Monday Night at the Movies
Monday in the First Passion Week
1 Daniel, Chapter 13, Verse 1-3
In Babylon there lived a man named Joakim, 2 who married a very beautiful and GOD-FEARING woman, Susanna, the daughter of Hilkiah; 3 her parents were righteous and had trained their daughter according to the law of Moses.
Susanna
is included in the Book of Daniel (as chapter 13) by the Roman Catholic and
Eastern Orthodox churches. It is one of the additions to Daniel, considered
apocryphal by Protestants. She refuses to be blackmailed and is arrested and
about to be put to death for promiscuity when a young man named Daniel
interrupts the proceedings, shouting that the elders should be questioned to
prevent the death of an innocent. After being separated, the two men are
questioned about details (cross-examination) of what they saw but disagree
about the tree under which Susanna supposedly met her lover. The first says
they were under a mastic, and Daniel says that an angel stands ready to cut him
in two. The second says they were under an evergreen oak tree, and Daniel says
that an angel stands ready to saw him in two. The great difference in size
between a mastic and an oak makes the elders' lie plain to all the observers.
The false accusers are put to death, and virtue triumphs.[1]
In the Old Testament we already find admirable witnesses of fidelity to the holy law of God even to the point of a voluntary acceptance of death. A prime example is the story of Susanna: in reply to the two unjust judges who threatened to have her condemned to death if she refused to yield to their sinful passion, she says: " I am hemmed in on every side. For if I do this thing, it is death for me; and if I do not, I shall not escape your hands. I choose not to do it and to fall into your hands, rather than to sin in the sight of the Lord!" (Dan 13:22-23). Susanna, preferring to "fall innocent" into the hands of the judges, bears witness not only to her faith and trust in God but also to her obedience to the truth and to the absoluteness of the moral order. By her readiness to die a martyr, she proclaims that it is not right to do what God's law qualifies as evil in order to draw some good from it. Susanna chose for herself the "better part": hers was a perfectly clear witness, without any compromise, to the truth about the good and to the God of Israel. By her acts, she revealed the holiness of God.[2]
In our modern secular world, it is often difficult to find a God-fearing woman and even recognize her. One wonders what the characteristics of a God-fearing woman are. An important thing to remember for all women of real beauty is that love is the inner sense of peacefulness and joy that casts out the outer reflection of beauty.
God Fearing Woman[3]
These things aren’t things
to add to your to-do list. They’re an opportunity to test your heart. If
we have a right ‘fear’ or understanding of God, then these
four characteristics will overflow in our hearts:
1. A woman who fears the Lord isn’t anxious about
what’s going to happen in her life.
First, a
woman who fears the Lord is not
anxious about the future… “Strength and dignity are her
clothing, and she laughs at the time to come.”
Our anxiety reveals what
we think about God.
Do we honestly think He’s
a sovereign and good Father? Do we honestly believe He cares about the
mundane details of our lives and is working everything out for our good?
If so, it will affect our
anxiety about how our kids are going to do in school this Fall or our
fears about being single this time next year, or our obsession with how
we’re going to pay our bills next month or worry about how we’re going to do in
that meeting at work tomorrow.
2. A woman who fears the Lord speaks wisdom and
kindness.
Second, the woman who
fears the Lord has practical wisdom. Proverbs 31, Verse 26, “She opens her
mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.”
I love this because I’m a
big fan of women redeeming
passive communication.
This verse tells us that if we’re going to be good stewards of our words we
have to know and love God. A right view of Him will affect the way we
choose to spend the gift of language He has given us.
3. A woman who fears the Lord is strong.
Proverbs, Verse 25, “Strength and dignity are
her clothing.” Verse 17, “She girds her loins with strength and makes her arms
strong.”
Think for a second about
how you define ‘strength’ Proverbs 23:17 says, “Let not your heart envy
sinners, but continue in the fear
of the Lord all the day.” The woman who continues in the fear of the Lord will have power to
resist all the allurements to envy, to desire what she shouldn’t have.
True strength looks like
contentment.
Do you want to know if
your fear of the Lord overflows
into strength? Do you envy others?
Threads of discontentment
reveal a heart that does not fully grasp the greatness and goodness of our
maker.
4. A woman who fears the Lord is for other people,
not against them.
A woman who fears the Lord will live not for
herself alone but for others…Proverbs 31, Verses 11, 12, “The heart of her
husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and
not harm all the days of her life.”
Our view of God will play
out in our interaction with others. If we trust that God is for us, it frees
us up to be for other people. We can look out for their interests because
we know God is looking out for ours.
All four of these characteristics overflow from a right understanding and
relationship with God.
You can’t just get out of
your chair and go do these four things to earn the ‘proverbs 31’ merit badge.
