Daylight Saving Time Begins Tomorrow[1]
Daylight Savings time had
begun in an effort to help save energy and provide workers with more hours of
serviceable daylight during the long summer days. Daylight Savings
Time was first introduced in the U.S. in 1918. However, it was not until
1966, when the Uniform Act was passed, that all states had to either observe
DST or pass a state law to abstain.
Daylight Saving Time Begins
Facts
·
Benjamin Franklin first proposed
the idea of DST in 1784. He wrote An Economical Project for the Journal
of Paris, wherein he discussed the cost of oil for lamps as well as working
while it was dark and sleeping while it was day.
·
Daylight Savings Time changes
at 2:00 a.m. This time is selected in an effort to provide the least
amount of inconvenience to businesses and citizens.
·
Hawaii and Arizona do not use
DST. Up until 2006, Indiana only used DST in part of the state.
Daylight Saving Time Begins
Top Events and Things to Do
·
Move your clocks forward 1
hour before bed on Saturday night before the Daylight-Saving Time day in March.
·
Go to bed an hour earlier
Saturday night before the Daylight-Saving Time day.
·
Get outside and enjoy the
extra hour of daylight.
·
Replace the batteries in the
smoke alarm and carbon dioxide monitors.
·
Clean out the medicine
cabinet. Dispose of all medicines properly.
First Saturday
Saturday after Ash Wednesday-Seabee
anniversary
Isaiah, Chapter 29,
verse 13-14
13 The Lord said: Since
this people draws near with words only and honors me with their lips alone,
though their hearts are far from me, and FEAR of me has become mere precept of human teaching, 14 Therefore
I will again deal with this people in surprising and wondrous fashion: The
wisdom of the wise shall perish, the prudence of the prudent shall vanish.
This verse deals
with spiritual blindness and perversity of the Israeli Leaders. The Israelis
failed to apply the standards of God’s covenant in their military and political
plans. They failed to pray and offer to God their concerns and because of their
unbelief they merely made a show of their piety. They rejected the advice of
their prophet’s.
Nothing ever
changes. The key to living a life fearlessly
is to have our hearts close to God’s. When we do this, we will soon discover
that the mind is designed to implement your heart’s desire. Is your heart at
peace?
What are the
desires of your heart? What should the desires of our hearts be? The old
Baltimore catechism states that our purpose and our desires should be to know,
love and serve the Lord.
According to
paragraph 1718 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
The Beatitudes respond to the natural
desire for happiness. This desire is of divine origin: God has placed it in the
human heart in order to draw man to the One who alone can fulfill it: We all
want to live happily; in the whole human race there is no one who does not
assent to this proposition, even before it is fully articulated. How is it,
then, that I seek you, Lord? Since in seeking you, my God, I seek a happy life,
let me seek you so that my soul may live, for my body draws life from my soul
and my soul draws life from you. God alone satisfies.
When our desires are not on God, we become
spiritually ill. Christ implemented the sacrament of reconciliation to heal our
hearts.
Our Holy Father, Pope
Francis recently commented that without daily prayer, regular participation in
the Sacraments of the Eucharist and Reconciliation, daily contact with God’s
Word, and a “spirituality translated into charity,” we may die
spiritually.
Pope Francis went on to
list 15 spiritual “sicknesses” that are “more usual” in “our life”.
The 15 include not being
self-critical and thinking oneself indispensable, “Martha-ism” (excessive
Martha-like busyness), hardheartedness, excessive planning, failing to work
with others, “spiritual Alzheimer’s” (forgetting one’s spiritual journey), and
rivalry and vainglory.
Other spiritual
sicknesses, the Pope added, include existential “schizophrenia” (living a double
life that is “often dissolute”), gossip, careerism and flattering superiors,
indifference to others, a severe “funeral face” (rather than self-deprecating
good humor), the “disease of closed circles,” and “worldly profit,
exhibitionism” (through “calumniating, defaming, and discrediting others,” even
in the media “in the name of justice and transparency”).
These
temptations, he continued, are a danger to every Christian and every community.[1]
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
There are five
requirements to obtain this promise from the Immaculate Heart of Mary. On five
consecutive first Saturdays of the month, one should:
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?
Our Lord appeared to Sr.
Lucia on May 29, 1930 and gave her the reason behind the five Saturdays
devotion. It is because there are five types of offenses and blasphemies
committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary:
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!
Saturday after Ash Wednesday
EPISTLE. Isaias Iviii. 9-14.
THUS, saith the Lord God: If thou wilt
take away the chain out of the midst of thee, and cease to stretch out the
finger, and to speak that which is good for nothing. When thou shalt pour out
thy soul to the hungry, and shalt satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy
light rise up in darkness, and thy darkness shall be as the noonday. And the
Lord will give thee rest continually, and will fill thy soul with brightness,
and deliver thy bones, and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a
fountain of water whose waters shall not fail. And the places that have been
desolate for ages shall be built in thee: thou shalt raise up the foundations
of generation and generation: and thou shalt be called the repairer of the
fences, turning the paths into rest. If thou turn away thy foot from the
Sabbath, from doing thy own will in My holy day, and call the Sabbath
delightful, and the holy of the Lord glorious, and glorify Him, while thou dost
not thy own ways, and thy own will is not found, to speak a word : then shalt
thou be delighted in the Lord, and I will lift thee up above the high places of
the earth, and will feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father. For the
mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
GOSPEL. Mark vi. 47-56.
