Saturday of the First Week of Lent

The Month of March Devoted to Saint Joseph

First Saturday of the Month

Saint: Saint Casimir (1458-1484)

Readings of the Day

Rule of Saint Benedict: Ch 27 The Abbot's Concern for the Excommunicated 

Mass: Deuteronomy 26:16-19; Resp Ps 119; Mt 5:43-48

I will keep your statutes.

MARY, QUEEN OF PEACE,

OUR LADY OF SNOWS,

SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL,

PRAY FOR US.

SAINT JOSEPH, MINISTER OF SALVATION,

PRAY FOR US.

Today you are making this agreement with the Lord: He is to be your God and you are to walk in His ways and observe His statutes, commandments and decrees, to hearken to His voice.

(Dt 26:17)

Welcome to the First Saturday of the Month of March devoted to Saint Joseph. One of my favorite saints, Saint Bernardine of Siena (1380-1444), "Apostle of Italy," helped to promote devotion to Saint Joseph and said about Saint Joseph, "The holy man possesses an inward joy ... it surrounds him and engulfs him like an infinite abyss." May we possess the same inward joy as we walk in the way of Jesus and heed His commands: Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for He makes His sun rise on the bad and the good (Mt 5:44-45). Yes, His sun rises on all of us. 

By the power of the Holy Spirit, Casimir burned with a sincere and unpretentious love for almighty God that was almost unbelievable in its strength. So rich was his love and so abundantly did it fill his heart, that it flowed out from his inner spirit toward his fellow men ...

One would have to compose a long account to record here all his works of love and dedication for God and for mankind.

(From the Life of Saint Casimir written by a contemporary, in Office of Readings, March 4)

Always more, always better, always with love ...

Fortified with good intention, wherever you are and whatever you do, always keep it in mind: God is here!

(Venerable Maria Kaupas, 1880-1940)

Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another: for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

(Mt 13:8)

SAINT CASIMIR,

VENERABLE MARIA KAUPUS,

SAINT BERNARDINE OF SIENA,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: This plant continues to fascinate me. Do not utterly forsake me.

© Gertrude Feick 2023