Thursday, February 29, 2024
Thursday in the Second Week of
Lent
LEAP DAY
Jeremiah,
Chapter 17, Verse 7-8
7 Blessed
are those who trust in the LORD; the LORD will be their trust. 8 They are like a tree planted beside the waters that
stretches out its roots to the stream: It does not FEAR heat when it comes, its leaves stay green; In the year of
drought, it shows no distress, but still produces fruit.
I live in Arizona where hardly anything grows in the
desert. However, along a stream or a creek, trees do put their roots into the
bed of the water and create a mini paradise with flowers, deer and even provide
sustenance even during the hottest days. Likewise, we should sink our roots
into our Lord through our church and receive refreshment through frequent
reception of the sacraments of Confession and the Eucharist, along with
spiritual reading and time alone with our Lord. In this way we are nourished
and prepared for the work our Lord has given us.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit;
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
(Mt. 5:3)
Though thus says
the Lord for those who neither hope nor know Him and does not fear God: “Cursed is the man who trusts in human
beings, who makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. He
is like a barren bush in the wasteland that enjoys no change of season, but
stands in lava beds in the wilderness, a land, salty and uninhabited.”
(Jer. 17:5-6)
Preparing for Battle[1]
Know Your Armor
Prayer and fasting,
worship and adoration, Scripture and sacraments and sacramentals all provide
the weapons of our spiritual warfare. With them we go on the offensive against
the Evil One. But the virtues provide our defensive armor. St. Paul sums it up:
“Put on, therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of mercy,
kindness, humility, meekness, patience. Bear with one another, if anyone has a
grievance against any other; even as the Lord has forgiven you, so also you must forgive. But above all these things
have charity, which is the bond of perfection” (Col 3: 12– 14). Only with such
armor will we be fully covered and protected from the Evil One’s attacks.
·
The Mantle of Humility.
o
Humility
is the essential virtue that provides the soil in which all the other virtues
grow. Humility keeps us from dangerous “high places” where the Enemy could
tempt us to pride and vainglory.
·
The Breastplate of Love.
o
The
breastplate protects our heart-keeping it for God alone. Love Him with all your
heart, soul, and mind; and be rightly related to others is to love them as we
love ourselves (see Mt 22: 36– 40).
·
Cincture of Truth.
o
Being
truthful with God, yourself, and others is a spiritual form of ballistic groin
protection. Nothing can hurt like the truth.
§
We
must seek the truth and live the
truth.
§
We
must not let the intimate parts of
our inner selves be led astray by blinding passion, and the Devil’s enticement.
§
We
must not seek to gratify the desires
of the flesh, but instead we must
“put on the Lord Jesus Christ,” imitating the virtues displayed in His
character.
·
The Helmet of Hope.
o
It
is essential for protecting the mind.
§ If we have no hope of winning why
fight?
·
We
must never take off the helmet of
hope or we will be overcome before we start.
·
Feet shod in Peace.
o
Wherever
we go, we must be prepared to bring
the good news of salvation, of peace with God, to all we may encounter. The
Devil will try to turn us back. He’ll scatter across our path, like so many
rocks and thorns, a wagonload of doubts, accusations of our inadequacy, and fear of conflict and rejection. But if
we’ve put on the “boots” of readiness— if we’ve prepared ourselves, through
faithful study and prayer, to share the gospel— then we’ll walk safely over
these obstacles, crushing them as we go.
·
The Shield of Faith.
o St. Paul reminds us that faith must be firmly grasped and held up as a barrier between ourselves and the Enemy.
Thursday in the Second Week of Lent
Prayer.
GRANT us, we beseech Thee, O Lord,
the help of Thy grace, that we, dutifully engaged in fasting and prayer, may be
freed from all enemies of body and soul.
EPISTLE. Jer. xvii. 5-10.
Thus, saith the Lord God: Cursed be
the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart
departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like tamaric in the desert, and he
shall not see when good shall come but he shall dwell in dryness in the desert
in a salt land, and not inhabited. Blessed be the man that trusteth in the
Lord, and the Lord shall be his confidence. And he shall be as a tree that is
planted by the waters, that spreadeth out its roots towards moisture: and it
shall not fear when the heat corneth. And the leaf thereof shall be green, and
in the time of drought it shall not be solicitous, neither shall it cease at
any time to bring forth fruit. The heart is perverse above all things, and
unsearchable, who can know it? I am the Lord that search the heart and prove
the reins: Who give to everyone according to his way, and according to the
fruit of his devices, saith the Lord Almighty.
GOSPEL. Luke xvi. 19-31.
