tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42182922196545627462024-03-18T20:06:44.409-04:00Του λόγοι Λόγου‘words (λόγοι, <i>logoi</i>) of THE WORD (Του Λόγου, <i>Tou Logou</i>)’<br>ponders the Sacred Scriptures, the Sacred Liturgy,<br>Fathers of the Church and RCIA<br>as a response to the call for a New Evangelization<br>that by the grace of <br>God the Holy Spirit<br>all may encounter<br>God the Son, Jesus the Incarnate Word<br>and be drawn in love as adopted children to<br>God our Father Who is Merciful Love.Fr Mark J Hunt STDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087584742788767848noreply@blogger.comBlogger5057125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4218292219654562746.post-4756126048958136672024-03-18T19:03:00.000-04:002024-03-18T20:06:08.647-04:00A Prayer on the Solemnity of Saint Joseph,Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary<br />
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God our Father,</div>
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You gave to us the just-man Saint Joseph,</div>
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who was completely obedient</div>
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to the call of the Holy Spirit,</div>
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by being spouse of the</div>
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Virgin Mother of God</div>
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and watching like a father over Jesus,</div>
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Your Only Begotten Son.</div>
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Gracious Father,</div>
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charge once again Saint Joseph,</div>
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to watch over us as he watched over</div>
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Mary and Your Son, Jesus:</div>
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to know Your Will,</div>
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to be given the grace to carry it out faithfully, and</div>
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the wisdom to respond to Your love for us.</div>
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Saint Joseph,</div>
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guard and protect us from all that keeps us</div>
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from following more closely</div>
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Jesus</div>
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in the unfolding mysteries</div>
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of the Father’s plan for our salvation<br />
and the salvation of the world.</div>
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As in all things,</div>
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we make this prayer through</div>
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our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,</div>
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Who lives and reigns with You,</div>
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in the unity of the Holy Spirit,</div>
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God, forever and ever. Amen. </div>
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<br />Fr Mark J Hunt STDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087584742788767848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4218292219654562746.post-73895219605185669562024-03-18T19:02:00.000-04:002024-03-18T20:05:54.919-04:00Solemnity of Saint Joseph,Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary<br />
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“... when your days have been completed and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, sprung from your loins, and I will establish his kingdom.” (<i>2 Samuel</i> 7:12.)
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<a href="http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20070704_en.html" target="_blank">Saint Basil the Great</a> offers the following insight on this verse from <a href="http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/032023.cfm">today's First Reading</a>:</div>
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“However, the tribe of Judah did not fail until he came for whom it was reserved, who did not himself sit upon a material throne, for the kingdom of Judea had now been transferred to Herod, the son of Antipater, the Ascalonite, and to his sons, who divided Judea into four provinces when Pilate was governor and Tiberius held the power over the whole Roman province. But his indestructible kingdom he calls the throne of David on which the Lord sat. He himself is “the expectation of nations,” not of the least part of the world. “For there will be the root of Jesse,” it is said, “and he who rises up to rule the Gentiles, in him the Gentiles will hope.” “For I have placed you for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles.” “And I shall establish,” it is said, “his seed forever, and his throne as the days of the heavens.” (<i>Letter 236</i>)
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<div class="subTitle" id="StJoseph">
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Collect
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Grant, we pray, almighty God,<br />
that by Saint Joseph’s intercession<br />
Your Church may constantly watch over<br />
the unfolding of the mysteries of human salvation,<br />
whose beginnings you entrusted to his faithful care.<br />
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son<br />
Who lives and reigns with You<br />
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,<br />
God, for ever and ever. Amen.</div>
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Glory to the Father<br />
and to the Son<br />
and to the Holy Spirit:<br />
as it was in the beginning,<br />
is now, and will be forever. Amen</div>
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<br />Fr Mark J Hunt STDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087584742788767848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4218292219654562746.post-47768351579542464852024-03-18T19:01:00.000-04:002024-03-18T20:05:40.116-04:00The faithful foster-father and guardian<br />
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<a href="http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint.php?n=462" target="_blank">Saint Bernadine of Siena</a></div>
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Priest</div>
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An excerpt from his <i>On Saint Joseph (Sermon 2)</i></div>
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Solemnity of Saint Joseph, spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjBNDZlssG8tsTZrtPispd_Q22eKShXiddEKOqxqWs6bbaDTyKzNYSHiZrNjnrIOOe43zyjTyWH-iGXY_kJJBdjuI3rPV6CveIRjg5EQOyZs9jnb4G82Slnp5gABsdlmLkQ2fsch4kYTI/s1600/StBernardine.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjBNDZlssG8tsTZrtPispd_Q22eKShXiddEKOqxqWs6bbaDTyKzNYSHiZrNjnrIOOe43zyjTyWH-iGXY_kJJBdjuI3rPV6CveIRjg5EQOyZs9jnb4G82Slnp5gABsdlmLkQ2fsch4kYTI/s1600/StBernardine.png" /></a></div>
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There is a general rule concerning all special graces granted to any human being. Whenever the divine favor chooses someone to receive a special grace, or to accept a lofty vocation, God adorns the person chosen with all the gifts of the Spirit needed to fulfill the task at hand.<br />
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This general rule is especially verified in the case of Saint Joseph, the foster-father of our Lord and the husband of the Queen of our world, enthroned above the angels. He was chosen by the eternal Father as the trustworthy guardian and protector of his greatest treasures, namely, his divine Son and Mary, Joseph’s wife. He carried out this vocation with complete fidelity until at last God called him, saying: Good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord.<br />
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What then is Joseph’s position in the whole Church of Christ? Is he not a man chosen and set apart? Through him and, yes, under him, Christ was fittingly and honorably introduced into the world. Holy Church in its entirety is indebted to the Virgin Mother because through her it was judged worthy to receive Christ. But after her we undoubtedly owe special gratitude and reverence to Saint Joseph.<br />
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In him the Old Testament finds its fitting close. He brought the noble line of patriarchs and prophets to its promised fulfillment. What the divine goodness had offered as a promise to them, he held in his arms.<br />
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Obviously, Christ does not now deny to Joseph that intimacy, reverence and very high honor which he gave him on earth, as a son to his father. Rather we must say that in heaven Christ completes and perfects all that he gave at Nazareth.<br />
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Now we can see how the last summoning words of the Lord appropriately apply to Saint Joseph: Enter into the joy of your Lord. In fact, although the joy of eternal happiness enters into the soul of a man, the Lord preferred to say to Joseph: Enter into joy. His intention was that the words should have a hidden spiritual meaning for us. They convey not only that this holy man possesses an inward joy, but also that it surrounds him and engulfs him like an infinite abyss.<br />
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Remember us, Saint Joseph, and plead for us to your foster-child. Ask your most holy bride, the Virgin Mary, to look kindly upon us, since she is the mother of him who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns eternally. Amen.<br />
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Glory to the Father<br />
and to the Son<br />
and to the Holy Spirit:<br />
as it was in the beginning,<br />
is now, and will be forever. Amen</div>
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<br />Fr Mark J Hunt STDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087584742788767848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4218292219654562746.post-61167573264823152042024-03-17T19:02:00.000-04:002024-03-17T20:08:28.138-04:00Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent<br />
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“Yet it is better for me not to do it and to fall into your power than to sin before the Lord.” (<i>Daniel</i> 13:23.)
