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Posts Posted on March 7, 2020March 7, 2020 Every Round Goes Higher – A Homily for the Second Sunday of Lent The second Sunday of Lent always features the Transfiguration. This is because we are following the Lord on His final odyssey to Jerusalem, and this journey up Mt. Tabor was one of His stops (with Peter, James, and John).It is commonly held that Jesus did this to prepare His apostles for the difficult days ahead. There’s a line from an old spiritual that says, “Sometimes I’m up, sometimes I’m down, sometimes I’m almost on the ground … but...

March 08 2020 Second Sunday of Lent Reading 1 Gn 12:1-4a The LORD said to Abram: “Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you.“I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you.”Abram went as the LORD directed him. Responsorial Psalm Ps 33:4-5, 18-19, 20, 22....

March 07 2020 Saturday of the First Week of Lent Reading 1 Dt 26:16-19 Moses spoke to the people, saying: “This day the LORD, your God, commands you to observe these statutes and decrees. Be careful, then, to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. Today you are making this agreement with the LORD: he is to be your God and you are to walk in his ways and observe his statutes, commandments and decrees, and to hearken to his voice. And today the LORD is making this agreement with you: you are to be...

March 06 2020 Friday of the First Week of Lent Reading 1 Ez 18:21-28 Thus says the Lord GOD: If the wicked man turns away from all the sins he committed, if he keeps all my statutes and does what is right and just, he shall surely live, he shall not die. None of the crimes he committed shall be remembered against him; he shall live because of the virtue he has practiced. Do I indeed derive any pleasure from the death of the wicked? says the Lord GOD. Do I not rather rejoice when he turns from his...

March 05 2020 Thursday of the First Week in Lent Reading 1 Est C:12, 14-16, 23-25 Queen Esther, seized with mortal anguish, had recourse to the LORD. She lay prostrate upon the ground, together with her handmaids, from morning until evening, and said: “God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, blessed are you. Help me, who am alone and have no help but you, for I am taking my life in my hand. As a child I used to hear from the books of my forefathers that you, O LORD, always free those who are pleasing...

March 04 2020 Wednesday of the First Week in Lent Reading 1 Jon 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...

[Barf Alert] James Martin Calls Catholics to Focus on LGBT Community During Lent Faithful Catholic theologians correct pro-gay Jesuit's ambiguous rhetoric DETROIT (ChurchMilitant.com) - Fr. James Martin has put his own spin on how to approach this Lenten season, focusing on treating with dignity those who have same-sex attraction and gender confusion. In an interview with the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the pro-LGBT lobbying organization in Washington, D.C., Martin made his Lenten focus the LGBT community. "One of the invitations for Catholics (during Lent) is to unite yourself with people who are suffering, including LGBT people," Martin said. Fr. Gerald Murphy In...

March 03 2020 Tuesday of the First Week of Lent Reading 1 Is 55:10-11 Thus says the LORD: Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down And do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, Giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats, So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; It shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it. Responsorial Psalm 34:4-5, 6-7, 16-17, 18-19 R. (18b) From...

The Canon of Repentance of Saint Andrew of Crete. Read in American English on the first Lent Monday. This canon is to be recited during the first 4 nights of the Great Lent. The Great Canon of St Andrew, Bishop of Crete, is the longest canon in all of our services, and is associated with Great Lent, since the only times it is appointed to be read in church are the first four nights of Great Lent (Clean Monday through Clean Thursday, at Great Compline, when it is serialized) and at Matins for Thursday of the fifth week of Great...

March 02 2020 Monday of the First Week of Lent Reading 1 Lv 19:1-2, 11-18 The LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the whole assembly of the children of Israel and tell them: Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy.“You shall not steal. You shall not lie or speak falsely to one another. You shall not swear falsely by my name, thus profaning the name of your God. I am the LORD.“You shall not defraud or rob your neighbor. You shall not withhold overnight the wages of your day laborer. You shall not curse the deaf,...

