Second Sunday of Lent

February is the month dedicated to the Holy Family

March is the month dedicated to Saint Joseph

Readings for the Rule of Saint Benedict for the Week: Ch 19 The Discipline of Psalmody - Ch 25 Serious Faults

My vows to the Lord I will pay.

HOLY FAMILY, OUR SUPPORT IN LIFE AND OUR HOPE IN DEATH,

SAINT JOSEPH, PROTECTOR OF THE HOLY CHURCH,

MARY, MOTHER OF MERCY,

SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL,

PRAY FOR US.

If God is for us, who can be against us?

(Romans 8:31b)

Welcome to the Second Sunday of Lent, in February, the month dedicated to the Holy Family, in a Leap Year that welcomes at end of this week, the month of March, dedicated to Saint Joseph. We are moving along, faithful readers. How are you doing so far in these 40 days of Lent? 

In today's Gospel, we are presented with the Transfiguration when Jesus, with Peter, James, and John in tow, went up a high mountain to be apart by themselves. There, Jesus was transfigured before them; His clothes became dazzling white. With this scene over the past days, I have been thinking of how God has called me over the years, how He has, in a sense, transfigured me to take a new direction in life, to change or be converted in one way or another over the years, essentially since the time He formed me in the womb and knew me, when He dedicated me before I was born (see Jer 1:5). Then after I was born, when my parents gave me the greatest gift they ever gave me, namely, they had me baptized when I was just 20 days old. It was then that I became a child of God, a member of the Body of Christ, the Church, a member of the family of faith. Another way I have looked at it is when were the times when Grace has knocked on my door, and with His grace, I have opened the door and responded to the Lord's call: "This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him" (Mk 9:7). In any case, grace abounds and thankfully, there have been many times in my life when I opened the door and let Grace in. And there have been enough times too, when I have not let Grace in, and gone on my merry way. These days may be days when you and I together, as beloved children of God, reflect on how God has called us, and continues to call us to moments of transfiguration, to change us from one degree of glory to another (see 2 Cor 3:18); moments to grow closer to the Lord, and to pick up our cross and follow Him. As He says: Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lost it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it (Mt 16:24-25). Grace abounds; open the door. Not my will, Lord, but Yours be done. I believe, help my unbelief. 

Many of our voices this week come from Mother Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821), in T. Hoopes, "Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Explains How to Pray, Fast, and Give," Seton Reflections, February 18, 2024.

God is with us-and if sufferings abound in us, His Consolations also greatly abound, and far exceed all utterance.

My own troubles will teach me I hope how to comfort others.

Let your chief study be to acquaint yourself with God because there is nothing greater than God, and because it is only knowledge which can fill the heart with a peace and joy, which nothing can disturb.

The nearer a soul is truly united to God, the more its sensibilities are increased to every being of His Creation; much more to those whom it is bound to love by the tenderest and most endearing ties.

The first I propose in our daily work is to do the will of God; secondly, to do it in a manner He wills it; and thirdly to do it because it is His will.

So, our "wholly American" saint asks us these questions, more to ponder as we journey through these 40 days. 

Does the life of our Jesus animate us?

Do we indeed give Him the true service of the heart without which whatever we give has no value?

And the last voice comes from Saint Vincent Pallotti (1795-1850), especially as we heed to Our Father's words, and listen to His beloved Son. Here, I am! (Gen 22:1). 

Not the intellect, but God. Not the will, but God. Not the soul, but God ... Not the goods of the world, but God. Not honors, but God ... God always and in everything.

United in faith and prayer, we are. Keep going, faithful readers.

SAINT ETHELBERT,

BLESSED MARIA ADEODATA PISANI,

SAINT WALBURGA,

SAINT ALEXANDER OF ALEXANDRIA,

SAINT GREGORY OF NAREK,

BLESSED MARIA CARIDAD BRADER,

SAINT OSWALD,

SAINT DUNSTAN,

SAINT ETHELWOLD,

SAINT DAVID,

SAINT CHAD,

BLESSED CHARLES THE GOOD OF DENMARK,

SAINT DONATIAN,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: They are popping up everywhere. In the presence of all His people.