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<a href="http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20080109_en.html" target="_blank">Saint Augustine of Hippo</a> comments on this verse from the First Reading proclaimed at <a href="http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/031824.cfm" target="_blank">Mass today</a>:</div>
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“It is better for me not to escape your hands than to sin in front of God.” She refused the proposals she heard because she feared him who she could not see and to whose divine gaze, however, she was very visible. Because she did not happen, in fact, to see God does not mean that God did not see her. God saw what he was building up: he inspected his work, inhabited his temple. He was there; he was answering their insidious trap. If the giver of chastity had abandoned her, chastity also would have been extinguished. Therefore she said, “I am trapped on every side.” But she waited for the one who would save her from weakness of spirit and from the fury of the false witnesses who were like stormy winds. Between these winds and that storm, however, chastity did not suffer shipwreck because the Lord guided the route. She screamed. People came. The process began, and the case came up for judgment. The servants of Susanna believed what the imposter elders said against their mistress. It seemed to them that it would be against their religion not to believe the elders, even though the innocent and stainless life Susanna had led up to this point seemed to offer valid testimony of her chastity. No such chatter had been made on her account. There they were, false witnesses, but God noticed. The household believed one thing; God saw another. But what God saw, human beings did not know, and it seemed right to believe the elders. Therefore she had to die, but if her flesh were to die, her chastity still would have triumphed. Instead, Lord was present to whom she prayed, and he heard because he knew her.” (<i>Sermon 343</i>)
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<div class="subTitle" id="Lent5Monday">
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Collect
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O God, by Whose wondrous grace<br />
we are enriched with every blessing,<br />
grant us so to pass<br />
from former ways to newness of life,<br />
that we may be made ready<br />
for the glory of the heavenly Kingdom.<br />
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,<br />
Who lives and reigns with You<br />
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,<br />
God, for ever and ever.</div>
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Glory to the Father<br />
and to the Son<br />
and to the Holy Spirit:<br />
as it was in the beginning,<br />
is now, and will be forever. Amen</div>
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Fr Mark J Hunt STDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087584742788767848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4218292219654562746.post-72273007131822217392024-03-17T19:01:00.000-04:002024-03-17T20:07:56.222-04:00If anyone has sinned,we have an advocate with the Father<br />
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<a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08462b.htm" target="_blank">Saint John Fisher</a></div>
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Bishop and Martyr</div>
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An excerpt from a <i>Commentary on Psalm 129</i></div>
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Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent</div>
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<div class="cmm7">
Our high priest is Christ Jesus, our sacrifice is his precious body which he immolated on the altar of the cross for the salvation of all men.<br />
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The blood that was poured out for our redemption was not that of goats and calves (as in the old law) but that of the most innocent lamb, Christ Jesus our Savior.<br />
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The temple in which our high priest offered sacrifice was not one made by hands but built by the power of God alone. For he shed his blood in the sight of the world, a temple fashioned by the hand of God alone.<br />
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This temple, however, has two parts. The first is the earth, which we now inhabit. The second is as yet unknown to us mortals.<br />
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Christ offered sacrifice here on earth, when he underwent his most bitter death. Then, clothed in the new garment of immortality, with his own blood he entered into the holy of holies, that is, into heaven. There he also displayed before the throne of the heavenly Father that blood of immeasurable price which he had poured out seven times on behalf of all men subject to sin.<br />
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This sacrifice is so pleasing and acceptable to God that as soon as he has seen it he must immediately have pity on us and extend clemency to all who are truly repentant.<br />
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Moreover, it is eternal. It is offered not only each year (as with the Jews) but also each day for our consolation, and indeed at every hour and moment as well, so that we may have the strongest reason for comfort. That is why the Apostle adds: He has secured an eternal redemption.<br />
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All who have embarked on true contrition and penance for the sins they have committed, and are firmly resolved not to commit sins again for the future but to persevere constantly in that pursuit of virtues which they have now begun, all these become sharers in this holy and eternal sacrifice.<br />
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Saint John sets this before us in these words: My little children, I am writing this to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one. And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for those of the whole world.<br />
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Glory to the Father<br />
and to the Son<br />
and to the Holy Spirit:<br />
as it was in the beginning,<br />
is now, and will be forever. Amen</div>
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<br />Fr Mark J Hunt STDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087584742788767848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4218292219654562746.post-72427445044770148502024-03-16T19:03:00.000-04:002024-03-16T20:47:25.884-04:00Troubled by Jesus being troubled?<br />
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εὐαγγελίζω (<i>euaggelizo</i>)<br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“to announce the Good News of victory in battle”</span><br />
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Amen, amen, I say to you,<br />
unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies,<br />
it remains just a grain of wheat;<br />
but if it dies, it produces much fruit.<br />
Whoever loves his life loses it,<br />
and whoever hates his life in this world<br />
will preserve it for eternal life.<br />
Whoever serves me must follow me,<br />
and where I am, there also will my servant be.<br />
The Father will honor whoever serves me.<br />
“I am troubled now. Yet what should I say?<br />
‘Father, save me from this hour’?<br />
But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.”</div>
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<a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031724-YearB.cfm" target="_blank"><i>John</i> 12:24-28</a><br />Fifth Sunday of Lent
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θεωρέω (<i>theoreo</i>)<br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">(“to perceive, discover, ponder a deeper meaning”)</span><br />
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As is always the case with Sacred Scripture, context is a vital element assisting one to receive the saving message. This is especially the case with Sunday Mass proclamations that are not sequential: not knowing what has happened immediately before the episode proclaimed can leave one floundering a bit to catch what is happening in the life of Jesus.<br /><br />
On this Fifth Sunday of Lent, the Gospel proclaimed when the Scrutinies for the Elect are not celebrated is part of Jesus’ ‘mini-descent’ to Bethany and ‘mini-ascent’ to Jerusalem. Beginning in chapter 11 with the calling forth of Lazarus form the tomb in Bethany, Jesus then travels to the home of His friends where Mary anoints His feet while rebuking Judas for his somewhat hypocritical concern for the poor. The “next day” (<i>John</i> 12:1, a phrase that occurs often in the <i>Gospel according to Saint John</i> linking much in this <i>Gospel</i> to the account of Creation in <i>Genesis</i> 1 signalling that Jesus is involved in a new creation) begins Jesus ‘mini-ascent’ to Jerusalem where He is triumphantly received by the crowds and sought after by a number of Greeks (Gentiles). Throughout all these events, some religious authorities have been escalating their plans to have Jesus arrested and executed. Jesus response to this, “I am troubled (τετάρακται, <i>tetaraktai</i>) now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.” (<i>John</i> 12:27.)<br /><br />
The Greek verb ταράσσω (<i>tarássō</i>) can be translated into English in various ways, each focusing on a particular aspect of reality. For example, earlier in <i>John</i>, a sick man says to Jesus, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is <u>stirred up</u> (5:7). Here, ταράσσω (<i>tarássō</i>) indicates disturbance or agitation in water that not only mixes elements in the water but also aerates as well. When the water at the pool of Bethesda bubbled, people would enter it to be healed of various aliments.<br /><br />
More frequently though, ταράσσω (<i>tarássō</i>) expresses a condition of the inner life. When Jesus arrives in Bethany after receiving new of Lazarus’ death and meets Mary, the Evangelist notes (11:33), “When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, he became perturbed and <u>deeply troubled.</u>” (ταράσσω, <i>tarássō</i>) Later in chapter 14, Jesus commands His disciples, “Do not let your hearts be <u>troubled</u>” (ταράσσω, <i>tarássō,</i> 14:1) and “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be <u>troubled</u> (ταράσσω, <i>tarássō</i>) or afraid.” (14:27)<br /></div><div class="cmm7"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUVhtHaQ01ilPqwtMeqIsTYkJXsuJ_IjRmQx9o2IXioEdyH_Osk8GEPRuanHjRHHLind8ahTSH9FnTwCymaCKj_A0hpd_QOszTZp_-rhcriG6VHQKqioTVnhAnb3JTpGDahNaFbb_nTQ60MJbVjxnH0jb0Ubvfx8sZLiZZR1qi2no-3_jrhiiewfyPGh8/s808/TroubledJesus.png" style="clear: right; display: block; float: right; padding: 0px 0px 3px 10px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="808" data-original-width="647" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUVhtHaQ01ilPqwtMeqIsTYkJXsuJ_IjRmQx9o2IXioEdyH_Osk8GEPRuanHjRHHLind8ahTSH9FnTwCymaCKj_A0hpd_QOszTZp_-rhcriG6VHQKqioTVnhAnb3JTpGDahNaFbb_nTQ60MJbVjxnH0jb0Ubvfx8sZLiZZR1qi2no-3_jrhiiewfyPGh8/s320/TroubledJesus.png" /></a></div>
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Jesus’ declaration of being troubled is a privileged glimpse into His inner life, particularly the true, genuine and full human nature He has freely taken to Himself. In His humanity, the Divine Person Jesus reveals the Father, makes know the Father’s merciful love as He [Jesus] is the very embodiment of that love and desires all humanity to know Him in the manner of an encounter that is authentically personal (that is, relating as persons, not personal as a synonym for private or individual). These works cost Jesus His life because many preferred the darkness instead of He Who is Light to the world (see <i>John</i> 1:9-13). While <i>John</i> 12:27 seems to indicate the troubled-spirit is brief as Jesus continues in prayer to His Father, it is nonetheless a moment that speaks to the full human nature He possesses. In other words, if Jesus, in His humanity, were NOT to express some dimension of internal trouble in the face of murderous plots and the foreboding intimidation of crucifixion, something would be wrong. This point is echoed in the Second Reading as Mass this Sunday from the <i>Letter to the Hebrews,</i> “In the days when Christ Jesus was in the flesh, He offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears
to the One who was able to save Him from death...” (5:7-9)<br /><br /></div>
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As the days of Lent are slowly drawing to a close, keeping the Baptismal focus of Lent still remains. Even if the Third Scrutiny for the Elect was not celebrated in your parish, Lent remains a season of purification and enlightenment for both Elect and the Faithful who are already converted to Jesus in the Easter events of Baptism-Confirmation-Eucharist. For the Elect, their focus is on the encounter with Jesus in these sacramental mysteries. For the Faithful, Lent’s focus is being able to renew Baptismal promises at Easter with body-mind-soul purified and enlightened so as to respond with our all to the call of Jesus. At this moment, though, His call is a journey to go down with Him in death-dealing waters of Baptism by walking with Him up to Calvary. It is troubling, unsettling, uneasy and the only path to a glory that is the fullness of life in Father, Son and Holy Spirit.</div>
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Fr Mark J Hunt STDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087584742788767848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4218292219654562746.post-51066427445683340892024-03-16T19:02:00.009-04:002024-03-16T20:52:17.770-04:00Fifth Sunday of Lent<br />
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“... It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. They broke my covenant, though I was their master—oracle of the LORD.” (<i>Jeremiah</i> 31:32.)</div>
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<a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20080109.html" target="_blank">Saint Augustine of Hippo</a> comments on this verse from the Gospel proclaimed during <a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031724-YearB.cfm">today’s Mass</a>:</div>
