Posted on 02/17/2005 7:31:42 AM PST by Salvation
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From: Matthew 7:7-12
The Effectiveness of Prayer
The Holy Season of Lent -- Fast and Abstinence
The Holy Season of Lent -- The Stations of the Cross
FEAST OF THE DAY
The seven founders of the Order of Servites are Buonfiglio Monaldo,
Alexis Falconieri, Benedict dell'Antella, Bartholomew Amidei,
Ricovera Uguccione, Geradino Sostengni and John Buonagiunta.
These prominent Florentine cloth merchants were praying together
on the Feast of the Assumption around the year 1233 when the
Virgin Mary appeared to them and called upon them to devote
themselves to her service.
These men set out to devote themselves to God through prayer and
service and maintained a special devotion to the Blessed Mother. In
1244, this group of men organized themselves and adopted a
religious life similar to that of the recently formed Dominican order.
These men became mendicant friars dependent on charity for their
daily survival and chose to follow the rule of St. Augustine.
Eventually the group, who began to call themselves Servites or
Servants of Mary, gained approval from the bishop for their rule and
their way of life. This order had a special devotion to the Seven
Sorrows of Our Lady and helped encourage the devotion to Our
Lady of Sorrows to other people. Currently, this order has more than
a thousand members and still continues its original mission
throughout the world. This date was chosen for the feast because it
was the date when the last of the Seven Founders died.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
Idleness begets a life of discontent. It develops self-love, which is the
cause of all our miseries, and renders us unworthy to receive the
favors of divine love. -St. Ignatius Loyola
TODAY IN HISTORY
1714 Parliament of Paris accepts Pope Clemens XI's "Unigenitus" degree
1913 1st minimum wage law in US takes effect (Oregon)
1947 Dutch Roman Catholic bishops publish document against "godless
communism"
TODAY'S TIDBIT
The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary are, the prophecy of
Simeon; the flight into Egypt; losing Jesus in Jerusalem; meeting
Jesus on his way to Calvary; standing at the foot of the Cross; Jesus
being taken from the Cross; and the burial of Christ.
INTENTION FOR THE DAY
Please pray for all those moving to a new home.
| Thursday, February 17, 2005 Lenten Weekday |
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February 17, 2005    Optional Memorial of Seven Founders of the Order of Servites
Seven Founders of the Orders of Servites These seven men were the founders of the Servite Order, a community instituted for the special purpose of cultivating the spirit of penance and contemplating the passion of Christ and Mary's Seven Sorrows. Due to the spirit of humility cherished by the members of the Order, their accomplishments are not too widely known. But in the field of home missions great things are to their credit, and certainly they have benefited millions by arousing devotion to the Mother of Sorrows. The Breviary tells us that in the midst of the party strife current during the thirteenth century, God called seven men from the nobility of Florence. In the year 1233 they met and prayed together most fervently. The Blessed Mother appeared to each of them individually and urged them to begin a more perfect life. Disregarding birth and wealth, in sackcloth under shabby and well-worn clothing they withdrew to a small building in the country. It was September 8, selected so that they might begin to live a more holy life on the very day when the Mother of God began to live her holy life. Soon after, when the seven were begging alms from door to door in the streets of Florence, they suddenly heard children's voices calling to them, "Servants of holy Mary." Among these children was St. Philip Benizi, then just five months old. Hereafter they were known by this name, first heard from the lips of children. In the course of time they retired into solitude on Monte Senario and gave themselves wholly to contemplation and penance. Leo XIII canonized the Holy Founders and introduced today's feast in 1888. — The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch Things to Do: |
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February 17, 2005
 Seven Founders of the Order of Servites
(13th century)
Can you imagine seven prominent men of Boston or Denver banding together, leaving their homes and professions, and going into solitude for a life directly given to God? That is what happened in the cultured and prosperous city of Florence in the middle of the thirteenth century. The city was torn with political strife as well as the heresy of the Cathari. Morals were low and religion seemed meaningless. In 1240 seven noblemen of Florence mutually decided to withdraw from the city to a solitary place for prayer and direct service of God. Their initial difficulty was providing for their dependents, since two were still married and two were widowers. Their aim was to lead a life of penance and prayer, but they soon found themselves disturbed by constant visitors from Florence. They next withdrew to the deserted slopes of Monte Senario. In 1244, under the direction of St. Peter of Verona, O.P., this small group adopted a religious habit similar to the Dominican habit, choosing to live under the Rule of St. Augustine and adopting the name of the Servants of Mary. The new Order took a form more like that of the mendicant friars than that of the older monastic Orders. Members of the community came to the United States from Austria in 1852 and settled in New York and later in Philadelphia. The two American provinces developed from the foundation made by Father Austin Morini in 1870 in Wisconsin. Community members combined monastic life and active ministry. In the monastery, they led a life of prayer, work and silence while in the active apostolate they engaged in parochial work, teaching, preaching and other ministerial activities. Quote:
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The beauty of the Scriptures is beyond compare.