Posted on February 29, 2020February 29, 2020 by Msgr. Charles Pope Flee to the Truth When Tempted – A Homily for the First Sunday of Lent The Gospel today says that Jesus was tempted by the devil in the desert. Hebrews 4:15 also affirms, For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.How exactly a divine person, with a sinless human nature, experiences temptation is somewhat mysterious, and yet the text affirms that He does. A Lenten antiphon from...

“Two Men You’re Related to” (Romans 5:12-19) You know those ancestry tests you can take? You know, the ones where you spit into a little tube, and you send it off, and then they let you know what your ancestry is. And they’ll even give you lists of names of people you’re related to, including people maybe you didn’t know you were related to. Well, today I’m going to tell you about two people you definitely are related to, and--guess what--you don’t even have to spit into a tube. And so our theme this morning: “Two Men You’re Related to.”...

March 01 2020 First Sunday of Lent Reading 1 Gn 2:7-9; 3:1-7 The LORD God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being.Then the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and placed there the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the LORD God made various trees grow that were delightful to look at and good for food, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of...

To those who see no link between Lent and our failing economy, it might be the case to look again. Economics is about people. It cannot be reduced to numbers, formulae and analyses. “The subject matter of economics,” observes economic historian Odd Langholm, “is properly the habits, customs, and ways of thinking of producers, consumers, buyers, sellers, borrowers, lenders, and all who engage in economic transactions.” That means our moral habits can have a definite effect on determining if our economy grows — or fails. In my new book, Return to Order: From a Frenzied Economy to an Organic Christian...

February 29 2020 Saturday after Ash Wednesday Reading 1 Is 58:9b-14 Thus says the LORD: If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech; If you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; Then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday; Then the LORD will guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land. He will renew your strength, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails. The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt...

February 28 2020 Friday after Ash Wednesday Reading 1 Is 58:1-9a Thus says the Lord GOD: Cry out full-throated and unsparingly, lift up your voice like a trumpet blast; Tell my people their wickedness, and the house of Jacob their sins. They seek me day after day, and desire to know my ways, Like a nation that has done what is just and not abandoned the law of their God; They ask me to declare what is due them, pleased to gain access to God. “Why do we fast, and you do not see it? afflict ourselves, and you...

Trump wishes Christians a ‘prayerful’ Ash Wednesday, praises tradition of ‘sign of cross’ on foreheads 'We join in prayer with everyone observing this holy day and wish you a prayerful Lenten journey' WASHINGTON, D.C., February 26, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – President Donald Trump issued a public statement Wednesday to Catholics and Christians, telling them that he was joining them in prayer during their observance of Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent which leads to the celebration of Christ’s resurrection at Easter. “For Catholics and many other Christians, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Lenten season that concludes with the...

Posted on February 26, 2020February 26, 2020 by Msgr. Charles Pope On The Battle Theme of Lent A brief observation of the first two days in Lent reveals militaristic, even violent imagery in the battle against sin and the unruly passions of the flesh. The Collect (opening prayer) of Ash Wednesday provides an image of troops mustering for battle:Grant, O Lord, that we may begin with holy fasting this campaign of Christian service, so that, as we take up battle against spiritual evils, we may be armed with weapons of self-restraint. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who...

February 27 2020 Thursday after Ash Wednesday Reading 1 Dt 30:15-20 Moses said to the people: “Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving him, and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees, you will live and grow numerous, and the LORD, your God, will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy. If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen, but are led astray and adore and serve...

February 26 2020 Ash Wednesday Reading 1 Jl 2:12-18 Even now, says the LORD, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the LORD, your God. For gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment. Perhaps he will again relent and leave behind him a blessing, Offerings and libations for the LORD, your God.Blow the trumpet in Zion! proclaim a fast, call an assembly; Gather the people, notify the congregation; Assemble the elders, gather the children and the...