Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Judges, Chapter
6, Verse 23
The LORD answered him: You are safe. Do
not fear. You shall not die.
Unlike Gideon,
whom this verse is about, most of us do not have an angel appear from heaven to
tell us that we will not die and to not be afraid.
Yet, we have something greater than an angel here; we have the Lord Jesus
Christ telling us-Do not fear.
We are blessed
because we are the receivers of the apex of God’s graces through Jesus Christ,
His mother and the action of Divine Mercy. If you are afraid to start again or are discouraged by failure it is because
you do not understand you can do nothing without Christ. Therefore, if you have
sinned go to confession and receive His Body and Blood: being renewed. I
remember in 2006 when I and my wife Mary were blessed with being able to make a
trip to Israel. I was reflecting upon the graces I had received. I was thanking
the Lord for I had touched the spot on the earth where He was born, and I had
touched the spot where He had died, and I had touched the spot where He had
ascended into heaven. I was prideful and thought how lucky am I. Then my Lord
reminded me that a greater grace still awaits me and everyone in the Holy
Eucharist. Be honest, humble yourself and make a sincere effort. Leave all else
in His hands-saying: Jesus I Trust in You!
Pride wants
immediate success. Be brave as Gideon and renew your intentions, make a
resolution daily to do the will of God and seek to please Him.
Prayer. MAY our fasts be
acceptable to Thee, O Lord, and, by expiating our sins, may they make us worthy
of Thy grace, and conduct us to eternal salvation.
EPISTLE. Daniel xiv.
28-42.
In those days
the Babylonians came to the king, and said: Deliver us Daniel, or else we will
destroy thee and thy house. And the king saw that they pressed upon him violently:
and being constrained by necessity he delivered Daniel to them. And they cast
him into the den of lions, and he was there six days. And in the den, there
were seven lions, and they had given to them two carcasses every day, and two sheep:
but then they were not given unto them to the intent that
they might devour Daniel. Now there was in Judea a prophet called Habacuc, and
he had boiled pottage, and had broken bread in a bowl: and was going into the
field, to carry it to the reapers.
And the angel of the Lord said to Habacuc: Carry the
dinner which thou hast into Babylon to Daniel, who is in the lion’s den. And
Habacuc said: Lord, I never saw Babylon, nor do I know the den. And the angel
of the Lord took him by the top of his head, and carried him by the hair of his
head, and set him in Babylon over the den in the force of his spirit. And
Habacuc cried, saying: O Daniel, thou servant of God, take the dinner that God
hath sent thee. And Daniel said: Thou hast remembered me, O God, and Thou hast
not forsaken them that love Thee. And Daniel arose and ate. And the angel of
the Lord presently set Habacuc again in his own place. And upon the seventh day
the king came to bewail Daniel: and he came to the den, and looked in, and
behold Daniel was sitting in the midst of the lions. And the king cried out
with a loud voice, saying: Great art Thou, O Lord the God of Daniel. And he
drew him out of the lion’s den. But those that had been the cause of his
destruction, he cast into the den, and they were devoured in a moment before
him. Then the king said: Let all the inhabitants of the whole earth fear the
God of Daniel: for He is the Saviour, working signs, and wonders in the earth:
Who hath delivered Daniel out of the lion’s den.
GOSPEL. John vii. 1-13.
At
that time: Jesus walked in Galilee; for He would not walk in Judea, because the
Jews sought to kill Him. Now the Jews feast of Tabernacles was at hand. And His
brethren said to Him: Pass from hence, and go into Judea: that Thy disciples
also may see Thy works which Thou dost. For there is no man that doth anything
in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If Thou do these things,
manifest Thyself to the world. For neither did His brethren believe in Him.
Then Jesus said to them: My time is not yet come: but your time is always
ready. The world cannot hate you; but Me it hateth: because I give testimony of
it, that the works thereof are evil. Go you up to this festival-day, but I go
not up to this festival- day: because My time is not accomplished. When He had
said these things, He Himself stayed in Galilee. But after His brethren were
gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in
secret. The Jews therefore sought Him on the festival-day, and said: Where is
He?