Here's wishing Lenten blessings on all FReepers.
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Esther 12:14-16,23-25; Matthew 7:7-12 No matter who or where we are, we are sometimes tempted to look across the fence at our neighbors and wish we could trade lives. It’s not just that we’d like to be a little richer — or maybe a lot. There are all kinds of ways that other folks’ lives can seem so much more carefree and easy than our own. But don’t be fooled! Troubles come in many shapes and sizes, some of them hidden deep and endured in silence. And no one, absolutely no one, is immune. So don’t waste any more time looking across the fence. When a dark day comes, listen instead to what Jesus is telling us in today’s Gospel. “Ask, and you shall receive. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened to you.” God wants us to have what we need, and He’ll give it to us if we ask with trusting hearts. And what exactly are we supposed to be trusting? That God loves us even more than we love ourselves, and that He will give us what we need if our hearts are open to receive it. Sometimes, of course, what we ask for is not what we need. In that case, our hearts have to be so trusting that they are ready and willing to be changed and redirected to see as God sees and to want what God knows is best for us. The prayer of an open, trusting heart is always answered. Sometimes it takes quite a while to start seeing what God sees and wanting what God wants. Take the time, sooner rather than later. Your heart will thank you. |
| Mt 7:7-12 | ||
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| # | Douay-Rheims | Vulgate |
| 7 | Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you. | petite et dabitur vobis quaerite et invenietis pulsate et aperietur vobis |
| 8 | For every one that asketh, receiveth: and he that seeketh, findeth: and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. | omnis enim qui petit accipit et qui quaerit invenit et pulsanti aperietur |
| 9 | Or what man is there among you, of whom if his son shall ask bread, will he reach him a stone? | aut quis est ex vobis homo quem si petierit filius suus panem numquid lapidem porriget ei |
| 10 | Or if he shall ask him a fish, will he reach him a serpent? | aut si piscem petet numquid serpentem porriget ei |
| 11 | If you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children: how much more will your Father who is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him? | si ergo vos cum sitis mali nostis bona dare filiis vestris quanto magis Pater vester qui in caelis est dabit bona petentibus se |
| 12 | All things therefore whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you also to them. For this is the law and the prophets. | omnia ergo quaecumque vultis ut faciant vobis homines et vos facite eis haec est enim lex et prophetae |
Prayers offered up for items of concern this week: the health of PA Senator Arlen Spector, the situation of Terri Schiavo, the safety of our troops in the Mideast.
Thursday February 17, 2005 First Week of Lent
Reading (Esther C:12, 14-16, 23-25) Gospel (St. Matthew 7:7-12)
Our Lord tells us in the Gospel reading this morning that if we ask it will be given, if we seek we will find, and if we knock the door will be opened. Yet, at the same time, if we look back in our lives, we can say, “But I’ve asked, I’ve knocked, I’ve begged, and I haven’t gotten what I was looking for. So it would seem that this is not fulfilled.” But then if we really stop and look at it deeply, we will see that God gave us precisely what we truly needed – not necessarily what we asked for, but what was the very best. It does not always seem that way at the time because we would not be asking for something if we did not think that was what was good for us. But God in His mercy knows what truly is good for us, and He will always provide what is the very best.
