Saturday, April 4, 2020
Saturday of The Fifth Week of Lent
FIRST SATURDAY-MLK ASSASSINATION
Isaiah,
Chapter 41, verse 13-14
13 For I am the LORD,
your God, who grasp your right hand; it is I who say to you, do not FEAR, I will help you. 14 Do not FEAR, you worm Jacob, you maggot Israel;
I will help you—oracle of the LORD; the Holy One of Israel is your redeemer.
I
picture Christ, the Holy One of Israel, saying this to Peter at the Sea of
Galilee as He pulls Peter up after he had walked on the water and feared the
waves and began to drown “I am the LORD, your God, who grasp your right hand”.
We must not waiver when we feel covered over by the waters of fear for, He will
help us. When in fear if we cry out for
his help, He will grab us by the hand and bring us back in to the boat, which
is His church.
Let us
not be children of fear but children of faith. In fact, the opposite of Faith
is fear. Napoleon Hill author of the bestselling book THINK AND GROW RICH stated
in his unpublished manuscript entitled “Outwitting the Devil” that the devil
uses fear to manipulate and control us. Hill uses an imaginary conversation
with the devil where the devil states: Once
I capture the mind of a child, through fear, I weaken that child’s
ability to reason and to think for himself, and that weakness goes with the
child all through life. According to Hill the secret to freedom and success
is to break the chains of fear and realize that failure and defeat are only a
temporary experience.
Franklin
D. Roosevelt in his first in inaugural address as President of the United
States realized this when he stated, “So, first of all, let me assert my
firm belief that the only thing we have to
fear is fear itself—nameless,
unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert
retreat into advance.” As a new President he realized the power of fear and
he also realized the power of courage. Mindful of this let us go forth manfully
to face our fears
and change ourselves, our families and our nation realizing--He grasps our
hand—He will help us! This is true wisdom!
Blessed is the man who trusts in
the LORD, whose hope is the LORD. He is like a tree planted beside the waters
that stretches out its roots to the stream: It fears not the heat when it comes, its leaves stay green; In the
year of drought it shows no distress, but still bears fruit.(Jer. 17:7-8)
Prayer. MAY Thy right hand defend Thy
suppliant people, we beseech Thee, O Lord, and worthily instruct them, being
purified in Thy sight, that by present consolation it may profit for future
good things.
EPISTLE. Jer. xviii.
18-23.
In
those days the impious Jews said: Come, and let us invent devices against
Jeremias: for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the
wise, nor the word from the prophet: come, and let us strike him with the
tongue, and let us give no heed to all his words. Give heed to me, O Lord, and
hear the voice of my adversaries. Shall evil be rendered for good, because they
have digged a pit for my soul?
Remember
that I have stood in Thy sight, to speak good for them, and to turn away Thy
indignation from them. Therefore, deliver up their children to famine, and
bring them into the hands of the sword: let their wives be bereaved of
children, and widows: and let the husbands be slain by death: let their young
men be stabbed with the sword in battle. Let a cry be heard out of their
houses: for Thou shalt bring the robber upon them suddenly: because they have
digged a pit to take me, and have hid snares for my feet. But Thou, O Lord,
knowest all their counsel against me unto death: forgive not their iniquity,
and let not their sin be blotted out from Thy sight: let them be overthrown
before Thy eyes; in the time of Thy wrath do Thou destroy them, O Lord our God.
GOSPEL. John xii.
10-36.