At that time: When it was late, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and Jesus alone on the land. And seeing them laboring in rowing (for the wind was against them), and about the fourth watch of the night He cometh to them walking upon the sea, and He would have passed by them. But they seeing Him walking upon the sea, thought it was an apparition, and they cried out. For they all saw Him, and were troubled. And immediately He spoke with them, and said to them: Have a good heart, it is I, fear ye not. And He went up to them into the ship, and the wind ceased: and they were far more astonished within themselves: for they understood not concerning the loaves; for their heart was blinded. And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Genesareth, and set to the shore. And when they were gone out of the ship, immediately they knew Him: and running through that whole country, they began to carry about in beds those that were sick, where they heard He was. And whithersoever He entered, into towns or into villages or cities, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought Him that they might touch but the hem of His garment: and as many as touched Him were made whole.
Prayer.
May Thy faithful, O Lord, be confirmed by Thy gifts, that,
receiving them, they may seek them, and seeking may receive them forever.
Through Christ,
Doing Small Things Well[3]
First, while it is true that fasting
is not the most important thing in the world, this does not make fasting
irrelevant or unimportant. There are, certainly, more urgent things to abstain
from than food or drink, such as maliciousness, backbiting, grumbling, etc. But
a person is mistaken to conclude that he therefore does not need to fast. He
should not believe that he can ignore fasting and instead abstain in more
important matters. Rather, fasting and avoiding those other vices go hand in
hand. Fasting must accompany efforts to abstain in greater matters. For one
thing, fasting teaches a person how to abstain in the first place.
Moreover, it is presumptuous for a
person to try to practice the greater virtues without first paying attention to
the smaller ones. As Our Lord says, "He who is faithful in a very little
is faithful also in much"1
and so can be trusted with greater things. Therefore, if a person wants to be
able to abstain in greater matters he must not neglect to abstain in smaller
matters, such as through fasting.
Finally, there is a subtle form of
pride present in the person who says that because something is not very
important, he does not need to do it. Whoever makes such a claim implies that
he does only important things. But the average person is rarely called to do
very important things. Accordingly, each person is more likely to be judged on
how he did the little, everyday things. Even when, rarely, a person is called
to do a great work, how often does he fall short? All the more reason, then,
for a person to make sure that he at least does the small things well.
Furthermore, if he truly loves the Lord, he will gladly do anything—big or small—for
him. So, in the end, saying that fasting is not the most important thing is not
a good excuse for avoiding it.
What, then, is the reason for fasting?
To answer this let us first clarify what fasting entails. It involves more than
the occasional fast, such as on Good Friday. To be effective, fasting requires
disciplined eating habits all the time. There are certainly days when a person
should make a greater effort at abstaining from food and drink. These are what
we usually consider days of fasting and they must be practiced regularly. But,
still, there are never days when a person is allowed to abandon all restraint.
A person must always practice some restraint over his appetites, or those
periodic days of fasting are valueless. Always keeping a check on his desires,
a person develops good habits, which foster constancy in his interior life. So,
in addition to practicing days of fasting on a regular basis, a person should
continuously restrain his desires, such as those that incline him to eat too
much, to be too concerned with what he eats, or to eat too often.
We might, then speak of the discipline
of fasting in order to avoid the impression that fasting is sporadic. The
operative principle behind the discipline of fasting is simple: to limit
yourself to only what is necessary for your physical and psychological
health—no more, no less. St. Augustine puts it concisely when he teaches:
"As far as your health allows, keep your bodily appetites in check by
fasting and abstinence from food and drink." So, fasting is meant only to
keep a person's unnecessary wants in check. A person is not— nor is he
permitted—to deny himself what is necessary for his health. The discipline of
fasting instead asks a person to check his desires for what is superfluous and
not necessary.
The First Seabees[4]
Naval Engineers
The name Seabees is
derived from these first construction units, or construction battalions (CBS)
as they were called. Officially, permission to use the name "Seabee"
was granted on 5 March 1942. Each year March 5th is observed as the anniversary
of the Seabees.
Because of the urgent need
for these men, the first Seabees had no time for military training. They were
given medical shots, handed equipment, and sent off to pick up where the
civilian contractors left off. One month after the first units were organized,
Seabees were at work constructing roads on Bora Bora, one of the Society
Islands, thousands of miles out in the Pacific Ocean.
Throughout World War II
the Seabees were without construction ratings as we know them now. They were given
the most appropriate existing Regular Navy rating on the basis of their
civilian vocation and experience; for example, an experienced steelworker or
plumber who had achieved a position of responsibility-perhaps as a foreman or
owner of a small business-was rated first class or chief Shipfitter. Seabees
who held this and other ratings, such as Boatswain's Mate, Machinist's Mate,
and Electrician's Mate, were easily distinguished from those who held
corresponding shipboard ratings by the Seabee insignia shoulder patch. This now
famous insignia consists of a flying bee-fighting mad-with a "white
hat" on his head, a spitting "tommy gun" in his front hands, a
wrench in his middle hand, and a carpenter's hammer in his rear hand.
Catechism
of the Catholic Church
II. Transmit the faith:
catechesis
9
The ministry of
catechesis draws ever new energies from councils. The Council of Trent
constitutes in this respect an example worth highlighting: it gave catechesis a
priority in its constitutions and decrees; from him was born the Roman
Catechism that also bears his name and that constitutes a work of the first
order as a summary of Christian doctrine; this Council gave rise to a
remarkable organization of catechesis in the Church; promoted, thanks to
holy bishops and theologians such as Saint Peter Canisius, Saint Charles
Borromeo, Saint Toribio de Mogrovejo, Saint Robert Bellarmine, the publication
of numerous catechisms
Daily Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Today's Fast: True
Masculinity
·
Saturday
Litany of the Hours Invoking the Aid of Mother Mary
·
54 Day Rosary
for Priest’s and Religious Day 14
·
Total Consecration
to St. Joseph Day 18
·
Manhood of
the Master-week 2 day 7
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
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