Sunday, February 23, 2016 Second Sunday of Lent
Isaiah,
chapter 35, verse 3-4
3 Strengthen hands that are feeble, make firm knees
that are weak, 4
Say to the fearful of heart: Be
strong, do not fear! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; With
divine recompense he comes to save you.
Isaiah in this chapter is
proclaiming the deliverance of Israel specifically but upon examining the
wording in this verse it is referring to the day of our death. On that day our
hands will be feeble but our hearts must remain strong. Will you be vindicated
and what recompense will be due you.
Honestly few will be due recompense but our Lords love is such that he
wishes to save us at this final hour with the sacrament which was formerly
called the “Last Rites”.
1524 In addition
to the Anointing of the Sick, the Church offers those who are about to leave
this life the Eucharist as viaticum. Communion in the body and blood of Christ,
received at this moment of "passing over" to the Father, has a
particular significance and importance. It is the seed of eternal life and the
power of resurrection, according to the words of the Lord: "He who eats my
flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last
day." The sacrament of Christ once dead and now risen, the Eucharist is
here the sacrament of passing over from death to life, from this world to the
Father.
1525 Thus, just
as the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist form a unity
called "the sacraments of Christian initiation," so too it can be
said that Penance, the Anointing of the Sick and the Eucharist as viaticum
constitute at the end of Christian life "the sacraments that prepare for
our heavenly homeland" or the sacraments that complete the earthly
pilgrimage.
Such is the Love of our Lord that
we should be delivered. His love is such
that by receiving our Lord in the viaticum he delivers us to the Father saying
here is blood of my blood and He transfers His recompense; His vindication to
us. There is no greater love then this!
Let us pray.
Most gracious God, Father of mercies and God of all consolation, Thou wish none
to perish that believes and hopes in Thee, according to Thy many mercies look
down favourably upon Thy servant (handmaid) N.____ whom true faith and
Christian hope commend to Thee. Visit him (her) in Thy saving mercy, and by the
passion and death of Thy only-begotten Son, graciously grant to him (her)
forgiveness and pardon of all his (her) sins that his (her) soul in the hour of
its leaving the earth may find Thee as a Judge appeased, and being washed from
all stain in the Blood of Thy same Son may deserve to pass to everlasting life.
Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
Lord, teach me to be generous. Teach me
to serve you as you deserve; to give and not to count the cost…to labor and not
to ask for reward, except to know that I am doing your will. (Saint Ignatius,
Prayer for Generosity)
Lord, let me not fear death
with an empty fear, but with a wise
and holy fear. An empty fear does not make men any better, but a
wise and holy fear urges them to
improve their lives. I will prepare for death by trying today to please you
more and more in my thoughts, desires, words and actions. If I live this day as
You desire, I shall be ready at any moment, and death will be nothing worse
than Your loving call. Amen[1]
Grace at Meals[2]
Part
and parcel of the breakdown of a family begins when the family no longer shares
a communal meal. The strongest families are those who meet daily for the
breaking of the bread and have an established time of the day when everyone is
expected to eat together whether that meal is a breakfast, lunch or supper. When
we “say grace” before (or after) our meals, we transform our family or lone
meals into “sacraments” of God’s banquet. A meal shared in this manner is
shared with God himself. In this way every meal, then, is a celebration of God’s
creation and his providence.
Traditional
Grace before meals
“Bless
us, O Lord, and these, thy gifts, which we are about to receive from thy
bounty. Through Christ, our Lord, Amen
Second Sunday of
Lent[3]
Traditionally
for this Sunday we hear Paul exhorts us to keep up our progress and we hear the
story of the Transfiguration as a heartening foretaste of Christ's ultimate
triumph.
Why
was Jesus transfigured before His disciples on Mount Tabor?
1.
To give them a manifest proof of His divinity. 2. To prevent all doubt on their
part when they should see Him on Mount Calvary. 3. To encourage all the faithful
to patience under agony and suffering. 4. To show us how our glorified bodies shall
rise from the dead (i. Cor. xv. 52).
Why
did Moses and Elias appear with Our Lord?
To
testify that Jesus was the Savior of the world spoken of by the law and the
prophets.
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