard from his birth necessarily cannot speak. For we speak those things which we are taught to speak by hearing. If however one has lost his hearing from a disease that has come upon him, there is nothing to hinder him from speaking. But He who was brought before the Lord was both dumb in speech, and deaf in hearing.

TIT. BOST. Now He calls the devil deaf or dumb, as being the cause of this calamity, that the Divine word should not be heard. For the devil, by taking away the quickness of human feeling, blunts the hearing of our soul. Christ therefore comes that He might cast out the devil, and that we might hear the word of truth. For He healed one that He might create a universal foretaste of man's salvation. Hence it follows, And when he: he had cast out the devil, tile dumb spoke.

BEDE; But that demoniac is related by Matthew to have been not only dumb, but blind. Three miracles then were performed at the same time on one man. The blind see, the dumb speaks, and he that was possessed by a devil is set free. The like is daily accomplished in the conversion of believers, so that the devil being first cast out, they see the light, and then those mouths which were before silent are loosened to speak the praises of God.

CYRIL; Now when the miracle was performed, the multitude extolled Him with loud praises, and the glory which was due to God. As it follows, And the people wondered.

BEDE; But since the multitudes who were thought ignorant always marveled at our Lord's actions, the Scribes and Pharisees took pains to deny them, or to pervert them by an artful interpretation, as though they were not the work of a Divine power, but of an unclean spirit. Hence it follows, But some of them said, He casts out devils through Beelzebub the prince of the devils. Beelzebub was the God Accaron. For Beel is indeed Baal himself. But Zebub means a fly. Now he is called Beelzebub as the man of flies, from whose most foul practices the chief of the devils was so named.

CYRIL; But others by similar darts of envy sought from Him a sign from heaven. As it follows, And others tempting him, sought of him a sign from heaven. As if they said, "Although you have cast out a devil from the man, this is no proof however of Divine power. For we have not yet seen any thing like to the miracles of former times. Moses led the people through the midst of the sea, and Joshua his successor stayed the sun in Gibeon. But you have shown us none of these things." For to seek signs from heaven showed that the speaker was at that time influenced by some feeling of this kind towards Christ.

17. But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falls.
18. If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because you say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub.
19. And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out, therefore shall they be your judges.
20. But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.

CHRYS. The suspicion of the Pharisees being utterly without reason, they dared not divulge it for fear of the multitude, but pondered it in their minds. Hence it is said, But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself will be brought to desolation.

BEDE; He answered not their words but their thoughts, that so at least they might be compelled to believe in His power, who saw into the secrets of the heart.

CHRYS. He did not answer them from the Scriptures, since they gave no heed to them, explaining them away falsely; but he answers them from things of every day occurrence. For a house and a city if it be divided is quickly scattered to nothing; and likewise a kingdom, than which nothing is stronger. For the harmony of the inhabitants maintains houses and kingdoms. If then, says He, I cast out devils by means of a devil, there is dissension among them, and their power perishes.

Hence He adds, But if Satan be divided against himself, how shall he stand? For Satan resists not himself, nor hurts his soldiers, but rather strengthens his kingdom. It is then by Divine power alone that I crush Satan under my feet.

AMBROSE; Herein also He shows His own kingdom to be undivided and everlasting. Those then who possess no hope in Christ, but think that He casts out devils through the chief of the devils, their kingdom, He says, is not everlasting. This also has reference to the Jewish people. For how can the kingdom of the Jews be everlasting, when by the people of the law Jesus is denied, who is promised by the law? Thus in part does the faith of the Jewish people impugn itself; the glory of the wicked is divided, by division is destroyed. And therefore the kingdom of the Church shall remain for ever, because its faith is undivided in one body.

BEDE; The kingdom also of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is not divided, because it is sealed with an eternal stability. Let then the Arians cease to say that the Son is inferior to the Father, but the Holy Spirit inferior to the Son, since whose kingdom is one, their power is one also.

CHRYS. This then is the first answer; the second which relates to His disciples He gives as follows, And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? He says not, "My disciples," but your sons, wishing to soothe their wrath.