And
there was much murmuring among the multitude concerning Him. For some said: He
is a good man. And others said: No, but He seduceth the people. Yet no man
spoke openly of Him, for fear of the Jews.
Lenten Calendar[2]
Read: The Servant Songs, Day Two: (Within the
Book of the Prophet Isaiah we encounter four poetic sections known as the Songs
of the Suffering Servant. The specific identity of this Servant of the Lord
remains the topic of scholarly debate. Perhaps it refers to the prophet Isaiah
himself, perhaps the entire nation of Israel, or possibly the promised Messiah.
Christian faith sees these prophetic utterances fulfilled in the life,
ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Lord. Because of the Christian
identification of the Suffering Servant with Jesus, the four Servant Songs
become a way of encountering the Lord during this Lenten Season. Not only do
they give us a sense of the commitment and endurance that characterized his
messianic ministry, but they become a way of touching the bruised face of the
Messiah, of hearing the resolute determination that sustained him in the midst
of trial, and of rejoicing with him in God’s ultimate vindication of
his calling and service.)
The second song, spoken in
the Servant’s own voice, tells of being selected from the womb to become God’s
mouthpiece and help renew the nation.
Pray: Take time with the second Servant Song
today. Read Isaiah 49:1-7.
Act: The prophet proclaims the call and
destiny of the servant of the Lord, who is called and chosen to reveal the
light of God to the world.
Hell,
and the Devil have been pillaged, stripped of their ancient armor, robbed of
their special power. And just as the giant Goliath had his head cut off with
his own sword, so also has the Devil, the father of death, been put to rout
through the death of Christ. He finds that the very same weapon he used to
wield as the ready tool of his deceit has now become the mighty instrument of
his own destruction. We might put it this way: The Devil went fishing and cast
his line and hook to catch yet another man in death. But the Man he caught this
time was Christ, whose divine nature was hidden within His human nature. For this
reason, the martyrs leap upon the head of that dragon the Devil, and look with
disdain on every kind of torment. ST. GREGORY THAUMATURGUS
Catholic tradition engages the whole person; all the
senses and has been called at times the religion of “bells and smells.” God
created us as a unity of body and soul, and we return ourselves entirely to him
in worship. We worship him is spirit and truth and, in our worship, we present
our bodies as a living sacrifice. Thus, the Churches worship engages all that
we are both body and senses. We contemplate during worship the mysteries of God
using our total selves; our hearing, sight, taste, touch, and smells. We ring
bells to herald the Lord’s appearance and we burn incense before his altar. Our
worship is good and true, but it is also beautiful.
The
Mass is a reenactment of the death of our Lord. It is thought-provoking to
contemplate that Pilate’s notice above Christ’s head, was printed in three
languages Hebrew, Latin and Greek. These three cultures in a sense represented
the characteristics of God. The Hebrew’s were Gods people and represented the good of man and brought the idea that
the person was created by God and is more valuable than the universe. Latin the
language of the Romans brought the idea that truth is the highest value and the Greek culture brought the idea
of beauty being the greatest value.
In Christ’s death is represented all three values. That a good God died for
man; true to the end; and His shame was turned by love to beauty.
Via the Masses worldwide we live out the words of the
prophet Malachi 1:11,
“From the rising of the sun to its setting,
my name is great among the nations; Incense offerings are made to my name
everywhere, and a pure offering; for my name is great among the nations, says
the LORD of hosts.”
Daily Devotions
[1]
Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896
[2]http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/liturgical-year/lent/april-9.cfm
[3]
Thigpen, Paul. Manual for Spiritual Warfare. TAN Books.
[4] Hahn, Scott, Signs of Life; 40 Catholic
Customs and their biblical roots. Chap. 23. Incense.
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