Sunday, February 26, 2017 Quinquagesima
"We are going up to Jerusalem" -- a setting of the stage for the pilgrimage of Lent, and the one thing we
must bring with us: charity. [Also, traditional time for going to confession]
Deuteronomy, Chapter 6, Verse 13
The LORD, your God, shall you fear;
him shall you serve, and by his name shall you swear.
Whom do you serve? What
is the first thing you think of when you get up or the last thing before you
sleep? We all serve something; whom or what do you serve?
FOLLOW ONE MASTER ONLY
What a sad life
does he lead who wants both to please the world and to serve God! It is a great
mistake to make, my friends. Apart from the fact that you are going to be
unhappy all the time, you can never attain the stage at which you will be able
to please the world and please God. It is as impossible a feat as trying to put
an end to eternity. Take the advice that I am going to give you now and you
will be less unhappy: give yourselves wholly to God or else wholly to the
world. Do not look for and do not serve more than one master, and once you have
chosen the one you are going to follow, do not leave him. You surely remember
what Jesus Christ said to you in the Gospel: you cannot serve God and Mammon;
that is to say, you cannot follow the world and the pleasures of the world and
Jesus Christ with His Cross. Of course you would be quite willing to follow God
just so far and the world just so far! Let me put it even more clearly: you
would like it if your conscience, if your heart, would allow you to go to the
altar in the morning and the dance in the evening; to spend part of the day in
church and the remainder in the cabarets or other places of amusement; to talk
of God at one moment and the next to tell obscene stories or utter calumnies
about your neighbor; to do a good turn for your next-door neighbor on one
occasion and on some other to do him harm; in other words, to do good and speak
well when you are with good people and to do wrong when you are in bad company.[1]
What is meant by serving God? Doing the will of God in all things which
He requires of us, in whatever state of life we may be placed, and doing this with
fidelity, with unwearied zeal, and out of love for Him.
Who are the two masters whom we cannot serve at the same time? God and
an inordinate desire for worldly gain. One cannot serve both, because they demand
things that are contradictory.
Who are they that serve mammon, or worldly wealth? The avaricious, who,
impelled by their longing for riches, offend God by manifold transgressions of His
commandments.
Why does Christ refer us to the birds of the air and the lilies of the field?
To awaken in us confidence in Divine Providence. If God feeds the young ravens (Ps.
cxlvi. 9) and the birds of the air if He decks so beautifully the flowers of the
field, how much more will He not care for men, whom He has created after His own
image, and adopted as His children.
Are we, then, to use no care or labor? That by no means follows from
what has been said. The Savior forbids only that anxiety, proceeding from little
faith, which, in striving for maintenance, neglects God s honor and commandments,
and the good of one’s soul. For the rest, God Himself has commanded man to labor
(Gen. iii. 17-19); and St. Paul says, “If any man will not work, neither let him
eat” (n. Thess. iii. 10).
What should preserve us from excessive anxiety? A firm and living faith
that God can and will help us. That He can is clear, because He is almighty; that
He will is certain, for the reason that He is love that He has promised it to
us, more than once, most expressly, and that He is faithful in keep ing His promises.
Let us, then, trust in God,
and daily renew our confidence in Him, particularly when we say the Creed, or when,
in the Our Father, we pray, i i Give us this day our daily bread.
Consolation in Poverty
In your misery and poverty,
say often, with Job: “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away ; as it hath pleased
the Lord so it is done ; blessed be the name of the Lord (Job i. 21). Or seek comfort
in these words: “We lead indeed a poor life, but we shall have many good things
if we fear God and depart from all sin, and do that which is good” (Job iv. 23).
Warning against Usury
Usury is that mortal sin
which takes advantage of our neighbor’s poverty and need to extort from him what
is justly his own. Would that usurers might bear in mind what the Lord says: “What
doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul?”
(Matt. xvi. 26.)
NOVENA TO THE HOLY FACE
DAILY PREPARATORY PRAYER
We now implore all the Angels and Saints to intercede for us as we pray this Holy Novena to the Most Holy Face of Jesus and for the glory of the most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
(Start novena)
Eighth Day
O rescue me, God my helper, and my tongue shall ring out your goodness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare your praise.
Most merciful Face of Jesus, who in this vale of tears was so moved by our misfortunes to call yourself the healer of the sick, and the good Shepherd of the souls gone astray, allow not Satan to draw us away from you, but keep us always under your loving protection, together with all souls who endeavor to console you. Mary, our Mother, intercede for us, Saint Joseph, pray for us.
Through the merits of your precious blood and your Holy Face, O Jesus, grant us our petition, Pardon and Mercy.
Prayer to Saint Peter
O glorious Saint Peter, who in return for thy lively and generous faith, thy profound and sincere humility and thy burning love, was honored by Jesus Christ with singular privileges, and in particular, with the leadership of the other apostles and the primacy of the whole church, of which thou was made the foundation stone, do thou obtain for us the grace of a lively faith, that shall not fear to profess itself openly in its entirety and in all of its manifestations, even to the shedding of blood, if occasion should demand it, and to the sacrifice of life itself in preference to surrender. Obtain for us likewise a sincere loyalty to our Holy Mother the Church. Grant that we may ever remain most closely and sincerely united to the Holy Father, who is the heir of thy faith and of thy authority, the one true visible head of the Catholic Church. Grant, moreover, that we may follow, in all humility and meekness, the Church’s teaching and counsels and may be obedient to all her precepts, in order to be able here on earth to enjoy a peace that is sure and undisturbed, and to attain one day in heaven to everlasting happiness. Amen.
Pray one (1) Our Father, (3) Hail
Mary’s, (1) Glory Be.
O Bleeding Face, O Face Divine, be every adoration Thine. (Three times)
O Bleeding Face, O Face Divine, be every adoration Thine. (Three times)
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