Monday Night at the Movies
Robert Bresson, L'argent, 1983.
Monday in the First Week of Lent
CLEAN MONDAY
Leviticus, Chapter 19, verse 14
You
shall not insult the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but
you shall FEAR your God. I am the Lord.
Be like your Heavenly Father; God
is not a bully. Christ was often confronted by the bullies of his time. When
the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together,
and one of them [a scholar of the law] tested
him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is
the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all
your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This
is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You
shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on
these two commandments.” (Mt. 22:34-40)
The modern world attempts to bully
the faithful in abandoning their relationship with the Lord. Saint Pope Pius X
was a pope, who resisted the bullying of the modern world by establishing an
oath against modernism[1].
The crux of this oath has five main points:
1. I profess that God is the origin
and end of all things.
2. I accept and acknowledge the
external proofs of revelation, that is, divine acts and especially miracles and
prophecies as the surest signs of the divine origin of the Christian religion.
3. I believe with equally firm faith
that the Church, the guardian and teacher of the revealed word, was personally
instituted by the real and historical Christ.
4. I sincerely hold that the doctrine
of faith was handed down to us from the apostles through the orthodox Fathers
in exactly the same meaning and always in the same purport.
5. I hold with certainty and sincerely
confess that faith is not a blind sentiment of religion welling up from the
depths of the subconscious under the impulse of the heart and the motion of a
will trained to morality; but faith is a genuine assent of the intellect to
truth.
Salt of the Earth[2]
Christ himself calls his true followers the "salt of the earth." and the "light of the world." These are titles of honor, surely, and of the greatest distinction. Christ is putting his true follower on almost a level with himself. He was the light of the world; he was the salt of the earth. He it was who gave men the knowledge of the true nature of God, as shown by the Incarnation. He it was who gave this life its flavor, who gave this life its meaning, its preservation. By his death and resurrection, he took away the sting of death, and removed its eternal corruption, by the guarantee and promise of a resurrection to an eternal life. This every Christian knows, and this knowledge every Christian helps to bring to those who are ignorant of it, if he lives his life daily and sincerely. The Christian, who does this, is really another Christ; he is continuing his work of salvation during his years on earth. He is the salt, of the earth and the light of the world. How many of us, can truly say that these honorable titles, which Christ gives to his followers, are given to us? In true humility, we can all say that we are far from worthy of any such honorable titles. Yet in all sincerity too, many if not the majority among us, are doing their little bit of Christ's work, in cultivating their own small comer of his vineyard. Those parents, who teach the Christian way of life to their children by word, and especially by example, are spreading the Christian faith. The workmen, whether in office or factory, which shows that they are Christians by their honesty, charity for their fellowmen, their respect for God, and the things of God, in their speech, are spreading their Christian faith. All those who show moderation in their personal expenditures and donate some of their savings to help their brothers, their fellow men who are in need, these are true disciples of Christ and are cooperating with him in bringing God's children back to their Father who is in heaven. Unlike the salt that has lost its flavor, and the light that is kept under the bushel, the Christian who has thus behaved can change his attitude, provided he is aided by God's grace which is never refused. He can become once more what he ought to be--a life-preserver for his neighbor. Life on earth is short. The demands of our Christian life may not always be easy, but we know that if we live up to them, we are other Christs. We are continuing his great work by our own good example to our neighbor, and we are giving glory to God, and are earning for ourselves the eternal light of heaven.
Excerpted from The
Sunday Readings by Fr. Kevin O'Sullivan, O.F.M.
Monday
in the First Week of Lent
EPISTLE.
Ezech. xxxiv. 11-16.
THUS, saith the Lord God: Behold I
Myself will seek My sheep and will visit them. As the shepherd visiteth his
flock in the day when he shall be in the midst of his sheep that were
scattered, so will I visit My sheep, and will deliver them out of all the
places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring
them out from the peoples, and will gather them out of the countries, and will
bring them to their own land: and I will feed them in the mountains of Israel,
by the rivers, and in all the habitations of the land. I will feed them in the
most fruitful pastures, and their pastures shall be in the high mountains of
Israel: there shall they rest on the green grass and be fed in fat pastures
upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed My sheep: and I will cause them to
lie down, saith the Lord God. I will seek that which was lost: and that which
was driven away I will bring again: and I will bind up that which was broken,
and I will strengthen that which was weak, and that which was fat and strong I
will preserve: and I will feed them in judgment, saith the Lord Almighty.