CYRIL; For the disciples of Christ were Jews, and sprung from Jews according to the flesh, and they had obtained from Christ power over unclean spirits, and delivered those who were oppressed by them in Christ's name. Seeing then that your sons subdue Satan in My name, is it not very madness to say that I have My power from Beelzebub? you are then condemned by the faith of your children. Hence He adds, Therefore shall they be your judges.

CHRYS. For since they who come forth from you are obedient to Me, it is plain that they will condemn those who do the contrary.

BEDE; Or else, By the sons of the Jews He means the exorcists of that nation, who cast out devils by the invocation of God. As if He says, If the casting out of devils by your sons is ascribed to God, not to devils, why in My case has not the same work the same cause? Therefore shall they be your judges, not in authority to exercise judgment, but in act, since they assign to God the casting out of devils, you to Beelzebub, the chief of the devils.

CYRIL; Since then what you say bears upon it the mark of calumny, it is plain that by the Spirit of God I cast out devils. Hence He adds, But if I by the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.

AUG. That Luke speaks of the finger of God, where Matthew has said, the Spirit, does not take away from their agreement in sense, but it rather teaches us a lesson, that we may know what meaning to give to the finger of God, whenever we read it in the Scriptures.

AUG. Now the Holy Spirit is called the finger of God, because of the distribution of gifts which are given through Him, to every one his own gift, whether he be of men or angels. For in none of our members is division more apparent than in our fingers.

CYRIL; Or the Holy Spirit is called the finger of God for this reason. The Son was said to be the hand and arm of the Father, for the Father works all things by Him. As then the finger is not separate from the hard, but by nature a part of it; so the Holy Spirit is consubstantially united to the Son, and through Him the Son does all things.

AMBROSE; Nor would you think in the compacting together of our limbs any division of power to be made, for there can be no division in an undivided thing. And therefore the appellation of finger must be referred to the form of unity, not to the distinction of power.

ATHAN. But at this time our Lord does not hesitate because of His humanity to speak of Himself as inferior to the Holy Spirit, saying, that He cast out devils by Him, as though the human nature was not sufficient for the casting out of devils without the power of the Holy Spirit.

CYRIL; And therefore it is justly said, The kingdom of God is come upon you, that is, "If I as a man cast out devils by the Spirit of God, human nature is enriched through Me, and the kingdom of God is come."

CHRYS. But it is said, upon you, that He might draw them to Him; as if He said, If prosperity comes to you, why do you despise your good things?

AMBROSE; At the same time He shows that it is a regal power which the Holy Spirit possesses, in whom is the kingdom of God, and that we in whom the Spirit dwells are a royal house.

TIT. BOST. Or He says, The kingdom of God is come upon you, signifying, "is come against you, not for you." For dreadful is the second coming of Christ to faithless Christians.

21. When a strong man armed keeps his palace, his goods are in peace:
22. But when a stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome him, he takes from him all his armor wherein he trusted, and divides his spoils.
23. He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathers not with me scatters.

CYRIL; As it was necessary for many reasons to refute the cavils of His opponents, our Lord now makes use of a very plain example, by which He proves to those who will consider it that He overcomes the power of the world, by a power inherent in Himself, saying, When a strong man armed keeps his palace.

CHRYS. He calls the devil a strong man, not because he is naturally so, but referring to his ancient dominion, of which our weakness was the cause.

CYRIL; For he used before the coming of the Savior to seize with great violence upon the flocks of another, that is, God, and carry them as it were to his own fold.

THEOPHYL. The Devil's arms are all kinds of sins, trusting in which he prevailed against men.

BEDE; But the world he calls his palace, which lies in wickedness, wherein up to our Savior's coming he enjoys supreme power, because he rested in the hearts of unbelievers without any opposition. But with a stronger and mightier power Christ has conquered, and by delivering all men has cast him out. Hence it is added, But if a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome, &c,

CYRIL; For as soon as the Word of the Most High God, the Giver of all strength, and the Lord of Hosts, was made man, He attacked him, and took away his arms.