© Gertrude Feick 2024

Tuesday of Holy Week

The Month of April Dedicated both to Devotion to the Eucharist and Devotion to the Holy Spirit

In other years: Saint Isidore, Bishop of Seville and Doctor of the Church (560-636): Saint Benedict the Moor, Franciscan (1526-1589)

Readings of the Day

Rule of Saint Benedict: Ch 53:1-15 The Reception of Guests

Mass: Is 49:1-6; Resp Ps 71; Jn 13:21-33, 36-38 

Let me never be put to shame.

MARY, QUEEN OF PEACE,

SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL,

HAVE MERCY ON US.

JESUS, SON OF MARY,

HOLY SPIRIT, THE SANCTIFIER,

HAVE MERCY ON US.

He made me a polished arrow, in His quiver He hid me.

(Is 49:2)

Today's Gospel is full. There is a lot to take in - emotions, imagery, tension in the air ... Not unlike everyday life. Jesus was deeply troubled and testified ... After Judas took the morsel, Satan entered him ... And it was night ... the cock will not crow before you deny me three times. Jesus has been there and done that. Keep going, faithful readers. We remain united in faith and prayer.

The favors of the Lord are not exhausted, His mercies are not spent;

They are renewed each morning, so great is His faithfulness.

Let us search and examine our ways that we may return to the Lord!

Let us reach out our hearts toward God in heaven!

(Lamentations 3:22-23, 40-41)

SAINT ISIDORE OF SEVILLE,

SAINT BENEDICT THE MOOR,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: Happy flowers in Holy Week. Day by day your salvation.

© Gertrude Feick 2023

The Conversion of Saint Paul the Apostle

The Month of January Dedicated to the Holy Name of Jesus

Conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Readings of the Day

Rule of Saint Benedict: Ch 7:1-4 Humility

Mass: Acts 22:3-16 or Acts 9:1-22; Resp Ps 117; Mk 16:15-18   

For steadfast is His kindness toward us.

MARY, QUEEN OF PEACE,

MARY, QUEEN OF APOSTLES,

SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL,

PRAY FOR US.

JESUS, MASTER OF THE APOSTLES,

HAVE MERCY ON US.

Conversion means a willingness to see the truth of things and conform one's conduct.

(Antonin Sertillanges, OP, 1863-1948)

On the subject of conversion as we commemorate the Conversion of Saint Paul the Apostle, I pass along a story I read yesterday, shared by Pope Benedict XVI. It's a mediaeval story, as the pontiff said, "of a Jew who traveled to the papal court and who became Catholic. On his return, someone who knew the papal court well asked him: "Did you realize what sort of things are going on there?' 'Yes, he said, 'of course, quite scandalous things, I saw it all.' 'And you still became a Catholic,' remarked the other man. 'That's completely perverse!' Then the Jew said, 'It is because of all that that I have become a Catholic. For if the Church continues to exist in spite of it all, then truly there must be someone upholding her.'* It is the Rock upon which she stands, Jesus Christ the Lord. The Church's one foundation Is Jesus Christ the Lord: She is the new creation By water and the word: From heav'n he came and sought her To be his holy bride, With his own blood he bought her, And for her life he died ..." Yes, this is the Church that Saint Paul helped build. She stands firm through thick and thin. United, we must then stand firm in the faith and draw our strength from the Lord and from His mighty power. We put on the armor of God and in all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (see Eph 6:10-17). 

So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the capstone. Through Him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord: in Him you are also built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

(Ephesians 2:19-22)

SAINT PAUL THE APOSTLE,

PRAY FOR US.

*See Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, God and the World: A Conversation with Peter Seewald (Ignatius, 2002), pp. 63-64, p. 64 for this quotation.