At that time a
great multitude, that was come to the festival-day, when they had heard that
Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm-trees and went forth to.
meet Him, and cried: Hosanna, blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord,
the King of Israel. And Jesus found a young ass, and sat upon it, as it is
written; Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold thy King cometh sitting on an ass’s
colt. These things His disciples did not know at the first: but when Jesus was
glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that
they had done these things to Him. The multitude therefore gave testimony,
which was with Him when He called Lazarus out of the grave, and raised him from
the dead. For which reason also the people came to meet Him: because they heard
that He had done this miracle The Pharisees therefore said among themselves: Do
you see that we prevail nothing? behold, the whole world is gone after Him, Now
there were certain gentiles among them who came up to adore on the
festival-day. These therefore came to Philip, who was of Bethsaida of Galilee,
and desired him, saying: Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth
Andrew. Again, Andrew and Philip told Jesus. But Jesus answered them, saying:
The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Amen, amen, I say to
you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth
alone. But if it dies, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life
shall lose it: and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life
eternal. If any man minister to Me, let him follow Me: and where I am, there
also shall My minister be. If any man minister to Me, him will My Father honor.
Now is My soul troubled. And what shall I say?
Father save Me
from this hour. But for this cause I came unto this hour. Father glorify Thy
name. A voice therefore came from heaven: I have both glorified it and will
glorify it again. The multitude therefore that stood and heard said that it
thundered. Others said, an angel spoke to Him. Jesus answered, and said: This
voice came not because of Me, but for your sakes. Now is the judgment of the
world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up
from the earth, will draw all things to Myself. (Now this He said, signifying
what death He should die.) The multitude answered Him: We have heard out of the
law, that Christ abideth forever: and how sayest Thou: The Son of man must be
lifted up? Who is this Son of man?
Jesus therefore
said to them: Yet a little while the light is among you. Walk whilst you have
the light, that the darkness overtake you not. And he that walketh in darkness
knoweth not whither he goeth. Whilst you have the light, believe in the light,
that you may be the children of light. These things Jesus spoke, and He went
away, and hid Himself from them.
First
Saturday Devotion[2]The practice of the First Saturday devotion was requested by Our Lady of Fatima, who appeared to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal, multiple times starting in 1917. She said to Lucia, the oldest of the three children: “I shall come to ask . . . that on the First Saturday of every month, Communions of reparation be made in atonement for the sins of the world.” Years later she repeated her request to Sr. Lucia, the only one still living of the three young Fatima seers, while she was a postulant sister living in a convent in Spain: “Look, my daughter, at my Heart, surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce me at very moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You at least try to console me, and say that I promise to assist at the hour of death, with the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the rosary, and keep me company for 15 minutes while meditating on the 15 mysteries of the rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me.”
Conditions to Fulfill the First
Saturday Devotion
1. Have the intention of consoling the Immaculate Heart in a spirit of reparation.
2. Go to confession (within eight days before or after the first Saturday).
3. Receive Holy Communion.
4. Say five decades of the Holy Rosary.
5. Meditate for 15 minutes on the mysteries of the Holy Rosary with the goal of keeping Our Lady company (for example, while in church or before an image or statue of Our Lady).
Read How to Make Your First Saturday Rosary Meditation According to Sr. Lucia
Why Five Saturdays?
1. Blasphemies against the Immaculate Conception
2. Blasphemies against Our Lady’s perpetual virginity
3. Blasphemies against her divine maternity, in refusing at the same time to recognize her as the Mother of men
4. Blasphemies of those who publicly seek to sow in the hearts of children, indifference or scorn or even hatred of their Immaculate Mother
5. Offenses of those who outrage Our Lady directly in her holy images
Never think that Jesus is indifferent to whether or not His mother is honored!
Please
pray for the soul of my sister donna marie pursell who rested in the lord 2
APRIL 2019.
Today I am going out into the desert to
pray for those afflicted with the Corona Virus and for DEVOUT AND FAITHFUL
PERSONS. Below is my prayer plan: feel free to use it to go out to a deserted
place to pray for those afflicted in this pandemic.
Cathedral Rock Hike
Trail #170
The Divine Mercy Chaplet is on page 9, during
this hike you will be praying the Divine Mercy Novena as Christ asked
"Today bring to Me the Souls of devout
and faithful persons and immerse
them in the ocean of My mercy. These souls brought me consolation on the Way of
the Cross. They were a drop of consolation in the midst of an ocean of
bitterness."
