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The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary:
Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy word.
And the Word was made Flesh: And dwelt among us.
Amen. |
Posted on 04/15/2014 6:47:45 PM PDT by Salvation
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The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary:
Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy word.
And the Word was made Flesh: And dwelt among us.
Amen. |
Feast Day: April 16
Born: 25 March 1748 at Amettes, Boulogne, France
Died: 17 April 1783 at Rome
Canonized: 8 December 1883 by Pope Leo XIII
Major Shrine: Tomb at Santa Maria ai Monti
Patron of: Unmarried men, rejects, mental illness, mentally ill people, insanity, beggars, hobos, the homeless
St. Benedict Joseph Labre
Feast Day: April 16
Born: 1748 :: Died: 1783
St. Benedict was born at Amettes, Boulogne in France. This French saint led a most unusual life. He was one of fifteen children in a well-off middle class family. His father was a store owner and Benedict was taught by his uncle, a priest.
When the good priest died, Benedict tried to enter a monastery but they refused to take him in as he was too young. Then he managed to convince another order of monks to take him in. He loved the life of prayer and penance but soon Benedict became thin and frail.
They suggested that he return home and lead a good Christian life. He had no choice, he went home and slowly gained back his health. He prayed asking God to show him what he was to do with his life.
He soon felt he had the answer. He would become a pilgrim, a person on a holy journey of prayer and penance. As a pilgrim, he would travel to the famous shrines of Europe.
Benedict began his journey on foot. He visited one church after another. He wore a plain cloth robe, a crucifix over his heart and a rosary around his neck. He slept on the bare ground. The only food he had was what kind people gave him. If they gave him money, he gave it to the poor.
If he was given more food than he needed for the day, he would give the remainder to someone who needed it more than he did. He healed some of his homeless friends and even multiplied bread for them, when they had no food.
His "suitcase" was a sack. In it he carried his own Gospel, as well as medals and holy books to give to others. St. Benedict paid no attention to the beautiful sights in the cities he visited. His only interest was in the churches where Jesus dwelt in the Blessed Sacrament.
When St. Benedict knelt in front of the tabernacle, he became as still as a statue. His pale, tired face glowed. It was said he often floated in the air when he looked at Jesus' Crown of Thorns and deeply felt His pain.
He would talk to Jesus and to the Blessed Mother. He would whisper, "Mary, O my Mother!" He was truly happy when he was keeping Jesus and Mother Mary company.
As the years passed, St. Benedict looked more and more like a beggar. He was ragged and dirty. He ate crusts of bread and potato peels. He never asked for anything that would make his life more comfortable. In some places, children threw stones at him and called him names.
People who didn't know him tended to avoid him. But people who did know him both rich and poor came to him for advice and counsel.
He died in 1783 at the age of thirty-five. The fame of this poor holy man spread far and wide. His journey had ended. The pilgrimage was over and he would be with Jesus and Mary forever.
Reflection: Mary, O my Mother!" We can whisper these words of love to Mary our mother too and think of her often.
Catholic
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Wednesday, April 16 |
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Liturgical Color: Violet |
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Why are there so many signs and symbols in the liturgies?
God knows that we men are not only spiritual but also bodily creatures; we need signs and symbols in order to perceive and describe spiritual or interior realities.
Whether it is red roses, a wedding ring, black clothing, graffiti, or AIDS armbands - we always express our interior realities through signs and are understood immediately. The incarnate Son of God gives us human signs in which he is living and active among us: bread and wine, the water of Baptism, the anointing with the Holy Spirit. Our response to God's sacred signs instituted by Christ consists in signs of reverence: genuflecting, standing while listening to the Gospel, bowing, folding our hands. And as though for a wedding we decorate the place of God's presence with the most beautiful things we have: flowers, candles and music. In any case, signs also require words to interpret them.
Why do the sacred signs of the liturgy need words, too?