BEDE; His arms then are the craft and the wiles of spiritual wickedness, but his spoils are the men themselves, who have been deceived by him.

CYRIL; For the Jews who had been a long time entrapped by him into ignorance of God and sin, have been called out by the holy Apostles to the knowledge of the truth, and presented to God the Father, through faith in the Son.

BASIL; Christ also divides the spoil, showing the faithful watch etch which angels keep over the salvation of men.

BEDE; As conqueror too Christ divides the spoils, which is a sign of triumph, for leading captivity captive He gave gifts to men, ordaining some Apostles, some Evangelists, some Prophets, and some Pastors and Teachers.

CHRYS. Next we have the fourth answer, where it is added, He who is not with me is against me; as if He says, I wish to present men to God, but Satan the contrary. How then would he who does not work with Me, but scatters what is Mine, become so united with Me, as with Me to cast out devils? It follows, And he who gathers not with me, scatters.

CYRIL; As if He said, I came to gather together the sons of God whom he has scattered. And Satan himself as he is not with Me, tries to scatter those which I have gathered and saved. How then does he whom I use all My efforts to resist, supply Me with power?

CHRYS. But if he who does not work with Me is My adversary, how much more he who opposes Me? It seems however to me that he here under a figure refers to the Jews, ranging them with the devil. For they also acted against, and scattered those whom He gathered together.

Catena Aurea Luke 11

The Fall of the Rebel Angels

Pieter Breugel the Elder

1562
Oil on oak, 117 x 162 cm
Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels

Are you a Catholic? This is a Catholic Caucus thread for active Catholics only.

Saint Katharine Drexel, Virgin

Saint Katharine Drexel, virgin
Optional Memorial
March 3rd

Saint Katharine Drexel
Photographer unknown

Collect:
God of love,
you called Saint Katharine Drexel
to teach the message of the Gospel
and to bring the life of the Eucharist
to the Native American and African American peoples;
by her prayers and example, enable us to work for justice
among the poor and the oppressed,
and keep us undivided in love
in the eucharistic community of your Church.
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. +Amen.
(Readings are from the Common of Virgins or of Holy Women.)

On October 1, 2000, Pope John Paul II canonized Katharine Drexel, an American heiress who devoted her life (and her considerable fortune) to establishing missions, schools and homes for African-American and Native American children in this country. She was beatified November 20, 1988
Katharine was born in Philadelphia November 26, l858, barely three years before the outbreak of the Civil War. So deeply divided was the country over the issue of slavery, with all its heavy moral, ethical, cultural, economic and emotional considerations (not unlike those which attend the abortion issue today), that the young nation was forced to undergo this terrible war to determine whether any nation "conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal" could "long endure", as President Lincoln so concisely expressed it at Gettysburg.
Katharine Drexel grew to maturity in the shadow of the agony of that great war and its aftermath of bitterness and confusion. Although the war to abolish slavery was won and the union of the States preserved, deep and lasting damage had been done. Not only were many thousands of lives destroyed, not only was a culture virtually demolished, but even those who had been "liberated" -- the emancipated slaves -- were subject to continued humiliation and brutal poverty.
Katharine's wealthy and socially prominent family were deeply religious Catholics who conducted a Sunday school for black children in their home. Her parents' example of devotion to their faith and to the needs of others had an indelible formative effect on Katharine. At the age of thirty-three, she founded a separate order of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament which was entirely devoted to the active care of African-Americans and Native Americans. She spent the rest of her long life tirelessly and courageously evangelizing and educating these "poorest of the poor". She died Marcn 3, 1955.
Like Saint Philippine Duchesne, who preceded her in work with the Indians of America (and who was canonized in 1988), and like Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Saint Katharine's example shows us that the path to holiness can be found in our willing response to Christ's voice heard in the cries of the most lowly and needy of His people.
Through the strength of their faith and their valiant perseverence in spite of conflict and hardships; through their vigorous and unselfish consecration of all their womanly energies and talents and gifts to serving others; through their whole-hearted obedience to God's will for them, all these women have carried the Light of Christ into the darkest corners of the Earth. They have given strength to the weak with the love and the prayers of their "maternal hearts"; they have sheltered and comforted the forsaken in the warm embrace of their "maternal arms."
Excerpt from Valiant Women, Vigorous Faith, by Helen Hull Hitchcock

