Saturday after Ash Wednesday

Year of the Family "Amoris Laetitia The Joy of Love"

Saint: Saint Kieren, Irish monk and bishop (5th-6th century) 

Readings of the Day

Rule of Saint Benedict: Ch 28 Those Who Refuse to Amend after Frequent Reproofs

Mass: Is 58:9b-14; Resp Ps 86; Lk 5:27-32

Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.

MARY, QUEEN OF PEACE,

PRAY FOR US.

I do not wish the death of the sinner, but that he turn back to me and live.

(Rule of Saint Benedict, Prologue 38/Ezk 33:11)

Jesus is interested in those who need a physician, as Our Lord says in today's Gospel: Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners (Lk 5:27-32). Saint Benedict echoes the same in his section on the penal code, that is, the chapters that guide the conduct of those who lose their way, and those who care for them. In yesterday's chapter, "The Abbot's Concern for the Excommunicated", Saint Benedict tells the abbot that he "must exercise the utmost care and concern for wayward brothers, because it is not the healthy who need a physician, but the sick (RB 27:1). We are all in need of the Divine Physician. 

The following comes from the section on Kabir (c.1440-1518), in Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and the West, p. 209.

I HAD TO SEEK THE PHYSICIAN

I had to seek the Physician

because of the pain this world

caused me.

I could not believe what happened when I got there-

I found my 

Teacher.

Before I left, he said,

"Up for a little homework, yet?"

"Okay," I replied.

"Well then, try thanking all the people

who have caused

you pain.

They helped you

come to 

me."

United in faith and prayer, we continue to pray for the people of Ukraine and Russia, and all those affected by unrest, strife, violence, and war. Kyrie, eleison.

SAINT KIEREN,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: This photo was taken four years ago. Snow, bless the Lord.

© Gertrude Feick 2022