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“But I,” he says, “hold on to what God handed over to Moses.” Listen to what God says through the prophet. What is God telling Jeremiah? “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, I will confirm on the house of Jacob a new covenant.” Leave the old aside, take up the new, and you can see that you ought to leave aside circumcision, and unleavened bread taken literally, and the sabbath taken literally and the sacrifices taken literally. Listen to how the new covenant is promised: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, I will confirm for them a new covenant, not like the covenant that I gave to their ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt,” when the law of commandments was given, when the people were led through the desert. It is not like that that I will give the new covenant. So do not go on wearing the old tunic. That was what crucified Christ. Your parent crucified him; you hate him. He by his own hand, you in your heart, both of you have carried out the crime. Therefore be displeased with what your parent did, and listen to what your Lord has done.” (<i>Sermon 196</i>)
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<a href="https://bit.ly/3TCUXaR" target="_blank">Reflection on Jesus being "troubled."</a>
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Collect
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By Your help, we beseech You, Lord our God,<br />
may we walk eagerly in that same charity<br />
with which, out of love for the world,<br />
Your Son handed Himself over to death.<br />
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,<br />
Who lives and reigns with You<br />
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,<br />
God, for ever and ever. Amen.</div>
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Glory to the Father<br />
and to the Son<br />
and to the Holy Spirit:<br />
as it was in the beginning,<br />
is now, and will be forever. Amen</div>
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<br />Fr Mark J Hunt STDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087584742788767848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4218292219654562746.post-43537615453921714352024-03-16T19:01:00.005-04:002024-03-16T20:47:02.643-04:00We keep the coming feast of the Lord through deeds, not words<br />
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<a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20070620.html" target="_blank">Saint Athanasius of Alexandria</a></div>
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Bishop and Great Eastern Father of the Church</div>
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An excerpt from his <i>Letter 14: Easter</i></div>
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Fifth Sunday of Lent</div>
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The Word who became all things for us is close to us, our Lord Jesus Christ who promises to remain with us always. He cries out, saying: See, I am with you all the days of this age. He is himself the shepherd, the high priest, the way and the door, and has become all things at once for us. In the same way, he has come among us as our feast and holy day as well. The blessed Apostle says of him who was awaited: Christ has been sacrificed as our Passover. It was Christ who shed his light on the psalmist as he prayed: You are my joy, deliver me from those surrounding me. True joy, genuine festival, means the casting out of wickedness. To achieve this one must live a life of perfect goodness and, in the serenity of the fear of God, practice contemplation in one’s heart.<br />
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This was the way of the saints, who in their lifetime and at every stage of life rejoiced as at a feast. Blessed David, for example, not once but seven times rose at night to win God’s favor through prayer. The great Moses was full of joy as he sang God’s praises in hymns of victory for the defeat of Pharaoh and the oppressors of the Hebrew people. Others had hearts filled always with gladness as they performed their sacred duty of worship, like the great Samuel and the blessed Elijah. Because of their holy lives they gained freedom, and now keep festival in heaven. They rejoice after their pilgrimage in shadows, and now distinguish the reality from the promise.<br />
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When we celebrate the feast in our own day, what path are we to take? As we draw near to this feast, who is to be our guide? Beloved, it must be none other than the one whom you will address with me as our Lord Jesus Christ. He says: I am the way. As blessed John tells us: it is Christ who takes away the sin of the world. It is he who purifies our souls, as the prophet Jeremiah says: Stand upon the ways; look and see which is the good path, and you will find in it the way of amendment for your souls.<br />
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In former times the blood of goats and the ashes of a calf were sprinkled on those who were unclean, but they were able to purify only the body. Now through the grace of God’s Word everyone is made abundantly clean. If we follow Christ closely we shall be allowed, even on this earth, to stand as it were on the threshold of the heavenly Jerusalem, and enjoy the contemplation of that everlasting feast, like the blessed apostles, who in following the Savior as their leader, showed, and still show, the way to obtain the same gift from God. They said: See, we have left all things and followed you. We too follow the Lord, and we keep his feast by deeds rather than by words.
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<a href="https://bit.ly/3TCUXaR" target="_blank">Reflection</a> on Jesus being "troubled."
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Glory to the Father<br />
and to the Son<br />
and to the Holy Spirit:<br />
as it was in the beginning,<br />
is now, and will be forever. Amen</div>
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Fr Mark J Hunt STDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087584742788767848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4218292219654562746.post-59645832782207045182024-03-15T19:02:00.002-04:002024-03-15T19:47:26.870-04:00Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent<br />
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“I knew it because the LORD informed me: at that time you showed me their doings.” (<i>Jeremiah</i> 11:18.)</div>
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<a href="http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20071107_en.html" target="_blank">Saint Jerome</a> offers the following insight on this verses from <a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031624.cfm" target="_blank">today’s First Reading:</a></div>
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“It is the consensus of all the church that these words are spoken by Christ through the person of Jeremiah. For the Father made it known to him how he should speak and revealed to him the zealotry of the Jews — he who was led like a lamb to the slaughter, not opening his mouth and not knowing. But the word sin is implicitly added to this last phrase, in agreement with what was said by the apostle: “When he did not know sin, he was made to be sin on our account.” And they said, “Let us put wood on his bread,” clearly referring to the cross on the body of the Savior, for he is the one who said, “I am the bread that descended from heaven.”<br />
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They also said “let us destroy (or eradicate) him from the land of the living.” And they conceived the evil in their soul that they would delete his name forever. In response to this, from the sacrament of the assumed body, the Son speaks to the Father and invokes his judgment while praising his justice and acknowledging him as the God who inspects the interior and the heart. He asks that the Father would return to the people what they deserve, saying, “Let me see your vengeance on them,” obviously referring only to those who continue in sin, not to those who repent. Concerning the latter, he said on the cross: “Father forgive them, for they do not realize what they are doing.” He also “disclosed his cause” to the Father, that he was crucified not because he deserved it but for the sins of the people, as he declared: “Behold, the prince of the world came and found nothing against me.” The Jews and our Judaizers believe that all of this was said only by Jeremiah, arguing from prophecy that the people have sustained these evils in their captivity. But I fail to see how they hope to prove that Jeremiah was the one crucified, since such an event is nowhere recorded in Scripture. Perhaps it is just a figment of their imagination.” (<i>Six Books on Jeremiah</i>, 2.)
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Collect</div>
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May the working of Your mercy,<br />
O Lord, we pray,<br />
direct our hearts aright,<br />
for without Your grace<br />
we cannot find favor in Your sight.<br />
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son<br />
Who lives and reigns with You<br />
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,<br />
God, for ever and ever. Amen.</div>
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Glory to the Father<br />
and to the Son<br />
and to the Holy Spirit:<br />
as it was in the beginning,<br />
is now, and will be forever. Amen</div>
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<br />Fr Mark J Hunt STDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087584742788767848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4218292219654562746.post-90528335087423844072024-03-15T19:01:00.002-04:002024-03-15T19:45:15.798-04:00All human activity is to find itspurification in the paschal mystery<br />
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Second Vatican Council</div>
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An excerpt from <i>Gaudium et Spes</i>, 37-38.</div>
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Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent</div>
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Holy Scripture, with which the experience of the ages is in agreement, teaches the human family that human progress, though it is a great blessing for man, brings with it a great temptation. When the scale of values is disturbed and evil becomes mixed with good, individuals and groups consider only their own interests, not those of others.<br />
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The result is that the world is not yet a home of true brotherhood, while the increased power of mankind already threatens to destroy the human race itself.<br />
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If it is asked how this unhappy state of affairs can be set right, Christians state their belief that all human activity, in daily jeopardy through pride and inordinate self-love, is to find its purification and its perfection in the cross and resurrection of Christ.<br />
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Man, redeemed by Christ and made a new creation in the Holy Spirit, can and must love the very things created by God. For he receives them from God, and sees and reveres them as coming from the hand of God.<br />
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As he gives thanks for them to his Benefactor, and uses and enjoys them in a spirit of poverty and freedom, he enters into true possession of the world, as one having nothing and possessing all things. For all things are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.<br />
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The Word of God, through whom all things were made, himself became man and lived in the world of men. As perfect man he has entered into the history of the world, taking it up into himself and bringing it into unity as its head. He reveals to us that God is love, and at the same time teaches us that the fundamental law of human perfection, and therefore of the transformation of the world, is the new commandment of love.<br />
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He assures those who have faith in God’s love that the way of love is open to all men, and that the effort to restore universal brotherhood is not in vain. At the same time he warns us that this love is not to be sought after only in great things but also, and above all, in the ordinary circumstances of life.<br />
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He suffered death for us all, sinners as we are, and by his example he teaches us that we also have to carry that cross which the flesh and the world lay on the shoulders of those who strive for peace and justice.<br />
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Constituted as the Lord by his resurrection, Christ, to whom all power in heaven and on earth has been given, is still at work in the hearts of men through the power of his Spirit. Not only does he awaken in them a longing for the world to come, but by that very fact he also inspires, purifies and strengthens those generous desires by which the human family seeks to make its own life more human and to achieve the same goal for the whole world.<br />
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The gifts of the Spirit are manifold. He calls some to bear open witness to the longing for a dwelling place in heaven, and to keep this fresh in the minds of all mankind; he calls others to dedicate themselves to the service of men here on earth, preparing by this ministry the material for the kingdom of heaven.<br />
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Yet he makes all free, so that, by denying their love of self and taking up all earth’s resources into the life of man, all may reach out to the future, when humanity itself will become an offering acceptable to God.<br />
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<div class="dox2">
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Glory to the Father<br />
and to the Son<br />
and to the Holy Spirit:<br />
as it was in the beginning,<br />
is now, and will be forever. Amen</div>
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<br />Fr Mark J Hunt STDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087584742788767848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4218292219654562746.post-8713876470028578022024-03-14T19:02:00.006-04:002024-03-14T20:04:27.180-04:00Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent<br />
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<div class="bbl3">
“For, not thinking rightly, they said among themselves: “Brief and troubled is our lifetime; there is no remedy for our dying, nor is anyone known to have come back from Hades.” (<i>Wisdom</i> 2:1.)