KATHARINE DREXEL (1858-1955)
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States of America, on November 26, 1858, Katharine Drexel was the second daughter of Francis Anthony Drexel and Hannah Langstroth. Her father was a well known banker and philanthropist. Both parents instilled in their daughters the idea that their wealth was simply loaned to them and was to be shared with others.
When the family took a trip to the Western part of the United States, Katharine, as a young woman, saw the plight and destitution of the native Indian-Americans. This experience aroused her desire to do something specific to help alleviate their condition. This was the beginning of her lifelong personal and financial support of numerous missions and missionaries in the United States. The first school she established was St. Catherine Indian School in Santa Fe, New Mexico (1887).
Later, when visiting Pope Leo XIII in Rome, and asking him for missionaries to staff some of the Indian missions that she as a lay person was financing, she was surprised to hear the Pope suggest that she become a missionary herself. After consultation with her spiritual director, Bishop James O'Connor, she made the decision to give herself totally to God, along with her inheritance, through service to American Indians and African-Americans.
Her wealth was now transformed into a poverty of spirit that became a daily constant in a life supported only by the bare necessities. On February 12, 1891, she professed her first vows as a religious, founding the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament whose dedication would be to share the message of the Gospel and the life of the Eucharist among American Indians and African-Americans.
Always a woman of intense prayer, Katharine found in the Eucharist the source of her love for the poor and oppressed and of her concern to reach out to combat the effects of racism. Knowing that many African-Americans were far from free, still living in substandard conditions as sharecroppers or underpaid menials, denied education and constitutional rights enjoyed by others, she felt a compassionate urgency to help change racial attitudes in the United States.
The plantation at that time was an entrenched social institutionin which the coloured people continued to be victims of oppression. This was a deep affront to Katharine's sense of justice. The need for quality education loomed before her, and she discussed this need with some who shared her concern about the inequality of education for African-Americans in the cities. Restrictions of the law also prevented them in the rural South from obtaining a basic education.
Founding and staffing schools for both Native Americans and African-Americans throughout the country became a priority for Katharine and her congregation. During her lifetime, she opened, staffed and directly supported nearly 60 schools and missions, especially in the West and Southwest United States. Her crowning educational focus was the establishment in 1925 of Xavier University of Louisiana, the only predominantly African-American Catholic institution of higher learning in the United States. Religious education, social service, visiting in homes, in hospitals and in prisons were also included in the ministries of Katharine and the Sisters.
In her quiet way, Katharine combined prayerful and total dependence on Divine Providence with determined activism. Her joyous incisiveness, attuned to the Holy Spirit, penetrated obstacles and facilitated her advances for social justice. Through the prophetic witness of Katharine Drexel's initiative, the Church in the United States was enabled to become aware of the grave domestic need for an apostolate among Native Americans and African-Americans. She did not hesitate to speak out against injustice, taking a public stance when racial discrimination was in evidence.
For the last 18 years of her life she was rendered almost completely immobile because of a serious illness. During these years she gave herself to a life of adoration and contemplation as she had desired from early childhood. She died on March 3, 1955.
Katharine left a four-fold dynamic legacy to her Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, who continue her apostolate today, and indeed to all peoples:
– her love for the Eucharist, her spirit of prayer, and her Eucharistic perspective on the unity of all peoples;
– her undaunted spirit of courageous initiative in addressing social iniquities among minorities — one hundred years before such concern aroused public interest in the United States;
– her belief in the importance of quality education for all, and her efforts to achieve it;
– her total giving of self, of her inheritance and all material goods in selfless service of the victims of injustice.
Katharine Drexel was beatified by Pope John Paul II on November 20, 1980.