Celebrating the Liturgy means encountering God; allowing him to act, listening to him, responding to him. Such dialogues are always expressed in gestures and words.
Jesus spoke to men through signs and words. So it is in the Church, also, when the priests offers the gifts and says, "This is my Body ... this is my Blood ... ." Only these interpreting words of Jesus cause the signs to become sacraments: signs that bring about what they signify. (YOUCAT questions 181-182)
Dig Deeper: CCC section (1145-1155) and other references here.
Part 2: The Celebration of the Christian Mystery (1066 - 1690)
Section 1: The Sacramental Economy (1076 - 1209)
Chapter 2: The Sacramental Celebration of the Paschal Mystery (1135 - 1209)
Article 1: Celebrating the Church's Liturgy (1136 - 1199)
II. HOW IS THE LITURGY CELEBRATED? ⇡
Signs and symbols ⇡
A sacramental celebration is woven from signs and symbols. In keeping with the divine pedagogy of salvation, their meaning is rooted in the work of creation and in human culture, specified by the events of the Old Covenant and fully revealed in the person and work of Christ.
Signs of the human world. In human life, signs and symbols occupy an important place. As a being at once body and spirit, man expresses and perceives spiritual realities through physical signs and symbols. As a social being, man needs signs and symbols to communicate with others, through language, gestures, and actions. The same holds true for his relationship with God.
God speaks to man through the visible creation. The material cosmos is so presented to man's intelligence that he can read there traces of its Creator.16 Light and darkness, wind and fire, water and earth, the tree and its fruit speak of God and symbolize both his greatness and his nearness.
16.
Cf. Wis 13:1; Rom 1:19 f.; Acts 14:17.
Inasmuch as they are creatures, these perceptible realities can become means of expressing the action of God who sanctifies men, and the action of men who offer worship to God. The same is true of signs and symbols taken from the social life of man: washing and anointing, breaking bread and sharing the cup can express the sanctifying presence of God and man's gratitude toward his Creator.
The great religions of mankind witness, often impressively, to this cosmic and symbolic meaning of religious rites. The liturgy of the Church presupposes, integrates and sanctifies elements from creation and human culture, conferring on them the dignity of signs of grace, of the new creation in Jesus Christ.
Signs of the covenant. The Chosen People received from God distinctive signs and symbols that marked its liturgical life. These are no longer solely celebrations of cosmic cycles and social gestures, but signs of the covenant, symbols of God's mighty deeds for his people. Among these liturgical signs from the Old Covenant are circumcision, anointing and consecration of kings and priests, laying on of hands, sacrifices, and above all the Passover. The Church sees in these signs a prefiguring of the sacraments of the New Covenant.
Signs taken up by Christ. In his preaching the Lord Jesus often makes use of the signs of creation to make known the mysteries of the Kingdom of God.17 He performs healings and illustrates his preaching with physical signs or symbolic gestures.18 He gives new meaning to the deeds and signs of the Old Covenant, above all to the Exodus and the Passover,19 for he himself is the meaning of all these signs.
17.
Cf. Lk 8:10.
18.
Cf. Jn 9:6; Mk 7:33 ff.; 8:22 ff.
19.
Cf. Lk 9:31; 22:7-20.
Sacramental signs. Since Pentecost, it is through the sacramental signs of his Church that the Holy Spirit carries on the work of sanctification. The sacraments of the Church do not abolish but purify and integrate all the richness of the signs and symbols of the cosmos and of social life. Further, they fulfill the types and figures of the Old Covenant, signify and make actively present the salvation wrought by Christ, and prefigure and anticipate the glory of heaven.
Words and actions ⇡
A sacramental celebration is a meeting of God's children with their Father, in Christ and the Holy Spirit; this meeting takes the form of a dialogue, through actions and words. Admittedly, the symbolic actions are already a language, but the Word of God and the response of faith have to accompany and give life to them, so that the seed of the Kingdom can bear its fruit in good soil. The liturgical actions signify what the Word of God expresses: both his free initiative and his people's response of faith.
