Tuesday First Week of Lent
NAPPING DAY
Deuteronomy, Chapter 20, Verse 8
The officials shall continue to speak to the army: “Is there anyone
who is afraid and weakhearted? Let him return home, or else he might make the hearts of his
fellows melt as his does.”
Fear begets fear and Faith begets faith. Remember everyone you meet is fighting
a hard battle and carrying a heavy load.
Do not fear and continue in faith with our fathers
knowing that St. Michael, the archangel, is the guardian angel and protector of
the Catholic Church.
Some people believe we are on the cusp of the end
times. Pope Leo XIII[1]
by divine enlightenment was revealed the struggles of the Church against the
powers of hell and it was opened to him that hell would be conquered by the
intervention of God led by St. Michael the warrior angel. Pope Leo instituted
the prayer of St. Michael after Mass.
Saint Michael, the Archangel, defend
us in battle; be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O prince of the heavenly host,
by the power of God, thrust into Hell, Satan and all the other evil spirits,
who prowl throughout the world, seeking the ruin of souls. Amen
Yet, do not fear the end times nor the devil and his
cohorts for each time you receive communion you are empowered more then they!
EPISTLE.
Isaias Iv. 6-11.
IN those days Isaias the prophet spoke, saying: Seek
ye the Lord while He may be found call upon Him while He is near. Let the
wicked forsake his way, and the unjust man his thoughts, and let him return to
the Lord, and He will have mercy on him, and to our God: for He is bountiful to
forgive. For My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith
the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are My ways
exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts. And as the rain
and the snow come down from heaven, and return no more thither, but soak the
earth, and water it, and make it to spring, and give seed to the sower, and
bread to the eater: so shall My word be, which shall go forth from My mouth :
it shall not return to Me void, but it shall do whatsoever I please, and shall
prosper in the things for which I sent it, saith the Lord Almighty.
GOSPEL. Matt.
xxi. 10-17.
At that time:
When Jesus was come into Jerusalem, the whole city was moved, saying: Who is
this? And the people said: This is Jesus the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.
And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and
bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the
chairs of them that sold doves: and He saith to them : It is written, My house
shall be called the house of prayer: but you have made it a den of thieves. And
there came to Him the blind, and the lame in the temple; and He healed them.
And the chief priests and scribes seeing the wonderful things that He did, and
the children crying in the temple, and saying: Hosanna to the son of David;
were moved with indignation, and said to Him: Hearest Thou what these say? And
Jesus said to them: Yea, have you never read: Out of the mouth of infants and
of sucklings Thou hast per fected praise? And leaving them, He went out of the
city into Bethania, and remained there.
Prayer. Look down upon Thy family, O Lord,
and grant that our minds, which are afflicted by the mortifications of the
flesh, may shine in Thy light with the desire of Thee.
Lenten
Calendar[3]
Read: Lent is a time many often rededicate
themselves to prayer. Check out these 9 ways to
pray. . . from USCCB’s We Are Salt and Light for ideas on
how to expand your prayer life this season.
Reflect: “Lent is to be lived as a time of
conversion, as a time of renewal for individuals and communities, by drawing
close to God and by trustfully adhering to the Gospel. In this way, it also
allows us to look with new eyes at our brothers and sisters and their
needs." (Pope Francis, General Audience, March 5, 2014)
Pray: Try one of the 9 ways to pray from the
article that you have never tried before.
Act: If you found you liked one of the 9
ways to pray from above to be helpful to you, share your experience with a
loved one.
·
Our
heavenly Father has placed over each of us an angel under whose protection and
vigilance we may be enabled to escape the snares secretly prepared by our
enemy, repel the dreadful attacks he makes on us.
·
Never
was anyone, conceived been liberated from the Devil’s dominion except by faith
in our Lord Jesus Christ, the mediator between God and humanity, who was
conceived without sin, was born and died. He alone by His death overthrew the
enemy of the human race, cancelling our sins, and unlocked the entrance to the
heavenly kingdom, which the first man by his sin had locked against himself and
all his posterity. COUNCIL OF FLORENCE (ECUMENICAL, 1431– 1445), SESSION 2
·
Men
are separated into two diverse and opposite parts, of which the one steadfastly
contends for truth and virtue, the other of those things which are contrary to
virtue and to truth. The one is the kingdom of God on earth, namely, the true
Church of Jesus Christ; and those who desire from their heart to be united with
it, so as to gain salvation, must of
necessity serve God and His only-begotten Son with their whole mind and with an
entire will. The other is the kingdom of Satan, in whose possession and control
are all who follow the fatal example of their leader and of our first parents,
those who refuse to obey the divine and eternal law, and who have many aims of
their own in contempt of God, and many aims also against God. POPE LEO XIII,
HUMANUM GENUS (PAPAL ENCYCLICAL, 1884), 1
·
Satan
manages to sow in man’s soul the seed of opposition to the one who “from the
beginning” would be considered as man’s enemy— and not as Father. Man is
challenged to become the adversary of God! The analysis of sin in its original
dimension indicates that, through the influence of the “father of lies,”
throughout the history of humanity there will be a constant pressure on man to
reject God, even to the point of hating Him: “Love of self to the point of
contempt for God,” as St. Augustine puts it. POPE JOHN PAUL II, DOMINUM ET
VIVIFICANTEM (PAPAL ENCYCLICAL, 1986), 38
Thanks to Fear of the Lord, there is no Fear of Evil[5]
History,
in fact, is not alone in the hands of dark powers, chance or human choices.