Today's photo: This is from last week, another time when I stopped to look up. This tree has something to say about steadfastness and fidelity. The fidelity of the Lord endures forever.

© Gertrude Feick 2023

Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday)

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

In other years: Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen (1578-1622); Saint Erkenwald (-693); Saint Egbert (639-729)

Readings of the Day

Rule of Saint Benedict: Ch 66 The Porter of the Monastery

Mass: Acts 5:12-16; Resp Ps 118; Rev 1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19; Jn 20:19-31

By the Lord has this been done.

MARY, QUEEN OF PEACE,

PRAY FOR US.

MARY, MOTHER OF MERCY,

PRAY FOR US.

On this Divine Mercy Sunday, my thoughts have been on mercy, one of the fruits of charity, as our Catechism teaches us: "The fruits of charity are joy, peace, and mercy" (CCC 1829). May we bask in the shadow of God's mercy (cf. Acts 5:15), and feel Jesus' breath on us: Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained (Jn 20:22-23).

 

Jesus Christ taught that [we] not only receive and experience the mercy of God, but that [we are] also called "to practice mercy" towards others: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." The church sees in these words a call to action, and she tries to practice mercy. All the beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount indicate the way of conversion and of reform of life, but the one referring to those who are merciful is particularly eloquent in this regard. One attains to the merciful love of God, His mercy, to the extent that he himself is interiorly transformed in the spirit of that love towards his neighbor.

(Pope Saint John Paul II, Dives in misericordia God who is rich in mercy, 14)

Never lose hope in God's mercy.

(Rule of Saint Benedict 4:74)

Heart of Jesus, patient and most merciful,

have mercy on us.

SAINT FAUSTINA KOWALSKA,

SAINT FIDELIS OF SIGMARINGEN,

SAINT ERKENWALD,

SAINT EGBERT,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: This azalea is wonderful in our eyes.

© Gertrude Feick 2022

Friday of the Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time

Year of Saint Joseph

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

National Back to School Month

Saint: Saint Monica (331-387)

Readings of the Day

RB: Ch 69 The Presumption of Defending Another in the Monastery

Mass: 1 Th 4:1-8; Resp Ps 97; Mt 25:1-13

The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth.

THE WOMAN WHO FEARS THE LORD WILL HERSELF BE PRAISED. HER CHILDREN HAVE CALLED HER MOST BLESSED, HER HUSBAND HAS SUNG HER PRAISES.

(Entrance Antiphon, Mass)

As we commemorate Saint Monica, the mother of Saint Augustine, it occurs to me that Saint Monica and Servant of God Elisabeth Leseur (1866-1914) could have a lively discussion about the power of prayer. Jesus tells us a parable today, the one about the foolish virgins and the wise ones. In the end, we are to stay awake, no matter what. We never know the results of perseverance in prayer. We keep on praying for one another; Jesus acts when He will. Saint Monica saw the answer to her prayers before she died. Servant of God Elisabeth saw them in her husband after she died. Stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour (Mt 25:13). 

The day was now approaching when my mother Monica would depart from this life; you knew that day, Lord, though we did not. She and I happened to be standing by ourselves at a window that overlooked the garden in the courtyard of the house. At the time we were in Ostia on the Tiber ... And so the two of us, all alone, were enjoying a very pleasant conversation ... My mother said: "Son, as far as I am concerned, nothing in this life now gives me any pleasure. I do not know why I am still here, since I have no further hopes in this world. I did have one reason for want to live a little longer: to see you become a Catholic before I died. God has lavished his gifts on me in that respect, for I know that you have even renounced earthly happiness to be his servant. So what am I doing here?