We also see, if we compare this with the first reading, the way that it needs to be done. For so many of us, the concept of prayer is to rather flippantly toss out some little request and think that is going to be it. Yet when we look at the first reading and we see Queen Esther, who is going to go in and plead on behalf of her people, she and all of her maids fasted and they prostrated before the Lord from morning until evening and they prayed. Now I am not saying for every request we have that we need to be doing that, but it helps us to be able to see that, while, yes, we are praying, perhaps we are not praying very well because if all we are doing is tossing out a little request and then leaving it be, it does not come across in such a way that this is something truly important to us. If it were really important, we would make a greater effort.
Now even with that we can say, “But look at what happened to King David when he fasted and prayed for the life of the child that had been conceived through Bathsheba. The child died, and he didn’t get what he was praying for even though he laid prostrate before the Lord.” It was because, first of all, what the Lord had already told him was going to happen through the prophet, but also because this is what was truly the best. So we see that God sometimes allows very difficult things, things that we would even look at and say, “These are bad things.” The Lord says, Which of you, if your son asked for a loaf of bread, would give him a rock? or if he asked for a fish, would give him a serpent? Yet it seems sometimes that when we ask for one thing, God gives us what seems to be the worst, what seems to be very painful, and we say, “But if I was asking for this loaf of bread, why did I get a rock? If I was asking for a fish, why did I get a snake?” Even there, as we move along in life and we can look back at what God has done, we see that in fact it was not a snake, it was not a rock; it just was not what we were asking for and therefore we interpreted it that way. But as we put everything in proper context, we will be able to see that this really was a gift that God gave to us (even though we do not see how it is at the time), that it was and is somehow the very best thing – not always a pleasant thing, not always an easy thing, but always the very best.
That is what we have to be able to learn: number one, how to pray; and number two, to be able to trust in the Lord. God is love and He is pure love, and there is nothing He can do other than love. Therefore, whatever He provides is somehow the best, even when it seems to be the most painful, the most difficult, or even the worst thing that we could think of at the time. God brings all things together for good. As long as we trust, as long as we continue to pray, we will indeed see exactly what it was and why it was that He did what He did. That is what we have to be able to do, to continue to turn to Him, to continue to pray, to continue to trust and know that the Lord always will give to us only the very best.
* This text was transcribed from the audio recording with minimal editing.
| Thursday, February 17, 2005 Meditation Matthew 7:7-12 What a dramatic overturning of people’s typical image of God! In these few words from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus describes God as a generous and loving Father who delights in giving good things to us, his children. His words show that God knows each of us intimately and that he wants to take care of us more than our earthly fathers ever could. How can we get to know this perfect of Fathers? Our best opportunity is at Mass. It’s there, when we gather as one family around his table, that we hear his voice in Scripture and meet his presence in the Eucharist. It’s there that we can have a foretaste of heaven, when we will all be gathered to him and be filled to overflowing with his divine life and love. But it’s not only at Mass that we can encounter our heavenly Father. He is always inviting us to pour out our hearts to him in prayer; to ask, seek, and knock so that we can experience his goodness in our lives. That’s right. God really does care about what we are feeling and thinking. He cares whether we are at peace or anxious. He cares whether we are divided from those closest to us or in union with them. He cares whether we have enough food to eat or clothes to wear. Brothers and sisters, God truly wants our well-being, whether we believe it or not! So take some time this day to ask, seek, and knock. Look for your loving Father in a time of prayer and reflection. Simply sit down in a quiet place, open your Bible, and focus your attention on his promises. Take every line from today’s gospel reading and ask the Holy Spirit to make it come alive in your heart. It is possible for us to learn how to seek him and to experience him sharing his heart with us. It is possible for us to find him in our day-to-day lives, and in finding him, to find all the strength, courage, and hope we will ever need. “Father, thank you for being my comforter and my guide. Thank you for taking care of me even when I didn’t think you were there. I love you for loving me with an unceasing, unfathomable love.” |
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