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8NyzWVwytT5ZOmlrwqW5HcludRsu-_kDgZBc-1qOYzhE_Q25FQtvj2rGI3ladkpmt5o6jhZsfe8EnQSFAuuvC1bxqUwZ4a5ump9PZA9aCpY7pGUUf8CQm5s0dK3xCAeqn80kuI1h-ZcY/s1600/StAugustineHippo1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8NyzWVwytT5ZOmlrwqW5HcludRsu-_kDgZBc-1qOYzhE_Q25FQtvj2rGI3ladkpmt5o6jhZsfe8EnQSFAuuvC1bxqUwZ4a5ump9PZA9aCpY7pGUUf8CQm5s0dK3xCAeqn80kuI1h-ZcY/s1600/StAugustineHippo1.jpg" width="247" /></a></div>
<div class="bbl4">
<a href="http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20080109_en.html" target="_blank">Saint Augustine of Hippo</a> comments on this verse from the First Reading proclaimed at <a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031524.cfm" target="_blank">Mass today</a>:</div>
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<div class="cmm7">
“They are corrupt, they do abominable things, no one does what is right.” Listen to these corrupt people. They in fact “have spoken among themselves, reasoning unsoundly.” Corruption begins with bad faith. From there it passes to depraved habits, later leading to the most violent injustice. This is, in general, the ladder one climbs. What, then, did they say among themselves, thinking badly, “our life is short and sorrowful”? From this mistaken conviction proceeds what the apostle also spoke of: “Let us eat and drink, because tomorrow we die.” But in the book of Wisdom this wantonness is described more thoroughly: “Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither. Let us leave signs of our enjoyment.” And after this more thorough description of wantonness, what do we read? “Let us kill the poor, just person,” which is as much as to say, “God does not exist.” (<i>Exposition of the Psalms</i>)
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<div class="subTitle" id="Lent4Friday">
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<br />
Collect
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<div class="pyr5">
O God, Who have prepared<br />
fitting helps for us in our weakness,<br />
grant, we pray, that we may receive<br />
their healing effects with joy<br />
and reflect them in a holy way of life.<br />
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,<br />
Who lives and reigns with You<br />
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,<br />
God, for ever and ever.</div>
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<div class="dox2">
Glory to the Father<br />
and to the Son<br />
and to the Holy Spirit:<br />
as it was in the beginning,<br />
is now, and will be forever. Amen</div>
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Fr Mark J Hunt STDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087584742788767848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4218292219654562746.post-32180708755906105732024-03-14T19:01:00.001-04:002024-03-14T20:02:55.386-04:00The paschal sacrament brings togetherin unity of faith those physicallyseparated from each other<br />
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<div class="oor1">
<a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20070620.html" target="_blank">Saint Athansius of Alexandria</a></div>
<div class="oor2">
Bishop and Great Eastern Father of the Church</div>
<div class="oor3">
<br />
An excerpt from his <i>Easter Letter</i> (Letter 5)</div>
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<div class="oor4">
Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkqqdB58b9DkBc470usnA_GzcxMmXCd2x5k_7ZyGckdxyynahcivbH7yXQvtfdjsgyxyvt1htrKQOlEspqTDeWv9lqiMkH3HuFSHJVHsC4cvAO10LTlzv0t4w56GR-lK6eQMnR_cTT7Ps/s1600/athanasius.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkqqdB58b9DkBc470usnA_GzcxMmXCd2x5k_7ZyGckdxyynahcivbH7yXQvtfdjsgyxyvt1htrKQOlEspqTDeWv9lqiMkH3HuFSHJVHsC4cvAO10LTlzv0t4w56GR-lK6eQMnR_cTT7Ps/s320/athanasius.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="cmm7">
Brethren, how fine a thing it is to move from festival to festival, from prayer to prayer, from holy day to holy day. The time is now at hand when we enter on a new beginning: the proclamation of the blessed Passover, in which the Lord was sacrificed. We feed as on the food of life, we constantly refresh our souls with his precious blood, as from a fountain. Yet we are always thirsting, burning to be satisfied. But he himself is present for those who thirst and in his goodness invites them to the feast day. Our Savior repeats his words: If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.<br />
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He quenched the thirst not only of those who came to him then. Whenever anyone seeks him he is freely admitted to the presence of the Savior. The grace of the feast is not restricted to one occasion. Its rays of glory never set. It is always at hand to enlighten the mind of those who desire it. Its power is always there for those whose minds have been enlightened and who meditate day and night on the holy Scriptures, like the one who is called blessed in the holy psalm: Blessed is the man who has not followed the counsel of the wicked, or stood where sinners stand, or sat in the seat of the scornful, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.<br />
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Moreover, my friends, the God who first established this feast for us allows us to celebrate it each year. He who gave up his Son to death for our salvation, from the same motive gives us this feast, which is commemorated every year. This feast guides us through the trials that meet us in this world. God now gives us the joy of salvation that shines out from this feast, as he brings us together to form one assembly, uniting us all in spirit in every place, allowing us to pray together and to offer common thanksgiving, as is our duty on the feast. Such is the wonder of his love: he gathers to this feast those who are far apart, and brings together in unity of faith those who may be physically separated from each other.<br />
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<div class="dox2">
Glory to the Father<br />
and to the Son<br />
and to the Holy Spirit:<br />
as it was in the beginning,<br />
is now, and will be forever. Amen</div>
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Fr Mark J Hunt STDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087584742788767848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4218292219654562746.post-46738678666021390512024-03-13T19:02:00.003-04:002024-03-13T19:31:21.322-04:00Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent<br />
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“Let me alone, then, that my anger may burn against them to consume them. Then I will make of you a great nation.” (<i>Exodus</i> 32:10.)</div>
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<div class="bbl4">
<a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20080109.html" target="_blank">Saint Augustine of Hippo</a> comments on this verse from the First Reading proclaimed during <a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031424.cfm">today’s Mass</a>:</div>
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<div class="cmm7">
“And in case you should suppose that he acted like this more from necessity than from charity, God actually offered him another people: “And I will make you,” he said, “into a great nation,” so leaving himself free to eliminate those others. But Moses wouldn’t accept this: he sticks to the sinners; he prays for the sinners. And how does he pray? This is a wonderful proof of his love, brothers and sisters. How does he pray? Notice something I’ve often spoken of, how his love is almost that of a mother. When God threatened that sacrilegious people, Moses’ maternal instincts were roused, and on their behalf he stood up to the anger of God. “Lord,” he said, “if you will forgive them this sin, forgive; but if not, blot me out from the book you have written.” What sure maternal and paternal instincts, how sure his reliance, as he said this, on the justice and mercy of God! He knew that because he is just he wouldn’t destroy a just man, and because he is merciful he would pardon sinners.” (<i>Sermon 88</i>)
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<div class="subTitle" id="Lent4Thursday"/>
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Collect
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<div class="pyr5">
We invoke Your mercy in humble prayer, O Lord,<br />
that You may cause us, Your servants,<br />
corrected by penance and schooled by good works,<br />
to persevere sincerely in Your commands<br />
and come safely to the paschal festivities.<br />
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son<br />
Who lives and reigns with You<br />
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,<br />
God, for ever and ever.</div>
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<br />
<div class="dox2">
Glory to the Father<br />
and to the Son<br />
and to the Holy Spirit:<br />
as it was in the beginning,<br />
is now, and will be forever. Amen</div>
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<br />Fr Mark J Hunt STDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087584742788767848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4218292219654562746.post-5685791866775089182024-03-13T19:01:00.001-04:002024-03-13T19:29:57.291-04:00Contemplating the Lord’s passion<br />
<br />
<div class="oor1">
<a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20080305.html" target="_blank">Pope Saint Leo the Great</a></div>
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Bishop of Rome and Great Western Father of the Church</div>
<div class="oor3">
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An excerpt from his <i>Sermo 15, On the Lord’s Passion</i></div>
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<div class="oor4">
Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO_Prz5x3E7ayv0K8vlLxWAV9PgiBR2NX22PQM4T8uA3CU5tceLea0d8DDAT0y29npK1fSi8fu6um0zyTlO8pOZ6qOCjroE6xXzAG9Pme03kvlNHYTkcwiDwDR7pPPeoYVRyZYCZfYciI/s1600/PopeStLeoGreat.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO_Prz5x3E7ayv0K8vlLxWAV9PgiBR2NX22PQM4T8uA3CU5tceLea0d8DDAT0y29npK1fSi8fu6um0zyTlO8pOZ6qOCjroE6xXzAG9Pme03kvlNHYTkcwiDwDR7pPPeoYVRyZYCZfYciI/s1600/PopeStLeoGreat.png" /></a></div>
<div class="cmm7">
True reverence for the Lord’s passion means fixing the eyes of our heart on Jesus crucified and recognizing in him our own humanity.<br />
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The earth—our earthly nature—should tremble at the suffering of its Redeemer. The rocks—the hearts of unbelievers—should burst asunder. The dead, imprisoned in the tombs of their mortality, should come forth, the massive stones now ripped apart. Foreshadowings of the future resurrection should appear in the holy city, the Church of God: what is to happen to our bodies should now take place in our hearts.<br />
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No one, however weak, is denied a share in the victory of the cross. No one is beyond the help of the prayer of Christ. His prayer brought benefit to the multitude that raged against him. How much more does it bring to those who turn to him in repentance.<br />
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Ignorance has been destroyed, obstinacy has been overcome. The sacred blood of Christ has quenched the flaming sword that barred access to the tree of life. The age-old night of sin has given place to the true light.<br />
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The Christian people are invited to share the riches of paradise. All who have been reborn have the way open before them to return to their native land, from which they had been exiled. Unless indeed they close off for themselves the path that could be opened before the faith of a thief.<br />
