Tuesday, March 29, 2021

- March 28, 2022

Tuesday Of the Fourth Week of Lent

“If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” -Rom 10:9

Psalm 46, Verse 3-4

³Thus we do not FEAR, though earth be shaken and mountains quake to the depths of the sea, ⁴though its waters rage and foam and mountains totter at its surging.

The Roman soldiers guarding His tomb did not fear God even though the earth did shake and having witnessed His resurrection for they did not confess with their lips that Jesus is Lord; yet they did fear the Jews and took their money which they died with. Today confess Him with your lips knowing that Christ is the conqueror of the Nations for He is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in distress.

Come and see the works of the LORD, who has done fearsome deeds on earth; Who stops wars to the ends of the earth, breaks the bow, splinters the spear, and burns the shields with fire; “Be still and know that I am God! (Psalm 46:9-11)[1]

World Missionary Rosary[2]

For an increase in Faith, Hope and Love in the world

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen was a universally popular evangelist, radio/TV personality, writer and missionary. He is most known for his television series, “Life is Worth Living” which had a viewing audience of over 30 million people. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen was also national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith from 1950 to 1966. In February 1951, he inaugurated a World Mission Rosary during his radio address, The Catholic Hour. “We must pray, and not for ourselves, but for the world,” he exhorted. “To this end, I have designed the World Mission Rosary.” Praying this Rosary, Archbishop Sheen said, would “aid the Holy Father and his Society for the Propagation of the Faith by supplying him with practical support, as well as prayers, for the poor mission territories of the world.” Each decade of that World Mission Rosary calls to mind an area where the Church continues her evangelizing mission: green for the forests and grasslands of Africa; blue for the ocean surrounding the islands of the Pacific; white symbolizing Europe, the seat of the Holy Father, shepherd of the world; red calling to mind the fire of faith that brought missionaries to the Americas, and yellow, the morning light of the east, for Asia. Archbishop Sheen said, “Peace will come only when the hearts of the world have changed. When the World Mission Rosary is completed, one has embraced all continents, all people in prayer.”

RULES for parents[3]

Note: I wonder if this would be an effective strategy in dealing with the tantrums of Satan, Russia, China and Iran?

Bear in mind the following:

A little child kicks and screams because he thinks, —or perhaps because he knows from experience, —that in order to avoid a scene you will give in to him and let him have what he wants. You must prove to him that this is a mistaken idea of his. You are not going to give in.
Do not get angry. Do not slap.
Say firmly, "No; when you stop screaming, I will speak to you." Then leave the child alone in a safe room. Or, if he must be in the room with you, do not notice him. Keep busy with something or other.
After a while, say quietly, "Little Jesus does not like screaming and kicking. He loves you and He does not want you to do that."
Stop. Keep quiet. Be patient.
If the child slows down at times, waits to see if you will give in, and then starts up again, do not worry. He is showing that he begins to understand. Ignore him. Finally he will yield. He may fall asleep.
Two or three performances like this will end the bad habit and establish a good one
Remember: Be gentle; but be firm and consistent. Remain very calm and silent.

Tuesday Of the Fourth Week of Lent[4]

Prayer. WE beseech Thee, O Lord, that the fasts of this holy observance may procure us an increase of piety in our lives, and the continual help of Thy mercy.

EPISTLE. Exodus xxxii. 7-14.

In those days the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Go, get thee down: thy people, which thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt, hath sinned. They have quickly strayed from the way which thou didst show them: and they have made to themselves a molten calf, and have adored it, and sacrificing victims to it, have said: These are thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee out of the land of Egypt. And again, the Lord said to Moses: I see that this people are stiff-necked: let Me alone, that My wrath may be kindled against them, and that I may destroy them, and I will make of thee a great nation. But Moses besought the Lord his God, saying: Why, O Lord, is Thy indignation enkindled against Thy people, whom Thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt, with great power, and with a mighty hand?

Let not the Egyptians say, I beseech Thee: He craftily brought them out, that He might kill them in the mountains, and destroy them from the earth: let Thy anger cease, and be appeased upon the wickedness of Thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Thy servants, to whom Thou sworest by Thy own self, saying: I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven: and this whole land that I have spoken of, I will give to your seed, and you shall possess it forever. And the Lord was appeased from doing the evil which He had spoken against His people.