Over the unleashing of evil energies, the vehement irruption of Satan, and the
emergence of so many scourges and evils, the Lord rises, supreme arbiter of
historical events. He leads history wisely towards the dawn of the new heavens
and the new earth, sung in the final part of the book under the image of the
new Jerusalem (cf. Revelation 21-22).
·
It
must be reaffirmed, therefore, that God is not indifferent to human events, but
penetrates them realizing his "ways," namely his plans and his
efficacious "deeds."
·
According
to our hymn, this divine intervention has a very specific purpose: to be a sign
that invites all the peoples of the earth to conversion. Nations must learn to
"read" in history a message of God. Humanity's history is not
confused and without meaning, nor is it given over, without appeal, to the
malfeasance of the arrogant and perverse. There is the possibility to recognize
divine action hidden in it. In the pastoral constitution "Gaudium et
Spes," Vatican Council II also invites the believer to scrutinize, in the
light of the Gospel, the signs of the times to see in them the manifestation of
the very action of God (cf. n. 4 and 11). This attitude of faith leads man to
recognize the power of God operating in history, and thus to open himself to
fear of the name of the Lord. In biblical language, in fact, this
"fear" does not coincide with dread, but is the recognition of the
mystery of the divine transcendence. Because of this, it is the basis of faith
and is joined with love: "the Lord your God requires of you, but to fear
the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your
God with all your heart and with all your soul" (cf. Deuteronomy 10:12).
·
Following
this line, in our brief hymn, taken from Revelation, fear and glorification of
God are united: "Who will not fear you, Lord, or glorify your name"
(15:4)? Thanks to fear of the Lord there is no fear of the evil that rages in
history and one takes up again with vigor the journey of life, as the prophet
Isaiah declared: "Strengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the
knees that are weak, say to those whose hearts are frightened: ‘Be strong, fear
not!’" (Isaiah 35: 3-4).
Think what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o’clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap. Barbara Jordan`
You got up early and got a great start to the day, you’ve been trucking along being a productive adult, getting your work completed and attending the meetings you have to attend. Throughout it all you’ve been a trooper, you even made it through lunch without much trouble. But now it’s creeping into the late afternoon, and you’re just out of go. What do you do? You take a nap! Napping Day encourages you to remember these benefits of youth and take a little time out of the day for you! Napping Day’s history is simply the history of napping, and it used to be something we all did in the middle of the afternoon. In fact, the siesta is still a time-honored tradition in Spain that happens right after the afternoon meal and has been a practice since time out of mind. In fact, if you’re in the Mediterranean, it’s pretty much standard everywhere you go. In Italy they call it the riposo, pisolini, and even old Charlamagne (yes that Charlamagne) has been recorded as having taken 2-3-hour naps in the middle of the afternoon. So, is it just laziness? Well, no. You see in part it’s because the hottest hours of the day occur in the middle of the afternoon, and it makes sense to take a brief break at that point. It also has to do with the circadian rhythms and the change-over point between the wake cycle and sleep cycle, there’s a time that’s essentially perfect for a nap. There are even notable benefits to taking a nap in the afternoon, including evidence pointing to a 37% reduction in occurrences of coronary mortality in those who take an afternoon nap regularly.
How to Celebrate Napping Dayzzzzzzzzzzzz
·
Well,
the way to celebrate Napping Day is pretty simple isn’t it? You just take a
little time in the afternoon (whenever your afternoon is, some of us are day
sleepers) to rest. After the afternoon meal is perfect, and in the long-run it
can help you actually feel better and more energized for the day ahead. It may
be tricky if you have a regular work schedule, but whenever you can… Take a
nap!
"Read
these counsels slowly. Pause to meditate on these thoughts. They are things
that I whisper in your ear-confiding them-as a friend, as a brother, as a
father. And they are being heard by God. I won't tell you anything new. I will
only stir your memory, so that some thought will arise and strike you; and so
you will better your life and set out along ways of prayer and of Love. And in
the end you will be a more worthy soul."
Make
few resolutions. Make them definite. — And fulfil them with the help of God
Daily Devotions
·
comment on your “Coffee with
Christ”
[1]
http://www.stjosephschurch.net/leoxiii.htm
[2]
Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896
[4]Thigpen,
Paul. Manual for Spiritual Warfare. TAN Books.
[5]https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2019-03-12
[7]http://www.escrivaworks.org/book/the_way-point-1.htm
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