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The business of this life should not preoccupy us with its anxiety and pride, so that we no longer strive with all the love of our heart to be like our Redeemer, and to follow his example. Everything that he did or suffered was for our salvation: he wanted his body to share the goodness of its head.<br />
<br />
First of all, in taking our human nature while remaining God, so that the Word became man, he left no member of the human race, the unbeliever excepted, without a share in his mercy. Who does not share a common nature with Christ if he has welcomed Christ, who took our nature, and is reborn in the Spirit through whom Christ was conceived?<br />
<br />
Again, who cannot recognize in Christ his own infirmities? Who would not recognize that Christ’s eating and sleeping, his sadness and his shedding of tears of love are marks of the nature of a slave?<br />
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It was this nature of a slave that had to be healed of its ancient wounds and cleansed of the defilement of sin. For that reason the only-begotten Son of God became also the son of man. He was to have both the reality of a human nature and the fullness of the godhead.<br />
<br />
The body that lay lifeless in the tomb is ours. The body that rose again on the third day is ours. The body that ascended above all the heights of heaven to the right hand of the Father’s glory is ours. If then we walk in the way of his commandments, and are not ashamed to acknowledge the price he paid for our salvation in a lowly body, we too are to rise to share his glory. The promise he made will be fulfilled in the sight of all: Whoever acknowledges me before men, I too will acknowledge him before my Father who is in heaven.
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<div class="dox2">
Glory to the Father<br />
and to the Son<br />
and to the Holy Spirit:<br />
as it was in the beginning,<br />
is now, and will be forever. Amen</div>
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<br />Fr Mark J Hunt STDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087584742788767848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4218292219654562746.post-86155837690603228152024-03-12T19:02:00.005-04:002024-03-12T19:02:59.727-04:00Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent<br />
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<div class="bbl3">
“Thus says the LORD: In a time of favor I answer you, on the day of salvation I help you; I form you and set you as a covenant for the people, to restore the land and allot the devastated heritages ...” (<i>Isaiah</i> 49:8.)</div>
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<div class="bbl4">
<a href="http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20070425_en.html" target="_blank">Origen of Alexandria</a> (<a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20070502.html" target="_blank">part 2</a> of Pope Benedict’s reflections on Origen) comments on this verse from the First Reading proclaimed at <a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031324.cfm" target="_blank">Mass today</a>:</div>
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<div class="cmm7">
“God says through the prophet, “In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” What other time, then, is more acceptable than when for piety toward God in Christ we are led under guard in procession before the world, celebrating a triumph rather than being led in triumph? For the martyrs in Christ disarm the principalities and powers with him, and they share his triumph as fellows of his sufferings, becoming in this way also fellows of the courageous deeds wrought in his sufferings. These deeds include triumphing over principalities and powers, which in a short time you will see conquered and put to shame. What other day is so much a day of salvation as the one when we gain such deliverance from them?” (<i>Exhortation to Martyrdom</i>)
</div>
<div class="subTitle" id="Lent4Wednesday">
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<br />
<br />
Collect
</div>
<div class="pyr5">
O God, Who reward the merits of the just<br />
and offer pardon to sinners who do penance,<br />
have mercy, we pray, on those who call upon You,<br />
that the admission of our guilt<br />
may serve to obtain Your pardon for our sins.<br />
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,<br />
Who lives and reigns with You<br />
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,<br />
God, for ever and ever.</div>
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<div class="dox2">
<br />
Glory to the Father<br />
and to the Son<br />
and to the Holy Spirit:<br />
as it was in the beginning,<br />
is now, and will be forever. Amen</div>
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<br />Fr Mark J Hunt STDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087584742788767848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4218292219654562746.post-11145497004494111132024-03-12T19:01:00.004-04:002024-03-12T19:01:38.383-04:00The mercy of God to the penitent<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKk7wOS8fcF5dfqfC5_6Wzbg1cKd2l_PUmTPm9_LHkUEf90MDA-sfF85jM21tkOIK_1Iz0USRZsc7BjIgu_6gccn_ktB3mMiYwP1VfJ6oH96Iv_KqceZNfAnMJaLSudkB2mtMkw3f0gRY/s1600/MaximusConfessor.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKk7wOS8fcF5dfqfC5_6Wzbg1cKd2l_PUmTPm9_LHkUEf90MDA-sfF85jM21tkOIK_1Iz0USRZsc7BjIgu_6gccn_ktB3mMiYwP1VfJ6oH96Iv_KqceZNfAnMJaLSudkB2mtMkw3f0gRY/s1600/MaximusConfessor.png" /></a></div>
<div class="oor1">
<a href="https://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20080625.html" target="_blank">Saint Maximus the Confessor</a>
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Abbot</div>
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<div class="oor3">
An excerpt from his <i>Letter 11</i></div>
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<div class="oor4">
Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent</div>
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<div class="cmm7">
God’s will is to save us, and nothing pleases him more than our coming back to him with true repentance. The heralds of truth and the ministers of divine grace have told us this from the beginning, repeating it in every age. Indeed, God’s desire for our salvation is the primary and pre-eminent sign of his infinite goodness. It was precisely in order to show that there is nothing closer to God’s heart that the divine Word of God the Father, with untold condescension, lived among us in the flesh, and did, suffered, and said all that was necessary to reconcile us to God the Father, when we were at enmity with him, and to restore us to the life of blessedness from which we had been exiled. He healed our physical infirmities by miracles; he freed us from our sins, many and grievous as they were, by suffering and dying, taking them upon himself as if he were answerable for them, sinless though he was. He also taught us in many different ways that we should wish to imitate him by our own kindness and genuine love for one another.<br />
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So it was that Christ proclaimed that he had come to call sinners to repentance, not the righteous, and that it was not the healthy who required a doctor, but the sick. He declared that he had come to look for the sheep that was lost, and that it was to the lost sheep of the house of Israel that he had been sent. Speaking more obscurely in the parable of the silver coin, he tells us that the purpose of his coming was to reclaim the royal image, which had been coated with the filth of sin. You can be sure there is joy in heaven, he said, over one sinner who repents.<br />
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To give the same lesson he revived the man who, having fallen into the hands of the brigands, had been left stripped and half-dead from his wounds; he poured wine and oil on the wounds, bandaged them, placed the man on his own mule and brought him to an inn, where he left sufficient money to have him cared for, and promised to repay any further expense on his return.<br />
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Again, he told of how that Father, who is goodness itself, was moved with pity for his profligate son who returned and made amends by repentance; how he embraced him, dressed him once more in the fine garments that befitted his own dignity, and did not reproach him for any of his sins.<br />
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So too, when he found wandering in the mountains and hills the one sheep that had strayed from God’s flock of a hundred, he brought it back to the fold, but he did not exhaust it by driving it ahead of him. Instead, he placed it on his own shoulders and so, compassionately, he restored it safely to the flock.<br />
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So also he cried out: Come to me, all you that toil and are heavy of heart. Accept my yoke, he said, by which he meant his commands, or rather, the whole way of life that he taught us in the Gospel. He then speaks of a burden, but that is only because repentance seems difficult. In fact, however, my yoke is easy, he assures us, and my burden is light.<br />
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Then again he instructs us in divine justice and goodness, telling us to be like our heavenly Father, holy, perfect and merciful. Forgive, he says, and you will be forgiven. Behave toward other people as you would wish them to behave toward you.<br />
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<div class="dox2">
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Glory to the Father<br />
and to the Son<br />
and to the Holy Spirit:<br />
as it was in the beginning,<br />
is now, and will be forever. Amen</div>
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Fr Mark J Hunt STDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087584742788767848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4218292219654562746.post-79861354377502426222024-03-11T19:02:00.002-04:002024-03-11T19:02:00.130-04:00Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi4IvYuMmEgRjkJnLOtYJaTyBXEHZsLbS2ly-DkJtA1MAjMHmixqmz8-tPwOcaTawQb7ACg5lc38LlvIeeJodJuTWnf1yTMaogQTonsAlV57R3u8kku8FBLoZD-pJe0sUi6-oIMFPgI6A/s1600/StJeromeWeb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: -.2em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi4IvYuMmEgRjkJnLOtYJaTyBXEHZsLbS2ly-DkJtA1MAjMHmixqmz8-tPwOcaTawQb7ACg5lc38LlvIeeJodJuTWnf1yTMaogQTonsAlV57R3u8kku8FBLoZD-pJe0sUi6-oIMFPgI6A/s320/StJeromeWeb.jpg" /></a></div>
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“He said to me, “This water flows out into the eastern district, runs down into the Arabah and empties into the polluted waters of the sea to freshen them.” (<i>Ezekiel</i> 47:8.)</div>
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<a href="http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20071107_en.html" target="_blank">Saint Jerome</a> offers the following insight on this verses from <a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031224.cfm" target="_blank">today’s First Reading:</a></div>
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“We said a little time ago that the waters signify either the grace of baptism or the teaching of the gospel. If these waters go out from the threshold of the temple of the Lord and carry the teaching of the apostles, they have the power to make piles of gravel, sterile and infertile as they are, bear fruit, and they can irrigate every plain and every desert.” (<i>Commentary on Ezekiel</i>, 14.)