If you want to be free
of anxiety, if you want to speak kindness and wisdom, if you
want to be strong and be for other people, the solution is gloriously complex: fear the Lord.
My hope is that, like me
you’ll see this list as a reminder of just how far you have to go in your
sanctification.
Let this list remind you
of the opportunity you have to grow in your ‘fear’ of the Lord. Let that opportunity excite you.
There’s more of Him to know. There’s more of Him to trust.
As we grow in fearing Him we will be transformed –
not to the image of some cool Proverbs woman. We will
be transformed into the very image of His Son.
Monday in the First Passion Week[4]
Prayer. SANCTIFY our fasts, we beseech Thee, O Lord, and mercifully grant us the pardon of all our faults.
EPISTLE. Jonas iii. 1-10.
In those days: The word of the Lord came to Jonas the prophet the second time, saying: Arise, and go to Nineveh the great city: and preach in it the preaching that I bid thee. And Jonas arose, and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord: now Nineveh was a great city of three days journey. And Jonas began to enter into the city one day s journey: and he cried, and said: Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be destroyed. And the men of Nineveh believed in God: and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least. And the word came to the king of Nineveh: and he rose up out of his throne, and cast away his robe from him, and was clothed in sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published in Nineveh from the mouth of the king and of his princes, saying: Let neither men nor beasts, oxen nor sheep, taste anything: let them not feed, nor drink water. And let men and beasts be covered with sackcloth, and cry to the Lord with all their strength, and let them turn everyone from his evil way, and from the iniquity that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn, and forgive: and will turn away from His fierce anger, and we shall not perish?
And God saw their works, that they were turned from their evil way: and our Lord God had mercy on His people.
Repent and believe: Do the Nineveh 90
GOSPEL. John vii. 32-39.
At that time: The rulers and Pharisees sent ministers to apprehend Jesus. Jesus therefore said to them: Yet a little while I am with you: and then I go to Him that sent Me. You shall seek Me, and shall not find Me: and where I am, thither you cannot come. The Jews therefore said among themselves: Whither will He go, that we shall not find Him? will He go unto the dispersed among the gentiles, and teach the gentiles? What is this saying that He hath said: You shall seek Me, and shall not find Me: and where I am, you cannot come?
And on the last and great day of the festivity, Jesus stood and cried, saying: If any man thirst, let him come to Me, and drink. He that believeth in Me, as the Scripture saith, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Now this He said of the Spirit which they should receive who believed in Him.
Lenten Calendar[5]
Read: The Servant Songs, Day One: 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 first song introduces God’s Servant who will establish justice upon the earth.
Reflect: Today we reflect on the first of the four Servant Songs.
Pray: Take time with the first Servant Song. Read Isaiah 42:1-4.
Act: In this passage, the prophet Isaiah portrays a servant who pleases God. This servant shows meekness and is one who will never extinguish even the smallest, faintest light of faith. Likewise, the faith of this servant will never grow dim; distant nations will await his teaching and look for the justice that he brings.
Catechism
of the Catholic Church
PART FOUR: CHRISTIAN PRAYER
SECTION ONE-PRAYER IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
CHAPTER ONE-THE REVELATION OF PRAYER - THE
UNIVERSAL CALL TO PRAYER
Article 3-IN THE AGE OF THE CHURCH
III. Prayer
of Intercession
2634 Intercession is a prayer of petition which leads us to
pray as Jesus did. He is the one intercessor with the Father on behalf of all
men, especially sinners. He is "able for all time to save those who
draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for
them." The Holy Spirit "himself intercedes for us . . . and
intercedes for the saints according to the will of God."
2635 Since Abraham, intercession - asking on behalf of another
has been characteristic of a heart attuned to God's mercy. In the age of the
Church, Christian intercession participates in Christ's, as an expression of
the communion of saints. In intercession, he who prays looks "not only to
his own interests, but also to the interests of others," even to the point
of praying for those who do him harm.
2636 The first Christian communities lived this form of
fellowship intensely. Thus the Apostle Paul gives them a share in his
ministry of preaching the Gospel but also intercedes for them. The
intercession of Christians recognizes no boundaries: "for all men, for
kings and all who are in high positions," for persecutors, for the
salvation of those who reject the Gospel.
PRAYERS AND TEACHINGS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
Catholic Ten Commandments:
I. I am the LORD your God. You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.
II. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
III. Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.
IV. Honor your father and your mother.
V. You shall not kill.
VI. You shall not commit adultery.
VII. You shall not steal.
VIII. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
IX. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.
X. You shall not covet your neighbor's goods.
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.
·
Eat waffles and Pray for the assistance of the Angels
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
· Make reparations to the Holy Face
·
30
Days with St. Joseph Day 8
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