(From the Confessions of Saint Augustine, bishop, in Office of Readings, August 27)

Let us not think that by our personal action we can hasten the coming of God's Kingdom in souls. As soon as the divine hour has come, our efforts will be useless, or rather they will only be an active prayer, and appeal to Him who transforms and saves. Nevertheless, let us make this appeal to Him with the humble conviction that He alone will do what must be done, and will bring life to the souls for which we act and pray.

(Elisabeth Leseur from her Journal, in The Secret Diary of Elisabeth Leseur, p. xiv)

SAINT MONICA,

SAINT AUGUSTINE,

SAINT JOSEPH,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: Another look at Three Sisters from atop Scott Mountain, Oregon. 

© Gertrude Feick 2021

Friday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Year of Saint Joseph

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

Saints: Our Lady of Mount Carmel; Saint Helier (-555)

Readings of the Day

RB: Ch 37 The Elderly and Children

Mass: Ex 11:10-12:14; Resp Ps 116; Mt 12:1-8 

My vows to the Lord I will fulfil before all his people.

OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL,

PRAY FOR US.

Today I remember dear Sister Carmel, OSB, of happy memory who died at the age of 101. Avid reader, teacher of French and Latin, artist, lover of God, faithful Benedictine, Sister Carmel was a marvel to behold. Another person who, like her, led a full life and died at a rather advanced age is Blessed Sebastian de Aparico of Spain (d. 1600). One time sheep rancher, then businessman in Mexico, a marvel of charity, and although wealthy led a simple life, he gave generously to the poor. Then he got married at the age of 60 and his wife died soon thereafter. So he married again and this wife died too. So at 72, not after being ill for some time, Sebastian became a Franciscan friar. It is said he roamed the countryside for the next 26 years begging for alms to support the friars. It is also said that he "developed a special relationship with all beasts, who responded to his whispered commands". In this, and other ways too, Sebastian was not unlike Saint Francis. Sebastian died at 98 years of age. This prayer is fitting: Loving Father, through the intercession of Blessed Sebastian de Aparico, help me to see that I am never too old to change (Magnificat, "Saint Who?", July 2021, p. 199).

Another one of our saints of the day, Saint Helier, is known in some parts of the world as a healing saint. Today he is invoked for diseases of the skin and eyes. However, since we have been with Saint Benedict's chapters on care of the sick (RB 36), and today the elderly and children (RB 37), we ask Saint Helier to pray for all the sick and suffering, all those in need of healing, those we know and those we don't know.

SAINT SIMON STOCK,

SAINT HELIER,

BLESSED SEBASTIAN DE APARICO,

SAINT JOSEPH,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's image: From padre on his 88th birthday and 53rd year as Christ's Jesuit priest. A look at Los Gatos, CA. As related, God blessed him with brilliance, as he gazed out of his window over the old winery yesterday morning. Grazie mille, padre and faithful reader. 

© Gertrude Feick 2021

Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Year of Saint Joseph

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

Saints: Saint Maria Goretti, Virgin, Martyr (1890-1902); Saint Moninne (c.432-c.518)

Readings of the Day

RB: Ch 29 Readmission of Brothers Who Leave the Monastery

Mass: Gn 32:23-33; Resp Ps 17; Mt 9:32-38

I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God.

MARY, QUEEN OF MARTYRS,

PRAY FOR US.

I am inspired by our saint of the day, Saint Maria Goretti, and her witness to the faith. At the same time, I am inspired by the man who killed her, Alessandro Serenelli. You can read the account of their story from any number of sources. In short, Maria, at the age of 11, yes, 11, refused to give in to the sexual advances of 20 year old Alessandro. Not liking that at all, Alessandro ended up stabbing Maria 14 times. Maria died shortly thereafter but not without forgiving Alessandro first. Maria said this: "I forgive Alessandro, I forgive him with all my heart; and I want him to be with me in heaven." There is more to it though. In prison, Alessandro repented, due largely in part to dreams he had of Maria. Maria's mother was at her daughter's canonization in 1950, and it is said that Alessandro was there too. However, it is certain that Alessandro spent his last years in a Capuchin monastery, where in died in 1970. With God all things are possible. And as Jesus says in today's Gospel: The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest (Mt 9:38). 

