Posted on 03/02/2006 6:21:46 AM PST by Salvation
Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Reading I
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 other gods,
I tell you now that you will certainly perish;
you will not have a long life
on the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and occupy.
I call heaven and earth today to witness against you:
I have set before you life and death,
the blessing and the curse.
Choose life, then,
that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God,
heeding his voice, and holding fast to him.
For that will mean life for you,
a long life for you to live on the land that the LORD swore
he would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6
R. (40:5a) Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Not so the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Gospel
Lk 9:22-25
Jesus said to his disciples:
“The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected
by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.”
Then he said to all,
“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world
yet lose or forfeit himself?”
Wow. What a mess.
**Did this censorship begin today?**
Yes -- check yesterday's thread -- Father Altier's homily is there for Ash Wednesday.
Could you please post the link to the Diocese of Harrisburg, PA program so we can compare? Thanks!
My mistake -- I thought you gave us the TAT website.
What a time of turbulence the last year or so has been for the Church. It seems that not a day goes by but that there is another uproar or controversy.
Prayer, Fasting, Almsgiving = the answer.
*************
Yes. Let us pray that this will result in positive changes in the Church, particulary in this country. It is my understanding that we american Catholics are viewed with some concern by Rome.
This is something worth listening to:
Reading aloud from portions of Mysteries and Stations, courtesy of Matthew Mehan; Hereditas Magazine; and the Catholic Information Center in Washington DC.
Should take ten or fifteen seconds to come up after the click.
http://users.erols.com/fishhook/
I was just reading the folowing again:
No wonder the laity has no idea of what is sin.
"As one priest, Father Robert Altier, of St. Agnes Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, says, people don't believe in chastisement "because people don't want to deal with sin."
"The loss of the sense of sin is one of the great tragedies of our time," says Father Altier, who is also a third-order Carmelite. "They don't want to deal with the idea that God would allow any kind of purification. We focus on His mercy so much that we forget His justice. And some of it -- wars as well as storms -- we are doing to ourselves. Nature reflects the chaos in the spiritual order. You see that right from the Garden of Eden. There was peace until they sinned, and that continues. The chaos that we see -- the storms and tsunamis -- continue to get more intense and closer together and it is because sin is getting worse. I have been speaking about this since the early 1980s, but after 9/11, I said, 'now the birth pangs have begun.' We can't keep killing babies and violating human dignity and think that nothing is going to happen to us. We're doing it to ourselves. It's a natural consequence of what we're doing."
Interesting site:
http://www.intellectualconservative.com/article4126.html
Dear Folks in Christ,
I am having some problem in posting the email that I had received from Father Altier in October 2005 regarding a talk he had given on the Prayer to Saint Michael as well as some comments I wish to make.
I will try after some time. When I tried to post it now -- it was getting posted as a large mass of information although I had made neat paragraphs.
Why?
Thanks, Pyro.
** It is my understanding that we american Catholics are viewed with some concern by Rome.**
Almost to the point that Rome would like to forget us.
**We can't keep killing babies and violating human dignity and think that nothing is going to happen to us. We're doing it to ourselves. It's a natural consequence of what we're doing**
Father Altier is right on the money, isn't he?
See the posts above from notwithstanding.
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Thursday, March 02, 2006 Meditation Psalm 1:1-4,6 Do you want to know God’s presence and power in your life? Then follow the psalmist’s advice and plant yourself by the river of his grace. How do you picture this river? Does it trickle down a mountain like a small stream? Or does it rush forth, fresh and teeming with life? Nothing holds this river back as it springs from the very heart of God. God wants us to be like a tree planted right next to this river. Instinctively, the tree’s roots go as deep as necessary to receive water. Similarly, God invites us to become firmly rooted in him by letting him influence every dimension of our lives: our work, our family, our finances, even our leisure time. He promises that as we root ourselves in him, he will not hold back a single drop from us. Isn’t it funny that we often come to God with a small tin cup, asking for a drink, when all the time there is a powerful waterfall right in our midst? We should never underestimate how much God wants to do in us. He loves us all with an everlasting love, and he will always remain faithful to us. God longs to strengthen us to choose his ways and follow him. Every time we obey his word, ask for his help, or turn to him in worship, we open ourselves to his water of life. God is not calling us just to try hard to be good—although there are plenty of times when we must exert all our effort to remain faithful. The miracle of the gospel is that in addition to our hard work, God wants to work in us. Remaining in his presence allows his river to erode our old ways of thinking and living. It allows him to point out areas where we are not choosing him, and help us to make the necessary changes. Every day, we face numerous choices: Will we obey God, or will we go our own way? And every day, God offers us his grace to empower us beyond our human limitations. Let’s stay rooted by his river. It means nothing less than life for us! “Jesus, I want to be immersed in your river today. I want the water of your love, your grace, and your power to flow in me. I choose you because you are life.” Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Luke 9:22-25 |
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O God, come to my aid.
O Lord, make haste to help me.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
A suitable hymn may be inserted at this point.
| Psalm 143 (144) |
|---|
| For victory and peace |
| Blessed be the Lord, my help, who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for war. The Lord is kindness and strength, my refuge and my liberator. He is my shield, and I trust in him – he places my people under his rule. Lord, what is man, that you should take notice of him? The son of man, that you should give him respect? For man is as nothing, his day is like a shadow that passes. Lord, descend from your heavens, touch the mountains so that they smoke. Brandish your lightnings and scatter my enemies, fire your arrows, sow confusion among them. Send down your power from above, raise me and free me from the flooding waters, from the power of those of foreign race, whose speeches are not to be trusted, who lift up their hands in perjury. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. |
| Psalm 143 (144) |
|---|
| I will sing a new song to you, God: I will sound your praise on the ten-stringed harp. You give victory to kings, you rescue David your servant from the swords of his enemies. Raise me and free me from the power of strangers, whose speeches are not to be trusted, who lift up their hands in perjury. Our sons are like growing saplings in the time of their youth. Our daughters are like the carved columns that hold up the temple. Our larders are full, overflowing with goodness – our sheep fill the fields in uncountable thousands – our oxen are strong. Our walls are not ruined and we are not exiles: in our streets there is no lamentation. Blessed the people whose life is like this: happy the people whose God is the Lord. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. |
| Canticle | Apocalypse 11 |
|---|---|
| The Judgement | |
| We thank you, Lord God Almighty, who are and who were, that you have taken up your great power and begun to reign. The nations were angered, but your anger came, the time for the dead to be judged, the time to reward the prophets and saints, your servants, and those who feared your name, both great and small. Now have come the salvation and might and kingdom of our God, and the power of his Anointed, for the accuser of our brethren has been brought down, who accused them day and night in the sight of God. But they vanquished him through the blood of the Lamb and through their own witness. They did not cling to life, even in the face of death. Therefore rejoice, heavens, and you who dwell in them. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. |
|
| A short Bible reading and responsory may follow here. |
| Canticle | Magnificat |
|---|---|
| My soul rejoices in the Lord | |
| My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my salvation. For he has shown me such favour – me, his lowly handmaiden. Now all generations will call me blessed, because the mighty one has done great things for me. His name is holy, his mercy lasts for generation after generation for those who revere him. He has put forth his strength: he has scattered the proud and conceited, torn princes from their thrones; but lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things; the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of his servant Israel, he has remembered his mercy as he promised to our fathers, to Abraham and his children for ever. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. |
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| Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. |
| A concluding prayer may follow here. |
| May the Lord bless us and keep us from all harm; and may he lead us to eternal life. |
| A M E N |
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