GOSPEL. John vii. 14-31.

At that time: About the midst of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple, and taught. And the Jews wondered, saying: How doth this man know letters, having never learned?

Jesus answered them and said: My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me. If any man will do the will of Him: he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself. He that speaketh of himself, seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh the glory of him that sent him, he is true, and there is no injustice in him. Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why seek you to kill Me? The multitude answered, and said: Thou hast a devil; who seeketh to kill Thee?

Jesus answered and said to them: One work I have done; and you all wonder: therefore, Moses gave you circumcision (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers); and on the Sabbath-day you circumcise a man. If a man receive circumcision on the Sabbath-day, that the law of Moses may not be broken; are you angry at Me because I have healed the whole man on the Sabbath-day?

Judge not according to the appearance, but judge just judgment. Some therefore of Jerusalem said: Is not this He Whom they seek to kill?

And behold He speaketh openly, and they say nothing to Him. Have the rulers known for a truth that this is the Christ?

But we know this man whence He is but when the Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence He is. Jesus therefore cried out in the temple, teaching and saying: You both know Me, and you know whence I am, and I am not come of Myself; but He that sent Me is true, Whom you know not. I know Him, because I am from Him, and He hath sent Me. They sought therefore to apprehend Him: and no man laid hands on Him, because His hour was not yet come. But of the people many believed in Him.

Lenten Calendar[5]

Read: The Seven Penitential Psalms, Day Seven:

(During times when we wish to express repentance and especially during Lent, it is customary to pray the seven penitential psalms. The penitential designation of these psalms dates from the seventh century. Prayerfully reciting these psalms will help us to recognize our sinfulness, express our sorrow and ask for God’s forgiveness.)

Today we will focus on Psalm 143.

Reflect: Read a reflection of Psalm 143—A Prayer in Distress.

Pray: “Hasten to answer me, LORD; for my spirit fails me. Do not hide your face from me, lest I become like those descending to the pit. In the morning let me hear of your mercy, for in you I trust. Show me the path I should walk, for I entrust my life to you.” (Ps 143:7-8)

Act: The psalmist pleads his case before the Lord: he is surrounded by enemies, his spirit is faint, and he has nothing left to withstand them. And so, he begs for mercy, that the Lord would show his face and be his refuge in his time of great need.

May the Lord help us conquer our fear

“In these days there's so much suffering. There's a lot of fear.” Pope Francis’ …

“The fear of the elderly who are alone in nursing homes, or hospitals, or in their own homes, and don't know what will happen. The fear of those who don’t have regular jobs and are thinking about how to feed their children. They foresee they may go hungry. The fear of many civil servants. At this moment they're working to keep society functioning and they might get sick. There’s also the fear, the fears, of each one of us. Each one knows what their own fears are. We pray to the Lord that He might help us to trust, and to tolerate and conquer these fears.”

He based his thoughts on the first reading from Exodus 32:7-14.

From the Living God to idols

Pope Francis explained how the chosen people turned into idolaters. They lose patience waiting for Moses to return from the mountain. They “get bored”, the Pope said. A “nostalgia for idolatry” overtakes them.

“It was a true apostasy. From the Living God to idolatry not knowing how to wait for the Living God. This nostalgia is an illness, which is ours. We begin to walk enthusiastically toward freedom, but then the complaining begins: ‘This is really difficult. It's a desert. I’m thirsty. I want water. I want meat… In Egypt we ate good things. There's nothing here’.

Idolatry is selective

The Pope then described how idolatry is “selective”. “It makes you think of the good things that it gives you. But it doesn't allow you to see the bad things”, he said. The chosen people remembered all the good things that were on their tables when they were in Egypt. “But they forgot that it was the table of slavery”, Pope Francis pointed out.

Idolatry takes everything

Idolaters lose everything, the Pope continued. The chosen people handed over all of their gold and silver to make the golden calf. They constructed the golden calf with gifts God had given to them. It was He who had to ask the Egyptians for their gold before they took flight.

“This mechanism also happens to us. When we do things that lead us to idolatry, we become attached to things that distance us from God. We make another god with the gifts that the Lord has given us: with our intelligence, our will, our love, our heart. We use God’s very gifts to make idols.”

Idols in our hearts

The crucifixes or images of Our Lady that we have in our houses are not our idols. “They are in our hearts”, the Pope said. Each of us should ask ourselves what idols we have hidden in our hearts. Idolatry can even affect our prayer. After all, the chosen people wanted to worship the idol they made. One way we do this is by changing “the celebration of a sacrament into a secular celebration”, the Pope suggested.

The question today

“What are my idols?” “Where do I hide them?” These are the questions to ask we today, the Pope said, concluding his homily.

“May the Lord not find us at the end of our lives and say to us: ‘You apostatized. You deviated from the way that I marked out. You prostrated yourself before an idol’. We ask the Lord for the grace of recognizing our own idols.”

Catechism of the Catholic Church

PART ONE:

THE PROFESSION OF FAITH

SECTION ONE

"I BELIEVE" - "WE BELIEVE"

CHAPTER TWO

GOD COMES TO MEET MAN

II. The Stages of Revelation

In the beginning God makes himself known

54 "God, who creates and conserves all things by his Word, provides men with constant evidence of himself in created realities. and furthermore, wishing to open up the way to heavenly salvation - he manifested himself to our first parents from the very beginning." He invited them to intimate communion with himself and clothed them with resplendent grace and justice.

55 This revelation was not broken off by our first parents' sin. "After the fall, (God) buoyed them up with the hope of salvation, by promising redemption; and he has never ceased to show his solicitude for the human race. For he wishes to give eternal life to all those who seek salvation by patience in well-doing."

Even when he disobeyed you and lost your friendship you did not abandon him to the power of death. . . Again and again, you offered a covenant to man.

The covenant with Noah

56 After the unity of the human race was shattered by sin God at once sought to save humanity part by part. the covenant with Noah after the flood gives expression to the principle of the divine economy toward the "nations", in other words, towards men grouped "in their lands, each with (its) own language, by their families, in their nations".

57 This state of division into many nations, each entrusted by divine providence to the guardianship of angels, is at once cosmic, social and religious. It is intended to limit the pride of fallen humanity united only in its perverse ambition to forge its own unity as at Babel. But, because of sin, both polytheism and the idolatry of the nation and of its rulers constantly threaten this provisional economy with the perversion of paganism.

58 The covenant with Noah remains in force during the times of the Gentiles, until the universal proclamation of the Gospel. The Bible venerates several great figures among the Gentiles: Abel the just, the king-priest Melchisedek - a figure of Christ - and the upright "Noah, Daniel, and Job". Scripture thus expresses the heights of sanctity that can be reached by those who live according to the covenant of Noah, waiting for Christ to "gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad".

God chooses Abraham

59 In order to gather together scattered humanity God calls Abram from his country, his kindred and his father's house, and makes him Abraham, that is, "the father of a multitude of nations". "In you all the nations of the earth shall be blessed."

60 The people descended from Abraham would be the trustee of the promise made to the patriarchs, the chosen people, called to prepare for that day when God would gather all his children into the unity of the Church. They would be the root on to which the Gentiles would be grafted, once they came to believe.

61 The patriarchs, prophets and certain other Old Testament figures have been and always will be honored as saints in all the Church's liturgical traditions.

God forms his people Israel

62 After the patriarchs, God formed Israel as his people by freeing them from slavery in Egypt. He established with them the covenant of Mount Sinai and, through Moses, gave them his law so that they would recognize him and serve him as the one living and true God, the provident Father and just judge, and so that they would look for the promised Savior.

63 Israel is the priestly people of God, "called by the name of the LORD", and "the first to hear the word of God", The people of "elder brethren" in the faith of Abraham.

64 Through the prophets, God forms his people in the hope of salvation, in the expectation of a new and everlasting Covenant intended for all, to be written on their hearts. The prophets proclaim a radical redemption of the People of God, purification from all their infidelities, a salvation which will include all the nations. Above all, the poor and humble of the Lord will bear this hope. Such holy women as Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Judith and Esther kept alive the hope of Israel's salvation. the purest figure among them is Mary.

Daily Devotions

· Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them in fasting: Today's Fast: The Sick, afflicted, and infirmed.

· Make reparations to the Holy Face-Tuesday Devotion

· 54 Day Rosary for Priest’s and Religious Day 37