Calling. The Story of Saint Katharine Drexel
Drexel - St. Katharine's 2 living miracles pay tribute
Blessed to have met St. Katharine Drexel
Saint Katharine Drexel-A Woman Of The 19th And 20th Century

Information: St. Katharine Drexel

Feast Day: March 3

Born: November 26, 1858, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Died: March 3, 1955, Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania

Canonized: 2000 by Pope John Paul II

Major Shrine: Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania

Patron of: philanthropists, racial justice

Holy Spirit Interactive Kids: A Saint a Day

St. Katharine Drexel

Feast Day: March 03
Born: 1858 : : Died: 1955

Katharine was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, to Francis Anthony and Hanna Langstroth Drexel. Katharine's mother Hanna died when she was just a month old. Two years later, her father who was a rich industrialist and patron of railroads married a wonderful woman named Emma.

Emma was a loving mother to Elizabeth and Katharine. She then had another daughter Louise and the girls had a happy childhood together. Although their family was wealthy, they were taught to love their neighbors and be especially concerned about the poor.

Their wealth was used for the benefit of others to show their love for God. Her parents even opened their home to the poor several days a week. Elizabeth and Katharine taught at the Sunday School that Emma began for the children of employees and their neighbors.

Later Elizabeth started a Pennsylvania trade school for orphans and her younger sister Louise started a liberal arts and vocational school for poor blacks in Virginia.

Katharine nursed her mother who suffered from cancer for three years before she died in 1883. After her mother’s death, Katharine set out and looked for ways to make herself useful. She was a very active Catholic and generous with her time and her money. She realized that the Church had many needs.

She turned her energies and her fortune to the poor and the forgotten. Her work for Jesus was among the African American and Native American people. She visited the Dakotas, met the Sioux chief and began her systematic aid to the Indian (Red Indian) missions, spending millions of the family fortunes. She began to build schools, supply food and clothing, furnishings and salaries for teachers. She was also able to find priests to serve the spiritual needs of the people

In 1891, Katharine became a nun and took the name of Sister Mary Katharine, she then began a new religious community of missionaries in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They were called the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored (now known simply as the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament).

She was later known as Mother Katharine. The sisters of her order center their life around Jesus in the Eucharist. She and her sisters started schools, convents and missionary churches. In 1925, they established Xavier University in New Orleans. During her long, fruitful lifetime, Mother Katharine she and her sisters accomplished many wonderful works for the poor.

She believed that she found Jesus truly present in the Eucharist. So, too, she found him in the African and Native Americans whom she lovingly served. Mother Katharine died on March 3, 1955, at the age of ninety-seven.

No, not a Catholic. I still have a personal interest in St. Katharine, however, but I’ll keep it to myself.

Thursday

March 3, 2016

The Creed

During the Year of Faith in 2013, Sr. Katherine Freely, SND of Just Faith Ministries Staff, wrote compelling about the Creed. She says:

“Faith is a journey and each step calls us to remember God’s gift and the action of grace, which alone guides and transforms the person deep within. While shoes were made for walking, the Apostles’ Creed is made for living. This is the Creed that forms the basis for our Catechism and the starting point of what we believe. Embracing and living the creed is an act by which we choose to entrust ourselves fully to God, in complete freedom. An act of faith, a statement of truth, a mystery that forms us, the creed guides our path as we journey through life.”

Visit Just Faith Ministries for the whole reflection.

Year of Mercy Calendar for Today: “What do we believe? Memorize the Creed that we say during Mass.”

CATHOLIC ALMANAC

Thursday, March 3

Liturgical Color: Violet

Today is the optional memorial
of St. Katherine Drexel, virgin. In
1891, she founded an order
ministering to poor Native
and African Americans. She funded
her work with her inheritance; as
a child her parents taught her
that wealth was to be shared.

Catholic Culture

Lent: March 3rd

Optional Memorial of St. Katharine Drexel, virgin (USA)

MASS READINGS

March 03, 2016 (Readings on USCCB website)

COLLECT PRAYER

God of love, you called Saint Katharine Drexel to teach the message of the Gospel and to bring the life of the Eucharist to the Native American and African American peoples; by her prayers and example, enable us to work for justice among the poor and the oppressed, and keep us undivided in love in the Eucharistic community of your Church. 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.