The liturgy of the Word is an integral part of sacramental celebrations. To nourish the faith of believers, the signs which accompany the Word of God should be emphasized: the book of the Word (a lectionary or a book of the Gospels), its veneration (procession, incense, candles), the place of its proclamation (lectern or ambo), its audible and intelligible reading, the minister's homily which extends its proclamation, and the responses of the assembly (acclamations, meditation psalms, litanies, and profession of faith).
The liturgical word and action are inseparable both insofar as they are signs and instruction and insofar as they accomplish what they signify. When the Holy Spirit awakens faith, he not only gives an understanding of the Word of God, but through the sacraments also makes present the "wonders" of God which it proclaims. The Spirit makes present and communicates the Father's work, fulfilled by the beloved Son.
Daily Readings for:April 16, 2014
(Readings on USCCB website)
Collect: O God, who willed your Son to submit for our sake to the yoke of the Cross, so that you might drive from us the power of the enemy, grant us, your servants, to attain the grace of the resurrection. 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
ACTIVITIES
o Holy Week in the Catholic Tradition
o Housecleaning for Holy Week I
o Housecleaning for Holy Week II
o Lent Hymn: Open, O Hard and Sinful Heart!
o Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week in the Home
o Music for Lent and Easter: St. Matthew Passion by Bach
o Tenebræ
o The Passover Meal: 1. Introduction
PRAYERS
o Prayer for Wednesday of Holy Week
o Prayer for Palm Sunday and Holy Week
o Family Evening Prayer for Holy Week
· Lent: April 16th
· Wednesday of Holy Week
Old Calendar: Wednesday of Holy Week
Wednesday is known as Spy Wednesday because on this day Judas made a bargain with the high priest to betray Jesus for 30 silver pieces (Matt 26:14-16; Mark 14:10-11; Luke 22:1-6). In Poland, the young people throw an effigy of Judas from the top of a church steeple. Then it is dragged through the village amidst hurling sticks and stones. What remains of the effigy is drowned in a nearby stream or pond.
This is also the day that Jesus was anointed with an expensive jar of alabaster by the woman at Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper (Matt 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9; John 12:1-19).
The Sacrament of Penance and the Easter Duty
One of the duties of a Catholic is to fulfill the six Precepts of the Church, the positive laws which are "meant to guarantee to the faithful the indispensable minimum in the spirit of prayer and moral effort, in the growth in love of God and neighbor" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2041). Two of these precepts directly relate to the upcoming Easter season. The third precept is "You shall humbly receive your Creator in Holy Communion at least during the Easter season." This is tied in with the second precept to "confess your sins at least once a year." If we want to receive Jesus worthily in Holy Communion during Easter, we need to cleanse our souls, especially of any mortal sin through the Sacrament of Penance. Most parishes offer extra confession times for Holy Week, but usually any priest is available on request to hear confession by appointment.
Meditation
We are healed by His bruises! O heavenly Physician, who takes upon Himself the sufferings of those He comes to cure! But not only was He bruised for our sins, He was also slaughtered as a lamb; and this not merely as a Victim submitting to the inflexible will of His Father who hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all, but (as the prophet here assures us) because it was His own will. His love for us, as well as His submission to His Father, led Him to the great Sacrifice. Observe, too, how He refuses to defend Himself before Pilate, who could so easily deliver Him from His enemies: He shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearers, and He shall not open His mouth. Let us love and adore this divine silence, which works our salvation. Let us not pass over an iota of the devotedness which Jesus shows us—a devotedness which never could have existed save in the heart of a God. Oh! how much He has loved us, His children, the purchase of His Blood, His seed, as the prophet here calls us. O holy Church! thou long-lived seed of Jesus, who laid down His life, thou art dear to Him, for He bought thee at a great price. Faithful souls! give Him love for love. Sinners! be converted to this your Savior; His Blood will restore you to life, for if we have all gone astray like sheep, remember what is added: The Lord hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. There is no sinner, however great may be his crimes, there is no heretic, or infidel, who has not his share in this precious Blood, whose infinite merit is such, that it could redeem a million worlds more guilty even than our own. — The Liturgical Year, Abbot Gueranger O.S.B.