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<div class="subTitle" id="Lent4Tuesday">
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Collect
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<div class="pyr5">
May the venerable exercises of holy devotion<br />
shape the hearts of Your faithful, O Lord,<br />
to welcome worthily the Paschal Mystery<br />
and proclaim the praises of Your salvation.<br />
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son<br />
Who lives and reigns with You<br />
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,<br />
God, for ever and ever. Amen.</div>
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<div class="dox2">
Glory to the Father<br />
and to the Son<br />
and to the Holy Spirit:<br />
as it was in the beginning,<br />
is now, and will be forever. Amen</div>
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<a href="http://toulogoilogou.blogspot.com/">Top</a>
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<br />Fr Mark J Hunt STDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087584742788767848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4218292219654562746.post-35669389775388771032024-03-11T19:01:00.001-04:002024-03-11T19:01:00.146-04:00The virtue of charity<br />
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<div class="oor1">
<a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20080305.html" target="_blank">Pope Saint Leo the Great</a></div>
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Bishop of Rome and Great Latin Father of the Church</div>
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An excerpt from his <i>Sermo 10 in Quadragesima</i></div>
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<div class="oor4">
Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent</div>
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<div class="cmm7">
In the gospel of John the Lord says: In this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love for each other. In a letter of the same apostle we read: Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God; he who does not love does not know God, for God is love.<br />
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The faithful should therefore enter into themselves and make a true judgment on their attitudes of mind and heart. If they find some store of love’s fruit in their hearts, they must not doubt God’s presence within them. If they would increase their capacity to receive so great a guest, they should practice greater generosity in doing good, with persevering charity.<br />
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If God is love, charity should know no limit, for God cannot be confined.<br />
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Any time is the right time for works of charity, but these days of Lent provide a special encouragement. Those who want to be present at the Lord’s Passover in holiness of mind and body should seek above all to win this grace, for charity contains all other virtues and covers a multitude of sins.<br />
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As we prepare to celebrate that greatest of all mysteries, by which the blood of Jesus Christ did away with our sins, let us first of all make ready the sacrificial offerings of works of mercy. In this way we shall give to those who have sinned against us what God in his goodness has already given us.<br />
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Let us now extend to the poor and those afflicted in different ways a more open-handed generosity, so that God may be thanked through many voices and the relief of the needy supported by our fasting. No act of devotion on the part of the faithful gives God more pleasure than that which is lavished on his poor. Where he finds charity with its loving concern, there he recognizes the reflection of his own fatherly care.<br />
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In these acts of giving do not fear a lack of means. A generous spirit is itself great wealth. There can be no shortage of material for generosity where it is Christ who feeds and Christ who is fed. In all this activity there is present the hand of him who multiplies the bread by breaking it, and increasing it by giving it away.<br />
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The giver of alms should be free from anxiety and full of joy. His gain will be greatest when he keeps back least for himself. The holy apostle Paul tells us: He who provides seed for the sower will also provide bread for eating; he will provide you with more seed, and will increase the harvest of your goodness, in Christ Jesus our Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.
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<div class="dox2">
Glory to the Father<br />
and to the Son<br />
and to the Holy Spirit:<br />
as it was in the beginning,<br />
is now, and will be forever. Amen</div>
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<br />Fr Mark J Hunt STDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087584742788767848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4218292219654562746.post-68434051284504850812024-03-10T19:02:00.000-04:002024-03-10T19:13:26.246-04:00Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent
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“See, I am creating new heavens and a new earth; The former things shall not be remembered nor come to mind.” (<i>Isaiah</i> 65:17.)</div>
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<a href="http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20071107_en.html" target="_blank">Saint Jerome</a> offers the following insight on this verses from <a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031124.cfm" target="_blank">today’s First Reading:</a></div>
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“The new heavens and new earth are cause for rejoicing and for confessing the true God, because eternal amnesia follows on the former tribulations; this means that those who live therein will never be mindful of idols and previous errors but will pass from darkness into light for the enjoyment of eternal beatitude. For they will forget the former evils, not by having their memories destroyed but by receiving an inheritance of goods, in accordance with what is written: “On the day of good rewards, there will be no memory of evils,”1 and again: “an affliction of one hour destroys the memory of pleasures.” Thus, to the extent that the former desires were born in tribulation, members of the new creation will never enjoy them in the wayward manner of the Epicureans.” (<i>Commentary on Isaiah</i>, 18.)
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<div class="subTitle" id="Lent4Monday">
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Collect
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<div class="pyr5">
O God,<br />
Who renew the world<br />
through mysteries beyond all telling,<br />
grant, we pray,<br />
that Your Church<br />
may be guided by Your eternal design<br />
and not be deprived of Your help<br />
in this present age.<br />
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son<br />
Who lives and reigns with You<br />
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,<br />
God, for ever and ever. Amen.</div>
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<div class="dox2">
Glory to the Father<br />
and to the Son<br />
and to the Holy Spirit:<br />
as it was in the beginning,<br />
is now, and will be forever. Amen</div>
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<a href="http://toulogoilogou.blogspot.com/">Top</a>
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<br />Fr Mark J Hunt STDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087584742788767848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4218292219654562746.post-17138997318809069722024-03-10T19:01:00.001-04:002024-03-10T19:14:05.280-04:00Christ the high priestmakes atonement for our sins
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<a href="http://http//www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20070425_en.html" target="_blank">Origen of Alexandria</a></div>
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Priest, Ancient Christian Writer and Martyr</div>
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An excerpt from his <i>Homily on Leviticus</i></div>
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Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent</div>
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Once a year the high priest, leaving the people outside, entered that place where no one except the high priest might enter. In it was the mercy-seat, and above the mercy-seat the cherubim, as well as the ark of the covenant and the altar of incense.<br />
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Let me turn to my true high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. In our human nature he spent the whole year in the company of the people, the year that he spoke of when he said: He sent me to bring good news to the poor, to announce the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of forgiveness. Notice how once in that year, on the day of atonement, he enters into the holy of holies. Having fulfilled God’s plan, he passes through the heavens and enters into the presence of the Father to make him turn in mercy to the human race and to pray for all who believe in him.<br />
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John the apostle, knowing of the atonement that Christ makes to the Father for all men, says this: Little children, I say these things so that you may not sin. But if we have sinned we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the just one. He is the atonement for our sins In the same way Paul refers to this atonement when he says of Christ: God appointed him to be the atonement for our sins in his blood, through faith. We have then a day of atonement that remains until the world comes to an end.<br />
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God’s word tells us: The high priest shall put incense on the fire in the sight of the Lord. The smoke of the incense shall cover the mercy-seat above the tokens of the covenant, so that he may not die. He shall take some of the blood of the bull-calf and sprinkle it with his finger over the mercy-seat toward the east.<br />
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God taught the people of the old covenant how to celebrate the ritual offered to him in atonement for the sins of men. But you have come to Christ, the true high priest. Through his blood he has made God turn to you in mercy and has reconciled you with the Father. You must not think simply of ordinary blood but you must learn to recognize instead the blood of the Word. Listen to him as he tells you: This is my blood, which will be shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.<br />
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There is a deeper meaning in the fact that the high priest sprinkles the blood toward the east. Atonement comes to you from the east. From the east comes the one whose name is Dayspring, he who is mediator between God and men. You are invited then to look always to the east: it is there that the sun of righteousness rises for you, it is there that the light is always being born for you. You are never to walk in darkness; the great and final day is not to enfold you in darkness. Do not let the night and mist of ignorance steal upon you. So that you may always enjoy the light of knowledge, keep always in the daylight of faith, hold fast always to the light of love and peace.<br />
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<div class="dox2">
Glory to the Father<br />
and to the Son<br />
and to the Holy Spirit:<br />
as it was in the beginning,<br />
is now, and will be forever. Amen</div>
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<br />Fr Mark J Hunt STDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087584742788767848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4218292219654562746.post-57734502784088064212024-03-09T19:03:00.001-05:002024-03-10T08:22:45.673-04:00Scrutiny IILet the Light of the Father’s Mercy enter life<br />
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εὐαγγελίζω (<i>euaggelizo</i>)<br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“to announce the Good News of victory in battle”</span><br />
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“When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out,<br />
he found him and said,<br />
“Do you believe in the Son of Man?”<br />
He answered and said, “Who is he, sir,<br />
that I may believe in him?”<br />
Jesus said to him,<br />
“You have seen him, the one speaking with you is he.”<br />
He said, “I do believe, Lord,” and he worshiped him.<br />
Then Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment,<br />
so that those who do not see might see,<br />
and those who do see might become blind (<i>John </i>9:35-41).””</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031024-YearA.cfm" target="_blank"><i>John</i> 9:35-41</a><br />Fourth Sunday of Lent
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θεωρέω (<i>theoreo</i>)<br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">(“to perceive, discover, ponder a deeper meaning”)</span><br />
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<div class="cmm7">
There are a number of sights and sounds that present and reinforce the Season of Lent. Ashes signal Lent’s beginning. Communal fasting and abstaining from food and other dimensions of liviing mark a number of Lenten days. Devotions such as Stations of the Cross and other Lenten prayers focus mind, heart and body on Our Savior’s Passion and Death. Individual resolutions to sacrifice along with acts of mortification help to detach us from all that is not necessary so as to have room to receive all that is necessary for life. Vitally important to add to thes actions are the <i>Rites</i> that characterize Lent as a period of purification and enlightenment for the Elect and for the faithful as well.