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St. Katharine Drexel Evangelized Native and African Americans | Unknown

Old Calendar: St. Cunegundes, virgin & empress (Hist)

Today the dioceses of the United States celebrate the optional memorial of St. Katharine Drexel. Born into a wealthy Philadelphia family, Katharine took an avid interest in the material and spiritual well-being of African and Native Americans. She founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People, and opened mission schools in the West for Native Americans and in the South for African Americans. In 1915 she founded Xavier University in New Orleans. At her death, there were more than 500 sisters teaching in 63 schools.

Historically today is the feast of St. Cunegundes who was Empress of the Holy Roman Empire. She and her husband, St. Henry II guarded perpetual virginity in their marriage. Together the couple carried out many pious works and practiced prayer and mortification. After his death in 1024, she went to the Convent of Kaufungen (Hesse), which she had founded. She died there in 1040 and was canonized by Pope Innocent III in 1200.

Stational Church

St. Katharine Drexel
Katharine Drexel was born in Philadelphia in 1858. She had an excellent education and traveled widely. As a rich girl, she had a grand debut into society. But when she nursed her stepmother through a three-year terminal illness, she saw that all the Drexel money could not buy safety from pain or death, and her life took a profound turn.

She had always been interested in the plight of the Indians, having been appalled by reading Helen Hunt Jackson's A Century of Dishonor. While on a European tour, she met Pope Leo XIII and asked him to send more missionaries to Wyoming for her friend Bishop James O'Connor. The pope replied, "Why don't you become a missionary?" His answer shocked her into considering new possibilities.

Back home, she visited the Dakotas, met the Sioux leader Red Cloud and began her systematic aid to Native American missions.

She could easily have married. But after much discussion with Bishop O'Connor, she wrote in 1889, "The feast of Saint Joseph brought me the grace to give the remainder of my life to the Indians and the Colored." Newspaper headlines screamed "Gives Up Seven Million!"

After three and a half years of training, she and her first band of nuns (Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored) opened a boarding school in Santa Fe. A string of foundations followed. By 1942 she had a system of African American Catholic schools in thirteen states, plus forty mission centers and twenty-three rural schools. Segregationists harassed her work, even burning a school in Pennsylvania. In all, she established fifty missions for Native Americans in sixteen states.

Two saints met when she was advised by Mother Cabrini about the "politics" of getting her order's rule approved in Rome. Her crowning achievement was the founding of Xavier University in New Orleans, the first university in the United States for African Americans.

At seventy-seven, she suffered a heart attack and was forced to retire. Apparently her life was over. But now came almost twenty years of quiet, intense prayer from a small room overlooking the sanctuary. Small notebooks and slips of paper record her various prayers, ceaseless aspirations and meditation. She died at ninety-six and was canonized in 2000.

Excerpted from Saint of the Day, Leonard Foley, O.F.M.

Things to Do:

St. Katharine had a great love for the Eucharist, the center and source of her activity. Make a family visit to the Blessed Sacrament today.
St. Katharine became a spiritual mother of African Americans and Native Americans, fighting for equal rights for these neglected ethnic groups. She was particularly concerned with achieving a quality education for these people. Find out about nearby educational programs for underprivileged inner city children (an excellent parent organization concerned with this is Youth Service International) and look for ways to support them. If you cannot give any of your time, consider making a small donation.
St. Katharine grew up in a wealthy home but her parents instilled in her the understanding that her wealth belonged to her only on loan so that she could share it with others. She gave generously and with full trust in God. Do you tithe on a regular basis? Do you encourage your children to be generous with their allowance money?
Visit this website about Katharine Drexel that features many photos, a history and information about her shrine.

