Friday, March 15, 2024
St. Longinus-Ides of March
1 Maccabees, Chapter 9, Verse 6
The rats are the first to
leave a sinking ship. You can tell when something
is about to fail because
large numbers of people
begin to leave it.
Death of Judas Maccabee[1]
Judas cleverly negotiated
a treaty of alliance with Rome that recognized Judea as an independent state.
For the first time since before the Babylonian exile, the Jews had their own
sovereign nation. Demetrius feared a Rome-supported Judea might induce another
of his inherited enemies, Egypt, to join the alliance and invade his empire
through Judea. Basing his actions on reports that the Maccabean army was
disbanding, Demetrius dispatched a 24,000-man expedition in the spring of 160
bc. Sure enough, Judas was unable to mobilize more than 3,000 troops. Joining
battle at Elasa, about six miles east of Beth Horon, the armies clashed briefly
before the Jewish warriors, demoralized by the eight-to-one odds, broke and
fled, leaving their peerless commander with just 800 valiant veterans. Leading
his small band in a desperate charge on the enemy’s right flank, Judas killed a
great number of Seleucids but failed in the crucial objective of killing their
commander, General Bacchides. Instead, Judas and his little group of loyalists
were wiped out. It had taken the Syrians far too long, but in Bacchides they
finally found a leader capable of concocting viable strategy and instilling
needed flexibility into Syrian formations. Considering the overpowering
numerical advantage the Syrians enjoyed in that April clash, it could be said
the Maccabees were drawn into a trap even if they realized it from the
beginning, for they could not afford to allow this pagan multitude to rampage
unchecked throughout Judea. Confronting it when they did, before they had time
to assemble sufficient soldiers, was unavoidable—and fatal.
The Legacy
of Judas Maccabeus
For no small reason, Judas
was called “the Hammer.” His unparalleled battlefield adaptability, proficiency
in exploiting an enemy’s mistakes, ability to fight at night, and effective use
of terrain, surprise, and espionage made him the bane of succeeding Seleucid
commanders. After Judas’s death, his brothers Jonathan and Simon eventually
achieved the Judean dream of religious and political independence. It was the
first time in recorded history that a subject people had won a revolutionary
war for religious freedom. Because he fought in just one poorly chronicled war,
Judas Maccabeus has largely been lost among the giant shadows cast by Alexander
the Great, Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Napoleon Bonaparte, Shaka Zulu, and
other great conquerors. Unlike them, Judas was a man of noble motives who
fought because he had no other choice. Unfettered by outmoded convention, he
taught himself and his followers to fight via methods too subtle to be
perceived by their powerful but outmoded adversaries. Today’s high-tech
military strategists would be well served to study the humble partisan leader
of long ago, who wanted nothing more for himself and his people than to be
allowed to live and worship in peace.
Martyrdom[2]
If we look at the modern world, we see nothing but hostility toward the Faith. In the Middle East, Christians are being martyred in the most brutal way. Every day brings a new threat. Persecution is open and the choice is clear: Serve Christ or die. To live and embrace the Faith in such circumstances requires a great deal of holy fearlessness.
Even in the “civilized”
West, persecution is no less present, albeit in a different and more subtle
form. We are asked by the powers that be to acquiesce, to compromise on the
most fundamental moral issues that exist.
·
Things
like the nature of marriage
·
The
protection of innocent human life in the womb
·
The
nature and purpose of human sexuality
Our suffering may be in
the form of an angry boss, the loss of a business, or simply persecution with
words. While no one is holding a knife to our throat, the choice is just as
clear: Serve Christ or suffer. Tragically, there are many bishops and prelates
who like the Pharisees—fear the
opinion of men more than they fear God. There are many in the hierarchy who
would rather make peace with the world and its evil ideologies than suffer
with Jesus in obedience to the will of God. As St. Paul said, “I have often
told you and now tell you even with tears, [they] live as enemies of the cross
of Christ” (Phil. 3:18). These men will have their reward, but as for us, let
us serve Christ. Let us choose always to obey God rather than men, no matter
what the cost. Let us pray to the Holy Spirit for the holy boldness that he
gave on the day of Pentecost to the once cowardly St. Peter. Let us strive
after the courage of men like St. Thomas More, St. John Fisher, who joyfully
chose martyrdom rather than deny the truths of the Faith. Most of all, let us
take up our crosses and follow Christ, who said, “not everyone who says to me,
‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the
will of my Father who is in heaven.” May the will of God be done.