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A person’s life journey that has drawn her or him to inquire about the ‘good things of God’ gently stirred the Gift of Faith to the point of listening to the Word of God as a catechumen. In listening to the Word, the catechumen discovered and was attracted to the Word-made-flesh Who offers water to not only refresh life’s aridity, but to slake the thirst for an eternity of Divine life and love with Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the Communion of Saints. Gratefully and humbly, the catechumen accepted the gift and invitation to be chosen; to be elected, to permit his or her life to be immersed in and configured to the One Who is Light shining in the darkness of chaos, confusion, uncertainty and sin. He Who is Light leads the way and reveals true life, for He is Life.
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The journey then to Jesus’ Resurrection in Baptism-Confirmation-Holy Eucharist is a pivotal sight and sound of Lent. In fact, one might contend that the penitential aspect and practices of Lent make sense only within a Baptismal context – Initiation for the Elect, renewal of Baptismal Promised at Easter for the faithful. This point comes into sharper focus with the celebrations of the Scrutinies on the Third, Fourth and Fifth Sundays of Lent. “The Scrutinies are Rites for self-searching and repentance and have above all a spiritual purpose. The Scrutinies are meant to uncover, then heal all that is weak, defective or sinful in the hearts of the Elect; to bring out, then strengthen all that is upright, strong and good (<i>Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults,</i> 141).” But here is where many faithful experience a disconnect and loose sight of Lent’s baptismal character. Some would hold that while these <i>Rites</i> may be important for an unbaptized person, they really do not concern me since I am already baptized. Once again, the wisdom of the Church instructs us: the <i>Rites </i>are to be celebrated “in such a way that the faithful in the assembly will also derive benefit from the Liturgy of the Scrutinies and join in intercessions for the Elect. (<i>Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults,</i> 145).” In other words, these <i>Rites</i> have benefit for all of us: the Elect and the Faithful. We are all in this together as members of One Body.</div>
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<div class="cmm7">
Consequently, as the Scrutinies are celebrated, “the celebrant first addresses the assembly of the faithful, inviting them to pray in silence and to ask that the Elect will be given a spirit of repentance, a sense of sin, and the true freedom of the children of God. (<i>Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults,</i> 166).” Here is Lent in a nutshell: spirit of repentance, a sense of sin and freedom of the children of God. But notice, we are asked to pray, asking that the Elect be given a “spirit of repentance,” “a sense of sin” and “freedom of the children of God.” These ‘spirits’ are not products of our making, they do not come into existence because I choose or will them into existence. This is 1 of the points of Jesus’ dealings with the man-born-blind and all of the other characters connected to him. Left to ourselves, we have no “sense of sin.” Left to ourselves, “a spirit of repentance” is a nothing more than meager attempt to fix a relationship on my terms so that I can get something out of it. Left to ourselves, there is no “freedom of the children of God” only license to indulge whatever impulse strikes our fancy that results in sucking us deeper into a black hole of addictive slavery to the self and all of its wants.
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“A spirit of repentance,” “a sense of sin” and “freedom of the children of God” are gifts given that reveal our lives in the light of the Father’s mercy, not our own. We are, admittedly, blind to many aspects of our own weaknesses and sins. Repeatedly we make excuses like so many in this Sunday’s Gospel episode. As contemporary listeners to the events that Jesus is dealing with, we might be tempted to smirk at the lengths people went to in order to deny the healing of blindness. Yet we do the same by rationalizing behaviors or referring to specific sins as ‘developmental challenges’ characteristic of one of life’s many phases. The Scrutinies do challenge us to allow Divine Light to shine into all aspects of life so that sin may not rule life and keep anyone from all that is upright, strong and good in the Lord.</div>
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Fr Mark J Hunt STDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087584742788767848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4218292219654562746.post-4630372320836368492024-03-09T19:02:00.000-05:002024-03-09T20:39:53.286-05:00Fourth Sunday of Lent<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCsCTltoljSllkapCt2IIo_te6kqHIoLrRUX55_bdI0CFU-zoSJJPgZk18G0zb8eWET00THJhi1i6GCClVQ2Xcmru3NLS04AC4kqQ-9j4jOqr6Z18w2ge07fR1RthMjQEsEr806RQL-Lw/s1600/StGregoryNazianzus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: -.5em; margin-left: .5em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCsCTltoljSllkapCt2IIo_te6kqHIoLrRUX55_bdI0CFU-zoSJJPgZk18G0zb8eWET00THJhi1i6GCClVQ2Xcmru3NLS04AC4kqQ-9j4jOqr6Z18w2ge07fR1RthMjQEsEr806RQL-Lw/s320/StGregoryNazianzus.jpg" /></a></div>
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“And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life...” (<i>John</i> 3:14-15.)<br />
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<a href="http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20070808_en.html" target="_blank">Saint Gregory of Nazianzus</a> reflects on these verses from <a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031024-YearB.cfm" target="_blank">today’s Gospel</a>:</div>
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“Let us praise the Son first of all, venerating the blood that expiated our sins. He lost nothing of his divinity when he saved me, when like a good physician he stooped to my festering wounds. He was a mortal man, but he was also God. He was of the race of David but Adam’s creator. He who has no body clothed himself with flesh. He had a mother who, nonetheless, was a virgin. He who is without bounds bound himself with the cords of our humanity. He was victim and high priest—yet he was God. He offered up his blood and cleansed the whole world. He was lifted up on the cross, but it was sin that was nailed to it. He became as one among the dead, but he rose from the dead, raising to life also many who had died before him. On the one hand, there was the poverty of his humanity; on the other, the riches of his divinity. Do not let what is human in the Son permit you wrongfully to detract from what is divine. For the sake of the divine, hold in the greatest honor the humanity, which the immortal Son took on himself for love of you.” (<i>Poem 2</i>)
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<div class="subTitle" id="Lent4Sunday">
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Collect
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O God,<br />
Who through Your Word<br />
reconcile the human race<br />
to Yourself in a wonderful way,<br />
grant, we pray,<br />
that with prompt devotion and eager faith<br />
the Christian people may hasten<br />
toward the solemn celebrations to come.<br />
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,<br />
Who lives and reigns with You<br />
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,<br />
God, for ever and ever. Amen.</div>
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Glory to the Father<br />
and to the Son<br />
and to the Holy Spirit:<br />
as it was in the beginning,<br />
is now, and will be forever. Amen</div>
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<br />Fr Mark J Hunt STDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087584742788767848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4218292219654562746.post-9180303145118554652024-03-09T19:01:00.000-05:002024-03-09T20:38:34.029-05:00Christ is the wayto the light, the truth, and the life<br />
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<a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20080109.html" target="_blank">Saint Augustine of Hippo</a></div>
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Bishop and Great Western Father of the Church</div>
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An excerpt from his <i>Treatise on John</i></div>
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<div class="oor4">
Fourth Sunday of Lent</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzjmJ8QOXnErQI6rGmpP0GFj_090ISmFRYa-hEjHZzc-vdiT5Mv6hXJvwREMLQvbc_0FHLrvQ1OLccLKvpEyr2lkOAhRK5qwhZguDFrMjmFRds88LTkvXa7I6If2FYtntbSE797snbdkc/s1600/StAugustineHippo1.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzjmJ8QOXnErQI6rGmpP0GFj_090ISmFRYa-hEjHZzc-vdiT5Mv6hXJvwREMLQvbc_0FHLrvQ1OLccLKvpEyr2lkOAhRK5qwhZguDFrMjmFRds88LTkvXa7I6If2FYtntbSE797snbdkc/s320/StAugustineHippo1.jpg" /></a></div>
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The Lord tells us: I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. In these few words he gives a command and makes a promise. Let us do what he commands so that we may not blush to covet what he promises and to hear him say on the day of judgment: “I laid down certain conditions for obtaining my promises. Have you fulfilled them?” If you say: “What did you command, Lord our God?” he will tell you: “I commanded you to follow me. You asked for advice on how to enter into life. What life, if not the life about which it is written: With you is the fountain of life?”<br />
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Let us do now what he commands. Let us follow in the footsteps of the Lord. Let us throw off the chains that prevent us from following him. Who can throw off these shackles without the aid of the one addressed in these words: You have broken my chains? Another psalm says of him: The Lord frees those in chains, the Lord raises up the downcast.<br />