GOSPEL.
Matt. xxv. 31-46.
At that time Jesus said to His disciples: When the Son of man shall come in
His majesty, and all the angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the seat of
His majesty. And all nations shall be gathered together before Him, and He
shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from
the goats: and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on His
left. Then shall the King say to them that shall be on His right hand: Come, ye
blessed of My Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat I was
thirsty, and you gave Me to drink: I was a stranger, and you took Me in naked,
and you covered Me: sick, and you visited Me: I was in prison, and you came to
Me. Then shall the just answer Him, saying: Lord, when did we see Thee hungry,
and fed Thee; thirsty, and gave Thee drink? and when did we see Thee a
stranger, and took Thee in? or naked, and covered Thee? or when did we see Thee
sick or in prison, and came to Thee? And the King answering, shall say to them:
Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you
did it to Me. Then He shall say to them also that shall be on His left hand:
Depart from Me, yon cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the
devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave Me not to eat I was
thirsty, and you gave Me not to drink I was a stranger, and you took Me not in
naked, and you covered Me not: sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me.
Then they also shall answer Him, saying: Lord, when did we see Thee hungry or
thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister
to Thee? Then He shall answer them, saying: Amen I say to you, as long as you
did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me. And these shall
go into everlasting punishment, but the just into life everlasting.
Prayer.
Convert
us, O God, our salvation; and, that the fast of Lent may benefit us, instruct
our minds with heavenly discipline.
Lenten
Calendar[3]
·
Read: Lent
is a special time for those preparing to be baptized through the Rite of
Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA). RCIA is a period of learning and
discernment for those seeking to become Catholic.
·
Reflect; Take
time to reflect on your own decision to become a member of the Church.
·
Reflect
2: On February 22, 1931, Jesus appeared to Faustina as
the King of Divine Mercy. He asked her to have a picture painted of him as she
saw him — clothed in white, with red and white rays of light streaming from his
heart. The rays represent the blood and water that flowed from the side of
Jesus on the cross. Under the image are the words, "Jesus, I trust in
you." Many people did not believe Faustina at first. The sisters in her
own convent thought that Jesus could not possibly have selected her for this
great favor. After all, she was an uneducated peasant girl. Her superiors often
refused to give her permission to carry out Jesus' requests. Church theologians,
too, doubted her word. Jesus told Faustina that he loved her obedience and that
his will would be done in the end.
·
Pray: Keep
the elect, candidates, and their sponsors in your prayers this Lent.
·
Act: Download
the CRS Rice Bowl App.
. . today and try a new way of tracking your Lenten journey, while also
receiving daily reflections and meatless recipes.
Preparing
for Battle[4] Know Your Weapons
The weapon of
Sacred Scripture
·
Each
time the Devil attacked with the temptation to doubt or disobey God, Jesus
quoted Scripture to throw him back.
·
Scripture
is our sword against Satan!
·
We
must listen carefully to the scriptural readings in Mass and meditate on them
deeply.
·
We
must read Scripture on our own.
·
We
must also memorize scriptural texts that we can use against temptation. Then,
when the Enemy assaults us, we can imitate Our Lord by the effective
counterassault of quoting the word of God.
Clean
Monday[5]-Traditional time for going to confession.
Clean Monday, also known
as Pure Monday, Ash Monday, Monday of Lent or Green Monday, is the first day of
Great Lent
in the Eastern Orthodox
Christian, Saint Thomas
Christians of
India and Eastern Catholic churches. It is a moveable feast that occurs at the beginning of the 7th week before
Orthodox Easter Sunday. The common term for this day,
"Clean Monday", refers to the leaving behind of sinful attitudes and
non-fasting foods. It is sometimes called "Ash Monday", by analogy
with Ash Wednesday (the day when the Western Churches
begin Lent). The term is often a misnomer, as only a small subset of Eastern
Catholic Churches practices the Imposition of Ashes. The Maronite Catholic
Church and The Mar
Thoma Nasranis of India-Syro-Malabar
Catholic Church
are notable amongst the Eastern rite that employs the use of ashes on this day.