At
that time Jesus said to the Pharisees: There was a certain rich man, who was
clothed in purple and fine linen: and feasted sumptuously every day. And there
was a certain beggar named Lazarus, who lay at his gate, full of sores,
desiring to be filled with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table, and
no one did give him: moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came
to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s
bosom. And the rich man also died: and he was buried in hell. And lifting up
his eyes when he was in torments, he saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his
bosom: and he cried, and said: Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send
Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, to cool my tongue, for
I am tormented in this flame. And Abraham said to him: Son, remember that thou
didst receive good things in thy lifetime, and likewise Lazarus evil things:
but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And besides all this, between
us and you there is fixed a great chaos: so that they who would pass from hence
to you cannot, nor from thence come hither. And he said: Then, father, I
beseech thee that thou wouldst send him to my father’s house; for I have five
brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of
torments. And Abraham said to him: They have Moses and the prophets; let them
hear them. But he said: No, Father Abraham, but if one went to them from the
dead, they will do penance. And he said to him: If they hear not Moses and the
prophets, neither will they believe if one rise again from the dead.
Catechism
of the Catholic Church
PART THREE: LIFE IN CHRIST
SECTION TWO-THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
CHAPTER
TWO-YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF
ARTICLE 4-THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT
II.
The Family and Society
2207 The family is the original
cell of social life. It is the natural society in which husband and wife are
called to give themselves in love and in the gift of life. Authority,
stability, and a life of relationships within the family constitute the
foundations for freedom, security, and fraternity within society. The family is
the community in which, from childhood, one can learn moral values, begin to
honor God, and make good use of freedom. Family life is an initiation into life
in society.
2208 The family should live in
such a way that its members learn to care and take responsibility for the
young, the old, the sick, the handicapped, and the poor. There are many
families who are at times incapable of providing this help. It devolves then on
other persons, other families, and, in a subsidiary way, society to provide for
their needs: "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the
Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep
oneself unstained from the world."
2209 The family must be helped
and defended by appropriate social measures. Where families cannot fulfill
their responsibilities, other social bodies have the duty of helping them and
of supporting the institution of the family. Following the principle of
subsidiarity, larger communities should take care not to usurp the family's
prerogatives or interfere in its life.
2210 The importance of the
family for the life and well-being of society entails a particular
responsibility for society to support and strengthen marriage and the family.
Civil authority should consider it a grave duty "to acknowledge the true
nature of marriage and the family, to protect and foster them, to safeguard
public morality, and promote domestic prosperity."
2211 The political community
has a duty to honor the family, to assist it, and to ensure especially:
- the freedom to establish a family, have children, and bring them up in
keeping with the family's own moral and religious convictions;
- the protection of the stability of the marriage bond and the institution of
the family;
- the freedom to profess one's faith, to hand it on, and raise one's children
in it, with the necessary means and institutions;
- the right to private property, to free enterprise, to obtain work and
housing, and the right to emigrate;
- in keeping with the country's institutions, the right to medical care,
assistance for the aged, and family benefits;
- the protection of security and health, especially with respect to dangers
like drugs, pornography, alcoholism, etc.;
- the freedom to form associations with other families and so to have
representation before civil authority.
2212 The fourth commandment
illuminates other relationships in society. In our brothers and sisters we see
the children of our parents; in our cousins, the descendants of our ancestors;
in our fellow citizens, the children of our country; in the baptized, the
children of our mother the Church; in every human person, a son or daughter of
the One who wants to be called "our Father." In this way our
relationships with our neighbors are recognized as personal in character. The
neighbor is not a "unit" in the human collective; he is
"someone" who by his known origins deserves particular attention and
respect.
2213 Human communities are made
up of persons. Governing them well is not limited to guaranteeing rights and
fulfilling duties such as honoring contracts. Right relations between employers
and employees, between those who govern and citizens, presuppose a natural good
will in keeping with the dignity of human persons concerned for justice and
fraternity.
Leap Day[2]
A leap year is a year containing one additional day added
to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical or seasonal year.
Because seasons and astronomical events do not repeat in a whole number of
days, calendars that have the same number of days in each year drift over time
with respect to the event that the year is supposed to track. By inserting an
additional day or month into the year, the drift can be corrected. A year that
is not a leap year is called a common year.
Folk
Traditions.
In Ireland and Britain, it is a
tradition that women may propose marriage only in leap years. While it has been
claimed that the tradition was initiated by Saint Patrick or Brigid of Kildare
in 5th century Ireland, this is dubious, as the tradition has not been attested
before the 19th century. Supposedly, a 1288 law by Queen Margaret of Scotland
(then age five and living in Norway), required that fines be levied if a
marriage proposal was refused by the man; compensation was deemed to be a pair
of leather gloves, a single rose, £1 and a kiss. In some places the tradition
was tightened to restricting female proposals to the modern leap day, February
29, or to the medieval (bissextile) leap day, February 24. According to Felten:
"A play from the turn of the 17th century, 'The Maydes Metamorphosis,' has
it that 'this is leape year/women wear breeches.' A few hundred years later,
breeches wouldn't do at all: Women looking to take advantage of their
opportunity to pitch woo were expected to wear a scarlet petticoat — fair
warning, if you will." In Finland, the tradition is that if a man refuses
a woman's proposal on leap day, he should buy her the fabrics for a skirt. In
France, since 1980, a satirical newspaper entitled La Bougie du Sapeur
is published only on leap year, on February 29. In Greece, marriage in a leap
year is considered unlucky. One in five engaged couples in Greece will plan to
avoid getting married in a leap year. In February 1988 the town of Anthony in
Texas, declared itself "leap year capital of the world", and an
international leapling birthday club was started. In the United States,
February 29 is often referred to as "Sadie Hawkins Day" signifying a
gender role reversal, such as a day when a woman proposes marriage to a man.
Thursdays are Sacred.
Why not made Thursdays
Catholic Family Night thus making adequate time for God with the family.
Thursdays are next to
Sundays, the holiest day of the week. Pope John Paul knew this when he created
the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary. It was also on Thursday that our Lord
instituted the Mass and last celebrated with the apostles. In a week also our
Lord Ascended into heaven to intercede for us with the Father. It would be a
pious practice to make Thursdays a little special by being in the Lord’s
presence and celebrating Mass.
Feast of the day:
·
soup Mushroom
a la Mary-Louise
·
main dish Tuna
Melt Stuffed Bell Peppers
·
salad Rainbow
Bean Salad with Sweet and Sour Dressing
·
desert Crepes
Saint-Gwenole
·
Drink sweet white wine!
Reflection on making
adequate time for God during Lent.
DIRECTIONS
In seed time the sluggard plows not, when
he looks for the harvest, it is not there (Proverbs 20:4).
This Lent make time for
God. Adequate time. Ordinarily we assign only minutes a day to him. He knocks
at the door of our hearts. Like the inhospitable inns of Bethlehem, we
seemingly have no welcome. If we let God in, we crowd him into a corner. Yet we
need him so badly in every area of life.
It is difficult to find
time for family Lenten renewal. Father works overtime and comes home exhausted.
Or he has a pressing evening meeting to attend. Mother is exhausted, the
children cranky.
Frequently mothers work
outside their homes. Finding ten or fifteen minutes a day for Lenten projects
or prayer with the family seems an impossibility. I worked when our children
were small — and remember. But somehow living the Church Year remained paramount.
My mother, fretting over Lenten activities, would say, "How can you cut
out Biblical mobiles when your closets look so? And it's almost Easter!"
The closet may have been hastily tidied later. Those precious minutes spent
with the children are theirs for time and eternity.
Mothers go out to work
because they have to as a rule. In certain professions some have time for
children and home. A few work to escape.
Mother is happy turning a crank That
increases the money in somebody's bank; And I feel satisfaction that mother is
free from the sinister task of attending to me.
— G. K. Chesterton, Song for a Crèche
Still others work to give
their children "every advantage." A secular writer recently passed
judgment on the children now "emerging from school, church, and the
station wagon." For him "they face us eloquent with the tormenting discontent
of American youth for which everything is being done, to which everything is
being given, except a reason for living."
St. Paul and again Pius X
have outlined a way of changing this for our children. We are to restore things
in Christ. How many Catholics use only part of the Church's spiritual riches!
This Lent why not take time to tap for your children the treasuries of its
liturgy?
Activity
Source: Holy Lent by Eileen O'Callaghan, The Liturgical Press, Collegeville,
Minnesota, 1975
Coffee with Christ
Christ sips his coffee and looks at me and says, “Herod
could not find me at my birth because of his pride; only the humble find my
presence. My favor rests on those who humble themselves and are grounded in the
truth. To carry your cross is to be fully present to the moment and have a
spirit of service to others. Loving is not just giving but giving the right
thing now. True charity is drawing the good out of others and helping them to reach
their fullest potential.”
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.
·
do
a personal eucharistic stations of the cross.
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Make
reparations to the Holy Face
·
Fasting
Is Prayer of the Body
MARCH
The winds of March point to the power of God's Spirit working in us. We need to listen and respond to the gentle breezes of the Spirit; but will we, or will we be too distracted? The rebirth of spring reminds us of the energy of nature so that we ask ourselves whether we waste or wisely use energy –electricity, oil, gas, etc. Can we and should we continue to use nonrenewable fossil fuels, often with accompanying air pollution, at the rate we do? Or will the environmental ills we cause today call us in the future as a society to use wind and solar energy?
Overview of the Month of March[3]
The entire month of March except the very last day falls during the liturgical season of Lent which is represented by the liturgical color violet or purple — a symbol of penance, mortification and the sorrow of a contrite heart. All saint days that are usually Memorials are shifted to Optional Memorials during the season of Lent. The last day of the month is the beginning of the Easter season.
This year the feast of the Annunciation will be celebrated on April 8 since the 25th falls during Holy Week.
A Time of Penance and
Promise
Here
and there in the stark March landscape, a few plants and trees are beginning to
give evidence of the new life that winter’s frost and chill had concealed from
our eyes. The Church’s vibrant new life has been obscured, too, by the
austerity of the penitential season of Lent. But that life is indisputable, and
it will burgeon forth on Easter as Christ coming forth from his tomb!
During
this month we will continue our journey to the cross with our acts of
penitence. We will reflect on our mortality ("Remember man thou art
dust") and the shortness of life ("and to dust thou shall
return"). We will heed the call, "Now is the acceptable time, now is
“the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2).” Just like Our Lord's earthly life
every moment of our lives is leading up to the last moment—when for eternity we
will either go to God or suffer the fires of hell. During this month we will go
from the suffering of Good Friday to the joy of Easter Sunday. We will trade
the purple of penance for the white of victory and resurrection.
Let us
not tire of doing our good works and penance but continue with the enthusiasm
of the catechumens on their way to Easter and Baptism. May our Lenten
observance be a joyful journey — and not a forced march.
As the
weeks of Lent progress let us not tire of doing our good works and penance but
continue with the enthusiasm of the catechumens on their way to Easter and
Baptism. May our Lenten observance be a joyful journey — and not a forced
march.
Go to Joseph[4]
“This patronage must be invoked as ever necessary for the Church, not only as a defense against all dangers, but also, and indeed primarily, as an impetus for her renewed commitment to evangelization in the world and to re-evangelization,” wrote St. John Paul II in Redemptoris Custos (Guardian of the Redeemer).
John Paul II further said, “Because St. Joseph is the protector of the Church, he is the guardian of the Eucharist and the Christian family. Therefore, we must turn to St. Joseph today to ward off attacks upon the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist and upon the family. We must plead with St. Joseph to guard the Eucharistic Lord and the Christian family during this time of peril.”
MARCH TIMETABLE
March Travel?[5]
·
Las
Fallas in Valencia, Spain March 1-19 Enjoy a high-spirited fiesta in Valencia, Spain’s third-largest city.
The annual bash, held in commemoration of Saint Joseph, sees neighborhoods
transformed into lively parties over a boisterous five-day period.
·
Daytona, Florida-Bike Week March
1-10 Rev up for a week of diesel and fun at Daytona Bike Week.
The annual motorcycle rally attracts some of the fiercest bikers, clad in
leather (and sometimes little else) to celebrate the freedom of the open road.
·
Spring Break in Panama City Beach March
15-31st.
Slap on your sunscreen and grab your shades for a laid-back
spring break on Panama City Beach. This sunny haven on the coast of the Gulf of
Mexico beckons with its tagline, “World’s Most Beautiful Beaches.” You’ll see
why once you sink your toes into its unique sugar-white sand.
·
Patrick’s Day March 17th
Don your friendliest green for St.
Patrick’s Day. Boston is the place to be, with the city’s official St.
Patrick’s Day Parade drawing anywhere from 600,000 to 1 million people every
year.
·
Spring Equinox: Stonehenge March
19th Mark the beginning of spring with a celebratory gathering
at Stonehenge. Join the crowds who gather at the mysterious stone structures in
Wiltshire, England,
to see the sun rise, ushering in the spring equinox.
· Holi in India March 25th Celebrate spring with a dash of color. The annual Holi festival in India inspires revelers to hit the streets, playfully throwing powdered colors on each other. Once your clothes are doused with all sorts of hues, you’ll understand why this is called a festival of colors.
Iceman’s Calendar
·
Mar. 1st-First
Friday
·
Mar. 2nd-First
Saturday
·
Mar. 3rd-Third
Sunday of Lent
·
Mar. 6th-First
Wednesday
·
Mar 7th-St.
Perpetua
·
Mar 10th-Fourth
Sunday of Lent
·
Mar 17th-Fifth
Sunday of Lent
·
Mar 19th-Feast of St.
Joseph
·
Mar 20-April 16 National Cherry Blossom
Festival
·
Mar 22nd Friday
after Passion Sunday: Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
·
Mar 24th MASS
Palm Sunday Holy
Week begins
·
Mar 25th-Monday
of Holy Week
·
Mar 27th Spy
Wednesday
o Start Novena
to the Holy Face for First Friday
·
Mar 28th Maundy
Thursday
·
Mar 29th Good
Friday
·
Mar 30th Easter
Vigil
·
Mar 31st Easter
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