The Station today is at St. Mary Major for the second time during Lent. As we set our eyes on the Sacred Triduum, it is good to stand in solidarity with our Mother of Sorrows as we contemplate our Redemption.
Wednesday of Holy Week
One of you will betray me. (Matthew 26:21)
Lord Jesus, you really know how to upset people. “One of you will betray me”—what a bombshell! Sure, your disciples are aware that someone is going to hand you over (Matthew 17:22; 20:18; 26:2). But to learn that it’s one of them! Who could it be?
I can picture the Eleven gripped with horror at the terrifying possibilities. I see their fearful faces turning to you, seeking assurance that they would never do such a thing: “Surely it is not I, Lord?” (Matthew 26:22). Even Peter is too stunned to deny the possibility of his own weakness. Defenses fall, and eleven hearts face the truth: Am I capable of betraying my Lord? Yes, I am.
You foresee, Jesus, what will happen. The moment of clarity will pass. Soon your little band will be justifying themselves and professing their undying loyalty (Matthew 26:35). But then they’ll run away. How well you know these men—and how little they know themselves! Still, how deeply you love them and want them to be one with you. Right to the end, you work to call out the good you see in them.
You address that twelfth disciple, your betrayer, and offer him one last chance to change course. Then, before delivering yourself to your enemies, you hand yourself over to your wavering friends: “Take and eat… . Drink” (Matthew 26:26, 27). Who but you could have imagined this act of love!
Jesus, it is good for me to be here, reflecting on this scene. Tomorrow, Holy Thursday, will remind me in a special way that I’m in it. At every Mass, it’s like I’m sitting elbow-to-elbow with the apostles at the Last Supper. Like them, I’m flawed and weak. But as I eat your Body and drink your Blood, your life flows through me and makes me strong. And so, looking not at my sins and liabilities but at your power at work in me, I boldly dare to offer a prayer that many Eastern Catholics recite before receiving Communion: “I will not betray you with a kiss, as did Judas, but like the repentant thief, I openly profess you: Remember me, O Lord, in your kingdom.”
“Jesus, thank you for giving your life out of love for me. You make my heart leap with joy!”
Isaiah 50:4-9; Psalm 69:8-10, 21-22, 31, 33-34
Daily Marriage Tip for April 16, 2014:
Would your spouse describe you as a good listener? If you’re not sure, humbly seek out their opinion, and be willing to grow.
| Unmasking the Betrayer | ||
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Wednesday of Holy Week
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Matthew 26:14-25 One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, "What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?" They paid him thirty pieces of silver, and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over. On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples approached Jesus and said, "Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?" He said, "Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ´The teacher says, "My appointed time draws near; in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples."´" The disciples then did as Jesus had ordered, and prepared the Passover. When it was evening, he reclined at table with the Twelve. And while they were eating, he said, "Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me." Deeply distressed at this, they began to say to him one after another, "Surely it is not I, Lord?" He said in reply, "He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me is the one who will betray me. The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born." Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply, "Surely it is not I, Rabbi?" He answered, "You have said so." Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus, I wish to accompany you closely on the road to Calvary. If I were to contemplate you more often as you hang scourged and bloody upon the cross, I’m certain I would be able to rest in your love and base my actions on that one truth. I know that you have loved me with an eternal love: you have proven it there on the wood of the cross. So I long to respond with gratitude, peace and the firm determination to spread your love to everyone. Petition: Lord Jesus, help me to stay strong in my faith. 1. One of the Twelve a Traitor? We often think that Judas must have been different, obviously worse than the other disciples. If that were true, everyone would have suspected him when Jesus said, “One of you will betray me.” They would have thought: “It must be Judas. He’s always been bad. He’s capable of betraying Jesus. I don’t know why Jesus picked him.” Instead, Judas did not stand out as any worse than they were. If he did, they would have immediately suspected him. Each one of us, as well, could become a Judas little by little, first by giving up our principles on smaller matters and then later on more important matters. In the Christian life there always needs to be a healthy tension of straining forward and of watchfulness. The one who is trustworthy in small matters is trustworthy in greater matters. 2. Is It I? The apostles are all asking, “Is it I?” Why? Was there some widespread desire to betray him of which they were barely keeping control? No, but they were in a very dangerous situation. The Pharisees had decided to kill Jesus. The apostles know it. That’s why the whole group had gone to stay in Jericho for a while. Jerusalem was too dangerous. They can imagine themselves following Jesus to the Temple the next day, being singled out in the crush of the crowd and then having their life threatened to provide information about where Jesus can be found at night. They wonder what they would say. With my life on the line would I betray Jesus? This is why they ask, “Is it I?” When push comes to shove, what comes first in my life? Would I ever consider selling out on Jesus for something or someone else? 3. Vigilance of the Heart: Judas had everything he needed to be a great apostle. He had a magnanimous heart, which is why Jesus picked him. God never destines anyone for failure. So what happened to him? At some point he stopped working on his friendship with Jesus. Some would point to the moment of the discourse on the Bread of Life recorded in John 6. Judas couldn’t accept that he needed to eat Jesus’ body and drink his blood. Jesus must be wrong, and therefore he is a false Messiah. John 6:64 tells us that Jesus knew who his betrayer would be. Jesus gives Judas a chance to leave the group and remain an honest man in John 6:67. Instead, he stays, becoming a hypocrite – a “devil” in Jesus’ words – and begins the path that will lead to betrayal. Knowing that my faith is the most precious gift I have received from God, do I watch over and nourish my faith so that it grows and is strong? Conversation with Christ: Lord, I have betrayed you so many times, even when I do such a simple thing as not saying grace in a restaurant out of fear that others will realize I am a Catholic. May the experience of your Passion and death help me to have the courage to live by my convictions at all times. Resolution: Today I will live all the demands of my faith, especially in the moments when they point me out as a follower of Christ. Today I will not betray him, even in the smallest way. |
April 15, 2014
It is a mystery that Christ chose Judas as one of his disciples even if he knew that Judas was to betray him. Knowing the plan of salvation that his Father had for all mankind which had to pass through the cross, Jesus accepted Judas to be among the Twelve.
As the disciples asked Jesus in the other accounts of this gospel, “Is it I, Lord?” when he foretold the betrayal, we also need to ask Jesus, “Is it I, Lord?” for we can betray Christ like Judas or deny him like Peter. Every time we are used as the devil’s tool to carry out his works, such as greed, promiscuity, slander – an endless list – we betray Christ. The devil easily deceives us with his empty promises but Christ has already overcome him so we can call on him to defend us. When we do betray or deny Christ, let us be like Peter who had a deep sorrow for his sins and be assured of Christ’s endless mercy.
Language: English | Español
All Issues > Volume 30, Issue 3
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Save the Children!
Support the couples who are expecting a child!
| Matthew | |||
| English: Douay-Rheims | Latin: Vulgata Clementina | Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000) | |
| Matthew 26 |
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| 14. | Then went one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, to the chief priests, | Tunc abiit unus de duodecim, qui dicebatur Judas Iscariotes, ad principes sacerdotum : | τοτε πορευθεις εις των δωδεκα ο λεγομενος ιουδας ισκαριωτης προς τους αρχιερεις |
| 15. | And said to them: What will you give me, and I will deliver him unto you? But they appointed him thirty pieces of silver. | et ait illis : Quid vultis mihi dare, et ego vobis eum tradam ? At illi constituerunt ei triginta argenteos. | ειπεν τι θελετε μοι δουναι καγω υμιν παραδωσω αυτον οι δε εστησαν αυτω τριακοντα αργυρια |
| 16. | And from thenceforth he sought opportunity to betray him. | Et exinde quærebat opportunitatem ut eum traderet. | και απο τοτε εζητει ευκαιριαν ινα αυτον παραδω |
| 17. | And on the first day of the Azymes, the disciples came to Jesus, saying: Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the pasch? | Prima autem die azymorum accesserunt discipuli ad Jesum, dicentes : Ubi vis paremus tibi comedere Pascha ? | τη δε πρωτη των αζυμων προσηλθον οι μαθηται τω ιησου λεγοντες αυτω που θελεις ετοιμασομεν σοι φαγειν το πασχα |
| 18. | But Jesus said: Go ye into the city to a certain man, and say to him: the master saith, My time is near at hand, with thee I make the pasch with my disciples. | At Jesus dixit : Ite in civitatem ad quemdam, et dicite ei : Magister dicit : Tempus meum prope est, apud te facio Pascha cum discipulis meis. | ο δε ειπεν υπαγετε εις την πολιν προς τον δεινα και ειπατε αυτω ο διδασκαλος λεγει ο καιρος μου εγγυς εστιν προς σε ποιω το πασχα μετα των μαθητων μου |
| 19. | And the disciples did as Jesus appointed to them, and they prepared the pasch. | Et fecerunt discipuli sicut constituit illis Jesus, et paraverunt Pascha. | και εποιησαν οι μαθηται ως συνεταξεν αυτοις ο ιησους και ητοιμασαν το πασχα |
| 20. | But when it was evening, he sat down with his twelve disciples. | Vespere autem facto, discumbebat cum duodecim discipulis suis. | οψιας δε γενομενης ανεκειτο μετα των δωδεκα |
| 21. | And whilst they were eating, he said: Amen I say to you, that one of you is about to betray me. | Et edentibus illis, dixit : Amen dico vobis, quia unus vestrum me traditurus est. | και εσθιοντων αυτων ειπεν αμην λεγω υμιν οτι εις εξ υμων παραδωσει με |
| 22. | And they being very much troubled, began every one to say: Is it I, Lord? | Et contristati valde, cœperunt singuli dicere : Numquid ego sum Domine ? | και λυπουμενοι σφοδρα ηρξαντο λεγειν αυτω εκαστος αυτων μητι εγω ειμι κυριε |
| 23. | But he answering, said: He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, he shall betray me. | At ipse respondens, ait : Qui intingit mecum manum in paropside, hic me tradet. | ο δε αποκριθεις ειπεν ο εμβαψας μετ εμου εν τω τρυβλιω την χειρα ουτος με παραδωσει |
| 24. | The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man shall be betrayed: it were better for him, if that man had not been born. | Filius quidem hominis vadit, sicut scriptum est de illo : væ autem homini illi, per quem Filius hominis tradetur ! bonum erat ei, si natus non fuisset homo ille. | ο μεν υιος του ανθρωπου υπαγει καθως γεγραπται περι αυτου ουαι δε τω ανθρωπω εκεινω δι ου ο υιος του ανθρωπου παραδιδοται καλον ην αυτω ει ουκ εγεννηθη ο ανθρωπος εκεινος |
| 25. | And Judas that betrayed him, answering, said: Is it I, Rabbi? He saith to him: Thou hast said it. | Respondens autem Judas, qui tradidit eum, dixit : Numquid ego sum Rabbi ? Ait illi : Tu dixisti. | αποκριθεις δε ιουδας ο παραδιδους αυτον ειπεν μητι εγω ειμι ραββι λεγει αυτω συ ειπας |
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