St. Cunegundes
Saint Cunegundes was the daughter of Siegfried, the first Count of Luxemburg, and Hadeswige, his pious wife. They instilled into her from her cradle the most tender sentiments of piety, and married her to St. Henry, Duke of Bavaria, who, upon the death of the Emperor Otho III., was chosen king of the Romans, and crowned on the 6th of June, 1002. She was crowned at Paderborn on St. Laurence's day. In the year 1014 she went with her husband to Rome, and received the imperial crown with him from the hands of Pope Benedict VIII. She had, by St. Henry's consent, before her marriage made a vow of virginity. Calumniators afterwards made vile accusations against her, and the holy empress, to remove the scandal of such a slander, trusting in God to prove her innocence, walked over red-hot ploughshares without being hurt. The emperor condemned his too scrupulous fears and credulity, and from that time they lived in the strictest union of hearts, conspiring to promote in everything God's honor and the advancement of piety.

Going once to make a retreat in Hesse, she fell dangerously ill, and made a vow to found a monastery, if she recovered, at Kaffungen, near Cassel, in the diocese of Paderborn, which she executed in a stately manner, and gave it to nuns of the Order of St. Benedict. Before it was finished St. Henry died, in 1024. She earnestly recommended his soul to the prayers of others, especially to her blear nuns, and expressed her longing desire of joining them. She had already exhausted her treasures in founding bishoprics and monasteries, and in relieving the poor, and she had therefore little left now to give. But still thirsting to embrace perfect evangelical poverty, and to renounce all to serve God without obstacle, she assembled a great number of prelates to the dedication of her church of Kaffungen on the anniversary day of her husband's death, 1025; and after the gospel was sung at Mass she offered on the altar a piece of the true cross, and then, putting off her imperial robes, clothed herself with a poor habit; her hair was cut off, and the bishop put on her a veil, and a ring as a pledge of her fidelity to her heavenly Spouse.

After she was consecrated to God in religion, she seemed entirely to forget that she had been empress, and behaved as the last in the house, being persuaded that she was 30 before God. She prayed and read much, worked with her hands, and took a singular pleasure in visiting and comforting the sick.

Thus she passed the last fifteen years of her life. Her mortifications at length reduced her to a very weak condition, and brought on her last sickness. Perceiving that they were preparing a cloth fringed with gold to cover her corpse after her death, she changed color and ordered it to be taken away; nor could she be at rest till she was promised she should be buried as a poor religious in her habit. She died on the 3d of March, 1040. Her body was carried to Bamberg and buried near that of her husband. She was solemnly canonized by Innocent III. in 1200.

Excerpted from Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]

The Station is at the church of Sts. Cosmas and Damian, physicians. These martyrs were twin brothers originating from Arabia. They practiced medicine in Aegea, Cilicia, but accepted no money from the poor. Their beautiful Christian lives edified the pagans and converted many to the Faith. They were arrested in the persecution of Diocletian, subjected to torture, and finally beheaded.

The Word Among Us

Meditation: Jeremiah 7:23-28

Saint Katharine Drexel, Virgin (Optional Memorial)

Walk in all the ways that I command you. (Jeremiah 7:23)

Would you ever choose to be mute or deaf? It’s a silly question, isn’t it? No one would actually choose to live with disabilities like these. Yet in today’s readings, we read about people who have chosen to be deaf to God’s voice and to remain silent instead of sharing his truth.

In the first reading, Jeremiah complains that people are intentionally being deaf to the Lord and the prophets. “They obeyed not, nor did they pay heed” (Jeremiah 7:24). In the Gospel, Jesus heals someone who is mute. So far so good. But instead of rejoicing, the people who witness this healing refuse to admit that something special has happened. They remain mute about it and instead use their mouths to accuse Jesus of being in league with the devil.

We may find ourselves in these readings—but not necessarily because we have chosen to ignore the Lord. We may lack confidence or face barriers that keep us from hearing his voice or sharing his goodness. “Why would Jesus want to speak to me?” we think. Or “I’m too scared to talk about the Lord.”