Most Merciful Jesus, from
the treasury of Your mercy, you impart Your graces in great abundance to each
and all. Receive us into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart and never
let us escape from It. We beg this grace of You by that most wondrous love for
the heavenly Father with which Your Heart burns so fiercely. Eternal Father
turn Your merciful gaze upon faithful souls, as upon the inheritance of Your Son.
For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, grant them Your blessing and surround
them with Your constant protection. Thus, may they never fail in love or lose
the treasure of the holy faith, but rather, with all the hosts of Angels and
Saints, may they glorify Your boundless mercy for endless ages. Amen.[3]
This hike is not recommended for the faint of heart. Only the most ardent souls can go
all the way up. This trail requires some rock-climbing skills and is steep and
not shaded. A good place to stop and finish the novena is at .25 mile, the
trail emerges on a broad ledge with nice views.
For those, not faint of heart, it ascends steeply over bald rock and in
a shallow cleft with a few toeholds notched into the rock to help on the
steeper places. Great views are at the top; return by the same route.
Length: .5 to 1.5 mile
Rating:
Difficult
Use: Heavy
Season: Spring through
fall
Hiking time: 1-2 hour round trip
USGS Map: Sedona
Location:
From the junction of Routes 89A and 179, take 179 south 3.5 miles to
Back-O'Beyond Road on the right. Go .6 miles to the trailhead parking turnout
on the left.
In fact, he was a much greater man
than he is usually given credit for. He is usually thought of as having been a
great benefactor of American blacks. He was that, to be sure. But he was much
more than that. He was a benefactor of American whites as well. For it was he
who, more than anybody else, black or white, persuaded American whites that
racism is wrong, and that America’s long history of racism was something to be
deeply ashamed of. If Plato was right in saying that doing injustice is worse
than suffering injustice, King was a greater benefactor of whites than of
blacks who had suffered injustice, but whites had done the worse thing,
inflicting injustice. In teaching whites to give up their wrongdoing, he was
conferring a greater benefit on them than he had on blacks by freeing them from
their status as victims. Just read his Letter from
Birmingham Jail.
MLK’s greatness was also shown in his leadership abilities. He was probably the
only non-President who was in the same leadership league with Washington,
Lincoln, and FDR. And he was a man of tremendous courage. He knew that he could
be murdered at any moment, and it seems he expected to have his life cut short
by assassination. The talk he gave in Memphis on the
eve of his murder is full of this anticipation. It was as if he knew it
was coming and coming soon. And yet he kept moving forward. He was only 39
years old when he was assassinated. Lincoln and Julius Caesar were in their
fifties. Gandhi was an old man. What a tragedy for Americans, and especially African
Americans, that his life ended when he was barely halfway through it. One
wonders (at least I wonder) what his response would have been to the collapse
among African-Americans of the married, two-parent family, a collapse that has
prevented millions and millions of blacks from gathering the fruits of the
civil-rights revolution that King led.
Remembering
MLK:
The
Man. The Movement. The Moment.
virtual
broadcast
The
National Civil Rights Museum will present a virtual commemoration in honor of
Dr. King’s life and legacy on the 52nd anniversary of his death. Since the pandemic surge, the museum has
retooled its original event to produce digital content and a virtual broadcast
entitled, “Remembering MLK: The Man. The Movement. The Moment.” The
program airs on the museum’s website, YouTube, Facebook, Livestream platforms.
This year, the virtual commemoration
will include some of the best segments of MLK50 and past ceremonies with
remarks from civil rights icons, inspiring performances and spoken word.
The broadcast will culminate with a moment of silence at 6:01pm, the
time Dr. King was shot on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel.