The life of this simple girl-I shall concern myself only with highlights-we can see as worthy of heaven. Even today people can look at it with admiration and respect. Parents can learn from her story how to raise their God-given children in virtue, courage and holiness ...

From Maria's story carefree children and young people with their zest for life can learn not to be led astray by attractive pleasures which are not only ephemeral and empty but also sinful. Instead they can fix their sights on achieving Christian moral perfection, however difficult and hazardous that course may prove ...

Not all of us are expected to die a martyr's death, but we are called to the pursuit of Christian virtue. This demands strength of character though it may not match that of this innocent girl ...

So let us all, with God's grace, strive to reach the goal that the example of the virgin martyr, Saint Maria Goretti, sets before us. Through her prayers to the Redeemer may all of us, each in his own way, joyfully try to follow the inspiring example of Maria Goretti who now enjoys eternal happiness in heaven.

(From a homily at the canonization of Saint Maria Goretti by Pope Pius XII, in Office of Readings, July 6)

SAINT MARIA GORETTI,

SAINT MONINNE,

SAINT JOSEPH,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: Back with beauty in Windsor, CA.

 

© Gertrude Feick 2021

Saint Hedwig (1174-1243); Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690)

Tuesday of the Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the Day
RB: Ch 13:1-11 Lauds on Ordinary Days
Mass: Ga 5:1-6; Resp Ps 119; Lk 11:37-41

As to what is within, give alms, and behold, everything will be clean for you.

Wednesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

Saint Norbert (d. 1134)

St Norbert, Founder of Norbertines, Bishop of Magdeburg

Readings of the day: RB 7:55

Mass: 2 Tm 1:1-3, 6-12; Resp Ps 123; Mk 12:18-27

Loving Christ is not a superficial sentiment.

It is an attitude of the heart that we demonstrate when we live as He wants us to.

(Pope Francis, Twitter, June 6, 2018)

How do we live as Christ wants us to? We turn to Pope Francis in this morning’s General Audience. On the Sacrament of Confirmation, Pope Francis said: ‘We who have received this Sacrament must never stop opening our hearts to the liberating breath of the Holy Spirit and fan into flame the gifts we have received for the good of one another, of the whole Church and of the world in which we live.’ What are the gifts of the Holy Spirt we are to fan into flame? Wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord. We can also turn to St Paul who tells us: bear your share of hardship for the Gospel with the strength that comes from God; remember one another constantly in prayer; strive for holiness; believe and be confident that Jesus will guard and guide you. St Norbert, pray for us.

The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob—the God of the living!

Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter

Saint Damien de Veuster (d. 1889)

Readings of the day: RB 1:6-13

Mass: Ac 18:1-8; Resp Ps 98; Jn 16:16-20

Caravaggio, Conversion of Saint Paul, 1601

PAUL BEGAN TO OCCUPY HIMSELF TOTALLY WITH PREACHING THE WORD.

This morning I think of Paul, tentmaker by trade. Not so long ago, Paul was ‘breathing murderous threats against the disciples’ and seeking ‘any men or women who belonged to the Way’, so that ‘he might bring them back to Jerusalem in chains’ (see Ac 9). After being knocked off his ‘high horse’, Paul is now totally occupied with preaching the Word! We might not have such dramatic conversions as Paul, yet we too can be transformed in mind and heart to follow more closely our Lord and God. Saint Damien de Veuster, pray for us.

The way an invisible Holy Spirit bears witness, the way the Spirit’s witness can be heard,

is through the Spirit’s disciples,

through those who do recognize Him because he is within them. 