Liturgically, Clean Monday—and thus Lent itself—begins on the preceding
(Sunday) night, at a special service called Forgiveness Vespers, which culminates with the
Ceremony of Mutual Forgiveness, at which all present will bow down before one
another and ask forgiveness. In this way, the faithful begin Lent with a clean
conscience, with forgiveness, and with renewed Christian love. The entire first
week of Great Lent is often referred to as "Clean Week", and it is
customary to go to Confession during this week, and to clean the house thoroughly. The theme of Clean Monday is set by the Old Testament reading appointed to be read at the Sixth Hour (noon) on this day (Isaiah 1:1–20), which says, in part:
Wash
yourselves and ye shall be clean; put away the wicked ways from your souls
before Mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well. Seek judgment, relieve
the oppressed, consider the fatherless, and plead for the widow. Come then, and
let us reason together, saith the Lord: Though your sins be as scarlet, I will
make them white as snow; and though they be red like crimson, I will make them
white as wool (vv. 16–18).
Clean Monday is a public
holiday in Greece
and Cyprus, where it is celebrated with outdoor excursions, the consumption of shellfish
and other fasting food, a special kind of azyme bread,
baked only on that day, named "lagana" (Greek:
λαγάνα) and
the widespread custom of flying kites.
Eating meat, eggs and dairy products is traditionally forbidden to Orthodox
Christians throughout Lent, with fish being eaten only on major feast days,
but shellfish is permitted in European denominations. This has created the
tradition of eating elaborate dishes based on seafood (shellfish, molluscs,
fish roe etc.). Traditionally, it is considered to mark the beginning of the spring season, a notion which was used symbolically in Ivan Bunin's
critically acclaimed story, Pure Monday. The happy, springtime atmosphere of
Clean Monday may seem at odds with the Lenten spirit of repentance and
self-control, but this seeming contradiction is a marked aspect of the Orthodox
approach to fasting, in accordance with the Gospel
lesson (Matthew 6:14–21) read on the morning before, which admonishes:
When ye fast, be not, as the
hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may
appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But
thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face, that thou appear
not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret... (v. 16–18).
In this manner, the
Orthodox celebrate the fact that "The springtime of the Fast has dawned,
the flower of repentance has begun to open..."
Catechism
of the Catholic Church
PART THREE: LIFE IN CHRIST
SECTION TWO-THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Chapter 2 “You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.
Article 8-THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT
II. To
Bear Witness to the Truth
2471 Before Pilate, Christ proclaims that he "has come
into the world, to bear witness to the truth." The Christian is not
to "be ashamed then of testifying to our Lord." In situations
that require witness to the faith, the Christian must profess it without
equivocation, after the example of St. Paul before his judges. We must keep
"a clear conscience toward God and toward men."
2472 The duty of Christians to take part in the life of the
Church impels them to act as witnesses of the Gospel and of the obligations
that flow from it. This witness is a transmission of the faith in words and
deeds. Witness is an act of justice that establishes the truth or makes it
known.
All Christians by the example of their lives and the witness of their word,
wherever they live, have an obligation to manifest the new man which they have
put on in Baptism and to reveal the power of the Holy Spirit by whom they were
strengthened at Confirmation.
2473 Martyrdom is the supreme witness given to the truth of the
faith: it means bearing witness even unto death. the martyr bears witness to
Christ who died and rose, to whom he is united by charity. He bears witness to
the truth of the faith and of Christian doctrine. He endures death through an
act of fortitude. "Let me become the food of the beasts, through whom it
will be given me to reach God."
2474 The Church has painstakingly collected the records of
those who persevered to the end in witnessing to their faith. These are the
acts of the Martyrs. They form the archives of truth written in letters of
blood:
Neither the pleasures of the world nor the kingdoms of this
age will be of any use to me.
It is better for me to die [in order to unite myself] to
Christ Jesus than to reign over the ends of the earth. I seek him who died for
us; I desire him who rose for us. My birth is approaching. . . I bless you
for having judged me worthy from this day and this hour to be counted among your
martyrs.... You have kept your promise, God of faithfulness and truth. For this
reason and for everything, I praise you, I bless you, I glorify you through the
eternal and heavenly High Priest, Jesus Christ, your beloved Son. Through him,
who is with you and the Holy Spirit, may glory be given to you, now and in the
ages to come. Amen.
Daily Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Today's Fast: Protection
of Life from Conception until natural death.
·
Total Consecration
to St. Joseph Day 13
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Make
reparations to the Holy Face
· Monday: Litany of
Humility
·
Rosary
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