Saturday - March 26, 2022
“You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working, and just so, you learn to love by loving. All those who think to learn in any other way deceive themselves.”
-St. Francis de Sales
TODAY'S READINGS
SATURDAY
OF THE THIRD WEEK OF LENT
Lectionary:
242
Reading 1 Hos 6:1-6
“Come, let us return to the LORD,
it is he who has rent, but he will heal us;
he has struck us, but he will bind our wounds.
He will revive us after two days;
on the third day he will raise us up,
to live in his presence.
Let us know, let us strive to know the LORD;
as certain as the dawn is his coming,
and his judgment shines forth like the light of day!
He will come to us like the rain,
like spring rain that waters the earth.”
What can I do with you, Ephraim?
What can I do with you, Judah?
Your piety is like a morning cloud,
like the dew that early passes away.
For this reason I smote them through the prophets,
I slew them by the words of my mouth;
For it is love that I desire, not sacrifice,
and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
Responsorial Psalm 51:3-4, 18-19, 20-21ab
R. (see Hosea 6:6) It is mercy I desire, and not sacrifice.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R. It is mercy I desire, and not sacrifice.
For you are not pleased with sacrifices;
should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
R. It is mercy I desire, and not sacrifice.
Be bountiful, O LORD, to Zion in your kindness
by rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem;
Then shall you be pleased with due sacrifices,
burnt offerings and holocausts.
R. It is mercy I desire, and not sacrifice.
Verse Before the Gospel 2 Thes 2:14
If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.
Gospel Lk 18:9-14
Jesus addressed this parable
to those who were convinced of their own righteousness
and despised everyone else.
“Two people went up to the temple area to pray;
one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.
The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself,
‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity —
greedy, dishonest, adulterous — or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week,
and I pay tithes on my whole income.’
But the tax collector stood off at a distance
and would not even raise his eyes to heaven
but beat his breast and prayed,
‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’
I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former;
for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,
and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
*****************
God's version of the Great Reset is happening!
I replied, "So much is at stake. But God is still in charge. He is working a plan."
"His people (us) ARE the plan!" she said. "Our voice needs to become louder somehow."
"Or else disaster will be the loudest voice," I said.
"And that too will bring a result!" she replied.
He was talking about the world we live in now. And why it's getting worse. As everyone knows who's been paying attention to what the mainstream media is avoiding, what the social media giants are censoring, and what the Blessed Mother of Jesus has been warning about for decades, the war between Russia and Ukraine is only the latest evil (and potentially now the scariest). And we've learned the hard way that, in this too, there's more to the whats and whys than what we know at the moment. More and more people are waking up to the fact that we cannot trust the most-obvious narrative.
Astute, Spirit-filled Christians are recognizing that Evil is kicking harder and controlling more areas of our societies, politics, and sometimes even our churches than we've ever seen before. AND that the true followers of Christ will, of course, be victorious in this spiritual world war. Of course, Christ is bigger and stronger than Evil (infinitely!) and he is working a plan for our good, not disaster (Jeremiah 29:11). But how bad must it get before Satan's slaves cry out to God to be rescued?
As we wait for God's own version of the Great Reset to turn things around, most of us are feeling worn down. But in the midst of dealing with today's insane (we never thought this would happen) hardships, we're getting stronger. We're turning to God more. We're leaning harder on Jesus. We're putting more work into identifying and purging ourselves from sin. We're discovering what really matters, and we're more disturbed by the same things that disturb our Divine Father.
We need to keep our eyes on Jesus! Let him fill you with his Holy Spirit more than ever before. And let him bring you closer to the Father than you ever knew possible.
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The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”
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