How can we overcome these spiritual handicaps? Jeremiah offers one answer: “Walk in all the ways that I command you” (Jeremiah 7:23). And Jesus tells us, “Whoever does not gather with me scatters” (Luke 11:23). In other words, if you want to hear the Lord, try to obey his commands and make it a point to “gather” with him and his people at Mass. Let the readings sink into your heart. Carefully follow the words of the Eucharistic Prayer. When you receive Communion, ask him to open your ears and your mouth just a little bit more. And when you “go in peace,” resolve to cooperate with him as best you can.

You don’t have to “feel” anything at first—and quite possibly you may not. But if you are faithful over time, you will begin to recognize God’s voice in your day. You’ll begin to see his presence in the people around you. And seeing and hearing, you won’t be able to keep quiet. You’ll want to tell people about the revolution that Jesus has begun in you!

“Lord, I want to hear your voice and speak your praises. Help me to be faithful to you so that my ears and mouth will be opened more and more!”

Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9
Luke 11:14-23

Marriage = One Man and One Woman Until Death Do Us Part

Daily Marriage Tip for March 3, 2016:

“Love is not easy, it is not easy, but the most beautiful thing is when a man and a woman can offer each other true love and offer it for life.” – Pope Francis

Regnum Christi

Jesus or Satan

U. S. A. | SPIRITUAL LIFE | SPIRITUALITY

March 3, 2016 - Thursday of the Third Week of Lent

Luke 11:14-23

Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute, and when the demon had gone out, the mute person spoke and the crowds were amazed. Some of them said, "By the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons, he drives out demons." Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven. But he knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house. And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that it is by Beelzebub that I drive out demons. If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your own people drive them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man fully armed guards his palace, his possessions are safe. But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him, he takes away the armor on which he relied and distributes the spoils. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”

Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus, as I prepare for Easter during this Lenten season, I turn to you once again in prayer. I wish to see you with the eyes of faith. I wish to welcome the salvation you came to give me and to accept it with a humble heart. Now, during this time of prayer, I want to give everything over to you so that your love and truth may direct my life.

Petition: Lord, help me to accept with simple faith the reality of who you are.

All for God’s Glory: When Christ works this simple miracle, the crowds are amazed. They are amazed at what Christ has done, but surely they were also amazed at what the mute person said. We do not know what was said, but it is likely that they were words that glorified God in thanksgiving for his miracle. Christ bestows freedom by loosening the tongue of the mute person so that he can glorify God his creator. When Jesus frees the mute person from Satan – who does not want God to be glorified and who wants to keep mankind in the chains of sin, it is so that God will be glorified. In my life, do I seek to glorify God for the wonders of his creation and all the good things he has done for me?

Truth or Lies: Jesus’ enemies could not deny the miracle he had just worked, but instead of accepting his power to drive out evil spirits, they came up with an accusation that it was Beelzebub who caused the miracle. Their envy gets the best of their common sense. Envy always tries to find a way around the truth. It asks for a sign or proposes a false accusation. Jesus counters envy’s contorted reasoning with simple straightforward logic: “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house.” It cannot be by the Beelzebub’s power that he drives out demons because that would mean Beelzebub is driving out his own demons. Simple logic shows that this is not so. Does my own faith help me to differentiate between lies that I hear and the truth?

Jesus Challenges Satan’s Reign: The strong man that Jesus speaks of is the devil. He has kept mankind under his control since Adam and Eve’s fall. He has had nothing to worry about up to now because he has been the strong man able to defend from all comers his prize of corrupted human nature. But Jesus is stronger, and he has come to attack the devil and win back from him what he has taken. He takes away his armor of evil, hate, anger, lust and egoism. He redeems mankind from the clutches of the evil one. Can I truly say that I set my faith in God and that he truly brings about good despite the natural calamities or bad intentions and actions of others, including the devil himself?

Conversation with Christ: Lord, help me to accept your miracles in my life so that my life will give you glory in my actions, words and thoughts. Do not let me be blind to the force of your love in the world. I know you are stronger than Satan. I want to be in your camp. I want to be rescued from the clutches of sin by the omnipotence of your love.

Resolution: When I am faced with a temptation, I will call to mind that Jesus is stronger than Satan and he can give me the strength to reject the temptation.