[Salvation]

Catholic Culture

Lent: February 25th

Monday of the Second Week of Lent

Daily Readings for: February 25, 2013
(Readings on USCCB website)

Collect: O God, who have taught us to chasten our bodies for the healing of our souls, enable us, we pray, to abstain from all sins, and strengthen our hearts to carry out your loving commands. 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.

RECIPES

• Lenten Soup
• Whole Wheat Bread

ACTIVITIES

• Open, O Hard and Sinful Heart!

PRAYERS

• Prayer for the Second Week of Lent
• Ordinary Time, Pre-Lent: Table Blessing 2
• Roman Ritual Blessing Before and After Meals: Lent (2nd Plan)

LIBRARY

• A Tree Planted Near Running Waters | Sr. Maria-Walburga Schortemeyer O.S.B.

Old Calendar: St. Walburga, abbess (Hist)

Historically today is the feast of St. Walburga, sister of Sts. Willibald and Winebald. She became a nun at Wimborne in Dorset under St. Tatta and followed St. Lioba to Germany at the invitation of St. Boniface. She died abbess of Hiedenheim, whence her relics were translated to Eichstatt.

Stational Church

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St. Walburga
St. Walburga was born around 710. She is the daughter of St. Richard and the niece of St. Boniface. When St. Richard set out for a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with his sons, Ss. Willibald & Winibald, he entrusted 11 year old Walburga to the monastery school at Wimborne. She remained as a nun, spending a total of 26 years there.

When St. Boniface put out an appeal for nuns to help him in the evangelization of Germany, St. Walburga answered the call. On the way to Germany, there was a terrible storm at sea. Walburga knelt on the deck of the ship and prayed. The sea immediately became calm. Some sailors witnessed this and spread the word that she was a wonderworker, so she was received in Germany with great respect.

At first, she lived at Bischofsheim, under the rule of St. Lioba. Then she was made abbess at Heidenheim, near to where her brother, Winibald served as an abbot over a men's monastery. After his death, she ruled both monasteries. She worked many miracles in the course of her ministry. She wrote a biography of her brother, Winibald, and of Willibald's travels in Palestine, in Latin. She is regarded as the first woman author in both England and Germany.

On September 23, 776, she assisted Willibald in translating the uncorrupt relics of their brother, Winibald, to a new tomb in the church at Heidenheim. Shortly after this, she fell ill. Willibald cared for her until she died on February 25, 777, then placed her next to Winibald in the tomb.

After St. Willibald's death in 786, people gradually forgot St. Walburga and the church fell into disrepair. In 870, Bishop Oktar was having Heidenheim restored. Some workmen desecrated Walburga's grave. She appeared in a dream to the bishop, who then translated her relics to Eichstadt. In 893, St. Walburga's body was found to be immersed in a mysterious sweet-smelling liquid. It was found to work miraculous healings. The liquid, called St. Walburga's oil, has flowed from her body, ever since, except for a brief period when the church was put under the interdict after robbers shed the blood of a bell-ringer in the church. Portions of St. Walburga's relics have taken to several other cities and her oil to all parts of the world.

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The Station today is at St. Clement's. The oldest level is thought to be the titulus Clementis, one of the first parish churches in Rome, and probably belonged to the family of Titus Flavius Clemens, consul and martyr and a contemporary of Pope St. Clement. Set right next to a pagan temple, a Mithraeum or Temple of Mithras, it was one of the first churches in Rome.

[Salvation]

The Word Among Us

Meditation: Luke 6:36-38

 

2nd Week of Lent

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. (Luke 6:36)

One day, a dad was playing with his young daughter, holding her above him in the air like an airplane. Looking into her father’s eyes, the daughter suddenly squealed with delight, “Daddy, I see me in your eyes!” The father grinned, “I see me in your eyes too.”

This is the kind of face-to-face encounter that God, our heavenly Father, wants to have with us. Just as children reflect their parents’ philosophies, dispositions, and even mannerisms, he wants us to reflect his own heart of compassion and mercy as we relate to the people in our lives. There is truth to the old saying “You may be the only Bible some people ever read!”

Of course, the most perfect reflection of the Father is Jesus himself—the “image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). As the perfect image of the Father, Jesus came to earth not only to reveal God’s compassionate heart but to teach us how we too could live as God’s children. In today’s Gospel reading, he gives us some very practical ways that we can show the world who our Father is. First, he gives us two things to stop: “Stop judging. Stop condemning.” Then he give us two things we should do: “Forgive” and “Give” (Luke 6:37-38).

But Jesus didn’t just tell us what to do. As the perfect image of God, he also taught by example, from halting the stoning of a woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11) to dining with known “sinners” and prostitutes and ultimately to laying down his life to rescue us from sin.

So look into Jesus’ eyes today, and see yourself as he sees you—as a treasured child created in God’s own image and likeness. See the great capacity that God has woven into your very being, the capacity to forgive, to be generous, and to be an instrument of his peace. As you do, your heart will soften, and you’ll be able to see other people in the same light. Know that with the help of his Spirit, you really can put away judgments and condemnation. And always remember that your Father is proud of you!

“Father, I know that you love me. Help me to reflect your mercy and love to the world today.”

Daniel 9:4-10; Psalm 79:8-9, 11, 13