(W. Burghardt, S.J., d. 2008)

Monday of the Sixth Week of Easter

Readings of the day: RB Prol. 39-44

Mass: Ac 16:11-15; Resp Ps 149; Jn 15:26-16-4a

Purple cloth of the type sold by Lydia of Thyatira in the First Century 

IF YOU CONSIDER ME A BELIEVER IN THE LORD,

COME AND STAY AT MY HOME.

I am fond of Lydia, dealer in purple cloth—she worshipped God and listened. The Lord opened her heart, or rather, Lydia’s heart was pierced by LOVE. The Lord takes delight in his people.

SHE PREVAILED ON US.

CONVERT OUR HEARTS, LORD,

SO THAT LOVE MAY SPREAD HERE ON EARTH.

(Pope Francis, Twitter, May 7, 2018)

THE CONVERSION OF SAINT PAUL THE APOSTLE

Readings of the day: RB 7:1-4 Humility

Mass: Acts 22:3-16 or Acts 9:1-22; Resp. Psalm 117; Mark 16:15-18

Caravaggio, Conversion of St Paul

Today we are gifted with the choice of two readings from the Acts of the Apostles, both accounts of Paul’s experience on the road to Damascus. Yet another account is presented in Acts 26:2-23. All three accounts mention a light; none of the accounts mentions a horse. Some time ago, I asked: ‘What happened at the moment of Paul’s encounter with the Risen Lord to set Paul on a new spiritual path?’

What about the light? In the three scriptural accounts of Paul’s experience, there seems to be evidence to suggest that there must have been some energy, some cosmic event that brings Paul into relationship with someone he has never met before. While on the road with his companions, Paul experienced a ‘light from the sky that suddenly flashed around him’. This was no ordinary light but a light which forces his body and the bodies of his companions to the ground. In fact, the light is so brilliant that it blinds Paul. As a result, ‘for three days he was unable to see, and he neither ate nor drank.’

      

In all three accounts, Paul is called by his Hebrew name, not once, but twice, ‘Saul, Saul’, and then asked, ‘why are you persecuting me?’ Paul, with utmost respect, asks, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The Lord replies, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.’ In a flash, literally, Paul’s life makes a 180-degree turn. Pope St John Paul II provides insight into Jesus’ response to Paul’s question and the effect it had on Paul:

In saying this [I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting], the risen Christ identifies himself with his disciples; he identifies himself with the Church. Paul instantly understands all this. It makes a dazzling impression on his soul and becomes the source of all the inspiration that he was later to express in his letters. One could say that at that moment, he received the full light of the gospel through revelation and was converted (Rising in Christ: Meditations on Living the Resurrection, p. 38).

The person of Jesus, whom Paul met on the road to Damascus now animates all his behavior and is the inspiration for Paul’s spirituality. Paul’s mind was set on persecuting Christ when he set out for Damascus. Now Paul proclaims,

I am grateful to him who has strengthened me, Christ Jesus our Lord…I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and an arrogant man, but I have been mercifully treated because I acted out of ignorance in my unbelief…Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of these I am foremost. But for that reason I was mercifully treated, so that in me, as the foremost, Christ Jesus might display all his patience as an example for those who would come to believe in him for everlasting life (1 Tm 1:12-16).

Pope Francis offers the following:

Encountering Jesus on the road to Damascus radically transformed the life of Saint Paul. Henceforth, for him, the meaning of life would no longer consist in trusting his own ability to observe the Law strictly, but rather in cleaving with his whole being to the gracious and unmerited love of God (First Vespers, Solemnity of the Conversion of St Paul, 25 January 2017).

We are unlikely to be dazzled by a brilliant light and thrown off our horse, or out of our car even. One never knows. Still, we can be dazzled by the light of Christ if we are open to the Light that comes. We may be overwhelmed. With grace, we, like Paul, can undergo conversion; be radically transformed—in a flash even—and set out on a new spiritual path, or at least make a few turns. We can be inspired to go bear fruit that will last. St Paul, intercede for us.

GO OUT INTO THE WHOLE WORLD AND PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL.