The month of March is dedicated to Saint Joseph 

“If we look forward to receiving God’s mercy, we can never fail to do good, so long as we have the strength. For if we share with the poor, out of love for God, whatever He has given to us, we shall receive according to His promise, a hundredfold in eternal happiness. What a fine profit, what a blessed reward! With outstretched arms He begs us to turn toward Him, to weep for our sins and to become the servants of love, first for ourselves, then for our neighbors. Just as water extinguishes a fire, so love wipes away sin.” +Saint John of God

 Third Week in the Season of Lent

Monday, March 4 | Saint Casimir of Poland

 Holy Gospel: Luke 4:24-30  

Prayer: May your unfailing compassion, O Lord, cleanse and protect your Church, and since without you she cannot stand secure, may she be always governed by your grace. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

 Contemplation: What limits God's grace and power in our lives to undergo change and transformation of mind and heart? Indifference and lack of faith for sure! The prophets confronted God's people with their indifference and unbelief. God's grace and mercy is offered freely to those who seek it with sincerity, repentance, and faith. When Naaman, a non-Jew went to Jerusalem to seek a cure, the prophet Elisha instructed him to bathe in the river. In faith he obeyed and was healed. Jesus did not hesitate to confront his own people with their indifference and unbelief.  Have you looked at where your faith life is?  Are you indifferent?  Are you lukewarm about your faith, and how you live out your faith?  If so, it’s time to set your faith on fire.  But you need first to rid yourself of those things which hold you back – whatever they may be.  Pray that you will rid yourself of these barriers.  Then free from those things which hold you back, may your faith life flourish and bear much fruit.

Tuesday, March 5 

Holy Gospel: Matthew 18:21-35 

Prayer: May your grace not forsake us, O Lord, we pray, but make us dedicated to your holy service and at all times obtain for us your help. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Contemplation: There is no way we could repay God the debt we owed him because of our sins and offenses. Only his mercy and pardon could free us from such a debt. Despite how we may feel at times toward people in our lives, there is no offense our neighbor can do to us that can compare with our debt to God!  If God has forgiven each of us our debt, which was very great, we too must forgive others the debt they owe us. Through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross – which atoned for our sins – each one of us has been forgiven a debt beyond all reckoning. It cost God his very own Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to ransom us with the price of his blood. Jesus paid the price for us and won for us pardon for our sins and freedom from slavery to our unruly desires and sinful habits. God in his mercy offers us the grace and help of his Holy Spirit so we can love as he loves, pardon as he pardons, and treat others with the same mercy and kindness which he has shown to us. God has made his peace with us.  Have you made your peace with God? Have you reconciled yourself with God?  Especially during Lent we are called to reconcile ourselves with God and with one another. A healthy trip to the confessional to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation is a first and important start.  Have you been to confession lately?  If not, why not?

Wednesday, March 6 

Holy Gospel: Matthew 5:17-19 

Prayer: Grant, we pray, O Lord, that, schooled through Lenten observance and nourished by your word, through holy restraint we may be devoted to you with all our heart and be ever united in prayer. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.

Contemplation: How do you view the laws of God? Negatively? Positively? A pick-and-choose (“cafeteria Catholic”) approach? Do you allow the human laws of any local, state or federal legislative body or the human decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court to supersede the divine laws of God and the divine teachings of Jesus Christ – especially when these laws or decisions are contrary to God or Jesus? Jesus' attitude towards the law of God can be summed up in the great prayer of Psalm 119: "Oh, how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day." For the people of Israel the "law" could refer to the Ten Commandments or to the five Books of Moses, called the Pentateuch, which explain the commandments and ordinances of God for his people. The "law" also referred to the whole teaching or way of life which God gave to his people. The Jews in Jesus' time also used it as a description of the oral or scribal law. Needless to say, the scribes added many more things to the law than God intended. That is why Jesus often condemned the scribal law. It placed burdens on people which God had not intended. Jesus, however, made it very clear that the essence of God's law – his commandments and his way of life – must be fulfilled.  So, once again, how do you view God’s law?  How do you put God’s law into action and practice in your daily life?

 Thursday, March 7 | Saints Perpetua and Felicity

 Holy Gospel: Luke 11:14-23

Prayer: We implore your majesty most humbly, O Lord, that, as the feast of our salvation draws ever closer, so we may press forward all the more eagerly towards the worthy celebration of the Paschal Mystery. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.

Contemplation: We live in a world of compromise.  And yet, there are some aspects of our life that we just cannot afford to compromise on – especially our faith life, and the teachings of the one, holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. The teachings of the Church are based on the laws of God and the teachings of Jesus Christ.  Jesus makes it clear that there are no neutral parties. We are either for Jesus or against him, for the kingdom of God or against it. Once we start going down the road of compromise, we turn against God and Jesus, because we begin to place our will above and before the will of God (sound familiar – Adam and Eve?).  There are two kingdoms in opposition to one another – the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness under the rule of Satan. If we disobey God’s word – if we compromise God’s word – then we open to door to the power of sin and Satan in our lives. If you want to live in freedom from sin and Satan, then your house – your life and all you possess –  must be occupied by Jesus where he is enthroned as Lord and Savior. Is the Lord Jesus the Master of your home, heart, mind, and will?

Friday, March 8  | Saint John of God

Holy Gospel: Mark 12:28-34

Prayer: Pour your grace into our hearts, we pray, O Lord, that we may be constantly drawn away from unruly desires and obey by your own gift the heavenly teaching you give us. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Contemplation: The following prayer by Saint Anselm is worth contemplating on this day: "We love you, O our God; and we desire to love you more and more. Grant to us that we may love you as much as we desire, and as much as we ought. O dearest friend, who has so loved and saved us, the thought of whom is so sweet and always growing sweeter, come with Christ and dwell in our hearts; that you keep a watch over our lips, our steps, our deeds, and we shall not need to be anxious either for our souls or our bodies. Give us love, sweetest of all gifts, which knows no enemy. Give us in our hearts pure love, born of your love to us, that we may love others as you love us. O most loving Father of Jesus Christ, from whom flows all love, let our hearts, frozen in sin, cold to you and cold to others, be warmed by this divine fire. So help and bless us in your Son."

 

Scripture passages (NAB translation) courtesy of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Daily meditations and contemplations adapted from the Irish Jesuits’ Sacred Space web page and Biblical Medications for Lent by Rev. Carroll Stuhlmueller, C.P.; prayers are from The Roman Missal, Catholic Book Publishing, 2011; information about saints, solemnities, feasts and memorials courtesy of the Catholic Culture web site.