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March 15, 2014Saturday 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 waysand 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 a people peculiarly his own, as he promised you;and provided...

I found this in a PDF and am passing it on.  St. John Chrysostom on Keeping a FastWe have this fast too as an ally, and as an assistant in this good intercession. Therefore, as when the winter is over and the summer is appearing, the sailor draws his vessel to the deep; and the soldier burnishes his arms, and makes ready his steed for the battle; and the husbandman sharpens his sickle; and the traveler boldly undertakes a long journey, and the wrestler strips and bares himself for the contest. So too, when the fast makes its appearance, like...

The teaching of sacred Scripture on intercessory prayer is complex, and unless we maintain a balanced view of the fuller teaching of Scripture, distortions in our understanding of the prayer of petition (or intercession) can occur.In the Gospel for Thursday in the first week of Lent, the Lord gives a teaching on prayer that seems quite straightforward. He says: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds;and to the one who knocks, the door will be...

March 14, 2014Friday 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 evil waythat he may live?...

THE CHRISTIAN world is once again observing the Lenten season; the season of prayer and fasting that precedes the joyous festivity of Easter. It is commonly believed that the Lenten period has to do with the events of the forty days preceding the Resurrection. This is an erroneous idea. Lent is a church institution, and there is no authorization for it anywhere in the New Testament. The idea, however, has a sound spiritual basis; Moses, Elijah, and Jesus Himself set a precedent for it. Each observed a forty-day period of prayer and fasting as a preparation for spiritual work. Moses...

It is all about the What of repenting--what are we looking for and working on? Next week: The Verbs.Includes Paul's list of 95...From my notes: sinned, wrong, wickedness, bad, evil deeds, evil way, weight, wicked ways, wicked works, abominations, dead works, sexual immorality, adultery, blasphemy, works of our hands, idolatry, murder, sorcery, theft, filthiness, naughtiness, uncleanness, fornication, lewdness, vileness...

March 13, 2014Thursday 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 forefathersthat you, O LORD, always free those who are pleasing to you.Now help me, who am...

March 12, 2014Wednesday 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 of Nineveh believed God;they proclaimed a fastand all of them,...

March 11, 2014Tuesday of the First Week of Lent    Reading 1 Is 55:10-11 Thus says the LORD:Just as from the heavensthe rain and snow come downAnd do not return theretill they have watered the earth,making it fertile and fruitful,Giving seed to the one who sowsand bread to the one who eats,So shall my word bethat 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 Ps 34:4-5, 6-7, 16-17, 18-19 R. (18b) From all their distress God rescues the just.Glorify the LORD with me,let...

March 10, 2014Monday 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,or put a stumbling block in front...

Traditional Catholic theology has distinguished the “Four Last Things” : Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. We are admonished to meditate upon these things frequently. We WILL die, be judged, and spend eternity either in Hell, or in Heaven (likely after some time in purgatory).Beginning with the end, or starting with the last things, is paradoxically, a good place for Lent to commence.Regarding Death All men are appointed to die once, and after that face The judgment (Hebrews 9:27) The video posted below is of a song by Johnny Cash on the topic of judgment. Here are some of the words:...

March 9, 2014First 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 good...

“If You Are the Son of God” (Matthew 4:1-11)Apparently there is a movie out in the theaters now called “Son of God.” I haven’t seen the movie, and I don’t plan to, but it’s supposed to tell the story of Jesus. However, I understand that this movie doesn’t even include the account of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness--which is pretty ironic for a movie that calls itself “Son of God,” since a central issue in the account of the temptation is precisely Jesus’ identity as the Son of God. Well, I haven’t seen the movie, but I have read...

March 8, 2014Saturday 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 hungryand 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 alwaysand 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 for your sake,and the foundations from ages past you shall raise up;“Repairer...

Ten Tips for the Best Lent Fr. Ed Broom God gives in abundance, always, in all times and in all places! His goodness manifests itself most abundantly in His Mystical Body, the Church and concretely in the Church Liturgical Year.The two strong times of the year are Advent, which culminates in Christmas, and Lent which culminates in Holy Week and in the Risen Lord Jesus. To experience the fullness of the Paschal Mystery—the passion, death, and Resurrection of Jesus—we must live with generous heart and openness of spirit the season of Lent. Lent is both a gift and a Season...

March 7, 2014Friday 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 justand 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 take no note of it?” Lo, on your fast day...

March 6, 2014Thursday after Ash Wednesday    Reading 1 Dt 30:15-20 Moses said to the people:“Today I have set before youlife 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 other gods,I tell you now that you will certainly perish;you will...

“Our Father Who Art in Heaven” (Matthew 6:1-21; The Lord’s Prayer)You know, during Lent there is a strong tradition to do a series on some part of the Catechism. And that’s what we’re going to do for this Lenten season. Today we begin a nine-part sermon series on the Lord’s Prayer. I’m calling it “Lord, Teach Us to Pray,” which is what the disciples asked Jesus to teach them. And Jesus responded by giving them the Lord’s Prayer, as well as other teaching about prayer. Apparently, Jesus wants his Christians to pray. He thinks it’s important. He gives us instruction...

Ash Wednesday and the Lenten Fastwith suggestions for family observance of the season(From Family Sourcebook for Lent and Easter)"The main current of Lent must flow through the interior man, through hearts and consciences. The essential effort of repentance consists in this. In this effort the human determination to be converted to God is invested with the predisposing grace of conversion and, at the same time, of forgiveness and of spiritual liberation".This reflection by Pope John Paul II in Lent of 1979, recorded in a collection of his meditations, The Light of Christ, indicates the attitude with which we should...

March 5, 2014Ash Wednesday   If the blessing and distribution of ashes take place outside Mass, it is appropriate that the Liturgy of the Word precede it, using texts assigned to the Mass of 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 relentand leave behind him a blessing,Offerings and libationsfor the LORD, your God. Blow the trumpet in Zion!proclaim...