Saturday of the Third Week of Lent

Year of Saint Joseph

Eighth Anniversary of Pope Francis's Election to the Chair of Saint Peter. Auguri, Papa Francesco!

Readings of the Day

RB: Ch 35:1-11 Kitchen Servers of the Week

Mass: Hosea 6:1-6; Resp Ps 51; Lk 18:9-14

It is mercy I desire, and not sacrifice.

HEART OF JESUS, PATIENT AND MOST MERCIFUL,

HAVE MERCY ON US.

Eight years ago, March 13, 2013, just after he was elected Pope, the Holy Father Francis stood on the balcony of Saint Peter's and asked us to do him a favor, namely, to pray for him. I clearly remember the occasion. I was in the Damian Center at Mount Angel Abbey and Seminary, gathered with the seminarians, staff, professors, and monks. You could have heard a pin drop. We continue in prayer for Pope Francis, Benedict XVI, Bishop Emeritus of Rome, and for all us, "one for the other, let us pray for the whole world", as the Holy Father celebrates the eighth anniversary of his election to the Chair of Saint Peter.

We continue our Lenten journey with Papa Francesco and the whole Church, united in faith and the love of Our Lord Jesus Christ. We could go about it with the words of the tax collector in today's Gospel: "O God, be merciful to me a sinner." And this is what the late Cardinal Basil Hume had to say about those words: "I cannot think of any prayer which we can so easily make our own. However burdened we may be by our past sins, or by our present difficulties, however much we may feel ourselves to be failures, and failures in God's eyes, we can always pray: 'God, be merciful to me a sinner'".

Lent is about discerning where are hearts are directed. Let us ask: where is my life's navigation system taking me - towards God or towards myself?

(Pope Francis, Twitter, March 13, 2021)

MARY, VIRGIN MOST MERCIFUL,

PRAY FOR US.

SAINT JOSEPH,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: Foamy water on the Oregon coast, thanks to d. 

© Gertrude Feick 2021