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Those who have been freed and raised up follow the light. The light they follow speaks to them: I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness. The Lord gives light to the blind. Brethren, that light shines on us now, for we have had our eyes anointed with the eye-salve of faith. His saliva was mixed with earth to anoint the man born blind. We are of Adam’s stock, blind from our birth; we need him to give us light. He mixed saliva with earth, and so it was prophesied: Truth has sprung up from the earth. He himself has said: I am the way, the truth, and the life.<br />
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We shall be in possession of the truth when we see face to face. This is his promise to us. Who would dare to hope for something that God in his goodness did not choose to promise or bestow?<br />
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We shall see face to face. The Apostle says: Now I know in part, now obscurely through a mirror, but then face to face. John the apostle says in one of his letters: Dearly beloved, we are now children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. We know that when he is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. This is a great promise.<br />
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If you love me, follow me. “I do love you,” you protest, “but how do I follow you?” If the Lord your God said to you: “I am the truth and the life,” in your desire for truth, in your love for life, you would certainly ask him to show you the way to reach them. You would say to yourself: “Truth is a great reality, life is a great reality; if only it were possible for my soul to find them!”
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Glory to the Father<br />
and to the Son<br />
and to the Holy Spirit:<br />
as it was in the beginning,<br />
is now, and will be forever. Amen</div>
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<a href="http://toulogoilogou.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Top</a></div>
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<br />Fr Mark J Hunt STDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087584742788767848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4218292219654562746.post-2536457759651794872024-03-08T19:02:00.000-05:002024-03-08T20:19:13.529-05:00Saturday of the Third Week of Lent<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeh7lGFUdwuibxKaLWicEou9icgfdRk55gZP52t0FjeuGRLf14PaFebjz7PfxOtbodbyfKobsE0np1YRYi7oSQoIf3vtH68l8sM0MmJWiTmaGa4r-a3Gb0iks8VMvOw7wZEAxSBzPgzoo/s1600/origenAlexandria.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: -.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeh7lGFUdwuibxKaLWicEou9icgfdRk55gZP52t0FjeuGRLf14PaFebjz7PfxOtbodbyfKobsE0np1YRYi7oSQoIf3vtH68l8sM0MmJWiTmaGa4r-a3Gb0iks8VMvOw7wZEAxSBzPgzoo/s1600/origenAlexandria.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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“He will revive us after two days; on the third day he will raise us up, to live in his presence.” (<i>Hosea</i> 6:2)
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<a href="http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20070425_en.html" target="_blank">Origen of Alexandria</a> (<a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20070502.html" target="_blank">part 2</a> of Pope Benedict’s reflections on Origen) comments on this verse from the First Reading proclaimed at <a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030924.cfm" target="_blank">Mass today</a>:</div>
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“Hear what the prophet says: “God will revive us after two days, and on the third day we shall arise and live in his sight.” The first day is the passion of the Savior for us. The second is the day on which he descended into hell. The third day is the day of resurrection. Therefore on the third day “God went before them, by day in a column of cloud, by night in a column of fire.” But if according to what we said above, the apostle teaches us rightly that the mysteries of baptism are contained in these words, it is necessary that “those who are baptized in Christ are baptized in his death and are buried with him.” [They must] also arise from the dead with him on the third day, according to what the apostle says, “He raised up together with him and at the same time made them sit in the heavenly places.” When, therefore, you shall have undertaken the mystery of the third day, God will begin to lead you and will himself show you the way of salvation.” (<i>Homilies on the Exodus,</i> 5)
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<div class="subTitle" id="Lent3Saturday">
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<br />
Collect
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Rejoicing in this annual celebration<br />
of our Lenten observance,<br />
we pray, O Lord,<br />
that, with our hearts set on the Paschal Mysteries,<br />
we may be gladdened by their full effects.<br />
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,<br />
Who lives and reigns with You<br />
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,<br />
God, for ever and ever. Amen.</div>
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<div class="dox2">
Glory to the Father<br />
and to the Son<br />
and to the Holy Spirit:<br />
as it was in the beginning,<br />
is now, and will be forever. Amen</div>
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<br />Fr Mark J Hunt STDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087584742788767848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4218292219654562746.post-38771233788168874782024-03-08T19:01:00.000-05:002024-03-08T20:18:27.713-05:00Serve Christ in the poor<br />
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<div class="oor1">
<a href="http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20070808_en.html" target="_blank">Saint Gregory Nazianzus</a></div>
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Bishop and Great Eastern Father of the Church</div>
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An excerpt from his <i>Oration 14 - De pauperum amore (On Love of the Poor)</i></div>
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Saturday of the Third Week of Lent</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCsCTltoljSllkapCt2IIo_te6kqHIoLrRUX55_bdI0CFU-zoSJJPgZk18G0zb8eWET00THJhi1i6GCClVQ2Xcmru3NLS04AC4kqQ-9j4jOqr6Z18w2ge07fR1RthMjQEsEr806RQL-Lw/s1600/StGregoryNazianzus.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCsCTltoljSllkapCt2IIo_te6kqHIoLrRUX55_bdI0CFU-zoSJJPgZk18G0zb8eWET00THJhi1i6GCClVQ2Xcmru3NLS04AC4kqQ-9j4jOqr6Z18w2ge07fR1RthMjQEsEr806RQL-Lw/s1600/StGregoryNazianzus.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Blessed are the merciful, because they shall obtain mercy, says the Scripture. Mercy is not the least of the beatitudes. Again: Blessed is he who is considerate to the needy and the poor. Once more: Generous is the man who is merciful and lends. In another place: All day the just man is merciful and lends. Let us lay hold of this blessing, let us earn the name of being considerate, let us be generous.<br />
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Not even night should interrupt you in your duty of mercy. Do not say: Come back and I will give you something tomorrow. There should be no delay between your intention and your good deed. Generosity is the one thing that cannot admit of delay.<br />
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Share your bread with the hungry, and bring the needy and the homeless into your house, with a joyful and eager heart. He who does acts of mercy should do so with cheerfulness. The grace of a good deed is doubled when it is done with promptness and speed. What is given with a bad grace or against one’s will is distasteful and far from praiseworthy.<br />
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When we perform an act of kindness we should rejoice and not be sad about it. If you undo the shackles and the thongs, says Isaiah, that is, if you do away with miserliness and counting the cost, with hesitation and grumbling, what will be the result? Something great and wonderful! What a marvelous reward there will be: Your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will rise up quickly. Who would not aspire to light and healing?<br />
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If you think that I have something to say, servants of Christ, his brethren and coheirs, let us visit Christ whenever we may; let us care for him, feed him, clothe him, welcome him, honor him, not only at a meal, as some have done, or by anointing him, as Mary did, or only by lending him a tomb, like Joseph of Arimathaea, or by arranging for his burial, like Nicodemus, who loved Christ half-heartedly, or by giving him gold, frankincense and myrrh, like the Magi before all these others.<br />
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The Lord of all asks for mercy, not sacrifice, and mercy is greater than myriads of fattened lambs. Let us then show him mercy in the persons of the poor and those who today are lying on the ground, so that when we come to leave this world they may receive us into everlasting dwelling places, in Christ our Lord himself, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
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<div class="dox2">
Glory to the Father<br />
and to the Son<br />
and to the Holy Spirit:<br />
as it was in the beginning,<br />
is now, and will be forever. Amen</div>
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<a href="http://toulogoilogou.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Top</a></div>
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<br />Fr Mark J Hunt STDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087584742788767848noreply@blogger.com