Friday
of the Fourth Week of Lent[3]
Prayer.
O God, Who renewest the world by
unspeakable mysteries, grant, we beseech Thee, that Thy Church may profit by
Thy eternal institutions, and not be deprived of Thy temporal assistance. Amen
EPISTLE, Kings xvii. 17-24.
In those days the son of the woman,
the mistress of the house, fell sick, and the sickness was very grievous, so
that there was no breath left in him. And she said to Elias: What have I to do
with thee, thou man of God? art thou come to me that my iniquities should be
remembered, and that thou shouldst kill my son? And Elias said to her: Give me
thy son. And he took him out of her bosom and carried him into the upper
chamber where he abode and laid him upon his own bed. And he cried to the Lord,
and said: O Lord my God, hast Thou afflicted also the widow, with whom I am
after a sort maintained, so as to kill her son? And he stretched, and measured
himself upon the child three times, and cried to the Lord, and said: O Lord my
God, let the soul of this child, I beseech Thee, return into his body. And the
Lord heard the voice of Elias: and the soul of the child returned into him, and
he revived. And Elias took the child and brought him down from the upper
chamber to the house below, and delivered him to his mother, and said to her:
Behold thy son liveth. And the woman said to Elias: Now, by this I know that
thou art a man of God, and the word of the Lord in thy mouth is true.
GOSPEL. John xi. 1-45.
At
that time: There was a certain man sick named Lazarus, of Bethania, of the town
of Mary and of Martha her sister. (And Mary was she that anointed the Lord with
ointment and wiped His feet with her hair: whose brother Lazarus was sick.) His
sisters therefore sent to Him, saying: Lord, behold, he whom Thou lovest is
sick. And Jesus hearing it, said to them: This sickness is not unto death, but
for the glory of God: that the Son of God may be glorified by it. Now Jesus
loved Martha, and her sister Mary, and Lazarus. "When He had heard
therefore that he was sick, He still remained in the same place two days: then
after that He said to His disciples: Let us go into Judea again. The disciples
say to Him: Rabbi, the Jews but now sought to stone Thee: and goest Thou
thither again? Jesus answered: Are there not twelve hours of the day? If a man
walks in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world:
but if he walks in the night, he stumbleth, because the light is not in him.
These things He said, and after that He said to them: Lazarus our friend
sleepeth: but I go that I may awake him out of sleep. His disciples therefore
said: Lord, if he sleeps, he shall do well. But Jesus spoke of his death; and
they thought that He spoke of the repose of sleep. Then therefore Jesus said to
them plainly: Lazarus is dead; and I am glad for your sakes, that I was not
there, that you may believe but let us go to him. Thomas, therefore, who is
called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples: Let us also go, that we may die
with Him. Jesus therefore came and found that he had been four days already in
the grave. (Now Bethania was near Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off.) And
many of the Jews were come to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their
brother. Martha, therefore, as soon as she heard that Jesus was come, went to
meet Him; but Mary sat at home. Martha therefore said to Jesus: Lord, if Thou
hadst been here, my brother had not died. But now also I know that whatsoever
Thou wilt ask of God, God will give it Thee. Jesus saith to her: Thy brother
shall rise again. Martha saith to Him: I know that he shall rise again in the
resurrection at the last day. Jesus said to her: I am the resurrection and the
life: he that believeth in Me although he be dead, shall live and everyone that
liveth and believeth in Me, shall not die forever. Believest thou this? She
saith to Him: Yea, Lord, I have believed that Thou art Christ the Son of the
living God, Who art come into this world. And when she had said these things,
she went, and called her sister Mary secretly, saying: The Master is come and
calleth for thee. She, as soon as she heard this, riseth quickly and cometh to
Him. For Jesus was not yet come into the town: but He was still in that place
where Martha had met Him. The Jews, therefore, who were with her in the house
and comforted her, when they saw Mary that she rose up speedily and went out,
followed her, saying: She goeth to the grave, to weep there. When Mary
therefore was come where Jesus was, seeing Him, she fell down at His feet, and
saith to Him: Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. Jesus,
therefore, when He saw her weeping, and the Jews that were come with her,
weeping, groaned in the spirit, and troubled Himself, and said: Where have you
laid him? They said to Him: Lord, come and see. And Jesus wept. The Jews
therefore said: Behold how He loved him. Biit some of them said: Could not He
that opened the eyes of the man born blind, have caused that this man should
not die? Jesus therefore again groaning in Himself cometh to the sepulcher: now
it was a cave; and a stone was laid over it. Jesus saith: Take away the stone.
Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith to Him: Lord, by this time he
stinketh. for he is now of four days. Jesus saith to her: Did not I say to
thee, that if thou believe, thou shalt see the glory of God? They took
therefore the stone away. And Jesus lifting up His eyes said: Father, I give
Thee thanks that Thou hast heard Me. And I knew that Thou hearest Me always, but
because of the people who stand about have I said it: that they may believe
that Thou hast sent Me. When He had said these things, He cried with a loud
voice: Lazarus, come forth. And presently he that had been dead came forth,
bound feet and hands with winding-bands, and his face was bound about with a
napkin. Jesus said to them: Loose him and let him go. Many therefore of the
Jews who were come to Mary and Martha, and had seen the things that Jesus did,
believed in Him.
Preparing
for Battle[4]
Know Your Weapons-fasting.
When God’s
people fast, the power of their prayers is increased, especially when they are
engaged in spiritual warfare.
In response to
Daniel’s fasting and prayer, God had sent the Archangel Michael to battle a
demonic power (called “the prince of the kingdom of Persia”)
If prayer is a
spiritual weapon, fasting is the spiritual whetstone on which it is sharpened.
St.
Longinus[5] Roman Catholic Church (pre-1969)
St.
Longinus was the Roman centurion who pierced the side of Christ with a lance.
He is said to have converted to Christianity after experiencing the darkness
after Christ's death.
St.
Luke tells us that the centurion "gave praise to God", and exclaimed,
"Truly this was an upright man." (Luke 23:47)
What
was believed to be the Holy Lance of Longinus, was given to Innocent VIII in
1492.
Things to Do:
·
Read more about the statue of
St. Longinus at St. Peter's Basilica.
·
Read the Life of Saint
Longinus from the Golden Legend.
Ides
of March
In modern times, the Ides
of March is best known as the date on which Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC. Caesar
was stabbed to death at a meeting of the Senate. As many as 60 conspirators, led
by Brutus and Cassius, were involved.[6]
Caesar
could garner so much power, but in the end, he was assassinated. No matter how
powerful a person or corporation may be, there will be an end to their reign
and their influence. By way of contrast, the Lord is the everlasting God. Jesus
is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who has the power of an endless life.
Remembering the frailty and fallenness of all men is a crucial part of gaining
wisdom. Solomon captured this so well when he wrote “The fear of the Lord is
the beginning of wisdom” (Prov. 9:10) but “the fear of man is a snare” (29:25).
Remembering the fact that no matter how powerful a position a man or woman may
hold, God “holds their breath in His hands and owns all their ways” (Dan. 5:23)
and that “death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to
heart” (Eccl. 7:2).[7]
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 6-THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT
IN BRIEF
2392 "Love is the
fundamental and innate vocation of every human being" (FC 11).
2393 By
creating the human being man and woman, God gives personal dignity equally to
the one and the other. Each of them, man and woman, should acknowledge and
accept his sexual identity.
2394
Christ is the model of chastity. Every baptized person is called to lead a
chaste life, each according to his particular state of life.
2395
Chastity means the integration of sexuality within the person. It includes an
apprenticeship in self-mastery.
2396
Among the sins gravely contrary to chastity are masturbation, fornication,
pornography, and homosexual practices.
2397 The
covenant which spouses have freely entered into entails faithful love. It
imposes on them the obligation to keep their marriage indissoluble.
2398
Fecundity is a good, a gift and an end of marriage. By giving life, spouses
participate in God's fatherhood.
2399 The
regulation of births represents one of the aspects of responsible fatherhood
and motherhood. Legitimate intentions on the part of the spouses do not justify
recourse to morally unacceptable means (for example, direct sterilization or
contraception).
2400
Adultery, divorce, polygamy, and free union are grave offenses against the
dignity of marriage.
Fitness Friday-Cardio[8]
Recognizing that God, the Father created man on Friday the 6th day
I propose in this blog to have an entry that shares on how to recreate and
renew yourself in strength, mind, soul and heart.
Is interval training more effective than steady-state cardio
training for fat loss?
·
Exercise combined with diet modifications has been shown to
be more effective than either alone for promoting weight loss.
·
Establishing exercise habits during the weight loss phase can help
prevent weight regain and yo-yo dieting down the road. One of the most
common excuses for lack of exercise is a lack of time.
·
These results show that the type of cardio performed for fat loss
(intervals vs. steady state) probably doesn’t matter as much as the number of
calories burned in the exercise session. Moreover, the overall amount of fat
loss is small.
·
Focus should be placed on how the exercise session impacts other
areas of life, such as appetite, food intake, and leisure-time physical
activity.
·
Focus should also be placed on whether you can see yourself
sticking with your chosen exercise modality for the long-term.
·
Exercise may not be all that for fat loss, but it certainly
impacts fitness and health improvement. As such, all forms of exercise should
be encouraged despite their relatively minimal contribution to fat loss.
·
Strength training is especially important for developing lean body
mass.
· High-intensity training such as interval endurance training appears to be more effective at reducing inflammation and increasing insulin sensitivity than lower-intensity training such as steady-state cardio.
Evidence has shown that exercise has additional benefits on health that warrant its inclusion in daily life, such as reducing inflammation and increasing insulin sensitivity. Moreover, high-intensity exercise appears to be more effective than lower intensity exercise at inducing these beneficial changes, which might be one reason to prefer interval training over steady-state even if fat loss would be similar. Ultimately, though, adherence is key. Thus, enjoyment and personal preferences when it comes to exercise are what’s most important
·
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.
NIC’s Corner
The Arizona Colleen Program began as the Arizona Colleen Pageant, a heritage pageant, in 1983. It is open to single women of Irish ancestry ages of 18 through 28 years old. The winner serves as "Queen" of the Phoenix St. Patrick's Day Parade and Faire.
In 2008, programs were added for younger ladies of Irish descent. The Little Miss Shamrock program selects two 6-12 year olds, and the Arizona Outstanding Irish Teen program, retitled the Arizona Irish Lass program in 2010 selects one-two 13-17 year olds.
The Colleen and Rose programs are organized by the Phoenix St. Patrick's Day Parade and Faire committee. The Arizona Colleen program seeks to connect not only the Arizona Irish community, but the global Irish diaspora through events and awareness.
Coffee with Christ
Christ sips his coffee and looks at me and says, “Your salvation is in eating my body and drinking my blood. In receiving you become a tabernacle of the Holy Spirit. So, keep your mind and body pure. Strive to not yield to impurities of the mind and body. Make use of the sacrament of confession if you falter. For in repentance and resting on my heart by the reception of my body you will find salvation, a spirit of quietness and strength; trust in me.
I ask the Lord, what are impurities of the mind and body?
He answers a pure mind seeks to focus on protecting and preserving
Life, Liberty, and Property. The same is with the body in that any action that
takes the life, liberty, or the property of another is unjust.”
Daily Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Today's Fast: The Families of St. Joseph
Porters
·
Total Consecration
to St. Joseph Day 29
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Make
reparations to the Holy Face
[3]Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896.
[4]Thigpen, Paul. Manual for Spiritual
Warfare. TAN Books.
[5]https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2021-03-15
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