In
tribute to Dr. King, we’re chronicling his last seven days, March 28 to April
4, with exclusive reflective moments including our historians' ”MLK POV” chat,
a commemorative timeline, a special musical ensemble of his favorite song,
“Take My Hand, Precious Lord,” never-before-seen artifacts from the NCRM
Collections Vault, a children’s Storytime, and memorable selections throughout
the day on our social media channels. Visitors to the museum’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn
pages can share their comments and stories about Dr. King’s legacy.
·
Saturday Before Palm Sunday: Jesus arrives in Bethany Six Days Before
Passover (Jn12:1)
·
Stays with Lazarus, Mary and Martha (His Judean Home)
·
Possibly the Supper and Anointing in Bethany At the Home of
Simon The Leper Where Jesus Is Anointed by Mary. (Mt 26:6-13; Mk 14:3-9; Jn
12:1-8)
Let us examine the two noteworthy
characters who play dissimilar roles in the Lord's passion. One fills us with
solace and comfort, the other with uneasiness and wholesome fear. Their
juxtaposition produces a powerful effect by way of contrast. The two characters
are Mary of Bethany and Judas. Jesus is in the house of Lazarus, at dinner.
Mary approaches, anoints the feet of her Savior for His burial and dries them
with her hair. Judas resents her action and resolves upon his evil course.
These two persons typify man's relation to Christ. He gives His Body to two
types of individuals: to Magdalene’s to be anointed, to Judases to be kissed; to
good persons who repay Him with love and service, to foes who crucify Him. How
movingly this is expressed in the Lesson: "I gave My body to those who
beat Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked them. I did not turn away My face
from those who cursed and spit upon Me." The same must hold true of His
mystical Body. Down through the ages Christ is enduring an endless round of
suffering, giving His body to other Mary’s for anointing and to other Judases
to be kissed, beaten, and mistreated. St. Augustine explains how we can anoint
Christ's body:
Anoint Jesus' feet
by a life pleasing to God. Follow in His footsteps; if you have an abundance,
give it to the poor. In this way you can wipe the feet of the Lord.
The poor are, as it were, the feet of the
mystical Christ. By aiding them we can comfort our Lord in His mystical life,
where He receives Judas' kisses on all sides-the sins of Christians. The Gospel
account may be understood in a very personal way. In everyone's heart, in my
own too, there dwell two souls: a Judas-soul and a Mary-soul. The former is the
cause of Jesus' suffering, it is always ready to apostatize, always ready to
give the traitor's kiss. Are you full master over this Judas-soul within you?
Your Magdalen-soul is a source of comfort
to Christ in His sufferings. May the holy season of Lent, which with God's help
we are about to bring to a successful conclusion, bring victory over the
Judas-soul and strengthen the Magdalen-soul within our breasts.
The Mass was the center of life for the disciples of
Jesus, and so it has ever been. The first Christians were Jews, living in a
Jewish culture, steeped in Jewish forms of worship. The liturgy of the new
covenant had been foreshadowed in the rituals of the old. The Mass is
explicitly connected with the Passover meal. There are also parallels between
the thank-offering or todah and the
Mass.
A
todah sacrifice would be
offered by someone whose life had been delivered from great peril, such as
disease or the sword. The redeemed person would show his gratitude to God by
gathering his closest friends and family for a todah sacrificial meal. The lamb would be sacrificed in the
Temple and the bread for the meal would be consecrated the moment the lamb was
sacrificed. The bread and meat, along with wine, would constitute the elements
of the sacred todah meal,
which would be accompanied by prayers and songs of thanksgiving, such as Psalm
116.[9]
The Talmud records the ancient rabbis’ teaching that,
when the Messiah has come, “All sacrifices will cease except the todah.” In
fact, Greek scriptures rendered the word todah
as eucharistia, the word from which
we get “Eucharist.”
Daily
Devotions
[1]
Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896
[6]https://www.catholicconvert.com/wp-content/uploads/Timeline-of-Holy-Week.pdf
[8] Hahn, Scott, Signs of Life; 40 Catholic
Customs and their biblical roots. Chap. 4. The Mass.
Comments
Post a Comment